Nurses on a Mission

I just wanted to share two really cool stories that happened this week.  First, is an amazing God story.

Last night at 3AM Henrique, a player who you all prayed for in October, called up our Hands-on guys (Jordon & Jordan).  The conversation started off with Henrique  sharing that his life has been getting rough and his mom had thrown him out of the house and his girlfriend had left him.  This concluded with Henrique stating that he was thinking about taking his life.  After hearing this J&J invited him over to their house.

When Henrique arrived at the apartment, he insisted on going for a walk down to the ocean.  As they walked, he began to share his story.  Henrique shared that his life began to unravel as God became less important to him.  As they got close to the water, Henrique asked if he could be baptized.  So, at 4 in the morning, Jordon walked out into the Atlantic Ocean and baptized Henrique!  Praise the Lord.  Acts 8:26-40

Second cool story, happened this weekend.  We had two players come to church with us.  I was asking some questions after church to our player from France.  I asked, “Do you know anyone is France that goes to church?”  He shared, “France is much different than it is in Portugal.  People in France do not know or talk about God.  Everyone here knows about and talks about God.”  This is an amazing comment, because the culture towards God is the same in France and Portugal.  However, he only knows the culture of our football team and our culture involves God.  It was amazing to see that God has created a sub-culture on our team.  We serve an awesome God.

Hello, hello!  Happy Friday the 13th to you!

So far I’ve only spilt my homemade blackberry and coconut smoothie – twice – and broken one electrionic piece of machinary.  How about you???

Honestly, all the silliness of Friday the 13th aside, we’re doing well.  Tonight Brady and I will begin facilitating a marriage course.  We’ll be leading a group of 14 people through the Alpha marriage cirriculum.  How exciting (and humbling) is that???  Praying that goes well the night before we head over to Spain for the football game. 

The football players and leaders from LSU leave Sunday morning, so they’ll only get to spend a few hours with the footballers here in Lisbon this Saturday.  We’re praying those last hours are full of good, meaningful conversation.  Thank you all - Razorbacks, Tider, Bears, etc – for praying for these guys.  One of them is considering coming back next year as a

Hey there — just a quick Spring update…

There is a volunteer team here from Louisiana State University to help with the football team (the Crusaders).  The guys are here to share the Gospel with the football players and anyone they can bump in to around Lisbon.  Would you take a second and pray for the 9 guys who are here?  They’ll be practicing every night this week.  Hopefully there won’t be a bunch of injuries and the Portuguese players will hear a clear presentation of the story of Christ. 

On top of that, the Crusaders will be playing a football game in Spain on Sunday.  That means they’ll leave on Saturday (the 14th), drive about 8 hours, then play on Sunday (the 15th).  Would you pray that everyone would travel safely (they’ll be taking cars as there is a law prohibiting them from taking a bus together).  Pray for opportunities to share life, and more importantly, Jesus, with the players they are with (both Portuguese and Spanish).  Finally, please pray for no more injuries (two of the three Hands On volunteers are injured and can’t play)!!!

Thanks for remembering us and the stuff going on here!
We love you!!!

I am so sorry if I confused any of you.  Brady and I are speaking at church NEXT Sunday (March 4th).  You see, it was mid-Monday morning for us here in Portugal when I blogged.  I am so sorry for any confusion.  LOL.

Thanks for all of your encouraging notes about praying it went well.  We love you and are so glad that you get us.

Beijinhos!!!
A & B

Would you do us a HUGE favor?  Would you pray for us (both Brady and Andrea) as we prepare for church on Sunday.  We’ve been asked to teach and … wow.  That’s huge.  It’s humbling.  It’s so… IMPORTANT.  Now, many of you know we’ve spoken at churches and taught high school Bible study.  I’ve even taught the elementary kids a few times, but “big church” feels so different!  How do you full time pastors do it???

In any case, would you just pray that we communicate a clear message of the Gospel?  That we would get out of the way and not over-think this too much?  That God would be the focus?

Thank you sooooo much! 
A and B

Good Monday morning!  Everyone up and ready to go this week?  Thank goodness for espresso and sunshine!!!

A coworker of ours shared this YouTube video this morning.  It’s about a family that was (is???) meeting for Bible study in their home in southern California.  The city is telling them their meetings are illegal.  Check out the video (it’s less than 3 minutes of grainy footage long) and well worth considering.  Should home Bible studies be subject to the same laws as, say, WalMart or the Home Depot?  Take a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjJrmWbHM2I

Update: Heard this info from a friend:
Seems like I heard something about this before. I think it had more to do with the parking issues in the neighborhood. Sounded to me like it had become more than a “small group”. We still need to be respectful of our neighbors rather than demanding our “rights”.

Last Thursday, two football volunteers, Jordan and Grant had a great conversation with a player on the Crusaders, Claudio. He asked a difficult question, which sparked a two hour conversation that ended with Jordon leading him in prayer as he surrendered to Christ at Carvcavelos beach.  We also had a Christian who is on our team, ask if he could lead a Bible study with our players.  God sure is amazing, looking forward to seeing what else He has in store for the people in Portugal.

Just had another player accept Christ this weekend.  Three players in 4 weeks, woo hoo!  Verissimo had a great conversation with one of my volunteers and asked Christ into his life Saturday morning.  He  is a very good player on our team who has had many conversations with me and other members of our team here and after 5 years, finally decided it was time.

Thank you for your prayers and your support!  Keep praying!

Brady

Great news, we just had our second football player accept Christ this year.  One player accepted Christ about 3 weeks ago, working with a football volunteer via Skype.  Then two nights ago another one did, after a conversation with a colleague of ours.   God sure is good.  The second one started seeking God when he was invited to a church plant that was started this summer by a volunteer church in the US.   He came to visit the church and after 6 months of discipleship, he got down on his knees in his house and asked God to forgive him and pray that he wanted to follow Him.  This is awesome news.  We have 2-3 other guys who are close to accepting Christ as well.

Please pray for these guys.  Also pray for a big game we have this weekend. We play the best team in the country.  They have not been beat in 5 years and won back to back national championships.  This will also be the first national game ever televised on national TV.  This is a huge game for our club and I feel like we should be able to compete with these guys.  Pray for me as a coach, pray for my 3 US volunteers that are here playing Jordan S., Jordan G., and Grant.  Pray that we would be wise and make good decisions
as coaches.

Praise – we had a heavy metal band come and shot a video on our field.  Even though I am not crazy about this kind of music, it advertise our team and more importantly the non-profit platform that we use here. Here is the link for the video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY69xigB14s&feature=share

Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

Brady and Andrea

“Porque um menino nos nasceu, um filho se nos deu; e o governo estará sobre os seus ombros; e o seu nome será: Maravilhoso Conselheiro, Deus Forte, Pai Eterno, Príncipe da Paz.” Isaías 9:6 (Bíblia Sagrada)

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

God. 
Wonderful.
Counselor.
Mighty.
Father.
Eternal.
Peace.  

When I thought about which of those descriptive words most poignantly encapsulated 2011 for us, each one seemed to resonate within me.  We have had to rely on God in so many new ways this year.  He has moved in us (and we hope in others) in fresh ways. 
We continued to learn about God – His character, His plan for our lives, His plan for our girls…
Highlights?
1. Karsen and Kiaya being baptized.
2. Dad’s successful surgery and recovery.
3. Opportunities to share our faith with those around us here in Portugal.

Surely if I thought about it longer, I could come up with other amazing moments in 2011.  But I *think* those are our top 3.  Maybe…  LOL.

We love you and we thank you for being on this crazy ride with us.  We appreciate your thoughtful emails, messages, calls, visits and prayers.  You have encouraged us like crazy this year.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.  We hope that you get how thankful you have made us.  You are amazing.  We appreciate you more than you know.

Wishing you and your loved ones an amazing, wonderful, joyful, blessed 2012.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  
Brady, Andrea, Karsen, Kiaya and Kinley Nurse