BRAZIL 2017

LUKE & BRAD WENT BACK TO BRAZIL

THIS YEAR....GRACE GOT TO GO TOO!!!!

SO THANKFUL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY FOR MY FAMILY

Back to Brazil 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

Hi! I hope that God is doing as many wonderful things in your life as He is in mine. Over Spring Break I was able to go serve with my youth group at Mission Arlington where we led bible schools with children from 2 different apartment complexes.  I basically helped lead the entire VBS as a group leader.  I also got to spread the gospel with puppets! 

I want to share with you a ministry opportunity that God has presented to me again this year.  From July 18 through July 28 God has offered me the chance to go to Brazil with P70 Ministries and my church, Shady Oaks Baptist, to reach out and spread the gospel to the Brazilian people in Montes Claros.  We will be putting on Bible School for the children; using songs, skits and youth programs to reach the teens and doing repairs, landscaping, building projects as needed in the community. Ultimately, we are there to help plant churches.

I’ve enjoyed mission work and working with children on my past trips to Brazil and love the people there.  The Brazilian people are very friendly and open to hearing from us, so it will be fun to make sure that they know our Savior, Jesus Christ. We plan to open our hearts to show them Jesus’ unconditional love, compassion and the One True Hope!  One very good example of how I’ve seen this accomplished in the past is going to Brazil last year.  I led a little boy to Jesus and it changed my life and his.
Please pray for safe journeys, good health, and that our mission is a success, seeing lives change and churches begin!  I am working hard to raise my own funds for this trip, which costs $1500.  If you feel led to help with those funds, I would really appreciate it.  I’ve included a self-addressed, stamped envelope for your convenience.  Please make your check payable to Shady Oaks Baptist Church and attach a note that says its for me and the Brazil mission trip.  Mail to: 1336 Cavender Dr, Hurst, TX 76053.
All gifts are tax-deductible.  For more information, see project70.org and this blog.

Thank you so much for reading this letter all the way to the end.  I am grateful for my friends and family and I’m thankful that you’ve supported me.

Sincerely,

Luke Martin

Seattle in September with SPARK

SPARK MINISTRY

Who's in???

Boys Go Back to BRAZIL

Luke and Brad will be traveling with P70 Ministries, ParkwayHills Baptist Church and some of our Shady Oaks members as well back to Brazil this summer!  They will be gone a week and a half in mid JULY spreading the gospel and leading bible clubs so please pray for the details of this trip and for all who will be going.  Here are some pics from 2011 but check out the P70 website for more.

SPARK FLORIDA

THURSDAY, 7 beautiful, FUN, servant-hearted women from Shady Oaks Baptist Church and I will leave for Florida to serve with SPARK MINISTRY at the Union Rescue mission in Orlando.  There will be approximately 100 women to serve, including 40-50 from a shelter in Jacksonville.  Approximately 50 women will go on this SPARK trip altogether representing 10 different churches!  Please pray that God would prepare our hearts with love overflowing, and prepare the hearts of the women there to be loved by God in a new, fresh, BIG TEXAS WAY!

Please pray as I prepare to lead worship on this trip, choose appropriate songs and memorize the words!  Pray for safe travels, smooth details, families we leave at home, for extra faith to watch what God can do, bind Satan and declare victory in Jesus as He goes ahead of us and prepares our way!

The women of Shady Oaks have never been on a trip and I can't wait to see them grow in the Lord through this experience, gaining new perspective on life!    Pray for each of them by name:

• Patti Adams
• Monica Alsaker
• Amber Farrill
• Joy Hardwick
• Ashleigh Roberson
• Lori Sims
• Vickie Smith

Thank you for serving the Lord by praying for us as we seek to SERVE PEOPLE AND REFLECT KINDNESS!

But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy.  Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in You.  For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as a shield.  Psalm 5:11-12

SPARK in September

Time for another SPARK trip with SPARK MINISTRY and I can't wait!!!  NYC's Bowery Women's shelter was where I first started with SPARK and the first trip is when I found out I was blessed with my now 4yo, Moriah Natalie on July 1, 2007.  The Bowery Women's Center is an amazing place where women in NYC can come to renew the lives from the inside out.  SPARK comes in for a weekend of blessing, loving, sharing, praising, praying and partying, because you know....girls just wanna have fun!  While having fun, it's amazing how good our God is to put all the pieces together to knit our hearts because of the bond we have in Jesus.  We watch as some who don't know our Jesus yet, open up to these crazy Texas women and break down walls as we share that we're really not that different at all.  Please pray in preparation for this trip.  I will be a small group leader and get to invest in, share with intimately and hear from these women their amazing testimonies of God's working in their lives.  I'm so blessed to get to go but need prayer warriors to stand in the gap for me.  Thank you and Love you for your time and support.

Luke's View

Tell me about Brazil.  Everywhere you turn, there's a mountain or a hill.  We road in buses on dirt roads through the country to get from city to city.  The smaller towns have houses that are pretty much a box with a roof on top.  The big city houses are more like ours just smaller.  

How were the people different from here?  The people were very outgoing.  You could make a friend really easily in Brazil.  

What did they think about you being there?  They were excited because we spoke English.  Brazilians are fascinated by our language.

What was the food like?  The food was much different than American food.  We had rice and beans at every meal, sometimes noodles, meat and potatoes and juice.  The water was not safe to drink, so we had a purifier that someone brought on the trip.

What was a fun, new experience?  I got to be on the radio in Montes Clares!  I invited people to VBS.  One of the kids that came to VBS heard me on the radio.  The guy spoke in Portuguese and told everyone that I looked like Justin Bieber.

What did spend most of your time doing?  I was on the rec team at VBS in Montes Clares, playing with the kids.  We played soccer, baseball, frisbee and tag.  The kids had a lot of fun!

Where did you stay?  We stayed at someone's house and a hotel.  The house was very small.  All the floors were tile, no carpet.  A translator stayed there too so we could communicate with the family that lived there.  The bed was so small that my feet hung off!

Were you ever afraid?  Sometimes I was a little afraid without Dad there. [They were in separate cities for 8 days.]  I'd hear a lot of noises and it was hard to go to sleep.  There were plenty of other adults that took care of me though, so I was fine.

What was the hardest part about this trip?  Towards the end of the trip, we were so exhausted that it was hard to get up at 7am and go again.  [7am there would be 5am here.]  It was hard to remember all the rules about the water, like wear flip flops in the shower, don't drink the water and don't brush your teeth in the water.  I got sick one full day of the trip, maybe from eating homemade chocolate.  

What was your favorite thing about this trip?  Leading the boy to Jesus.

Tell me more about how that happened.  At night worship the pastor said if anyone wants to come down and accept Jesus into your heart, just ask one of the team members in the camo shirts and we'll help you.  So I asked the boy sitting next to me, named Junior, if he wanted to go up there, using hand gestures.  (He only spoke a little English.)   I first asked him if he wanted to know Jesus and he said yes, so MariJo, one of the translators and I led the little boy in the prayer of salvation.  

In what way did God change your heart the most?  I realized we should be grateful for what we have because they don't have as much.


There are more pictures on THIS WEBSITE to see all of Luke & Brad's adventures on mission with God in Brazil.