Good morning everybody!
I have an update for you on the developing connection in Brazil, but before I do that I need to inform you that Cesar Gonzalez, our leader and primary mover and shaker in Guatemala, had emergency prostate surgery last Friday. He called me Saturday from the hospital in Nueva, Santa Rosa, to share the news, and in typical Cesar fashion, was joking around about all the blood and guts part of his procedure. He was scheduled to get out of the hospital later that day. According to the doctors, there is no cancer and he should recover just fine. Right now, his instructions are to lay low for a couple of weeks, which means Elba will have to put up with him more at home. Pray for her!
Cesar and his daughter Mirna at the hospital.
I found out that the cost for the surgery was about $6000, and Cesar said he had about half of it. So I am passing the hat here to see if we could get about $3000 in the next week or so to help out. If you send money for that, be sure to earmark it for Cesar's surgery.
Brazil Story Continued
In our last update I shared how the connection had been made with a rodeo guy from Brazil named Renato, and how we needed prayers for wisdom in responding to him and his desire to reach fellow Brazilian cowboys and ranchers for Christ. We are continuing to pray and gather information, and considering our vision that every person in the Americas has a friend who loves Jesus, we are seeking God's direction on how we are to respond. But there was a hitch in our process in figuring it out.
A little over a week ago, Renato wanted to see if we could come to Brazil in late October for some big evangelistic events he would be participating in and for him to introduce us to rodeo and ranching leaders in his region. To pull that off, it would mean a short turnaround of getting a Brazilian travel visa for me ($240) and then come up with about $3000 extra to fund plane tickets and expenses for Cesar and me. I was gung-ho, and Cesar was too, but Bill Burrows, our Play. Story. Eat. coach, thought we were moving way too fast. He reminded me that it would mean that our behind-the-scenes planning for organizing our advisory board and following through on some fundraising tasks that a coach was helping us with would be put on ice, and he couldn't see when we could reschedule before December.
So I slowed down and asked Cesar for a week to figure it out. After due diligence, it made more sense to me that the most strategic first step would be for Renato to meet us in Guatemala in January when we are doing our big rodeo stuff, and he could see some of our Christian Rancher groups in action. Then in March, Cesar and I would "pencil in" a trip to Brazil when I could go straight to Brazil directly from Guatemala and avoid complicated plane schedules. Also, during this year, if we can get Renato a U.S. visa, he could come visit some of our cowboy friends here. From an economic standpoint, it would streamline our travel dollars and give us a few months to raise the extra funds. Once I suggested that plan, both Bill and Cesar liked it and felt more relief that we weren't having to jump too quickly. Cesar passed the word on to Renato, and we are waiting now to see if that works for him.
When I was talking with Cesar in the hospital, we both realized that his prostate would have dictated a delay in any of our projects in October. We just didn't know it yet! As has been the case so many times, God is taking care of us. Thanks for your prayers on this, and keep praying as we proceed.
Decisions When Folks Disagree
For us, we work hard at a specific method of making decisions. You can find an outline of the method by scrolling down to Value #5 Oneness here. Our vision that every person in the Americas has a friend who loves Jesus also has implications on the way we organize and do business. If I had wanted to a couple of weeks ago, I could have disregarded Bill and made a decision to proceed on the October trip. But because we value friendship and unity, I slowed down. In the end, I think we made a wise move, even without all the information at hand, and more importantly, we all proceeded together and with stronger bonds of friendship. I know that not all organizations can operate this way, but I am grateful that we can. And I pray that our unity is never taken for granted.
New Date: Nebraska Play. Story. Eat. Experience, November 3-4
Look for details in next week's update.
10:02 PRAYER (LUKE 10:2)
Please pray for Cesar in his recuperation process, and pray for us as we continue to do behind-the-scenes planning. And keep up the prayers for wisdom and resources to respond to this ongoing Brazilian request.
INVEST
Let's take care of Cesar this week. By the end of next week I'd like to send money to cover what he lacks on that surgery.
ENGAGE
Note that our next Play. Story. Eat. Experience in Nebraska has been rescheduled from November 10-11 to November 3-4. Stay tuned for those details and pass the word to all your Nebraska friends.
Love y'all!
Steve
PS... Investing Information
You can mail checks to:
Daybreak International, 11628 Oakmont St., Overland Park, KS 66210
On PayPal, you can give using the email daybreak.international@gmail.com.
On our websites, you can give at www.PlayStoryEat.com or www.DaybreakInternational.org.