Photos
Here are some of the latest photos from our ministry. Click on a picture to see a larger image and read the description.
Visits – Recently we drove about 30 minutes to a nearby town to visit Bruna. Though she lives a little ways away, she drives to our church every Sunday morning, then eats lunch with us and hangs out at my parents’ house until the evening service.
CREATURES – Here is another wonder we found recently. This moth (between 8-10 inches wide) is one of many large moths that live in our area.
CREATURES – This beetle was about two inches long. The variety of insects and critters that come around our house is unbelievable.
CREATURES – Our world is full of creatures. I think about half of them live withing a mile from our house. This little lizard was only about two or two and a half inches long. He has been domesticated and makes a living on mosquitos and moths that live in our house.
Friends – Pastor William and Silvia are friends from many years ago. They were a great influence on me when I was a teenager. They were in my trained in my parents’ church years ago. It is always a blessing to see them again.
Visitors at Church – Suyane came to church for the first time in December. Her mother (left) attended our church for a while, but passed away this last year.
Christmas 2024 – The Tyler Family
Christmas 2024 – Time spent as a family was precious this Christmas. Soon all of our children will be away from home and we cherish every opportunity we have with them.
Christmas 2024 – In recent years, the cities in our state as well as many other have been setting up large Christmas light displays. We enjoy going to see the lights around town.
Family Fun – Having the boys back home for Christmas was wonderful. We enjoyed the time together in many ways. New memories were created based on old traditions.
Ladies’ Christmas Tea – Epi is one of the missionaries we support. Her and her husband Jefferson worked in India until their visas were denied. They now are helping a church near us and teaching classes in India and Mozambique weekly.
Ladies’ Christmas Tea – One of the great blessings of this year’s tea is that a deaf lady who attended has been coming to Sunday School almost every week since this event!
Ladies’ Christmas Tea – Every year Amanda plans a Christmas tea. It is an excellent opportunity to reach out to ladies that are not a part of the church. This year there were several visitors.
Oh the wonders that you see. You might want to look a little closer at this image. I parked my car under this tree and it caught my attention.😀
The children’s Sunday School class took up a coin offering for months to be able to buy some special gifts for these two missionary kids. Their parents are native Indian missionaries to their own tribe.
Sophia was very excited when she opened up the gifts that the church bought for her. We played several rounds of Uno so that she could learn how to play before she went home.
Heloísa was so excited when she received these glasses. She had told her parents that she wanted a pair of sun glasses.
We had a special time of fellowship with Gabriel and Eliane. They are native Zoró Indians. They have given their lives to work with the children in their tribe and reach them for Christ. Please pray that many young souls will be saved in the Zoró tribe.
Thanksgiving – We enjoyed a great time of fellowship with other missionaries this Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving – Sometimes we do crazy things on the mission field. Our bonfire idea was nixed, so we found a way to roast our hot dogs and marshmallows! We had to do it on a charcoal grill.
Unexpected Visitors – Life is full of unexpected events. The Kokenzie family (fellow missionaries) broke down just outside Cacoal on their way to camp. They were still nearly 14 hours from the camp. The mechanics managed to break the car a bit more and kept them at our house all weekend. Meanwhile, we celebrated Julie’s birthday and tried to make the stay as pleasant as possible for them.
Trixie – After 11 years, we lost our little companion. She was a great little dog who loved attention. She was playful, faithful, watched out for us and was especial protective of the boys.
Young People’s Activity – Coordinating six people to draw a picture together is not as easy as it seems. This team did a great job!
Young People’s Activity – Learning to work together is a challenge. This activity was fun for everyone and helped them learn to communicate.
Young People’s Activity – The teens enjoyed the games and participated with great attitudes.
Young People’s Activity – Competition
Young People’s Activity – The teens were divided into smaller groups. These smaller groups provided interaction with teens from other churches.
Young People’s Activity – Fun and games
Young People’s Activity – Fun and games
Young People’s Activity – Fun and games
Young People’s Activity – Along with the games, the teens had studied the book of I Thessalonians. They answered over 100 questions about the book while competing for their team.
Young People’s Activity – These teens are natural artists!
Young People’s Activity – Working together
Young People’s Activity – We provided lunch for the teens.
Young People’s Activity – John Kokenzie preached for us at the teen activity.
Young People’s Activity – During the quizzing, we have a panel of judges that make decisions on answers given by the teens. These guys took their job seriously.
Young People’s Activity – Bible Quizzing time
Young People’s Activity – Before a day of working together, we used a few ice breakers to help the teens get to know each other.
Young People’s Activity – While some sing, others watch for cameras.
Young People’s Activity – Judson has been our pianist for the last few years. We are grateful for his willingness to help.
Children’s Day – In this picture you can see multiple cotton balls spread out around the room. The children found 99 “sheep” scattered around the room. The 100th “sheep” was lost.
Children’s Day – Garry Tyler (my father) teaching the Bible verse to the children.
Children’s Day – The ladies decorated a few tables full of treats for the kids.
Children’s Day – Along with the story of the prodigal son, the children made a craft to help them remember the story.
Children’s Day – Amanda helped the children with the craft.
Children’s Day – Even the very young children had fun playing the games and listening to the story.
While celebrating a birthday, we got together with a few other missionaries and went on a walk. You know you are in the rain forest when the jungle takes over the walk!
Missionary Camp Meeting – Bro. Dave Whitmore came up to Rondônia to preach and we were invited to a missionary gathering where he preached to us in English. It was a blessing to spend time in fellowship with American missionaries from all around the state of Rondônia.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Being the first VBS ever in the Suruí tribe, we were not quite sure what to expect, but God did a wonderful thing in the lives of children, teens and adults.
VBS Suruí Tribe – The dinner line. After a day of many activities, most everyone was anxious to get some food.
VBS Suruí Tribe – It is hard to describe the joy that is seen in the eyes of children who get to participate in some very simple activities. They are very expectant and enjoy even the wait for their turn.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Though age limits are set, who can resist a little face like this wanting to participate?
VBS Suruí Tribe – Notice as the children are having fun that the adults are in the hammocks in the background taking care of the young children or just relaxing in the heat of the day. This covering was my sleeping quarters while I was in the tribe. Though only two of us slept there at night, several people set up their hammocks under the covering during the day.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Though very inexperienced, these ladies volunteered to help with the songs for the children.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Children of all ages attended even if they could not participate.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Rubens is the man who headed up the VBS. He is the most trained person in the Suruí tribe because he has had two years of basic Bible teaching. The pastors have very little to no training at all.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Beautiful faces!
VBS Suruí Tribe – Our meeting place.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Soabá is Rubens’ grandmother. Notice how she carries this basket.
VBS Suruí Tribe – In order to get to the meeting location we had to park by the river and cross on this bridge supported by two long logs.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Notice the smoke that can be seen in the trees further in the background. Visibility has been low all over the country due to recent fires.
VBS Suruí Tribe – Along with the one weak light bulb that was illuminating the speaker, we set up a few flashlights to brighten up the area up front. The children never complained about it being difficult to see. They were enjoying the activity too much.
Piano Repairs – Along with many other hats, sometimes a missionary has to repair his own refrigerator, washing machine or in this case, an electric piano. I began tuning pianos until I realized that after a week in Rondônia’s climate, any piano gets out of tune. A digital piano has been a huge blessing.
Culture – This picture is full of cultural information. It was taken right out in front of our church. Notice the dozens of wires running everywhere and the man leaning his ladder against the wires to work on them. Just notice the other things in the picture and you might find some other cultural tidbits.
Father’s Day – These were the men that were at church in August when Brazil celebrates Father’s Day.
Adventures – Memories are made when things go wrong! This just happens to be one of those memories. We were taking our children for a hike. The Kokenzie’s car had one flat right after the other forcing us to put 9 people in a 7 person vehicle for an hour.
Zoró Tribe VBS – I had the privilege to help baptize Sofia. She is the daughter of the missionary we went to help.
Zoró Tribe VBS – Gabriel and Eliane (left) are Zoró missionaries to the children. In front of me is Shogi, a Brazilian missionary of Japanese descent, and to our right is Rúbens a missionary from the Suruí tribe. It was a blessing to spend time with these great people.
Zoró Tribe VBS – There were 86 attendees and 24 workers involved in this event. Many other adults and teenagers were present also.
Zoró Tribe VBS – Though he did not participate in the VBS, this man was very talented and was showing the children how to make calls for many different animals.
Zoró Tribe VBS – Children everywhere love to have fun. Vacation Bible School is just one way to reach their hearts with the Gospel.
Zoró Tribe VBS – Water balloons are always fun!
Zoró Tribe VBS – Children love to play
Zoró Tribe VBS – Game time!
Zoró Tribe VBS – These children enjoyed playing very simple games.
Zoró Tribe VBS – Children
Zoró Tribe VBS – Children
Zoró Tribe VBS – Shogi has worked with the Zoró tribe for over 30 years. I am learning quite a bit from him and his many years of experience with these people.
Zoró Tribe VBS – It was a blessing to be able to help a bit with the music.
Zoró Tribe VBS – It is exciting to see young men serving the Lord and helping teach songs and verses to these kids.
Zoró Culture – These baskets were full of fish. I was not able to get a good picture of the fish before it had been devoured. Once they are opened, it is a free for all and people just reach down and grab what they want. I did get a piece though, and it was good!
Zoró Culture – Twice we were served soup in the afternoon. The men gathered around this table to eat a fish and corn soup. It was served just as you see and eaten with leaves. The leaves were folded to make a spoon. The following day we were served stingray with stingray soup.
Zoró Tribe VBS – Gabriel teaching about the life and ministry of Paul.
Zoró Tribe VBS – This man dressed up as Paul and came to speak to the children.
Zoró Tribe VBS – Packed Pews!
Zoró Tribe VBS – These were our sleeping quarters for the VBS. Nights were cold. Small fires were started under this covering to keep people warm.
5 Year Anniversary Conference – Fellowship usually centers around a good cake or some food.
5 Year Anniversary Conference – The church logo was printed on the cake. The ladies did a fabulous job making this special cake!
5 Year Anniversary Conference – Pastor Wanderley was our guest speaker.
5 Year Anniversary Conference – God blessed us with heart stirring Bible preaching.
5 Year Anniversary Conference – In this picture the people are watching a video of memories from the past five years.
4th of July – Most years, we try to get together for a time of fellowship on the 4th of July. There are normally a few missionaries on furlough, but we were grateful to spend some time with those that were able to participate this year. Tylers, Kokenzies, Rogers, Lawsons, Divinos and Schmidts.
As we travel we receive a few reminders of our home country. Some people still envy the freedoms we are so quickly losing.
Friends – One of the highlights of our trip was getting to see friends once again. We had the privilege of staying with Dan and Gerri Johnson (Uncle Dan and Aunt Gerri). A good portion of my teenage years were spent in their home.
My parents are off on a furlough. We will miss their help over the next few months, but we are happy they are able to get away.
Pizza Hut – The airport in São Paulo has several American restaurants. The Pizza Hut buffet was the choice for the day, complete with a Brazilian version of cinnamon rolls, breadsticks and more.
While in Limeira, we stayed with a family that has three young children. Laura, the youngest, was always entertaining. We had a precious time in the home of these friends.
Cacoal – In our absence from Cacoal, a young preacher fresh out of seminary filled in for our services. Lucas and his wife Beatriz were a blessing to our church.
My parents – Garry and Pam Tyler
Sunday School – The Lord has sent us some precious people through the years. These twin sisters came to Sunday School for two weeks before their grandmother moved to another state and took them with her.