English

A refugee child, a family reunited, and a prayer that becomes a new way of seeing the little ones along the road.

Listening again to a song recorded more than forty years ago, José recognizes the journeys, encounters, and returns that would shape his life.

A missed lunch, a visit, and a heavy bag of fruit reveal how hospitality changes both the guest and the host.

José and Val look back on forty years of marriage and ministry and on the open doors, adversities, people, and daily miracles of 2025.

A pastoral reflection on Elijah, human fragility, intercession, and the community that remains when we feel alone.

← Teleiós in English Christian spirituality invites me to be a grape, not a pearl; bread, not a stone. Pearls and stones, however beautiful, however precious, are sterile. In medicine, sterile describes life that is unable to reproduce life. In nature, it is like a lake that receives no fresh water and releases none of the old. Eventually, it dies. It becomes harmful. It begins to stink. Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from within... (John 7:38) But g

← Teleiós in English I was seventeen when my father was finally able to give me a flute. For years I had played the recorder and longed for a transverse flute. Buying one was a considerable sacrifice for our family. When it finally arrived, I held in my hands the instrument I had wanted for so long. There was only one problem. I could not get a single sound out of it. The embouchure was completely different. I had the instrument, but I did not yet have access to its voice. Th

← Teleiós in English When we stepped onto the runway at Dili airport, we saw a line of people trying to board the plane we had just arrived on. It was November 1999. East Timor had recently chosen independence in a referendum organized by the United Nations, and the result had been followed by violence, fires, looting, and displacement. Margaretha Adwardana and I were entering by choice. Those people were trying to leave because their lives had been disrupted. The journey had

← Teleiós in English A cold night, a cup of mate, three languages, and a Syrian father’s unexpected question about Jesus and the church. José Prado · Curitiba · September 2026 This week, I had one of those conversations that are both so simple and so profound that they leave little doubt they were prepared by the Eternal One. It was a cold and rainy evening—even by Curitiba standards. Two of the Syrians we are hosting, both of whom are now working as motorcycle delivery drive