Peter and Josi’s Newsletter - December 2017

Wishing all our friends and supporters a belated Merry Christmas and a
Happy New year!

Dear Friends,

I am writing this on the final day of December 2017!

December has been a rather intense month with the end of the school year for Escola Cristã Água
Viva and for Crianças do Rei. Also JOCUM em Familia - Thankyou to all who responded to our
fundraiser for going to and participating at the reunion for YWAM Leaders and YWAM Brazil Family
Reunion at Caldas Novas - Praise the Lord were were able to attend and stay for both events!

We look forward to 2018 with renewed vision and hope…..but must not underestimate the
challenges facing us.  Education and the Arts. Two spheres of society which are key to the
future of Brazil.. How is the Church going to engage these two spheres in 2018?  
 Will the church bring reformation?  But it certainly looks like the Church needs reformation
all over the world before we can reform nations.   The nations are sinking down because many
have assimilated and absorbed the world's values. Jesus calls us to be light and Salt in the
world and stand against darkness.   As Paul Washer said  “Your children will go to public school
and they will be trained for somewhere around 15,000 hours in ungodly secular thought.
And then they'll go to Sunday school and they'll color a picture of Noah's ark. And you think that's
going to stand against the lies that they are being told? "   

This situation is very serious - What will your church do about it in 2018?

To put things into a local context…...The situation of a local public creche not far from our school.
A mother that had placed her child there, came and explained to Josi the teachers were teaching
a story to the children about gender and that animals don't have male or female
sex defined at birth - They then went on to explain humans are the same also.  
The son came home from school and explained to his mother this terrible ideology.
Where on earth is the world going too?  And what are we going to do about it?  
Who will run to the battle?….In a world of growing darkness.

In spite of the challenges, we have renewed vision and hope. JOCUM em Familia was a very
good time of reconnecting and for Josi it was important meeting others called to education…..
 Christian educators need to work together to face the challenges ahead. It was good to see
Josi networking and organising meetings.

Speaking for myself, many of you have known me for years…...some of you I first met at Christian
conferences in the UK.  All I can say is how grateful I am for you all and your support and
encouragement.  A few weeks ago I was starting to say to myself (As one does when you
get past 50) …..My best years are behind me….but then it was as though the Lord caught
me and said, “No, your best years are ahead of you!” It was such powerful word,
 it stopped the negative thought dead in its tracks! But I am now wondering what on earth the
Lord has in store? Somehow I have a picture in my heart and mind when I hear the theme
“Where Eagles Dare” it was composed as a theme for a war film, an earthly battle…...
But the music is too great for this movie...it seems to lift me out of the world into a heavenly
place.  To me it’s the music for this hour and beckons the true church to arise and ascend
into the heavenly places to rule and to reign upon the earth.   “You have made them to
be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." Revelation 5:10
Are we on board? Are we on take off? Are we even in the hangar?
…..are we where we ought to be?….are we where the Lord wants His church to be during
these days?

For a long time art is a way for me to express what I believe ..just as Jesus said “Whoever
believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." John 7:38  
The year 2017  has been very creative one for me.  One may ask to what end?  But I would say
it will be a lot like the scripture ”By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later
receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
” Hebrews 11:8    

I don't have a gallery, I don't have an art agent, I don't have anything the world says I need to
be a successful artist. In fact the world would probably say I am a complete failure, irrelevant.…...
But this does not disappoint me….rather I exult in - God calling me to paint for His glory…  
and when a sketch and paint….I sense alignment…. moving into destiny…. I sense His
closeness - the living Christ…The fire…..The fire that burns…in a world full of disappointments….
Christ does not disappoint!

It is said of some Moravian missionaries when they went on a mission to minister to African
slaves  - they called out to their loved ones on shore as they left   "May the Lamb that was
slain receive the reward of His suffering!"

I never tire to hear stories of church history and missions….Hand over the paper, pens and
brushes and let me celebrate this wonderful prayer and call…..Let us set the world alight for
the Lamb that was slain that He might receive the reward of His suffering! Those who have
gone before us, have set the pace….are we going to disappoint that great cloud of witnesses
cheering us on as it were, even now from Heaven?   I hope this inspires you…...as we go into 2018

Dorothy is growing up into a charming young lady - for us,  such a pleasure and joy to be her
parents. She brings us much joy…what pleasure we had to see her enjoy being at JOCUM
em Familia and make lots of new friends!

2017 has been a year of many financial struggles…... but also many victories…..We look
forward to all the Lord will have prepared for those who love Him in 2018….He is faithful.

Please continue to pray for Escola Crista Agua Viva nd for Crianças do Rei. Also for JOCUM
Praia as we pray for staff God has called to serve Him here with us and seek to disciple Brazil
and the world in the ways of God and His Kingdom!

Happy New Year!

With love and best wishes

Peter, Josi and Dorothy    

​For those who would like to help financially my bank details are as follows.

Giving through Stewardship

An update - For those who kindly wish to support us in missions with YWAM Brazil. We are
registered with give net - Stewardship Services in the UK. Monthly and one-off donations can
be easily processed with Debit and Credit cards - please visit the link below to see our giving
page. Give net has made some recent updates which should make this easier - for those who
wish to remain anonymous, give net makes this provision. For people outside the UK who wish
to give - the payment process allows International donors to opt out of UK Gift Aid system.
Stewardship Services are a Christian organisation serving charities and missionaries from the UK

For those who wish to pay through STEWARDSHIP  We have an account
at https://www.give.net/20089559   Before confirming any gift on give.net you
will be asked whether you wish to remain anonymous. If you choose this option your
personal details will be will not be made known. If you have any questions please ask for details

Donations may also be sent via Western Union which we are able to receive here.   

Peter and Josi Millward, Rua Pintor J. Figueiredo No. 805. Praia Iparana. Caucaia, Ceara.

CEP. 61.627-250.  Brazil.

Peter and Josi's Newsletter - November 2017

.

Peter and Josi’s Newsletter - November 2017

Dear Friends,

Greetings once again!   Thank you for your messages, prayer and support!  And thank you to all who responded to our fundraiser for going to and participating at the  

YWAM Brazil Family Reunion at Caldas Novas. ​So far we have raised £750 UK pounds - Praise the Lord!  We still need to raise a further £770 UK Pounds…...Please​ ​pray​ ​in​ ​agreement​ ​with​ ​us​ ​as​ ​we​ ​make​ ​plans​ ​and​ organise flights, and our stay for this time. There will also be reunion for YWAM Leaders to attend - we need to be there..​Every two years this very important event comes round on the calendar for YWAM Brazil…If you would like to help us we would be very grateful!

Art events for children and adults

The art events and children's church continues to make progress on Saturday mornings for the children. It gives us great joy to see the children enjoying the art activities with teaching about missions and the Bible. I will be looking to expand our range of Bible and Mission themed activities for art events. So far we have done The Lion and the Lamb - Revelation 5:4-6, Mary Jones and her Bible. Loren Cunningham’s - Call to Missions. We would like to offer these to Churches, Sunday schools and Bible Camps. If anyone would like to know more please contact me. Also we would like to develop themes a Church would like for an art event.

A few weeks ago we had to change the theme for our Saturday morning art event at the last minute....So we decided to focus on Youth With A Missions founders - Loren and Darlene Cunningham and Loren's vision of the waves. I sketched Loren and Darlene''s life story on a panel and the children painted it. I also produced a picture to inspire the kids - researching it I came across a story Loren shared a number of times - As a child he would look up into the moon at night and wonder how to make known to the whole world God's great love. He imagined if he could place rocks on the surface of the moon which spelled "God is love" all the people on the earth would then be able to see...Then in 1956 when Loren was 20, God showed him something which would direct the whole course of his life....Loren recounts - "I opened my Bible, routinely asking God to speak into my mind. What happened next was far from routine. Suddenly, I was looking up at a map of the world. Only the map was alive, moving! I sat up. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes. It was a mental movie. I could see all the continents. Waves were crashing onto the shores. Each went onto a continent, then receded, then came up further until it covered the continent completely. I caught my breath. Then, as I watched, the scene changed. The waves became young people–kids my age and even younger–covering the continents. They were talking to people on the street corners and outside bars. They were going house to house. They were preaching...' Youth With A Mission came about because the vision God gave Loren. Today over 18,000 full time volunteers are serving the Lord in missions in every continent of the world - including Josi and myself.

Escola Crista Agua Viva

Please pray for our school Escola Crista Agua Viva and project Crianças do Rei, we are at the time of year when parents enroll their children for the next school year starting January 2018. We are the only Christian school for miles around please pray more Christian parents will support the school and see the value and need to enroll their children. Where Christian and family values are taught.  Please continue to pray for Crianças do Rei….we still need to reach the target for covering all expenses for the Project.

You can be Heroes….or Sugar Candy?

You can be Heroes…..but what will it mean?

As I am writing I have been listening to David Bowie’s song “Heroes”  A song connected with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989….in fact David Bowie wrote it in Berlin some years before. But those of us old enough will also remember the fervent prayers of God’s people during the time of the Cold War….I certainly remember. But today where are  the prayer warriors of the church? A sinister agenda has now arisen - And we are as it were witnessing all around us the world dismantling Biblical values everywhere especially in Education. - Perilous times are ahead because there has been absence of salt which is salty and light which has grown dim during these days. For years many settled into a safe comfortable non offensive PC Christianity as a lost world sank deeper into moral decline - We now see the folly of this complacency ….Two thoughts -

.

The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing.  - Edmund Burke

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”  ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer  

At the end of this newsletter I re- wrote David Bowie’s anthem  “Heroes”   My ode to answered prayers in 1989 and challenge us to seek our King again. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords - Jesus Christ.

On Youtube you can find backing music for this...although David Bowie’s original music may be easier to keep time with the new verses.

I, I see a king

And you, you see him too?

Though nothing, will drive us away

We can beat them, just when we pray

We can be heroes, trust and obey

And you, you can have faith

And I, I’ll agree in prayer

'Cause we're followers, following Christ

Yes we're followers,  that is the fact

Though nothing, will keep us from praying

We can change a world, just when we pray.

We can be heroes, forever and ever

What'd you say?

I, I wish you could see....

Like the eagles, like eagles can see

Though nothing, nothing will keep us from prayer

If​ ​we​ ​have​ ​Christ, forever and ever

Oh yes, we can be heroes, trust and obey

I, I see the king

And you, you see him too!

Though nothing, will drive us away

We can be heroes, just go and pray

Our King is with us, trust and obey

I, I can remember (I remember)

Praying, for the wall (for the wall)

And the news,  that showed it all  (showed it all)

And we prayed, we prayed for the wall  (for the wall )

And the prayers, the prayers were answered..

Oh we beat them, forever and ever

Then we can be heroes, praying in faith

We can be heroes, we can be heroes

We can be heroes, trust and obey.

We can be heroes

Were nothing, nothing without our King

but we can be heroes, when we obey

We can be heroes, let's change the world.

With love and best wishes

Peter, Josi and Dorothy    

​For those who would like to help financially my bank details are as follows.  Our bank account details can be supplied if this would be more convenient

Giving through Stewardship

For those who kindly wish to support us in missions with YWAM Brazil. We are registered with give net - Stewardship Services in the UK. International payments and one-off donations can be easily processed with Debit and Credit cards - please visit the link below to see our giving page. For those who wish to pay through STEWARDSHIP  We have an account at https://www.give.net/20089559   Before confirming any gift on give.net you will be asked whether you wish to remain anonymous. If you choose this option your personal details will be will not be made known. If you have any questions please ask for details

Donations may also be sent via Western Union which we are able to receive here.   

Peter and Josi Millward, Rua Pintor J. Figueiredo No. 805. Praia Iparana. Caucaia, Ceara.

CEP. 61.627-250.  Brazil. https://www.facebook.com/escolacris

taaguaviva  ​  *Email: ​jocumpraia@gmail.com​ ​ *Please note the email address is the current one I use  

Peter and Josi's Newsletter - October 2017

Peter and Josi’s Newsletter - October 2017

Dear friends,

Greetings once again!  Thankyou to all who pray and support us here in Brazil.

I better start off with a new development which has been a wonderful encouragement.  Since last August I have been painting at different churches in Fortaleza and Caucaia. Pastor Roberto who I met on Facebook invited us to one of the churches where he was preaching - and since then every Sunday I have been painting while Pr Roberto preaches. At the end of the service the finished picture is given as a gift to the church.  It has also been a valuable opportunity for Josi to share about YWAM and our base here in Iparana.

We are very grateful to the Lord for our friend Pr Roberto for giving us this opportunity. Roberto will be leaving for the USA in November to Pastor a church. May God richly bless Roberto. He has been a great blessing to us.

An interesting story how one of the pictures came about…...One morning I had a dream I saw the Titanic Violin in a painting….as I woke up! I was thinking about this that I should paint it at church the following sunday…..So I started researching and read the story of the final moments of the Titanic. I mentioned this to Pr Roberto about the dream. Those familiar with the story of the Titanic will remember the band bravely played as the ship went down.....many survivors remember hearing the hymn "Nearer my God to thee" being played......It happened to be the bandmaster, Wallace Hartley's favorite hymn, it was noted by his family as being the one he would have wanted played at his funeral. A poignant story - The violin was given to him by his fiancée on the celebration of their engagement a while before. Many stories are told of that fateful night....the panic and desperation...but Wallace Hartley and his band went into eternity with the hymn “Nearer my God to Thee” The last music they would play on earth.    I didn't know why I should paint this…I was puzzled but I thought I better obey and so prepared sketches. During the service at the church that Sunday, the Pastor of the church said there had been a funeral of a teenager who had been murdered that week in the district and he had been asked to lead the funeral service. He asked the group of young people who attended if they had ever watched the film “The Titanic” and so told them the story of the Titanic going down and the Band playing the hymn - “Nearer my God to Thee” The  Pastor had sung the hymn at the funeral.

When Pr Roberto got up to preach - I knew I had to paint the story of the Titanic Violin. To bring the story up to date with the present I included a Jangada fishing boat used in the sea of the coast of Ceara......... The hymn - Nearer, my God, to Thee, should also be our song no matter what storms, winds or waves happen in life…..keeping the set of the sail following the will of God for our lives.   Each Church we visit receive a picture as a gift after the service.  A picture can be finished 30 mins -1 hour depending on the subject. I work closely with a theme or scripture and give a short explanation when each picture is finished..   Prayer and preparation is a priority.  To see the pictures done since August please visit the link http://iparanastudio.blogspot.com.br/2017/10/paintings-produced-at-churches-visited.html

Escola Crista Agua Viva School

Please continue prayers for the school.  Many challenges for children these days - and teachers too!   Josi commented the other day it seems the Arts and Education are the two biggest areas the enemy seems to be attacking these days. Both these areas mould the minds of  children. Children need affirming with traditional Bible teaching for them to grow into well adjusted adults. Sadly the adult world seems to want to create so much confusion and doubt in minds of children. This is very serious, and we must not remain silent.

News in Brazil - extremely unpleasant

I don't know everything that is happening in the world of the Arts around the world. But in a three week period here in Brazil recently. A wave of outrageous leftist propaganda and the "freedom for kids to choose their gender" ideology hit the news also shocking Art exhibitions!

Santander Bank in Brazil sponsored a horrible art exhibition, simply depraved and awful….to vile to describe. And invited scores of elementary school classes to bring field trips there to see and analyze the exhibit.

Another museum in Porto Alegre shortly afterward opened another "art" display which also invited elementary schools to bring their children. This time, a completely naked man - an “actor” was paid a great deal of money to be an "exhibit"  kids and moms were invited to interact with him! It has been outrageous! 

Growing lawlessness

I don’t know why the police were not called in to lock up this man for exposing himself and the museum for child abuse.......in fact out in the street he would have been so why does it make it right inside an art gallery? Its totally wrong....As you can imagine many are outraged by this. Christians and churches are deeply upset.

The Arts and Education are two major areas influencing the world today..…In an age when the church is increasingly being marginalised we the Church need to find ways to be the salt and light in these areas. “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he”.  Proverbs 29:18      Let’s make sure the world knows the vision God has for their lives before it is too late!      

Art events for churches

We are developing Bible based art activities for children  - We have developed the Lion and the Lamb art event.. Plus developing a similar one based on the story of Mary Jones and her Bible.   There will be more to come all being well.  What we hope to do is make Art events which can be tailored for children's programs at churches and events in communities….. Art is wonderful way to explore and learn the Bible.  If we recruit enough churches to sponsor us we could even organise a tour in the UK and the United States during summer months - Why not sign up indicating interest.  Please share with your church!

Crianças do Rei - Art Festa for the children last week for Children's day festivities!  They learned about the Lion and the Lamb and then painted what they heard!

Please pray….we still need to reach the target for covering all expenses for the Project. If we just raised 20 more supporters at 25 pounds regular support each month it would make a great difference!

Art Festa for Escola Crista Agua Viva

Thank you to all who help us through prayer and help financially. Your messages mean so much!

I just want to explain I am not able to see my bank account online or bank statements at the moment. If you have donated one off gifts - Thankyou! But please be aware I will not be able to know until I can see statements again.     The one off gifts really help as often in the middle of a month things get tight financially.                    

Please Pray

Please pray in agreement with us as we make plans and raise finance.. This is really important. We are planning to attend the YWAM Brazil Family Reunion in Caldas Novas in December…. We will need to raise approximately R$3.500 for flights Including Return Flights. Approximately 850 UK Pounds

R$1.576,66 to stay for the YWAM Brazil Family Reunion Approximately 382,45 UK Pounds

R$1.187,90 to attend the Reunion of YWAM Brazil Leaders (This is obligatory for leaders)  Approximately 288,05 UK Pounds

Please pray in agreement for new supporters. Praise the Lord - We give thanks to The Lord we gained one new supporter since our last newsletter!

An encouraging word!

"It is in the quiet crucible of your personal, private sufferings, that your noblest dreams are born, and God's greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you've been through." Wintley Phipps

With love and best wishes

Peter, Josi and Dorothy    

​Giving through Stewardship

An update - For those who kindly wish to support us in missions with YWAM Brazil. We are registered with give net - Stewardship Services in the UK. Monthly and one-off donations can be easily processed with Debit and Credit cards - please visit the link below to see our giving page. Give net has made some recent updates which should make this easier - for those who wish to remain anonymous, give net makes this provision. For people outside the UK who wish to give - the payment process allows International donors to opt out of UK Gift Aid system. Stewardship Services are a Christian organisation serving charities and missionaries from the UK.

For those who wish to pay through STEWARDSHIP  We have an account at https://www.give.net/20089559 Before confirming any gift on give.net you will be asked whether you wish to remain anonymous. If you choose this option your personal details will be will not be made known. If you have any questions please ask for details

Donations may also be sent via Western Union which we are able to receive here.   

Peter and Josi Millward, Rua Pintor J. Figueiredo No. 805. Praia Iparana. Caucaia, Ceara.

CEP. 61.627-250.  Brazil.