scott and patsy

Winter has Arrived...

2010-06-24T13:45:00.001-07:00

Besides the retreats, speaking engagements, and advertising we've been doing for winter camps, we have had three important events in the past 2 months. Take a look at what we've been up to...

AFTERNOON FOR PARENTS

Who doesn't want 50% off of a camp for their children? These two mothers each won a discount for showing up to give us feedback on our past camp season. We are attempting to have more contact with the parents of our campers in order to provide follow up for the entire family.

QUEST BOARD RETREAT

A real blessing for our team, was our 2nd Annual Quest Board Retreat. We held it at a small hotel in our home town. It was an amazing time of development and training for our board. Thomas Schneider, from Word of Life Camp in Porto Alegre, came and shared his story of starting a camp from scratch in 1988. He gave us much encouragement and we will do well to follow in his footsteps, using his acquired wisdom to make solid decisions. Our guest speaker, Thomas, is using the orange jacket.

We were very pleased to have our board member's wives and children join us for the retreat.

Tiago Tormen (left) is Quest's president. Our board is young and is building confidence. Tiago, is one of our ex-staffers from Gramado, who has moved to Curitiba to continue his career as a pediatrician. Tiago met his wife, Carol, while staffing in Gramado. They have been a huge blessing for our team. Renan (right), worked full-time with us at Quest for just over a year. He and his wife, Raquel, have returned to Curitiba to direct their church's orphanage.

For Scott and I, it was wonderful just to sit and take in instead of being up front teaching! We enjoyed ourselves so much. Just to sit back and see God bringing this strong team together has been incredible.

FUNDRAISING BANQUET

On Friday, June 18th, 2010, Quest held their 2nd Annual fundraising banquet, which was so much fun! We had live instrumental music, great food and amazing decorations. We sold each plate for R$100, with a goal of raising R$10,000 here in Brazil in the month of June. This was a bold step for us and we were very pleased with the results. We have already raised around R$11,000 and several people are still fundraising for us even though the banquet is over! That's what friends are for, isn't it? It has been humbling to see so many people buying into the dream for Quest. Here are some pics of our banquet...

Our inexpensive and natural center pieces(it's nice to have a banana plantation next door!)

God has blessed us with a sister in Christ who supports us by catering our banquets for no cost. There were no complaints about her work!!!

We made up placemats with several interesting facts about Quest, including a crossword puzzle and a list of our goals acomplished in 2009.

We set up the decor as if they were arriving at a camp. They absolutely loved it! The theme of the night was "Abrindo Novas Trilhas", or "Opening New Trails". We put down some of our new platforms as a "trail".

We need your prayers as we continue pressing ahead into the vision God has given us. We have a very busy July and August ahead of us. Advertising in churches and schools, winter camp, board meetings and 3 retreats. Sometimes life seems overwhelming, but it is in those moments we realize that we are living beyond what we are capable of and only with God's strength is anything possible! When we are weak, HE IS STRONG! Praise Him!

A Look at Summer Camp 2010...

2010-02-07T06:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a quick review of Quest's summer camps. From staff to campers, from rain to shine, from joy to tears, from energy to exhaustion, God was constantly at work in ALL of our lives. Praise Him!

It all started in the rain! Here the guys are unloading Quest's new platforms for under the tents. They had just finished unloading all of the other materials halfway up a steep hill (the truck got stuck!) We started EXHAUSTED! Scott said it was a good replacement for "pumping iron".

We were extremely grateful for the many gifts we received from a church in Curitiba. This oven allowed us to bake 14 big pizzas at one time. We also used our new grill and the VPU Scott was able to purchase while in Canada. Thank you to all who donated graciously for this to happen.

Here's a good look at our new tent set up. Many churches joined together to fund this project of new platforms and good quality tarps. We were DRY! Let me tell you, that was a new experience for Quest campers! If you look closely, you'll notice the 7-seater "van" that our family was able to purchase in December. Those extra two seats have already come in handy!

God brought us an amazing summer staff. Besides our program staff we had 12 young adults from 7 different cities join us to minister to the campers. Here they are working as a team to switch spots on the log...it was a tremendous experience for them.

God blessed us tremendously by sending a Canadian couple, Dan and Becky, from Ontario to help us with summer camps. Thanks guys, for obeying God's calling...VALEU!

Our full-time staff was once again super flexible, jumping into any role that was necessary. Yes, we mean ANY role. We jumped from making pizzas to pushing cars up the hill to skits. Here are Scott and Renan reenacting a camper on his first day at camp!

Here are Caleb and his cousin Jaden enjoying a good laugh during staff training. It is always an amazing time for our family to get to know new friends.

Here is a beautiful shot that speaks loudly about the way we impact children's lives.

Here is Muki's cabin group having lunch together.

Hannah enjoying the love of her "Frida" (that's our name for female cabin leaders at Quest) and one of her friends.

Renan playing the role of the court jester at our medieval feast and bringing HUGE smiles to the faces of the children.

Instead of allowing the rain to get us down, we decided to get down and dirty in the rain (and mud). The kids loved it and it helped us all cool down.

This is the time machine that the team created to be used in the ongoing drama of our main character, Dezinho, as he tried to escape God by jumping into a different era every day. He tried to flee from God's presence before creation, during the time of Elijah with multiple gods, the violent medieval era, the independence of Brazil and on the last day he decided to try the future and ended up visiting his own funeral. Frustrated because he ran straight into God at every turn, he decided that the Bible is truth and that there is NO place that we can run in order to flee from God's presence. On the last day, he accepted God as Lord of his life. It was an amazing teaching experience.

Here is a group of our teen campers ages 12-16.

Scott invented this unique idea of cooking eggs over the open fire using bamboo sticks. The kids in this cooking skill loved the challenge.

Scott and I felt privileged to be able to lead Camp Sam, which is our leadership development camp for 15-17 year olds. We had 9 campers and we invested our hearts and souls into these amazing young people. We saw God do awesome things in their lives including freeing them from past sins and developing in them a thirst for His word. The first week we trained them and the second week they joined us serving the camp in various ways.

We spent an hour with each of the Camp Sam campers in order to speak into their lives in a more personal way. We praise God for this opportunity.

Here is the full team that worked together for God's Kingdom. It is always humbling to see how God brings together so many different people from various places and churches in order to grow His family.

Next week, Team Quest will be traveling some 1,200km to do another 4 day camp and these two young men, Kico and Papel, are joining us to help in any way possible. These two guys were part of our first training camps in 2008 and have been a huge blessing to our team ever since. Praise God for faithful friends!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please continue to lift up our campers in your prayers as they return to their everyday lives and challenges.

The Last Few Months...

2009-05-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

All of you were invited to come for Scott's 40th Birthday Party and it was a HUGE success. Check out Caleb's expression on the pizza picture and Scott with his cake (and no, the cake picture is NOT overexposed!!!) We had over 60 friends join us, which is an amazing show of God's faithfulness in the past year and a half that we are living here in Schroeder.

After 10 years, Scott's parents returned to Brazil joining us for a double celebration. Scott's birthday and their anniversary! We took 2 weeks of holidays and spent 9 days at the beach with them. Here we are on a boat ride to a fisherman's village for lunch. Dwayne and Shannon's family joined us for 4 days as well.

In April we had the privilege of hosting Becky Patterson and Amanda Pyl, two friends from our Medeba LDP days in Ontario. We had a memorable 2 weeks with them, protecting them from bugs and tropical storms. One memory worth recording was Quest's Murder Mystery party. Based on a rodeo theme, our "multi-purpose" room outside was transformed into Slim's Saloon. We had so much fun playing in two languages. Left to Right: Renan, Scott, Dwayne, Lidi, Carol, Patsy, Jessi, Becky, Shannon (yes, Shannon) and Amanda.

Here she is...our little precious baby! At least that what Scott calls her!!! The kids are ALL cat lovers and so is Mommy and we are enjoying her so much. There is never a dull moment in our home!

We thought you would enjoy seeing one of the teams we worked with recently. This dear old man is 84 years old and has a lot of enthusiasm and motivation. He really impacted our team positively.

Thanks for dropping by. We love to hear from you. Thanks again for all your support.

Family Pics from Summer Camp

2009-02-23T13:52:00.001-08:00

Welcome to another update of the Buhler's adventures!

On Christmas Day, we travelled about an hour from home to explore a beautiful, rugged trail following the path of a river with 14 waterfalls in it. Hannah was a trooper and we made it up and down in about 4 hours. This picture is proof of survival!

We enjoyed a "once in a lifetime" experience at Christmas. What made this experience so unique??? We were alone as a family of five for the first time ever at Christmas. After kindly declining several invitations for Christmas parties, we were really looking forward to this "family time". BUT, after all was said and done, we decided that we'll stick to the old adage...THE MORE, THE MERRIER. You are all invited to join us for Christmas this year!!!

On January 20th, our family was off to camp. This was Hannah's first camp season as a camper and her absolutely favourite activity was archery! They tell us she outdid her older brother...now that's something to write home about!

Muki loved the social environment and was not about to be called "Chicken", so he joined in the fun of campers and staffers alike.

Instead of having one speaker throughout the week, we took turns teaching every day. Patsy taught the first day of the subject of SIN. Take a really close look to see if you can spot the serpent just waiting to tempt Eve on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Scott had the privilege of teaching servant leadership principles to our Camp Sam campers. On the final morning, one of the male campers started crying and shared that he had always heard about "servant leadership" and was interested in learning more about it at Quest, but what had really brought the point home for him was one morning when he was up early and when he entered the bathroom he saw Scott mopping the floors and cleaning the toilets. He thanked Scott not only for his theory, but for leading by example. Praise God!

The food was fantastic at camp! Shannon and Patsy had decided to throw in some North American meals that went over very well!!! See if you can find Caleb sitting with his cabin group.

A first camp season has it's challenges and it's beauties. One thing we really enjoyed was the simplicity of the praise and worship which was lead by our very talented staff. Kids truly love raising their voices in praise and adoration to our God! Our kids are no different and are all in the front row in this picture!

Scott and I, who have very limited stage experience, were called upon to be the parents in one of our favourite skits called "Pai, tou mal", or "Dad, I'm not well".

The area of camp that took up a lot of our time. We are already looking for volunteer cooks for our next camp seasons.....any takers???

Thanks for all your prayers and support. We are OFTEN comforted knowing that we have a HUGE team behind us supporting us in so many ways. May God be pleased through all of our efforts!

Rain, Chickies and Haircuts...

2008-12-09T04:59:00.000-08:00

"Rain,rain,go away, come again another day...Hey wait, go away and please don't come back for a LONG time..."

That is how we felt. We had 3 months of straight rain. Actually, that would be lying, so I will say that in the 3 months we did have 3-24 hour periods of no rain. To say that we were soaked, drenched or waterlogged would NOT be an understatement! Just last weekend the sun reappeared...it was a miracle! We removed all of our mattresses, pillows, blankets and cushions and put them all out in the warm sunshine to dry out. After that we went to work wiping out all of the mold built up in our wardrobes. No word of a lie, GREEN wardrobes!!!

This past week we have had sun every day and we feel energized to do everything we possibly can OUTSIDE!

On a recent trip to Pelotas, RS to speak at a regional youth retreat, the kids were each given a little chickie. Let's just say that it was a good thing we took this picture last week because now we only have 2 chickies. We're not sure what happened to the other one.

Our house is situated about 25 meters from a LARGE banana plantation, which of course has it's benefits (FREE Bananas) but also has it's downfalls. With the banana plants come little microscopic bugs whose bite leaves a TERRIBLE itch. During the rainy season they are not very active, but after 1 hour of sunlight they come out in full force. Here is a picture I took of Scott's back after sitting outside getting his hair cut by yours truly. Half an hour outside and look at the number of bites he has from our little friends! Notice the exact line of where the haircutting cape came to on his back. By the way, the property that Quest wants to buy does NOT have banana plantations anywhere nearby, nor does it have these friendly neighbours!!!

We love to hear from you. Feel free to leave a comment or send an email at any time!

Kreative Kids...

2008-11-07T03:36:00.000-08:00

In October our team and family were invited to run a children's camp in Curitiba. During our time there, Muki learned how to play Ping Pong and wanted a table so badly when he got home that he set up an old, shaky table made out of boards with cracks between them just so he could play. That's how it all got started. Any time the ball hit a crack and flew out in any wild direction, it was officially a "reserve"! Since then, our ping pong table has come a long way! We built some shelving for footwear and had some plywood leftover for a "mini-ping pong" table. It has already served for hours of fun. It's not only our family that uses it, but the neighborhood kids come by even while we're in school and help themselves to our table. We thank God for the simple pleasures we share as a family.

Notice the workmanship involved in taping together our "net" which actually took the four of us to put together!!!

Hannah's ping pong skills are being strengthened every day, but being our "princess", she still prefers to walk around the yard taking pics of herself (typical girl!) Here is one of her most recent poses!

Thanks for dropping by. Feel free to leave a comment, we love hearing from you all.

The Buhlers

SPRING IS IN THE AIR...

2008-08-21T08:09:00.001-07:00

Orchids are in bloom all around our house. We feel spring in the air. The weather is getting warmer and we are back to wearing chinelos (flip flops)which feels so good!

Just to give you an idea of how the kids are growing, here is a picture of Caleb and I back to back. He is sprouting more than the flowers and truly is blossoming as his own person. It's been a really neat season for our family. Next month we will officially be parents of a "teen".

Our homeschooling class did a mini Olympics on our yard consisting of artistic gymnastics, archery, rifelry and wrestling. We had a blast! In total standings Muki squeaked by with the gold, Jaden with the silver and Caleb the bronze!

An unexpected striped guest...

2008-07-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

God's goodness is always full of surprises! Besides the beautifully striped guest that appeared during our final game at the camp, we have had many incredible surprises over the past 2 weeks.

God handpicked 18 campers for Quest's 2nd training camp. We have now trained 33 young people as future summer staffers! We had participants from 5 new church contacts, which was very exciting for us. We need to continue building positive relationships with as many churches as possible in this region.

Most of our campers were hearing about "camp ministry" for the first time in their lives. As so many others that we have trained in the past, their eyes were opened to a new and interesting way of sharing Christ with youth.

On the last night, during sharing time, several people mentioned how impacted they were by seeing our families all involved in the ministry together. Our kids ran the tuck shop, helped with cleaning and in skits. Children bring an innocence and a transparency to any group setting. We praised God that our families could bless so many of our campers who come from broken homes and have not had the privilege of seeing a healthy Christ-centered family role model.

Speaking of family, here are some pics of ours during our last camp...

Hannah with cousin Jasper enjoying the sunny afternoon on Quest's "future property", Lord willing.

Muki, Caleb and cousin Jaden played the role of guards, protecting the "Sword of the Kingdom" during our Indiana Jones game at the camp. They were the most patient guards, as the game took almost 3 hours to play!

While guarding the "Sword of the Kingdom", the boys were visited by this beautiful false coral snake.

Scott, Patsy and Lidi entertaining the campers with a skit. Sometimes I wonder who laughs more, the campers or the actors!

Caleb and Patsy sitting and facilitating the final game of the week. These campers struggled to grasp the fact that Jesus calls us to cooperate and work together, even though the world forces us to compete, always putting ourselves ahead of everyone else.

Here they are...our 18 campers and staff that made up our 2nd training camp. Our hearts are full of gratitude to be a part of the work God is continuing here in Jaragua do Sul. All glory, honor and praise to our King!!!

Meet our MAD SCIENTISTS...

2008-07-04T04:46:00.000-07:00

I never did imagine myself as a homeschooling mother, never mind running a science fair in my own home. Yes, it has come to that! There were definitely challenges for our young scientists, such as lack of written resources and learning to surf the web as most of their information was taken either from Encarta Encyclopedia or from the Internet. There were even greater challenges for Shannon and I as mothers and teachers. It's been a "few" years since I have participated in a Science Fair and the world has changed tremendously since then, but thanks to a fantastic website called Science Buddies, we were able to figure out what needed to get done! There were a couple of days when I thought I'd pull my hair out and I turned to Caleb one day and said, "If I EVER consider doing one of these Science Fairs again, talk me out of it!"

BUT...once the day came and I saw the hard work put in, the many hours of research, the beautiful display boards and more importantly the knowledge gained, I was proud of them and who knows, I MAY EVEN ATTEMPT IT AGAIN IN THE FUTURE!!!(The distant future that is)
Hannah's project was called Ham it up with Hamsters. She did an amazing job and is now pestering Daddy for a Hamster!
Thanks to all of you who replied to Muki's science project. He had a total of 36 responses to his experiment and was able to prove his hypothesis wrong using his data. It was a really neat experience for Muki, who had never worked with graphs before and had a hard time sitting still long enough to get them done. If any of you are interested, Muki discovered from his data and through research that age doesn't slow down reaction time at all until after 80 years or so. Gender makes no difference at all and here's the interesting part; most dominant hands have a slower reaction time than non-dominant hands!!! Thanks again to all those who participated.
Caleb is our electronic "techie" and did his project on radio wave powered Crystal Radio Receiver Sets which were used greatly during World War II by soldiers who would create them using recycled materials they found around them. Caleb learned a lot about the composition of crystals and the role they play in radio. He built a radio and was so frustrated that the day was cloudy and it didn't work, but we assured him that the effort made to build it was already impressive.

Through the whole process, I for one, learned a lot about all four topics. My nephew Jaden, who I also teach, did his project on Volconoes and so to finish off our Science Fair with a grand finale, he set off his volcano and it worked perfectly!!!

Thanks for visiting our blog...hope to see you here again soon.

Piano pics and more...

2008-06-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

Here are the promised pictures of the kids piano lessons. We are so grateful for the fun, energetic and encouraging teacher that God has given us. Mercedes(our teacher) participates together with us at the MEUC church in Jaragua do Sul. She is already fully understanding that Hannah likes cuddles and sweet words of encouragement, Muki needs CHALLENGE and lots of it, and Caleb really doesn't enjoy the "playing part" of piano, but needs to UNDERSTAND how the instrument works!!! During our last lesson, Mercedes invited a couple of other teachers into the room to hear Muki play his rendention of the Star Wars theme song and at the same time show them that Caleb had taken apart the keyboard and found and fixed the problem they were having of one of the keys sticking. I was downright proud! Each is so intelligent and capable in their own areas!!!

On May 26th we headed into Curitiba to send Nathan Dunning and Becky Patterson on their way back to Canada. The very next day we quickly scrubbed down the house and prepared for Orlando and Adelina Epps' arrival. We had a great blessing when they pulled out an entire suitcase of gifts from our friends in our home church in Niverville. Here is a picture of Muki's favourite part of our "Christmas in May". The Epps stayed with us for 4 days and we were able to catch up on our friendship, which was a blessing. We showed them the land we want to buy for Quest and also toured them through Quest's brand new office.

As of the beginning of June, our family is experiencing "empty nest" syndrome, but it has been quiet and peaceful around here. The kids are preparing Science Fair projects, which we are having on June 26th.

Thanks for dropping by, we'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment, or write us at spbuhler@yahoo.ca

Have a great day....

Diverse family news...

2008-05-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

So much happens every day, never mind in a month!!! But I thought I'd update you briefly on a few major highlights in the past month. Here is a picture of Scott with our accountant in Jaragua do Sul, officially receiving our non-profit status for Quest...Huge for us!!!Being the incredibly wonderful husband that he is, Scott planned a two day getaway for the two of us. It has been busy with 8 people in our home and there is rarely an opportunity for us to get some quality time alone and so it was a refreshing and restful weekend.
After two years of waiting (it was supposed to be for his 10th birthday, which was 2.5 years ago) Caleb finally fulfilled his birthday dream to jump with a paraglider. The sky was blue and the wind was perfect for an 25 minute flight. He reached altitudes of 1050 meters and as a mother standing on the ground below, it was a deep time of reflection. I turned to my friend Lisa who was visiting us at the time, and asked, "How many mothers would allow their 12 year old sons to jump from those heights????" Sometimes we do the craziest things...but then again, life IS an adventure! For those of you who want to jump, come visit and we'll try to line it up for you.
Did you see him??? If not, look again, he's up there!
By this time, he was almost down and I was feeling a lot more comfortable about the whole experience!

Pop by again soon, I've got some piano lesson pics to upload and much, much more!

Love, all of us

Team Quest Holidays

2008-04-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

We were so grateful to be able to spend 6 days at the beach with Team Quest. Becky, Nathan, Lidi and Carol all had their first experience on the island of Florianopolis. It was a great time of relaxing, family time, games and of course The Beach!!! Enjoy the pics...

Nós somos tão gratos pelas férias que passamos junto com Equipe Quest. Para Becky, Nathan, Lidi e a Carol foi a primeira visita em Floripa...e além de Lidi (que prefira ainda a Laranjal em Pelotas) todos curtiram as praias Catarinenses! Foi um tempo para família, para descansar, brincar e obviamente aproveitar o mar!!! Curta as fotos...

Pictures of our girls!!

2008-03-14T11:30:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of our girls with matching t-shirts from Grandma and matching ponchos from our friend Rachel. Aren't they cute!!!

Muki~s 10th Birthday Party!!!

2008-03-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous water fight in today's heat!!! The guys verses the girls. It was fantastic and only ended after everyone was cooled off (and I don't mean our tempers!!!) We always encourage our kids to choose a theme for their birthday partys and this year Muki chose STAR WARS. Grandma sewed him a Darth Vader outfit and it arrived in the mail on Friday, just before his birthday!!!
Here's his cake, celebrating 10 years...we remember the day so very well. So many unknowns at that time in our lives and yet God blessed us with this incredibly special son, who we love dearly.

Quest`s FIRST CAMP...

2008-02-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it finally happened!!! Team Quest had the privilege of training our first 13 staff members. God looked after all the details for us. We rented a Baptist Church retreat centre and invited our friends Gilmar and Nika Pieper to cook for us and off we went. Our team worked long and hard preparing an amazing program including cooperative activities, training sessions and much time for spiritual growth. Here are some pics for you to enjoy!!! This is the whole group. Permanent staff, campers and volunteer staff. 35 people in all.
Our kids volunteered in the tuck shop and were very responsible.
The first night, we were privileged to cast the vision that God has given us for Quest. They caught it with enthusiasm!!!
Shannon, Patsy and Becky celebrating " the launching" of Quest!!!
We unveiled our next summer's theme, which is Indiana Jones and the Sword of the Kingdom. The next Indiana Jones movie is being released here in Brazil at the end of December, so for January it will be a very relevant theme. The week will be full of adventures and treasure maps in order to find the powerful sword, which in the end is referring to the Word of God. Our "sword" is powerful and meant to be used!!!

Our precious friends from Rio Grande do Sul who sacrificed and travelled many hours to help launch Quest.

If you want to see more pics and read the latest news, feel free to check out the Quest website

www.questbr.com

God's Message to Quest...

2008-02-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks for taking the time to read this beautiful message of encouragement that a dear friend sent Team Quest many months ago. Today the words are so meaningful to us. When you pray for Team Quest, if God gives you a word, message or scripture passage, please feel free to send them on to us. God uses you, our complete TEAM to speak to us. Thanks for your support.

This week my mind has been centered around things of Quest, and I have been
praying earnestly that God would grant words of wisdom that I could share
with you. I understand that I am not one of the main decision makers, but I
do believe that God does use outsiders to deliver messages, as I know you
believe as well. After many hours of prayer and seeking, I feel I do not
have an answer as to what you should be doing, or purchasing, or which
decisions should be made... but rather, I feel as though it is more my place
to just encourage you spur you on in these times. Yesterday in my
devotional I read about Spiritual Perserverance, and I would like to put the
whole substance of the devotional in this e-mail, in hopes that you too may
be encouraged through it.

"Perserverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with
absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to
happen. Perserverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only
exposing our fear of letting go and falling. Perserverance is our supreme
effort of refusing to believe that our hero is going to be conquered. Our
greatest fear is not that we will be damned, but that somehow Jesus Christ
will be defeated. Also, our fear is that the very things our Lord stood for
- love, justice, forgiveness, and kindness among men - will win out in the
end and will represent an unattainable goal for us. Then there is the call
to spiritual perserverance. A call not to hang on and do nothing, but to
work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.
If our hopes seem to be experiencing dissapointment right now, it simply
means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind
will be fulfilled if it is noble and of God. But one of the greatest
stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God. He brings fulfillment,
"because you have kept my command to perservere..." (Rev 3:10).
Continue to perservere spiritually."

After reading this devotional, I was reminded of the e-mail you sent
regarding waiting on God, and how it is not right to rush nor manipulate his
timing. And I truly believe that God will make known at the proper time,
exactly what he is wanting you to persue and take hold of, and when he wants
you to do it.

I also want to throw in another thing here. As I was praying and fasting on
Wednesday, I was praying for a word for Quest, and he gave me the word
"REDEMPTION". At first I thought the word to be odd, and did not what it
meant. So I started thinking of what it means to be redeemed.... things
like being made new, or to get back came to mind. But being curious about
this, I explored further in the dictionary, and found meanings like "set
free; rescued; saved; delivered; liberated; made good; carried out; a
deliverance or rescue." This was still not quite what I was looking
for...still I needed guidance. So I looked through the concordance, looking
up verses on redemption, and three stood out to me. Psalm 130:7, Isaiah
353:9 and Exodus 6:6. Upon reading them, I began to recieve a greater
understanding of what this word might mean. I do not want to spiritualize
things and say that the verses I just mentioned are directly relating to
Quest. But thorugh them I came to a clearer understanding. I do believe
that this is one more assurance to us, that God is taking back things for
his glory through Quest, and by redeeming what seemed to be lost. I urge
you to pray as well and see what this word means to you, and to Quest. To
see what God lays on your heart. I myself feel it is yet one more
confirmation that things are moving in the right direction.

As things continue to come together, be encouraged! There will be hard
times, and decisions that will seem to not quite make sense, but you know
they are the right ones to make. God is not always predictable. Continue
to be sensitive to his leading, like I know you are. Be the example of
Servant Leaders that Chirst has called us to be. Stand firm, daily seeking
Christs vision, and not mans. There will come a time when God will rise
things up, and there will be such tension as things begin to come together,
and made ready to be put into action...And just as a woman has her pains
before childbirth, there will be such joy and great reward when the new
creation in Christ comes to life.

Be encouraged. Be blessed.

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

Caleb advised us that his New Year's resolution for 2008 was to never again make a New Year's resolution! We are already well into the new year and so far it has been a fulfilling and rewarding 2008.

After Christmas celebrations ended, we packed up our car and headed for Pelotas, RS to attend a wedding of 2 friends of ours from Acamp-Serra. It was tremendous to see so many old friends again! While we were there, we were invited by the Lutheran church to sit in as guests on their weekly radio program. The topic for the morning was Christian camping and so it was fitting. After Scott gave a short devotional on air, the phone in the studio rang and it was a middle-aged woman calling to talk to Scott regarding something he had said. It was a really neat oportunity for him to share Christ's love with this lady.

On the way home from Pelotas we stopped briefly in Gramado (about a two hour lunch with good friends of ours). We all experienced mixed emotions returning to the city which had been home to us for over 8 years.

After arriving back here in Schroeder, we celebrated Hannah's 7th birthday. We cannot believe that our baby is already 7!!! She had several friends and of course, her cousins over for the afternoon. Her party had a butterfly theme with crafts, playtime and of course cake and goodies to pass the time.

We have spent the last week working at a Lutheran denominational adolescent camp in Sao Bento do Sul. We were truly blessed, having been given this oportunity to share God's vision with others, so in turn Quest can grow and continue to bring glory to our great and deserving God!

Scott's latest adventure...

2007-12-11T04:10:00.000-08:00

Scott, Nathan and Becky (two of Scott's colleagues from the LDP course at Medeba) are only beginning to discover places to "do adventure". Being an adventure-based camp in this region makes TOTAL sense because of all of the options and the amazing natural wonders of God.

Just take a look at these pics of Scott, Nathan and Becky. Nature literally makes you want to cry out praises to our awesome God!!! Enjoy!

What we've been up to...

2007-12-11T03:19:00.000-08:00

It's been a very busy 2 months since our last update. I'll try to give you tidbits of what we've been doing.

Team Quest has been busy working with church groups. We have done activities with groups of pastors, adolescents, and youth groups. We have enjoyed getting back into ministry. In this picture, Scott and I are working with a group of pastors, showing them how cooperative activities can be used for teaching.
This is Hannah's room. For the first two months she has been living by herself, but as of last week, Becky Patterson (friend of ours from Medeba) is living with her for 6 months. She is really loving her "roomie". She desperately wants a kitten or a hamster for Christmas! You don't want to know what Daddy thinks of that!!!
Here's my homeschooling class. We have included Jaden (my nephew) in our homeschooling class. It frees his mom up to spend more time with her two pre-schoolers and Jaden brings an interesting twist to the classroom. We are studying Russia with the Konos curriculum and are really enjoying it. The kids are looking forward to the Christmas break. This week they are working very hard on building a lego model of the Kremlin and the Red Square.
Just before leaving Canada, we were able to do a vision assessment on Caleb as he has struggled with reading and writing over the years. We discovered many interesting things about his eyes. First of all, that he needed glasses and second of all, that his eyes flutter from side to side just enough to mess up the words on a page. So, we got him these glasses, which he needs to use only for reading, and we are doing about 30 mins of eye exercises with him per day. We are trusting and praying that this will alleviate some of his frustration with reading.

Thanks for keeping up with our family. We are very encouraged as we work towards launching Quest. God has really gone before us and prepared the way. When we follow His plan of action, things are a lot simpler. We are so grateful for his continued comfirmation as we walk ahead boldly in faith.

Please feel free to check out www.questbr.blogspot.com for pictures of the piece of land that we are working towards purchasing for Quest. Today Scott, Dwayne, Nathan and Becky went out to spend the entire day there, walking through and trying to get an overall view of the land. It is 85 hectares, so they don't expect to see it all today. I'll try to post some pics for you.

As far as family, we are needing to be very intentional at finding time together and alone. We have Carol, Nathan and Becky living with us for the present. God knew what he was doing when he supplied us with an old farmhouse that has 6 bedrooms!!! On Tuesdays, Dwayne and Shannon have them over for lunch, to give us a chance at a family meal. The other thing that we all look forward to, is our weekly Family Night, which is planned each week by a different member of our family. Last night Muki was in charge and we bowled in our hallway. It was so much fun. We always end our family nights with a special snack and an episode of Hogan's Heroes.

Our Christmas tree is up and it still does not feel like Christmas!!! We are going to have our house full for the holidays and then on the 28th we are heading to Rio Grande do Sul for a wedding of two of our staffers from Acamp-Serra. We are excited to see everyone again!

Thanks for all your love and support. We would love to hear from you too.

Scott and Patsy

Back in Brazil

2007-10-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

This in our new home! There are several things we are readjusting to. Like, for instance, having to buy everything in SMALL amounts. Like finding out which stores sell which things. Like having strange kids run into your house without knocking. Like striking a match everytime we need to use the stove. Like washing dishes with cold water. Like... yeah, let's just say that it has been an interesting 3 weeks back in Brazil.

It's great to be back! Just look at these smiles. It has been great to get back into routine. Patsy is homeschooling the kids from 9am till 12:30. Lunch is at 1pm and then its play time for the kids. Team Quest is using half of our living room as an office and they are working long days already. God has already been doing amazing things for Quest.

Some specific prayer requests are:

Wisdom in purchasing a car

Decisions to be made regarding Quest: Land purchase and Documentation

Our relationships with God, each other and our children

Finding a church family

We would love to hear from you. Feel free to visit Quest's website at www.questbr.com If you go to Team Quest you are able to email either Scott or Patsy personally. Thanks for your support and hold on, because God is at work here in Santa Catarina!!!

45 Hour Marathon!!!

2007-10-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Imagine, if you can, that it's 4:15am, Wednesday the 26th of September. We are finally crawling out of bed after a couple of hours of sleep. Today is the day that we leave for Brazil! Besides being exhausted from packing and last minute preparations, we are nervous. We have a marathon ahead of us; two flights, airport reunions in both Toronto and Sao Paulo and after all that, two bus rides, one through the night! Will we make it? Will we be able to get away without paying for excess baggage? Will Muki and Hannah cough through the night, or will they feel ok? So many different thoughts and emotions are going through our 5 minds. After our check-in in Winnipeg, we met with friends and family for a last Tim's before we left the North.First stop... Pearson International in Toronto. What a fabulous day with friends! 7 of our friends from LDP came out to see us for a party at Pearson! We visited, ordered pizza, visited, laughed, visited, played games and then visited some more. What a rejuvenating way to spend a day in the airport. Thank you crazy LDPers for the effort you all made to see us. Those that couldn't come, we'll see you soon in BRAZIL, right?!?
Second stop...Guarulhos Airport in Sao Paulo. By this time, the wear and tear on our family was getting obvious. The kids rested as Scott and I met with Jim and Marilou Nightengale, Canadian missionary friends of ours planting a camp in Sao Paulo. Another encouraging meeting. God is doing awesome things in Brazil!
Can you see anyone in this picture? We had eighteen large bags between the 7 of us, plus carry ons, which made for an interesting spectacle in the airport. It was such a large pile, that we stationed ourselves around it for protection purposes and Muki fell asleep during his post!
Thought you might enjoy an aerial view of "The Pile".
As you can see on our faces, we left Guarulhos ready to push on to the last phase of our journey. We loaded all our baggage onto a shuttle bus, and we are convinced the driver had never seen that many bags before in his life. We arrived at the Tiete Bus Station and moved most of our luggage by hand across the bus station (which is NOT small) until Scott found a two-wheel cart to finish off the task. What a relief! We waited anxiously, hoping the driver of the bus wouldn't notice that we had way too many over sized bags and decide to charge us extra. We were thrilled when he loaded it up and didn't say a word. God is sooooo good to us.

All that to say.......we made it! We have arrived!!! It is wonderful to be back. It is thrilling to have this huge challenge ahead of us. We are so grateful for the house we have rented. We have already come face to face with the differences in our two cultures. Kids running in, around and through our house without asking permission. We have once again become a spectacle in our neighborhood. In spite of the adjustments, we all feel at home!

Thanks for your prayers and support. We will keep you posted. Please take a look at our Quest website at www.questbr.com

2007-09-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

The countdown in on....less than 2 weeks till we leave for Brazil!!! We are so excited. For those of you in the Niverville area, we are hosting a farewell evening on Sunday, Sept.23rd at 7pm in the Elim Mennonite Church in Niverville. Everyone is welcome to come and see us off!

For those crazy LDP friends of ours in Ontario, don't forget our 12 hour marathon on the 26th at Pearson ....we are looking forward to seeing all of you!

Please continue to remember our family in your prayers. Caleb's health is restored which we praise God for. The kids are troopers and we all know we're on the home stretch now!

2007-09-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

The big day has finally arrived. Our "baby" has lost her two front teeth. Hannah is so proud.

Finalmente, o dia chegou. Nosso "nene" perdeu a portinha da frente! a Hannah esta tao orgulhoso!

We want to praise God for taking care of Caleb's health. He was very feverish for a couple of days and we took him into Emergency last night. He was diagnosed with Strep throat and is on antibiotics. We decided to rest here in Niverville an extra day and head out to Saskatoon tomorrow morning. Please pray for all of us as we travel, especially that Caleb will get sufficient rest.

Queremos louvar a Deus pela saude do Caleb. Ele estava com um febre muito alto alguns dias ja e ontem a noite levamos ele ao hospital. Ele estava com uma infeccao na garganta e esta tomando antibioticos. Decidimos ficar de pouso mais um dia aqui em Niverville antes de viajar ate Saskatchewan amanha de manha. Por favor, orem pela nossa familia enquanto que viajarmos, principalmente que Caleb vai descansar suficiente.

2007-08-15T11:38:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's been such a long time, I'll be amazed if anyone even reads this blog anymore!!! We have had a very buzy summer.

Scott has been working as an electrician for the summer. 2 weeks ago he injured his arm after falling off a ladder at work. It wasn't broken and is much better than it was, but it is a constant pain that is difficult to work with. He is being treated again today and hopefully he will recover fully soon.

I, Patsy, am volunteering at VBS this week with our home church in Niverville. It is always a delight to work with children. Seeing them enjoy the Bible stories this week has given me a passion to write a children's Sunday school curriculum that would work it's way through the entire Bible in a year of S.S. Who knows when, but it would be a fantastic idea. I am enjoying my time off of homeschooling, although I am already preparing for fall classes.

Caleb is my VBS helper this week. He is so grown up and is really enjoying his first "ministry experience". He is in swimming lessons and doing very well. Believe it or not, he went on his first "Junior Youth" retreat because he is on his way into grade 7.

Muki is more witty and entertaining every day. He is loving all of his play dates with friends. He is tinkering on Grandma and Grandpa's piano daily and slowly figuring out songs by ear. He loved discovering my trumpet (from days gone by!) and it is now on a long time out! He is also doing well in swimming.

Hannah is our butterfly. She flutters too and fro. Yesterday she mastered bike riding on two wheels...we are sooo proud of her. She loves to swim in the pool with her friends. She is absolutely loving the music, crafts and stories at VBS this week.

Yeah, overall we are a happy, healthy family. We are all very ready to return to Brazil which we are doing on September 26th. Dwayne and Shannon have already rented a house for us(pictured above) in Santa Catarina, so we are anxious to get there.

Starting this Sunday, we will be speaking in many churches regarding Quest. Please keep our family in your prayers. This will be one of those extremely busy months with absolutely no routine, which of course is hard on a family. We are excited about the opportunities we have to share with these church families and we pray that we can be a blessing in their lives as we minister to them.

We are definitely finding ourselves in a transition stage, which brings a lot of emotions along with it. We are so grateful for our friends and family that support us in so many ways.

We wish you a fantastic day...

2007-06-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

We are back in Manitoba! Yes, Scott's graduation from Medeba was beautiful and we have once again moved on. In the last few weeks our family enjoyed the outdoors in Ontario. The pictures show Caleb doing some off-site climbing, Muki trying his hand at kayaking and Hannah has enjoyed the lake, swimming every chance she got.

Estamos de volta em Manitoba! Sim, a formatura do Scott do curso foi lindo e ja nos mudamos de novo. Nas ultimas semanas nossa familia curtiu a natureza do Ontario. As fotos mostram o Caleb escalando na rocha, o Muki tentando fazer o Kayak e a Hanninha curtiu o lago, tomando banho cada oportunidade que tinha.

This summer we have several mandates. Scott is working full-time as an electrician to earn some money to cover the costs our family incurred this year. We are grateful for the oportunity to leave Canada in September without much debt to weigh us down. Patsy is going to continue doing a lot of the communication with supporters, with our team in Brazil and also work with fundraising for Quest. The kids are already reaquainting themselves with friends and have the summer off from school.

No verao temos varios planos. O Scott esta trabalhando tempo integral como eletricista para ganhar um pouco de dinheiro para pagar os custos do ano. Estamos gratos pela oportunidade de sair do Canada em Setembro com pouca divida. Patricia vai continuar communicando com nossos mantanedores e nossa equipe no Brasil e tambem levantando sustento por Quest. Nossos filhos ja estao brincando com amigos e eles tem "ferias" das aulas!!!

Bom, amamos voces...estamos nos preparando para voltar LOGO.

New Challenges and Victories

2007-05-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip to North Carolina for 8 days of white water paddling and 4 days of hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

It was a great time of learning and physical challenges. I was able to learn some great new paddling skills and push my physical limits hiking the Appalachian Trail.

We were hosted in a church for a couple of nights and also were able to help out with an outreach youth event. God taught me that he can give us courage when we have fear and also that he supplies our needs.

Tivemos um tempo maravilhoso para Carolina de Norte fazendo kayak por 8 dias e 4 dias na Appalachian Trail. Foi um bom tempo de aprendizado e desafios fisicos. Eu aprendi algumas abilidades para fazer kayak e me desafiou fisicamente na trilha. Fomos hospedado numa igreja e tivemos a oportunidade de participar num evento de evangelismo.

Deus me mostrou que Ele pode me dar corajem quando tenho medo e que Ele pode suprir nossas necessidades.

2007-04-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Ola amigos...

Eh dificil acreditar, mas ja estamos no finalzinho do curso aqui no Medeba. Semana passada nos curtimos alguns dias de ferias do curso. Foi muito bom ter a minha familia da Alemanha aqui para visitar e tambem a Lisa veio do oeste para passar 5 dias conosco. Como e bom ter amigos e familia que nos apoiam tanto!

Hello friends,

It's hard to believe, but we are already coming to the end of our time here at Medeba. Last week we enjoyed a few days of holidays. It was great to have my family out from Germany (my nephew Niklaas is trying his riflery skills above) and also to have Lisa out from the west for 5 days. It is so great to have friends and family that support us so much!

2007-03-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

The photos on the right are of Scott's friend Nate Johnson(top) and Scott (below) Below is a picture of us at the halfway point of the skate on the rideau canal.

We figured it was just about time to update this blog again! Yes, winter continues in Ontario. We are finally feeling healthy. Each one of us was down at some point in the winter with severe colds and coughs. We are so grateful that that is behind us now! Some recent family events include Muki's 9th birthday party. We planned a pond shinney hockey game and did a weinerroast outside, the theme: The Boston Bruins. Can you believe that he is already turning against his father's Leafs?!

Ta na hora de escrever mais noticias aqui no Blog! Sim, o inverno continua aqui no Ontario. Finalmente, estamos bem de saude. Cada um de nos passamos dias/semanas com gripe e tosse. Estamos gratos que tudo passou por enquanto! Alguns eventos que fizemos como familia recentemente sao o aniversario do Muki...ele fez 9 anos!! Ele queria uma festa de hockey no lago com um assado de salsicha la fora no frio...foi uma experiencia muito legal para ele!

Scott continues his course at a feverish rate. Sometimes we question what we are doing here, but at the same time we know God has us here for many specific purposes, some of which he has already revealed to us, and some we'll have to wait to find out. These past 2 weeks have been very busy with Scott gone on a 3 day snow camping trip where they learned how to make quinzees to sleep in as well as other winter outdoor adventure tips. He was home 3 days between trips, during which we were invited to join some friends to skate the Rideau canal in Ottawa. We did that with our 2 boys and we all made it. We skated just over 14 kms...it was a once in a lifetime experience! 2 days later the LDP group left for Lake Placid (1980 Winter Olympics) for a 5 day ice climbing trip. They stayed in a cabin without running water or electricity, so it was quite an experience. Scott's favorite climb was a waterfall which he could hear running along the backside of the ice. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

O courso do Scott continua sendo forte. As vezes nos nao intendemos o que estamos fazendo aqui, mas, no mesmo tempo temos a certeza que estamos aqui por varios razoes, alguns que ja percebemos, outros que nos ainda vamos descobrir um dia. Essas ultimas semanas foram demais! O Scott fez duas viagems...uma foi acampando na neve, aprendendo como construir uma casa de neve seguro suficiente para dormir e a outra foi escalando no gelo nos Estados Unidos no lugar a onde acontecerem as Olimpiadas de inverno de 1980. Eles ficaram numa cabana grande sem luz e agua...foi um desafio enorme para o Scott. Esperamos que vao curtir as fotos.

PARABENS para o Pipa e a Jordana no casamento no dia 10 de marco!!! Que saudades que da em momentos como esse...gostariamos muito estar ai com voces!!!

2007-02-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

E com muito alegria que queremos apresentar para voces o lugar que achamos para o Quest. Estamos no processo de levantar fundos, achar maneiras para receber as doacoes no Brasil e tambem comecar criar uma associacao em Santa Catarina. Deus tem sido fiel em todas as areas das nossas vidas, nos preparando para liderar este novo acampamento. Estamos completamente nas maos de Deus, querendo seguir Ele em tudo. O plano d'Ele com certeza e melhor e maior do que nossos. Queremos pedir MUITA ORACAO, principalmente do Brasil, pois voces sabem o tremendo impacto que um ministerio de acampamento pode ter quando Deus esta colocado em cima de tudo! GLORIA A DEUS!!!

It gives us great pleasure to present to you the land that we have found for the new camp plant called Quest. We are in the process of raising funds, finding ways of getting the finances into Brazil and also starting a non-profit organization in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. God has been so faithful in all areas of our lives, preparing us to lead this new camp. We are completely in God's hands, desiring only to follow Him. His plans are surely bigger and better than ours. We want to ask for MUCH PRAYER, especially from Brazil, because we have seen the tremendous impact that a camping ministry that is focalized on God can have. We give GOD ALL THE GLORY!!!

2007-01-30T13:49:00.001-08:00

Quem me conhece bem, sabe que cada ano eu tento fazer 4 atividades novas so pra me desafiar. Olha so...eu esquiando!!!! Ninguem quebrou ossos, entao ficamos contentes! Claro, o Muki caiu e o Scott resgatou ele, mas alem disso, tudo foi tranquilo.

O Scott tirou folga na final de semana e nos brincamos muito na neve. Quando as temperaturas ficam em volta de -10 nao eh ruim ficar fora, mas ontem e hoje a temperatura caiu ate -28 e dai eh frio demais para brincar fora. Hoje de tarde Scott tentou escalar no gelo pelo primeira vez. Quem sabe eu consigo uma foto para voces logo. Amamos voces!

Those of you that know me well, know that every year I try 4 new activities to challenge myself. Look at me...I'm skiing!!! Nobody broke any bones, so we were happy! Of course, Muki fell and Scott rescued him, but besides that, everything went well.

Scott took the weekend off and we played a lot in the snow. When the temperature stays around -10 it's not bad at all to be outside, but yesterday and today it was -28 and then it is just too cold to play outside. Today Scott tried ice climbing for the first time. Who knows, maybe I can get a picture of his experience soon for you. We love you all!

2007-01-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

2007-01-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

Queridos amigos... quanto tempo! Estamos no meio do inverno aqui na terra santa!

Agora estamos de volta no Medeba, depois de muitas festas de Natal com as nossas familias!

Caleb, Muki e a Hanninha estao bem, estudando sobre animais e plantas...o Volnei, tou precisando de te! Com certeza eu tou aprendendo tanto quanto eles. E realmente, e bom parar e observar a criacao do nosso Deus. Ele e incrivel.

O Scott e eu estamos cada vez mais apaixonado pelo ministerio de acampamento. Deus tem afirmado nossa chamada para o ministerio Quest ai no Brasil. Estamos muito empolgados com a volta ao Brasil em Setembro. Sentimos muito saudades de voces, nossos amigos de peito.

Nos preparamos uma pista de gelo no lago em frente da casa e da MUITO trabalho! Os filhos estao amando patinhar e estao melhorando cada vez mais.

Queremos ouvir de voces, como voces estao. Por favor, mandem fotos e noticias.

spbuhler@yahoo.ca

Dear friends, it's been a while! We are still in the middle of winter. We are back at Medeba after a lot of Christmas celebrations with our families.

Caleb, Muki and Hannah are doing well. They are studying about the plant and animal kingdoms. I'm sure I am learning more than they are. It really is good to stop and observe God's creation. He really is incredible.

Scott and I are becoming more passionate about camping ministry. God has really affirmed our desire to start the camping ministry called Quest in Brazil. We are excited about our return to Brazil in September. We really are missing our friends there.

We made an ice rink on the lake in front of our home. It has been a lot of work! The kids have enjoyed it so much and they are improving all the time.

We would love to hear from you and please send pictures.

spbuhler@yahoo.ca

2007-01-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

I had a great time in the Florida Everglades on our 11 day canoe trip. We not only paddled an average of 12 miles a day in conditions that were both favorable and challenging, we also had saw a lot of wild life. Gators, daulphins, manatees, pelicans, sea turtles, and many other types of birds and bugs were a part of our daily travels. An experience not soon forgotten!! It sure felt good to have a shower after 12 days and better yet, to see Patsy and the kids back in Winnipeg.

Here are some pictures of our days paddling, in our canoes passing the alligators and our platforms that we slept on every night.

I will try to get a more detailed report on my trip on the blog soon.

Eu tive um tempo maravilhoso em Florida numa viajem de canoa por 11 dias. Alem de remar uma media de 12 milhas por dia em condicoes favoraveis e desafiante, nos vimos muitos bichos e animais. Jacares, golfinhos, manatees, pelicanos, tartarugas e muitos tipos de aves e bichos fizeram parte de cada dia. Uma experiencia que nao vou esquecer logo!! Foi muito bom tomar banho depois de 12 dias e melhor ainda foi ver a Patricia e as criancas no Winnipeg.

Aqui tem algumas fotos dos nossos dias nas canoas passando os jacares e as plataformas onde a gente dormiu cada noite.

Vou tentar colocar um relatorio mais detalhado logo.

2006-12-25T14:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to All!!!

We are having a great Christmas in Canada with the snow and colder weather. We have enjoyed skating, playing hockey, building snow forts and having snowball fights! We want to thank Jesus for His sacrifice of love, for becoming nothing so that we can experience a life of freedom and joy.

Feliz Natal!!!

Estamos curtindo nosso Natal no Canada com a neve e o frio (nem eh tao frio!). Nos fomos patinhar, jogar hockey, construimos fortalezas de neve e tivemos guerras de bolas de neve! Agradecemos Jesus por seu sacrificio de amor, se tornando humano para que nos podermos experimentar a vida de liberdade e alegria.

2006-11-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

Olha so...o Caleb e a Patricia ja foram patinhar. Advinhe quem esta apoiando quem??? Nossos filhos estao amando inverno. Cada quinta-feira estamos indo para a cidade para patinhar de meio dia ate 14 h.

Check it out...Caleb and Patsy already went skating. Guess who is supporting who??? Our kids are loving winter. Every Thursday we drive into town to skate from 12-2pm.
Scott esta curtindo o curso, principalmente por que ele esta sendo treinado em todos as areas do acampamento. Ele ajudou tirar uma parte da capela, e essa semana eles estao contruindo a area de novo.

Scott is enjoying the course, especially because he is being trained in all areas of camping. He helped take down a part of the lodge, and this week they are building the new deck.

Medeba comprou caderinhas novas para criar mais adrenelina nas atividades. O Superhomen gostou demais a mudanca! Ele desceu do zipline voando e gritando.

Medeba bought new harnesses to create more adreneline for their activities. Superman totally loved the change! He came down the zipline flying and screaming.

Deus tem colocado pessoas maravilhosas em nossas vidas. Aqui estamos jantando com os alunos do curso. Eles tem uma casa grande a onde eles tem a propria sala de jantar e cozinha. Eles preparam as refeicoes juntos, alguns ja sabem cozinhar e outros quiemam tudo!!! De vez em quando nossa familia esta convidado para jantar com a equipe!

God has put marvelous people in our lives. Here we are eating supper with the students of LDP. They have their own house, which has a dining room and a kitchen. Here they prepare the meals together, some already knowing how to cook and others just burn everything!!! Every once in a while our family is invited to dine with the team!

Estamos com muito saudades do Brasil e o povo ai! Falta comunhao, amigos, chimarrao e boas conversas! Segunda-feira que vem, Patricia e os filhos estao indo para Manitoba para passar o Natal la com a familia dela. O Scott esta se preparando para fazer uma viagem de canoa em Florida durante o inicio de dezembro. A equipe dele vai levar 10 dias para remar mais ou menos 180 kms nos Florida Everglades. Que locoura!!! Deus esta nos ensinando muito sobre trabalho em equipe, sobre lideranca e mais importante ainda, sobre aquilo que Ele quer fazer em nossas vidas.

We are really missing Brazil and all the people there! We miss the fellowship, the friends, the chimarrao and the good conversations! This next Monday, Patsy and the kids are heading off to Manitoba to spend Christmas there with her family. Scott is preparing himself for a canoe trip in Florida at the beginning of December. He team will take 10 days to paddle around 180 kms in the Florida Everglades. They're crazy!!! God is teaching us so many things about teamwork, about leadership and much more importantly, about that which He wants to do in ours lives.

2006-11-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

Meus pais (que a maioria de voces conheceram no verao) vieram nos visitar por 2 semanas. Durante a visita deles, nos conseguimos ir ao Ottawa, o capital do Canada. Foi muito especial para nos poder caminhar pelos corridores e ver toda historia do nosso pais. Vamos lembrar de orar pelos lideres mundias.

My parents came to visit us for 2 weeks. During their visit, we were able to go to Ottawa, Canada's capital city. It was very special for us to be able to walk down the halls and see the complete history of our country. Let's remember to pray for our world leaders.

Que lindo, ne?!? Pois eh, ja nevou varias vezes por aqui. Nao eh frio suficiente para a neve ficar, mas tudo fica tao bonito! Estamos gostando o frio, mas vestimos muito roupa para correr/caminhar de manha!!!

So beautiful, eh?!? Yeah, it has already snowed several times around here. It isn't cold enough for the snow to stick around, but everything looks so beautiful! We are enjoying the cold, although we put on a lot of clothing to run/walk in the mornings!!!

2006-11-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Eu (Patricia) nao sou oficialmente uma aluna no Medeba, mas tenho procurado a ajudar e amar os 12 alunos do curso. Fizemos uma festa de pijama em nossa casa com as alunas. Elas sao demais, mas infelizmente NAO TOMAM CHIMARRAO!!!

I (Patsy) am not an official student at Medeba, but I have tried to help and love the 12 students in the course. We had a pajama party at all house with all of the girls. They are great, but they don't drink chimarrao!!!

O Caleb e Muki trabalharam muito para poder pular nas folias caidas...

Caleb and Muki worked very hard to be able to jump in the fallen leaves.

2006-11-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

Ta vendo o Muki? Nao? Pois eh, ele desapareceu!!! Ontem foi o Halloween e foi a primeira vez que nossos filhos tiveram oportunidade de ir casa em casa pedindo balas. Imagina, cada um ganhou duas sacolas cheias de balas!!! O Caleb foi como um lenhador, o Muki foi de quem (?!?) e a Hannah foi como irma de Curious George. Foi de mais!!! Esperamos que eles vao repartir as balas conosco.

Can you see Muki? No? That's right, he disappeared!!! Yesterday was Halloween and it was the first time our kids had the opportunity to go trick-or-treating. Imagine, each one received 2 bags full of candies!!! Caleb went as a lumberjack, Muki went as who(?!?) and Hannah went as Curious George's little sister, Georgina. It was great!!! We just hope they are going to share their candies with us.

Os pais da Patricia estao visitando por duas semanas. Essa semana nos fomos junto com eles para Toronto para ver o CN Tower e o Hockey Hall of Fame. Foi um dia tao gostoso. Toronto eh uma linda cidade!

Patsy's parents are visiting us for 2 weeks. This week we went together with them to Toronto to see the CN Tower and the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was a wonderful day. Toronto is a beautiful city!

2006-10-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

O Scott esta participando no curso junto com 11 outros participantes. Sao 7 gurias e 5 guris. Eles tem entre 18-26 anos. Todos sao Canadenses. A unidade eh um desafio, mas ous poucos estao se unindo mais.

Scott is participating in his course along with 11 other participants. There are 7 girls and 5 guys. They are between 18-25 years old. All are Canadians. Unity is a challenge, but little by little they are becoming unified.
O Scott esta se jogando na Pula de Fe do Medeba.
Scott jumping on the Leap of Faith at Medeba.

O Scott esta amando seu curso. Aqui ele esta escalando no Rattlesnake Point em Ontario. Ele esta aprendendo MUITO sobre aventura e esta sendo desafiado fisicamente!!! Aqui ele esta seguindo um amigo, Nathan, que esta "lead climbing" (colocando as cordas e ancoras) e o Scott foi logo depois, tirando as mesmas.

Scott is loving his course. Here he is climbing at Rattlesnake Point in Ontario. He is learning A LOT about adventure and is being very challenged physically!!! Here he is following his friend, Nathan, who is lead climbing (putting up the protection) and Scott followed, taking it down.

Bom amigos....queriamos mostrar um pouco da nossa vida aqui no Canada. Essa eh a vista da nossa casa no lago verde (Green Lake). Acampamento Medeba tambem esta no mesmo lago, so no outro lado. Moramos 1.5 km do acampamento, numa casa de dois quartos que eh pequena mas gostosa. Estamos alugando essa casa ate final de junho do ano que vem. O curso do Scott comecou dia 28 de agosto e termina somente em junho.

Well friends...we wanted to let you know a little about our life here in Canada. This is the view from our house on Green Lake. Medeba is also on the same lake, just on the other side. We live 1.5 km
from the camp, in a two-bedroom house which is little, but cozy. We are renting this house until the end of June of next year. Scott's course started on the 28th of August and will end in June of 2007.

2006-10-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Bem vindo ao nosso blog. Pensamos em criar um lugar onde nos podemos deixar informacoes sobre nossa familia e ministerio. O foto em cima foi tirado no dia 21 de agusto, 2006. Foi o dia que comecamos nossa jornada para Medeba. Por favor, olham o blog de vez em quando, e nos vamos tentar comunicar tudo que esta acontecendo com a nossa familia. Amamos voces e ate mais....os Buhlers.

Welcome to our blog. We thought we would create a place where we could provide information about our family as well as our ministry. This picture was taken on August 21st, 2006. It was the day that we started our journey to Medeba. Please, feel free to check our blog every once in a while, and we will try to tell you everything that is going on in our lives. We love you all....The Buhlers.