the lighting burnt through the diffuser cloth...which during the entire filming was heating the back of my head

Yeay! ptL my 2 nieces are safe and sound out of their comfort zone :) You can read for yourself about them at their parents’ blog: http://www.reutterfamily.com/ I can’t wait to see them in person at Christmas! Nate & Ruth are still asking for prayers for Becca & Anna to gain weight quickly and for Ruth’s quick recovery from the surgery.

This week is crazy for me! Our pastor is going to be traveling this weekend so I need to help prep a bunch of media stuff for him, this weekend is our Encounter with God retreat where I’ll be serving as an intercessor, part of the skits, and ministering “Prayer as a Lifestyle” on Sunday, and this Saturday is the first Saturday our cell group network is in charge of an all-new adolescent service!

faces blurred for their protection

Yesterday (Monday) I went to the women’s prison to film the work our church is doing there. There are 10 PAZ cell groups in the prison, and we are supplying materials for all the new believers to start one-on-one discipleship, with a focus on training them into being cell leaders so when they leave the prison they will be strong believers ready to start cell groups in their homes. Oh, and at the service where there were about 120-130 women, almost all of them went forward to give their lives to Christ! I think the ones that didn’t were ones who were already mature Christians who were going to be discipling the new converts.

So again, I need your prayers! Filming is the easy part, it’s the editing that takes super long! And I’ve never ministered at an Encounter weekend retreat before, so it’s going to be a great, new stretching experience for me :) Thanks you all for your love and support!
Uncle Paul

'06 Corsa Classic

I taught my friends here to play spoons :)

Thanks so much for your prayers and support, they are making a huge difference! I still haven’t reached my goal of $2,000/month so if you know of any friends who are wanting to invest in a ministry and be a part of the work God is going here in Brazil, I would appreciate you telling them about me! :) The Lord has brought some friends along side me who have made short term commitments which has really, really given me a boost financially, so thank you and thank You Jesus. And again thanks for your continued prayers, I’m excited to see what God is going to do in the next couple months after this fast and as the church focuses more on prayer…it’s gonna be incredible!!!

For His Kingdom,
Paulinho (my nickname in Portuguese, means “little Paul”)

P.S. New address & phones:
Paulinho Hrubik
Rua Elizeu Oriá, 891
Bairro: Água Fria
CEP: 60830-740
Fortaleza, CE, Brasil

+55 (85) 9949-2325

Mom helping me set up my room :)

I’m finally here, safe and sound!  It was great having Mom come with me for a couple days to help me set up the house…she’s the best!  It’s the first time I experienced buying a fridge, stove, microwave, etc for myself.  I’m more used to computer parts, so needless to say I learned a whole new vocabulary and sets of brand names I never knew existed.  And the house I’m staying in is beautiful, but I am only renting a part of it.  The house is going to be used for the church’s social assistance, and I’m sure I’ll write more about that later.

what do I do with these??

But when I first arrived, everyone cautioned us about the dangers of assaults in Fortaleza, giving me hints of the do’s and don’t’s.  But I used to give the North Americans those types of hints in Santarém, so I wasn’t too worried…but within one week, 3 of my friends were assaulted, the latest one was Tuesday night after church.  Abraham was driving his mom and a friend home when he was held up at gunpoint in front of his friend’s apartment complex.  They took his car and all their wallets with their documents.  I know I’ve learned to pray a lot more than usual and I appreciate your prayers as well!  I also don’t walk around with my wallet anymore, just a little cash and my ID.

what you can't see is the 8,000V electric fence on all the walls!

I’m starting to be given minor responsibilities, getting to know LOTS of people, and still looking for a washing machine :)  I’ve almost reached my goal for my support as the Lord has been touching different people to give, but I’m not sure exactly where I’m at because the last monthly report didn’t show all those who have committed to give.  God is so good and I’ve seen His provision for me time and again, provision of health, finances, protection, etc.  I’ve decided that I’m not going to live in fear but will continue to trust in Him and learn to be more and more sensitive to His direction for every area of my life, even if it means taking a different route to church one day or doing something unusual another day.

In Him,
Paul

ice-breaker @ cell (w/ toiletpaper)

Our cell group multiplied on June 24th with a fun celebration, great fellowship, and the consecration of the new cell leaders. It also marked my stepping out of the cell leadership before I head to Fortaleza. Then we had our huge evangelistic rally at the soccer stadium where we had over 790 people start a new life with Christ! (and during which I helped out the TV station as a camera guy)

Filming for the TV station at the Congresso

Immediately following was a 4-day construction/medical/filter trip to Piracaoera and Aritapera river communities with a Samaritan’s Purse team led by a good friend of mine from Canada. And the next day after arriving from the river communities, as a “good-bye” party for myself, I planned a camping trip on top of our little “mountain” which was a tiring, fun, unforgettable, new experience for everyone that participated!

after pouring the concrete for the floor at camp w Canadian team

Now that the filter project is handed over and the cell group multiplied, I’m finishing up the internship at the TV station where I’ve been getting a lot of practice in filming, editing, lighting, producing, etc. And all but 2 of the guys I’ve been discipling I’ve handed over to other capable men to be mentoring, and those last 2 already know who are going to be their disciplers as soon as I leave. The plane tickets are bought for August 4th when I’ll be moving to Fortaleza for a new start in my ministry, living, transportation, communication, etc. It’s gonna be a stretch but I’m excited to see what the Lord is going to do!

It sounds like they’ve figured out a place for me to stay in Fortaleza…it’s the “maid’s quarters” of a place the church is renting, so I’ll be paying a small amount of rent to the church :) I’m going to have to look for a vehicle when I get there and figure out the rest of my monthly expenses, but the goal I was given was to raise $2000/month to not only cover the bare minimum but also to be able to be a blessing to the ministry I’m involved in.  Thanks to all you who are current supporters, I’m at $650/month!  You guys are such a blessing and, whether you realize it or not, you are a main part in this ministry as well… :)

Well, I’ll try not to take so long to update next time…until then!

Paul

Groomsmen on wedding day!

The graduation was nice and it was great to see all the great improvements to ORU.  But the best part of the trip to Tulsa was seeing you!  The weekend Encounter with God retreat was a huge success, praise the Lord, and again while in IL we got to see lots of you.  And finally the wedding in California was fun and beautiful!  Got to see lots of my Huber family, and even some of my Hrubik family who I had only met for the first time when I was at ORU several years ago!  So congratulations to Isaiah and Erin, and to everyone I got to see it was so much fun and thanks so much for everything!

Isaiah & Erin Huber

And now some interesting/exciting news: I’m going to be moving to Fortaleza in the beginning of August!  My uncle Abe (my mom’s youngest brother) who started our largest church here, moved to Fortaleza with his top leaders and started a new church in Fortaleza several years ago.  In about 3 years the church has grown to 1800 members and their goal is to have 5,000 members by the end of 5 years.  Recently, they have been feeling the Lord telling them to really develop their media department and they also felt like I was supposed to be the one to help with that.  So they called up my parents, and almost immediately my parents felt the same thing!  After a couple months of praying and talking about it, the decision became final.  I’m training up two leaders in the cell group to take over, one for when we multiply and one for the one I’m currently leading.  I’m going to be handing over the water filter project to Ken & Isaura Orr, who already have been in training for this before we knew this was going to happen.  I hope to see the English school started before I leave and the No Appologies project running.

So what does this mean?  I’m going to be super busy getting all these details sorted out before I leave.  I still don’t know where I’m going to stay in Fortaleza, being that I’ve never been there before, but I imagine I’ll split the rent with some other guys in an apartment.  I’ll be needing to buy a vehicle for transportation, buying my own food, paying electric and water bills, etc, so now is when I’m going to really be needing support.  I would like to ask you to pray about being a part of this ministry and supporting me financially as I start this new challenge! There are several ways to give (all tax-deductible) and all are listed in one convenient location…the PAZ website (this link will take you directly to the donation page).  My goal (with advice from my leadership) is to raise US$2,000 per month.  I’m currently at US$500/month and I’ll keep you updated.  Thanks so much to you all!  You are a a huge part of the revival happening in Brazil, and I can’t wait for a chance for you to come down and see what all you are doing!

More later!
Paul

Map of some PAZ bases

William & me on the line boat coming back from Juruti

So on Saturday, April 4th, I found myself speaking at a youth/young adult conference in Juruti (a smaller city about 10 hrs by boat up the Amazon), and even though I believe God gave me a good word to share and I had prepared thoroughly, half-way through my sermon that thought flew through my head, “Wow, I’m not that great of a speaker!”

group ready to work on church construction

I guess it helps keep me humble and allows the Holy Spirit to work, because there were about 8 people that came forward to give their lives to Christ when I made the alter call. After the service I asked the pastor about them, and he said he didn’t recognize any of them, so they were probably invited especially for this “conference” (it was only one night and one morning) but he assured me that they got all their names and addresses and they were all going to be followed up with and integrated into a cell group.

Vila Nova church before

filling in the floor w/ dirt and bringin in the tiles

The next morning, instead of meeting at church, we went out to the camp and it was much more informal (which I like a LOT better, no microphones), and had more interaction and good q&a time.  Very interesting questions I got to try to answer, one of which I had the pastor’s wife take the women and to talk about it and I talked with just the guys :)  It was really good, and one of the best parts about the entire trip was that I was able to take my disciple, William, which I feel made a big impact in his life for the best.

workin the mixer

finished project!

Thursday after that trip I got youth/young adults from several cell groups to vonlunteer their time, sweat, and muscles to helping build a church in the comunity of Vila Nova.  We actually finished the roof and poured the concrete floor.  Today is the first time I don’t feel sore from that day, but I still have cuts and scratches from working the cement mixer :)  Now I’m trying to square some things away for my trip to the US, so I appreciate your prayers for that.  Watch out Tulsa, I’m comin to you first! :)

So here’s a rough schedule of mine from a week ago until May 19th:

Last week – Sun to Mon -go to Irusanga community with American team to help build church, take disciples Rodrigo & Aline

This weekend – Sat to Sun – go with cell group to Villa Nova community to help prep a concrete floor and finish the roof in a new church.

April 3-5 – go to Jurutí to speak at young adults’ conference, take disciple Serrão

April 27th, 1 am – leave for US!

Arrive in MIA at 8:30p, April 28th Lv for Chicago, meet up with parents and drive down to Tulsa.

Arrive in Tulsa April 29th, Lv for Chicago May 4th, Lv for Sandiego May 11th, go to LA May 13th, Lv for Brazil May 18th (spending the night in MIA)

So not much time, but it’s going to be time well spent :)  Hopefully that means meeting up with as many friends as possible in the different locations, so please let me know if you are going to be at any of those locations any of those days!

cell vs cell soccer game. our team won (I think :)

As I prep for the conference at Juruti, I ask for your prayers!  I’m very nervous and very thankful for this opportunity.  I plan on taking my disciple, Williams, but known as Serrão, to be able to have some quality time with him and to invest more in his life.  He plans on becoming a young adult cell leader at the end of June so praise the Lord for that!  So prayerfully this conference will be a blessing for the youth in Juruti and a real boost in the spirit for Serrão.  And for me it’s definitely going to be a stretch and I pray that the Lord would be glorified through whatever happens.

Well, there’s some exciting news in the cell group but I’m going to go ahead and post this and get to writing the next post soon.  See you in a month (hopefully!)

At the Indian community of Castanhal

I’m back and very excited for what God’s done throughout this time.  It was really good to see all the filter projects in the different bases with Carolina, fix what we needed to, and hear the great reports from each base.  And as Carolina left, she gave me a word from the Lord very similar to what I heard from Pr. Harold Weitsz (our conference speaker) which is that the Lord is about to do some great things here through PAZ, and for us to get ready.  I’ve been asking the Lord how do I get ready?

Mt Alegre filter group with Carolina

Well, one thing I know is that PAZ has some large, exciting goals for the next 5 years! And towards those goals, all of the 500+ PAZ churches are fasting for 3 days (2/27 – 3/1) sending in the “spiritual airforce” to the communities where we are hoping to build churches.  My Dad sent out a great update on that if you are subscribed to his e-mail updates.  But needless to say we are excited to see God moving in ways we’ve never seen before!

And even though I was traveling for these past 2 weeks, the cell group has continued to grow, and the Lord has really shown me that as long as I’m doing His will and am where He wants me, He’s the one who does the work and I don’t have to worry.   My goal this year for my cell groups is to see them strongly multiply twice (strongly meaning faithful, fruitful members going to each cell group).

Riding in the back of a truck to a jungle community

Some of our new members (Katia & Bete) are going to an encounter with God weekend retreat next weekend, so I would love your prayers that it would be a turning point in their lives.  I believe both of them are very open to the gospel, but neither have made a firm decision yet to follow the Lord.  Also João Paulo is a new kid who has been very faithfully coming and I’m believing that soon he too will make his firm decision to follow the Lord.  He even participated in a prayer vigil we had last night and participated in the fasts for that day :)

And lastly, some BIG NEWS…we’ve decided I should go to the US for Isaiah’s wedding (my very close cousin) in California and taking advantage of the trip going to Debbie’s graduation from ORU and helping PAZ Chicago church’s 1^st encounter with God weekend retreat!  So I’ll be there for about 3 weeks, leaving here April 27^th and returning May 19^th.   I’ll put up my itinerary later but I would love to see everyone I can while I’m there!  So more about that later.  ~Paul~

Well, I’m off to Mt Alegre until Wed morning, then a quick trip to a jungle village for the day but back in time for cell group Wed night.  Then Thurs morning flying to Parintins to catch a boat to an Indian village where we’ll be taking 30+ filters, flying back to Santarém Sunday morning, flying to Belém Monday morning and meeting up with some people from the Castanhal base to go to some river communities for the night, coming back on Tuesday to meet up with the people from Belém, visiting another couple communities where they have water filters, sending Carolina back to Canada Friday afternoon, then catching a midnight flight back to Santarém in time to pack and catch another boat to Mt. Alegre for the young adults camp there with a bunch of my disciples and people from my cell group!  I’ll be returning on the 26th to Santarém, so if you don’t hear from me for a while, it’s ’cause I’m on the run…

Thanks for your prayers!

~Paul~

white elephant gift exchange

David and his new blouse :)

So the cell group had a fun Christmas party where I taught them the white elephant gift exchange, and thankfully it went really well! The best was seeing David, the 6′4″ Canadian intern get a little blouse! Thankfully (for him) it was stolen and he got to pick something else :) Every year the PAZ missionaries here in Santarém get together and do our own white elephant and then camp out on the beach, where we tell our New Year goals around the campfire. This time a bunch of us also decided to get up really early and climb our little “mountain” to take pictures of the sunrise. After we finally got to the top in the dark, it turned out to be a really cloudy morning so we couldn’t see the sunrise and it started raining on us at the top. Needless to say, it was a blast and another memory we have when we look at the not so good pictures taken and laugh!

it's good!

putting up the tents

And for 2 weeks in January it’s been conference after conference. I got to jump over to Mt Alegre with the interns to do some filter supervision for a couple days, then got back just in time for a leadership conference where PAZ leaders from all our bases came together for a wonderful time of fellowship and teaching. Right after that I debriefed with the interns and said good-bye just before the PAZ Missionary Conference started where all the foreign missionaries get together from all the PAZ bases for another great time of fellowship and teaching. So I’m fueled up and ready to race. I’m excited to see what God is going to do through our cell group. The upcoming leaders in the cell are all planning on starting evangelistic groups in or near their homes which they plan on turning into actual cell groups once they start winning their neighbors, friends, and families for the Lord…so we’re look at multipling our cell group in 3, praise the Lord! Oh, and just fyi, we’ve moved our cell group hopefully for the last time, because now it’s inside my parent’s house.

nothin like a camp fire on the beach

Well, I’ve got about 2.5 weeks of focus time before I start traveling for another 2 weeks with the water filter project. I’ll be taking Carolina, Samaritan’s Purse’s water filter supervisor for all of South America, to supervise the work we’re doing. So I’d really appreciate your prayers as I plan for that (a lot of long distance planning) and as I work on catching up from the last 2 weeks of no internet. Thanks so much!

Much love,
Paul