Three Frontiers

Good afternoon!  WE have made it safely to Dallas!  After a long flight, and a long day of traveling yesterday, we arrived in Dallas.  The Lord blessed us the whole way home, and when we arrived this morning, we were met by Awestar folks, and then we went to eat breakfast at McDonalds.  We arrived at Dallas Christian College and had some of rest and waited for the Peru team to come in.  We greeted them with great gusto, and then went to lunch.  After lunch we rested more and then met up together as a team to affirm each other in the Lord. 

Tonight we will worship all together with the Peru and Venezuela teams, and celebrate all that God did this summer. 

Thank you for praying for us, and for walking with us in the Three Frontiers!  Its was a blessed summer and we could not of done it without you guys walking through prayer with us! 

Ask your students about the great things that God has done in them…they are truly changed adults!

Love you and enjoy the new pictures we uploaded!

Glory to God!

Jim Landers and Barbara Ann Sheely, CCs 3 Frontiers

After two more incredible days, including visiting the Iguacu falls (most beautiful thing ever!!!!), and going to two churches, and filling our hearts with Gods word, we are heading back to the states today.  We have been trying to upload tons of pics, but the internet is so slow and not allowing it, so if we cant do it today, we will put tons of pics up when we arrive in Dallas!

We are so blessed to have spent this summer here. God has moved in our team, moved in these countries, and brought salvation like no other.  Please continue to pray for these three Countries…ARgentina, Brasil, and Paraguay, as God is doing a mighty work in each of them, and for more workers to come behind us!  Please pray for the believers here to be bold in sharing their faith, and bold in living out what Jesus has taught them. Now what these new believers need is discipleship!  Pray for people to come and disciple our brothers and sisters here in Brasil, and in Argentina, and in Paraguay! 

Please pray for favor on our flights home (for on time flights), for safe travels, for reflection of what we have learned this summer, and for more divine encounters on the plane. I have more stories to share when we get back to the states…including how yesterday on the train ride at the falls, we were surrounded by some of Gods great beauty!

See you soon! 

Jim and Barbara Ann

Hey beautiful friends and family!

We awoke this morning to yet another day of rain, and more rain. But rather than be defeated by the weather, we were able to perform two incredible dramas! We met up with Pastor Flavio, our main and awesome contact, and he took our students to a Catholic nursing home. We were welcomed with open arms and ready hearts to hear the gospel. Some of these residents had mental or physical handicapps and some were there just because of old age. We performed the drama with a new participant at times, as one of the elderly ladies was very active. Our team did well with this group and loved on them after. They prayed over many residents and both the hearts of our students and the residents were filled with joy. Tyler and I felt the presence of the Lord in this place. Simply incredible!

We then went to a intercity bus station. At first, the people in charge did not seem thrilled we were there, but after much prayer, and more prayer, the Lord opened the door and allowed us to perform one drama. That one drama was all the Lord needed as He drew a crowd bigger and more spread out than we could see. Our team spent lots of time ministering after and planted many seeds. We had one salvation, but God continued to remind us it is not about the numbers, but about being bold for His kingdom. As teams started to bring it in, we asked them to pray over Pastor Flavio as he has battled sickness for the last two weeks. While in prayer, an elderly woman approached us and asked for us to pray over her as well. Our team quickly surrounded her and began to lift her up in prayer. It was so amazing to see our team respond to a need so quickly, without hesitation. We knew this is exacltly what the Lord had planned for our day, even though our plan was ruined by the rain.

We then came back to Semear, our wonderful home, had lunch and enjoyed an afternoon of team time. Tyler taught us on three things God calls us to be. The students were receptive and open to hearing his message and we engaged in good conversation. After, we played a game and the team prepared for round one of dinner.

Yes, we had two dinners tonight. The wonderful Christiana made us dinner for the last time and it was one of the best. Although, last night we had a huge birthday bash for Tyler and Nick and it was legit. Our second round of dinner consisted of an unexpected “hick night”. We engaged with the members of Pastor Flavio’s church through their food, games, and music. We ate well and then danced it all off. We even had freckles drawn on our faces by some of the church members, yes even the boys! It was the best way to spend our last Saturday here in Foz. We could not ask for a better “home” church in Foz than Igraje Jardim Sao Paulo. We have been truely blessed by them.

Please pray for our last day of ministry tomorrow and to leave this nation going strong for the Lord. We have been blessed to have had the opportunity to serve your students this summer and are proud of the ways they have surrendered to the Lord.

We love you and miss you! Big hugs await!

Tyler and Alesha TDs

What an awesome day in Argentina!!!  What started out a rainy day…well, ended a rainy day, but AN AWESOME DAY!!!!!!  Probably one of our most favorite days of the whole trip!

We woke up to rain this morning, and left the semear at 9am.  We drove to pick up our pastors that we work with, and drove to the border of Brasil.  Going through customs and immigration seems to get easier and easier, probably since we have done it so many times!

The village we drove to was not far from the border, it was actually about five minutes from the main road.  We arrived at the village in the rain (picture if you will red dirt…ahem..red mud), and went to find the chief of the village to make sure we could do the drama there for his people.  We drove up in our bus to find he and his family walking on the road.  Pastor Doo Doo (yes, thats his name) jumped off the bus to greet him. He has been building relationships with these village people.  We went on a small tour of the old part of their village, and learned how they trap animals (bears, armadillos, chickens etc..), and then were greeted by some precious children who sang songs to us.  After they sang, we took a picture with them, and said since we listened to your songs, how about you come and watch our drama!  So they accepted!

  We past the area where Pastor Doo Doo will do baptisms, and then went to where they sell their things.  We then boarded the bus again, and went over to where some of their huts were.  We set up in an open field  in the rain, cranked up our music, and you would not believe your sight!  Joy in our team burst forth, and rain started to flow from the sky!  Even in the cold, wetness outside, not one of our students complained about it.  They were so stoked to be worshipping our Lord, and the Lord had opened up the heavens to let us know just how much he loved us!  Salvation came today.  It was incedible!!!!  Remember me telling you when we first got here how Jim got to go and visit this tribe of people in the mountains!  This was the people group we went back to visit today.  The one where 12-14 year old girls have babies  of their own.  We finished at this site…where 8 people gave thie hearts to Jesus. 

After this place, we boarded the bus with muddy shoes, and pants, and crossed the street to another small roadside village.  We met a family that Jim had gotten to pray over when he went there, and spent some time with them building relationships.  Even in the cold rain, they were wearring shorts, and some had no shoes on.  Pastor Doo Doo had asked his to give some of our testimonies, and share stories with them about what God has done in their land.  So, we did, and then we walked up the mountain on a red mud path, past old ammunition bunkers (where the old chief was hiding ammunion), and went up to meet some young girls and their babies.  The chief of this village was out when we were there.  We told more stories of what God is doing, told some stories for the children, and then Pastor Doo Doo sang a song in Guarani (language similar to Spanish), and then we made our way back down the mountain.  Before we left, we saw the hut where they practice Voo Voo and black magic.  Pray light over this village so much!  They were born into this culture yes, but that doesnt mean that God cant change their lives for the Gospel in Jesus name! 

We were humbled today, and broken for these people and the things of God.   And we just love our team. They have the best attitudes, even when they are wet, and cold, and out in the rain, they remained joyful and positive!  We are truly a blessed people in America.  We have two more days of drama ministry here, and then we will go visit the Iguassu Falls on Monday, and then catch a flight back to Sao Paulo on Tuesday, and then fly back to the states that night.  Pray for more salvations, and for the hand of God to move so MUCH our last few days here. This trip has flown by so fast!  And we know that God isnt done moving and working just yet!

Love you guys, and cant wait to share stories in person!

Jim and Barbara Ann

Its been an incredible day in the Lord!

First of all lets talk about yesterday.  We got the opportunity to go to a handicapped school in the morning.   What a blessing that was.  Those kids really reminded us that we are made by the touch of God.  Each and every one of us are handcrafted with great love and detail.  This school invited us to come back in the afternoon…so we did! It blessed our hearts so much!!  Last night Jim taught on the touch of God, and how each of us are created different, and with the touch of God, we can do anything, and go anywhere!

Today we woke up and went shopping Paraguay.  This was the time that we could go buy our stuff as a team, so we did!  We drove on a bus to the border, and then got off, walked through customs in Brasil, and then walked across the bridge into Paraguay.  It was a cool experience!  We were in two countries at once.  After shopping we went back to the semear for lunch and then went to the Buddhist temple here in Foz.  It is the largest in all of South America.  We prayer walked around it, and even got invited inside the temple…that doesnt happen very often.  We are reminded of Gods love for us, and how we dont have to pray to statues, or pray at certain times of the day…we are free to pray all day long! We left the Buddhist temple, and drove to the Three Frontiers outlook  on the Brasil side. There we performed the drama.  We stood on the deck overlooking the river, and looking out at Paraguay and Argentina, while standing in Brasil. It was very cool!  God is moving here in Brasil. And He is moving in our team, and we know he is not done yet! 

Please pray for our team to finish strong here in Brasil.  We dont want to miss one ounce of what he has  for us,  and for his power to reside here fully!  Please continue to pray for good health and for God to continue to grow us so strong!

Love!

Jim and Barbara Ann

New pictures put up!

Good rainy day!

Its been a little bit since our last update, so this one should be nice and long!  We had our last day of ministry in Paraguay on Friday.  It started out as a rainy day, and well, ended as a rainy day! If you know anything about schools in South America, not alot of them have covered areas  do host large crowds of people…so alot of our ministry was canceled at schools, but in place of those times, more schools were added!  We started at a school in the morning, in their auditorium.  The students were very attentive there, and some gave their hearts to Jesus!  The director was very appreciative of this message coming to their school.  At the next school we went to which was located next to a womans prison, we walked several flights of stairs to get to their auditorium!  Carrying our sound system up and down the stairs equals for a good work out!  The director at this school was telling us over and over again…if you ever come back to Paraguay, we want you back at this school!  We ended our morning at a Catholic school, which wasnt on our schedule.  We have seen a trend at these schools.  We pray for the directors and headmasters and for God to stir their hearts for the message, and then they are repeatedly telling us, come back to our school!  This message is incredible and our students need to hear it!  And I think that they do too.

We got a very special treat for lunch that day….cake, pop, and chips!  Our missionary contact in Paraguay, Pastor Ted, and his wife (who is Albanian), invited us to their house for our lunch.  They were so welcoming to our team!  Since it was raining, we stayed at their house for a couple of hours, before going to our final school that day.  Please pray for Pastor Ted and his family, and for God to enlarge their ministry!  Ted requested to read a copy of “I would Die for You, the BJ Higgins Story”, and God has moved his heart to get this book and give it to his people here in Paraguay. 

We started our trek back to the border of Brasil, which isnt very far from where we were at, and then made it back to our time zone in Brasil for dinner. 

On Saturday we started our day off early with an almost 3 hour bus ride to Toledo, Brasil!  When we leave at 7am, that means breakfast is at 6:30, but our students have an incredible attitude the whole time! We arrived in Toledo around 10:30 ish, and whoa was this church welcoming to us!  We got off the bus, and they said “come have some coffee to wake you up!” Of course we didnt refuse at ALL!  We enjoyed a snack of sweetened coffee, and ham and cheese sandwiches before heading to the local plaza in Toledo.  The Pastor of this church was named Pastor Octavio.  This man was 70 years old, and had more energy than most of us on our good days!   His church followed us to every site we went to, and when the drama was finished, they were first to hand out tracks that they brought!  This church encouraged us so much!  I think we are learning more and more what it means to be the body of Christ, and work together!  We ended in the plaza, and then walked down the road to local street corner and faced the intersection of the street, and performed the drama. We encountered many believers there, and got to pray with them before we left.  One group went to talk to a lady at a “Kelli Store”, and she could pray then and there bc she was working, but the groupwrote down her information, and gave it to the church so they could contact her. 

For lunch, we went back to Pastor Octavios church.  His wife and other ladies of the church made us Potroast, rice, noodles, beans, and salad for lunch.  MMMMM, GOOD!  Reminded us of our Mommas potroast at home! It was such a blessing!  We thanked them so much for the lunch, and then went out to the local bus station to minister.  After the bus station we went to a street and set up in front of a salon.  Across the street from where we did the drama, was a local “Pub”.  The lady at this business watched the whole drama, and was moved in her heart. She said thank you so much for doing this here, you dont see anything like this anymore, and today is my sons 21st birthday, and he got to see this message!  She asked if she could give us money, and we said no, no, and she said well let me give you some bottles of Coke!  Bless her heart, and thank you Jesus that you move the hearts of people…only you can do that.

We ended our day in Toledo, and headed back to Foz for the evening. We stopped to take some pictures in a field (which we will upload later today), and then headed back home for some yummy dinner at the semiear. 

On Sunday, we went to three different churches!  The first church was so encouraging and when we sang, they had motions to every song…we should incoorporate this back in our worship time at home.   For lunch, we got to attend a fund raising luncheon for our Pastor Flavio here. He is going to Turkey at the end of this month on a Missions trip.  What an awesome thing…to help send someone out, while we are out!  Since it was raining yesterday too, ministry in the afternoon was cancelled, and our team had mandatory rest time in the afternoon.  It was so needed since we have been going, going.  We left the seminary very rested and headed back to the Drug Rehab place (one that we went to a week ago) for a worship service.  People here are so enthusiastic for the things of God!  After the drug rehab center, we ended at a local church in Porta Bella.  The church blessed our team with a snack of hot dogs, and cake, and then we performed the drama for them. When we do the drama in churches, we explain to them this is what we do in Parks, plazas, schools, and so on.  And we talk to them about how they to can minister to their people…its not our team, and then them, its both of us working together at one in the body of Christ. 

Today is our rest day.  Please pray for a renewed spirit in our team as we start our last week of ministry tomorrow.  Please pray for God size stories, and for miracles to happen here! Please pray for our walks with God to continue to be deepened, and for our health on our team to remain good. 

Thank you for praying! We cant move with it!

Peace!

Jim and Barbara Ann, CCs

Argentina! 

What an incredible day in Argentina we had yesterday.  We started our day off by going through the border of Brasil, crossing over the bridge (over the Parana River)…at one point our team was in two different countries!  Half the bus was in Argentina, the other half in Brasil!  Then we went through the border of Argentina, and wala!  We were in Argentina! 

We started off our day at a school, where we met lots of children, and their teachers! Their teachers were overjoyed at this gospel being shared. We went to another school where our students were celebrities!  They kept chanting Otro, otro (again, again)!  I love how the gospel is still getting across to students, even in little silliness!

We ate our lunch at Pastor Alfonso’s church, and then our students went out for some small group time.  It was crazy how we were in Argentina!  We finished our day off at another school, where students saw the gospel with new eyes.  Even when students laugh at the crucifixtion of Jesus, it still gets our hearts, that that was what it was like when Jesus was crucified….laughed at, ridiculed, mocked…all for us. 

Today we spent all day at one school. It was good to just stay in one place, and not have to travel for a long ways.  The kids at this school were so precious!  The teachers invited us to eat snack with them, and gave our team chocolate milk!  We played games with them, and performed the drama five times there.  The gospel was saturated at this school.

Tomorrow we will be going to Paraguay.  Please pray for this day.  It was such a time getting all of our VISAs for this country, and we believe that God has incredible things in store. Please pray for miracles, salvations, and open doors for the gospel. Pray for the government officials in this country. Pray for HUGE things in this country for Jesus!

Its been good here.  We love this country so much, and the people!  Our time seems to be going so fast here.  I know our God is not done working! Please pray for continued good health of our team, and for the deep things of God to keep stirring all of our hearts.

Peace!

Jim and Barbara Ann, CC’s

What a great day in the Lord it was!  We started our day out at 8:30.  We loaded the bus, and then headed to the Brasil, Paraguay border.  It took us some time to clear immigration and customs, and then waa-la, we were in Paraguay! 

Paraguay is one hour times difference from Brasil, and much different economy wise! And Paraguay is a spanish speaking country, so we brought our spanish tracks, and spanish response cards with us. 

The first school we went to was a school that had 4, 000 students in it. Now while there were 4,000 students in the school, there werent that many seeing the drama when we performed it.  So many students at this school gave their hearts to the Lord.  We rejoice over that! 

After that school we went to two other schools, and it turns out that Paraguay was in a teacher strike, so those schools were closed.  We ended up going to a park, performing the drama, and then going to another school where so many gave their hearts to Jesus!!!  97 response cards at this school!!!  The Lord had already prompted their hearts, and the students showed us on their faces how much they needed and wanted God.  Such a cool thing. 

After this school we went back to the school we went to in the m0rning, performed the drama, and got to pray over several students.  More gave their hearts to the Lord.  Such a blessing!  At our last drama site of the day, we went to a Catholic school nearby.  We heard that the secretary was not a believer, but devote Catholic…which is way different in South America.  They pray to Mary and Saints to get to Jesus, and we know that Jesus took care of that on the cross! We dont pray through other people…we go straight to God! 

We finished, and loaded back on the bus and made our way back to the border to cross immigration and customs.  This time it didnt take as long.  It was so cool to be in two time zones, and two countries today!  God worked so much!  And close to 200 people gave their hearts to Jesus! 

Tomorrow we go to….ARGENTINA!!!!  WOO!!  Please pray for smooth border crossings and for our team to have good rest.  We will leave bright and early at 7am!  Thank you for walking with us! This summer has been incredible so far, and I know that God is not done yet.  Please pray that we dont miss one thing he has for us. And please continue to pray for good health, unity and love of our team and for salvations to come to these three countries!

Love you guys!

Jim and Barbara Ann, CC’s

Hey beautiful friends and family!

Can we just tell you how awesome our God was this weekend?! Saturday, we went to a city an hour and a half drive away. This city was very small compared to Foz and has never seen North Americans before. Needless to say, Americans, in costume, made for quite the sight. We met with a missionary named Christian who showed us around the city and told us it’s history. We did the drama 3 times in front of a super market. Between the first and second drama, during lunch time, our wonderful CCs were asked to be on a radio station to explain more about our ministry and invite people to come watch. On the weekends, this radio station is allowed to play Christian music and talk about God, so what are the odds we were there on a Saturday? 100%! As the students became more and more pumped to minister in this city, the crowd grew bigger and over 30 people came to know Christ. God did a mighty work in this city. It was a blessing to watch our team minister to these people and let the Lord guide them.

On our way back to Foz we stopped in another city and performed at a skate park. It was incredible to see God move here. Our team was excited for another opportunity to minister and continued to spread God’s love all over Brazil. One of our students had an opportunity to share the Gospel, without a translator, to a girl sitting on the swings. This girl was so excited that as she got up to leave, she shared her new excitement and joy with her sister! After the team was finished ministering, we engaged the culture. We used the half pipe as a slide with the children, tested a bike on the ramp, and filled the families and our team with joy!

After dinner, we invited our amazing translators and hosts to join us in worship. It was simply incredible! The Lord filled the room with his presence! Team members were on their face before the Lord, the nationals were worshipping with all their hearts, and it was a time we will all remember! The nationals blessed us by singing songs in their native language as well.

Sunday we had another opportunity to perform at a church and then spent the rest of the day with them. We performed the drama 3 times in the same plaza down the street. The Lord never ceases to amaze us at how he moves. Although many did not “commit” their lives, many heard His story. This area was surrounded by many Catholics whose hearts are set on their ways. However, our team was encouraged to persevere and keep spreading the love of Jesus. We also had a teaching on the 5 love languages to help unify our team even more. To cap off our Fourth of July in Brazil, we were invited to perform at another church. After the service, we were blessed with Brazilian hotdogs and the team sang the national anthem.

This brings us to today, a day of rest. The team enjoyed sleeping in, walking to the mall with the nationals, and enjoying each others company. We played soccer with some children of Foz and ended the evening with a talent show. The students graced us with a reenactment of little red riding hood, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”, and one group even reenacted what they portrayed our leadership to be. It was a time full of laughter and was a great way to end our day!

Tomorrow we are headed to Paraguay and we ask for your continued prayers for this situation. We also ask for prayers on health, rest, surrender, and loving one another. We are blessed to be with this team and love watching them surrender their lives to Jesus. Thank you so much for your prayers and support, we could not make it without them! We love you all and miss you!

Love always your 3FT TDs Alesha and Tyler