Burgess Road Baptist Church

Hello everyone,

Lamar and I are staying busy at Camp Grace. We are so thankful to be here. We are working with two other couples. Lamar is painting a large room that is being converted to two rooms to be used for counselors. The men are also working on a bathroom. This has been their project for this first week. The weather is very cold in the mornings but warms up in the afternoon. It is supposed to be in the 30's tonight. Our RV is very warm and we are thankful. We women are still working on paper work to contact the campers to see who will be coming this summer. The rolling chapel is out on the road every morning going to the public schools to continue having the public school students come out of the school, one class at a time, into the rolling chapel and hear the Word of God. Thousands of children are reached this way during the school year. How wonderful it is to be a part of a Camp that has this opportunity. I believe 9 schools are involved with this ministry. The head of the schools and parents are allowing this ministry. Thank you for your prayers and support. We are blessed.

Lamar and Dian

Proverbs 3:5,6

February 2012

To the Amazon and Back

You never know where God's providence will take you! Just a few months ago I’d have never guessed that I’d be bathing in the Amazon River, eating alligator meat, and helping build a house in a clearing made by machete in the Amazon rain forest. Here’s how it happened . . .

During the time that our family was in the U.S., a Brazilian missionary couple, Rober and Jandira Guerreiro stayed in our home and helped in the Bible study ministry in Rio. It had been their dream and prayer to return to his native land in the Amazon and minister among his people, the Ticuna Indians. Recently, God allowed him to return. Before he left, he shared his need for a home in his village. Through a series of God-led circumstances, short term missionary Todd Howard and I were able to make the long journey by plane and boat (almost 30 hours in boats!) to help. We helped take Pastor Rober’s wife and daughter from Rio to reunite with him in his village and to begin construction on their wooden home. During the stay, I was also able to preach and share the gospel on four occasions. The Lord granted health and safety during our stay and also planted a burden in our hearts to pray for this spiritually needy people. They don’t have the complete Bible in their language yet, and some village elders sat with us and wept over the lack of teachers of the Word.

The Building- Thanking God

Thank God with us for answers to prayer regarding our rental church building. We had to delay the starting date for holding services because of legal problems with the water and electricity in the building. The problems seemed almost insurmountable at times, but after hours of negotiating it appears that we have reached a resolution. All that waits now is for the water meter to be reconnected. The construction is also coming to a close and we will continue now to purchase the furnishings for the church (pulpit, kitchen appliances, etc.). Our goal now is to begin in early March. For all who have prayed and given toward this project, we want to convey our deepest thanks. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Prayer Requests and Praises

Praise God for a safe, fruitful trip to the Amazon.

Praise God for resolutions to building problems.

Please pray for preparations to begin holding services in March.

Please pray for the Spirit to prepare hearts for evangelism and discipleship.

Please pray for Sharon, a short term missionary who is spending the month of March with us.

Love in Christ,
Brendan (BJ) Holmquist for the family
Melissa, Myla, Ellie, Daniel and Flavia

December 2011

Dear Friends,
The story of Christmas can be summarized in three words, “God with us!” Immanuel came once and He is coming again the second time as King. Then there will be complete peace and joy in the presence of Immanuel forever. Eternal Christmas! This is the message that I have the opportunity to share tomorrow night (Dec. 13) at an English class here in Rio. Our co-worker Joy has been teaching at an English school on her road. She asked our family to come for the Christmas special and for me to give the Gospel. We gladly obliged. The Lord has also given us the opportunity to share the gospel/Christmas story at a large family reunion of Brazilian friends on Christmas Eve.

Thank you for your prayers for us. Honestly, it’s been a difficult transition back into life and ministry inRio. The thing that encourages us most, though, is that God is in control and that friends are praying to the sovereign God on our behalf. Progress on the church building has been slower than expected because of the condition of the plumbing, electric and structural issues. But we’ve progressed far enough now to where we have set the official dates of our first services for January 7 and 8! Please pray that everything would come together in a God-honoring way. Many people who have seen us working on the building have stopped to ask about it and several have shown interest in coming. Our deepest thanks go to all who have upheld us in prayer and invested in the ministry of church planting inRio.

It’s amazing how some of the difficulties, inconveniences and problems that we’ve encountered lately with traffic, long lines, building delays and complex counseling situations have opened up gospel sharing opportunities with people. Three instances occurred just last week – one rejected, one debated, and one is almost persuaded. Thank God! We’ll just keep sowing the seed.

Starting next year we hope to send our emails in a different format. We’ll be able to include pictures and make the letter more readable. We know that many people are receiving our email updates on smaller devices and long letters may be burdensome. The main thing we desire is for people to pray and thank God together with us, so we want to do all that we can to facilitate that. Those wishing for more details and family news may follow our blog ministryupdate.blogspot.com (we’ll update later this week!), communicate with us through email, or dial our vonage phone number (aUS number that reaches us inBrazil with no extra charge (517) 580-0704). Again thank you for all that you mean to our family and the ministry here. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Praise- For opportunities to meet people in the community and share the Word.

Please pray for Kennedy’s salvation.

Please pray for God’s provision and wisdom with our plans to inaugurate on January 7 and 8.

Please pray for our co-workers: Joy (Rio), The Patefields (US-furlough), Dori (Brazil-Language School).

By His grace and for His glory,

Brendan (BJ), Melissa, Myla, Ellie, Daniel and Flávia Holmquist

 holmquist1@gmail.com

 Brasil (21) 3734-2867

US(517) 580-0704

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil