Goodbye.....For Now

Yesterday these guys got on a plane to move to the United States.

It's our teammate Matt and his wife Waleska.

Matt was on the plane with us when we moved here in June of 2002. We were teammates with him here in Porto Alegre longer than we were with any other American.

He holds a special place in our hearts. It's really hard for me to try to describe what this guy means to me and what God has done between us but I tried on a past post. You can click here if you'd like to read it. 

Waleska became Matt's wife after he moved here. She is a Brasilian and has been a huge blessing to Matt as well as to Benay, myself and our entire church family.

They came over this past Monday night to say their goodbyes and to eat a meal with us. We weren't able to see them off at the airport because we were out of town.

We can't tell you how much we will miss them here but we know it's time for them to go. God has told them so and they have peace about moving to the states. The same peace God gave Matt when He asked him to move here He now gives both of them as He asks them to move back to the states.

We ask that you pray for Matt and Waleska as they deal with living in the states. It will be a tough adjustment for both of them.

We can't tell you how blessed we were to spend so much time together with these guys in Brasil. The kingdom has grown so much here on earth because of them.

We had a going away party for them a couple of weeks ago and they were blown away by how many people showed up. It didn't surprise us. So many people love them because Matt and Waleska really live Christ.

Kingdom first. That's how they live. And that's why people want to be around them. They aren't proud but humble. They aren't loud but boldly show Christ by the way they live. People are naturally attracted to them because of what the Spirit does in their lives.

We know they will make a kingdom difference wherever they live in the states.

Here is one of our favorite pictures of Matt and Waleska.

Like Benay told João and Clarice when they left us last month, "Even if we never see you again here on earth we know we are going to spend eternity with you."

That's what we know about Matt and Waleska. They plan on making frequent visits to POA and to their church family in the future but even if we never see them again here on this earth it's okay. Because we know we'll get to hang out with them for eternity. And that's a comforting thought in the days to come when we miss our brother and sister.