Something New Something Old

Wow, has it really been a month since our last update. Sorry about that. It is not for lack of stuff to report on. On the contrary, life at Book of Hope and in the Brown household has been very busy. In fact, maybe a little too busy. Nevertheless, we will attempt to take a few minutes this evening to provide an update on what has been happening.

First, an update on Wayne's health. The healing from the appendectomy has continued nicely. No pain, only an occasional itch or slight pull when lifting heavy stuff (like Rebecca). As for the kidney, Wayne returns to the doctor on July 11 for a surgical consult to determine the type of surgery that will be used to remove the kidney. Keep praying. Wouldn't it be great to hear the doctors say that for unexplained reasons the cancer is no longer there.

With Wayne feeling strong and able to take on more work at Book of Hope, he was given a new task that was very much an old task for him. Prior to our becoming missionaries, Wayne was a technology manager at Publix Super Markets in Lakeland. Much of his responsibilities related to business process improvements and leveraging technology to enable those improvements. When our ministry partners in Brazil reported that they were consolidating three offices into one new office and wanted help in designing the right technology solution to help them be more efficient, the ministry directory immediately called on Wayne. A few days later, he was in Brazil working with the Brazilian ministry team to understand their current technology and to design a better solution for their new location. It was like being back in the technology arena at Publix. Isn't it great how God can always leverage our skills and strengths, even when our current role is defined as something vastly different.

In addition to helping the team in Brazil to identify their technology needs, Wayne was also able to spend a day working with the director of our ministry in Brazil, Pastor José. Along with a very dedicated ministry team and thousands of church and lay ministry volunteers, Pastor José will be leading the effort to distribute over 11 million copies of the Book of Hope to children and youth throughout Brazil. Their focus for 2008 is to energize and excite the national churches to evangelize their communities. To facilitate that effort, the Book of Hope Brazil team has developed a new version of the Book of Hope called the Family Book. This book is designed to be an at-home project where parents and their children work together on the tasks and at the same time are given a clear presentation of the gospel message. Project Jonah, as this year's project is named, has already been very successful at empowering thousands of volunteers in hundreds of churches in the largest cities in Brazil to reach out into their communities. They are expecting transformation to occur, not just in the children, not just in the families, but in entire communities as the church becomes a major force in affecting the destiny of their cities.