Category Archives: Family

Josiah and Jonathan Get Baptized

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A few weeks ago Josiah and Jonathan asked me if they could be baptized. This situation came up because they had just seen one of their friends get baptized. We made it a point to wait a few weeks and see what the real motive behind it was.

About a year ago, Josiah spoke to me at church one night and said he wanted to be saved. He had previously said he was saved, but did not know when he trusted Christ. He was reluctant to even admit that he was a sinner, so we did not believe that he was truly saved. However, after hearing Bro. Jimmy Rose preach at a mission conference, he came home and trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior.

This was a pretty clear decision and you could tell that it was from his heart. Jonathan, on the other hand, was a different situation. He was always saying that he had trusted Jesus as his Savior. We did not put much trust in his decision because of the way he prayed. Of course the way you pray does not affect your salvation. I had asked Jonathan to pray before the boys went to sleep one night. In that prayer he quickly said, “Please forgive me of my sins and save me.” That was it! With children, who pray for dogs and other unconventional things, we did not think he was serious. The tone of his voice was very playful.

However, after a year or more of putting it off, he still insists that he was saved that night. We clearly remember the day, but did not believe he was saved. I questioned him quite thoroughly on this matter and he did not give in. He was confident of his salvation! AMEN! I am glad when a person cannot be shaken on the matter of their salvation.

The Lord gave us peace about the whole situation and we scheduled the baptism. Please watch the video to see our two precious boys being baptized. This was also my first time to baptize. I must express with the apostle John, that, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 

Here is the video…

— Jeremy

Posted in Family, Old Blog

Update on Recent Events

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It has been a good while since I updated the blog with any real news. So, here is what has been happening lately on the Tyler side of the ministry…

 

  1. Gospel Tracts – In December we saw the opportunity to print a few tracts to use. We have just about been out of tracts for the last five months or so. Because of this we wanted to print some very nice looking, attractive tracts that we could give out with the Gospel website name on them. We did not realize it would be so hard to print them. Yet, the Lord has still kept our hopes up. Printing here in Brazil is a bit different than the US with less technology. Though, the system they use is pretty modern, the programming used is different. The printers have also asked us to meet certain qualifications with colors that we have never had to do before. Because of this, I have spent days trying to fix things for the printers. We are still waiting, but are praying they will get printed this week.
  2. Music Lessons – I am now giving lessons to about 10 young people and children. This is an opportunity to help churches here in Brazil develop their music programs. It has been exciting to see them improve. Yet, we know our time here in São Paulo is short, so we must do what we can to move these students along quickly.
  3. Lightning Strikes – This is not normal in the US, but here it has become quite a trying circumstance. It has rained almost every day in the past two months. About 4-5 in the afternoon, the clouds roll in and we get not only rain, but lots of thunder and lighting. In the middle of January, we heard a very large crash on a Sunday evening. We had not unplugged everything that evening. So, we got struck by lightning. No, not personally, but our internet and everything connected to it got hit. So we are still working on getting everything back to normal. After weeks without internet (at home) and much time trying to figure out how to set everything up again, we are back online. We are praying we will be able to get things back to normal in the next few weeks to keep up with our correspondence as we should.
  4. Future Plans – Please pray with us about what this year holds for us. We would like to move to Porto Velho by the end of the year. Though nothing is set in stone, we are beginning to plan toward this goal. We are also praying about taking a short trip to the US to visit a few churches and see family and friends. Our goal is to take this trip so that we do not need to worry about returning to the US for several years after our move.
  5. Publication – We are designing and planning an online bi-monthly publication. The idea behind this publication is to promote good doctrine, unity, a high view of God, holiness, salvation and many other such things that are lacking in this country today. In the beginning of this year, we started sending out a monthly publication created by a fellow missionary, Jim King. This has been rewarding and a new source of encouragement for many people and pastors in our Baptist churches here in Brazil.

–Jeremy

Posted in Family, Literature, Ministry, Old Blog
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