An Engaging Moment in Time…

Last weekend I was honored to to take the stage at Igreja da Paz – Central.  No I wasn’t preaching.  But I was getting engaged to be married!  And not just to anyone of course, but only the BEST woman in the world for me, Silvia Ribeiro!  I often find myself just smiling and praising God for his sovereign hand over my life and how I can just rest and take joy in His ability to reveal Himself in so many ways in and through my life.

A bit of background would be that Silvia and I have known each other for just over 15 months.  I first met her when traveling here while leading a short term team and then later grew to become her close friend after my third visit.  She is a nutritionist and has recently begun working with Project AmaZon full time, although she has been helping part time for many years.  She grew up here in Santarém, but has lived in the south of Brazil during college and has also lived in North America for about a year and a half, which has blessed her with the ability to speak fluent English.  So this will put us in the missionary couple category long term.

We began courting last November, allowing us to confirm our desire to be married and after four months, made it official by being engaged in the church this past Sunday, March 28, 2010.  Typically, this ceremony includes blessing the rings, exchanging rings, and blessing the couple.  Easy enough right?  We had also arranged for a slide show of pictures to play during the ceremony and for our friends and fellow missionaries Josiah and Jennifer Huber to pray over us.

Now don’t forget that this is Brazil.  So as we were walking up the stairs onto the stage, all of a sudden there was a loud POW and the church went dark.  Really?  The power just went off?  Then I chuckled and on we went.  But everybody is used to this kind of thing.  Consistent power is a first-world luxury, you know.  So the ceremony went on, slideshow-less, and with yelling pastors, but praise God, he was honored through all this.  It really was rather exhilarating to do this in front of a crowd of a thousand cheering Brazilians!

And after it was all done, I gave Silvia a beautiful bouquet of roses :-)

In the future, I plan to give a few more details on just how all this came to be, but for now, this will have to do.  God has blessed me with an amazing woman that will  soon by my helpmate.  May He be glorified by blessing me in this way.

Marching towards August 7,

JAE