April 2009

The preparations of last month paid off as the School of the Bible opened in March. 19 students began to study with us, in 2 classes (Tuesday evening and Saturday morning.) Four of those students have visited us on Sundays. They are Caio, Roseli, Marcia, and Valdivino. Marcia has asked for a study on baptism, which will begin next week. Please keep them in your prayers.

The School of the Bible on Tuesday night

Francisco is also studying with several people we would like you to pray for: Jorge and his three daughters; Serra and Albina; Aderson and his wife; Elito; and Analda. These are precious opportunities to preach Christ. Our attendance last month averaged 24, with 20 visitors during the month. The school of the Bible averaged 10 students per week.

A highlight last month was the trip the ladies took to the Metro congregation in São Paulo. Alessandra drove Cida, Analda (2 visitors), Liduina, Florinda, and Marcia to the all-day conference. They all returned invigorated and encouraged by the experience of being with so many Christian women (there were about 150).

(l. to r.) Floringda, Liduina, Analba, Alessandra, Cida, and Marcia

Our sermon series last month was about the one-another passages in the Bible. Love one another. Be patient with one another. Accept one another. Encourage one another. If we grow in these attitudes of mutual service, the church can't help but grow to be more like Christ, and grow in number as well.

Ladies invasions: The ladies of Praia Grande, along with Gilda Rodriguez from São Vicente, have been “invading” each other's homes each week and having an on-site devotional. These visits have been a great encouragement to our members, a gret opportunity to gtet to know each other, and even reach out. One of the invasions was at the home of our former neighbor, Claudia, whose daughters have participated in some of our youth activities.

The "invasion" of Claudia's house: Claudia and her daughter, Alessandra, Taynara, Jane, Liduina, Marcia, Ofenisia, and Gilda

The highlight of the month for our kids was the trip to the Zoo Safari in São Paulo. It is a drive-through zoo where you can see lions and tigers up close, as well as monkeys climbing on your car, and you can feed the deer and camels. The kids loved it and are begging to go back.

Missionaries by necessity have to wear many hats. I have been recently wearing the hat of a pedreiro, or bricklayer. We have put a small flower bed in the front of the church building and are working on finishing part of the loft to accommodate a small library. Bricklayer is the more traditional translation, but a pedreiro here really does everything from laying cement blocks and framing molds for poured concrete to laying tile. I have been working more with blocks, and will graduate to tile in a few weeks.

Couples event: March saw the first of what is going to be a regular couples event in Praia grande. Couples from São Vicente joined us, as well as a number of visitors, for a seminar on the rights ways to deal with marital conflict. That was followed by a wonderful dinner together. Chris gave the class, Marcia's mother Ofenisia watched the kids, and many others helped with the dinner. May God bless us with strong relationships and homes, to His glory, and to the strength of the church!

There is such a thing as "good conflict"?

Ofenisia with the kids

The fiood was GREAT!

Marcia and her husband, Edson, one of our regular visitors, and Alley

We are proud to announce the opening of the first of what we pray will be many of the church body's cell groups. We began a small study in the home of the Carlos and Adriana Guerrero family. We have had several visitors to the group, including their neighbors from both sides, and as a result Adriana's father Manuel has been coming regularly to worship with us on Sundays. Please pray for Manuel and Eva, whom we have been trying to reach for some time. Pray also that this group can grow and multiply as a true cell should.

We are very busy about the work here, with the constant prayer that business will not overshadow fruitfulness, nor distract from spirituality, but truly produce a spiritual return in the Kingdom. May God bless all of our work.

The congregation, with regular visitors Marcia, Valdivino, Analba, and Alley's sister and brother-in-law, Jefferson and Priscila

March 2009

This last month has been mainly focused on preparations for the opening of the School of the Bible. We will begin classes in March. Our first blessing of the month was the opportunity to buy desks for a very affordable price-about ten bucks each. So we brought them to the church building and repainted the ones that needed it most. We now have 18 nice school-style desks ready for our new and returning students.

Liduina and Alley help reorganize our classroom space

The Liras and Kelleys both had a wonderful surprise in the visit of Ken Lewis from the US. Ken is a former missionary and mentor for Francisco, and also the one who introduced Alley to Chris in the US. It was wonderful for our whole team to be reunited once again with such a good friend and brother. Thanks, Ken, for the visit!

As the preparations for the opening of the School of the Bible continued, I finally was able to contract a real phone line. I wired the outlets in our offices after they left us a wire dangling from the post, and we were able to make calls and follow up with everyone interested in the School of the Bible. Thanks, God, for the phone line. I had also hoped to get Internet through the same phone line, as I was told that DSL was available in our area. However, after much calling, it turns out that all the ports are full and the telephone company has no projected date for opening additional ports for Internet connections in our area. Who knows when we will have good Internet at the office.

Materials ready, calls made, fliers distributed. Class begins tonight!

We were able to pass out 3000 fliers as we got ready for the School of the Bible opening this year. The response was pretty good, with about 50 calls. Pray these contacts will come and fall in love with Jesus through our school and church body.

Pedro Sobrinho leads us for the first time as we take the Lord's Supper

The preaching theme for February was Grace. Grace in your life, and letting others experience grace as well. It was a wonderful breath of fresh air in a negative world to realize that someone loves us so much he would do the unthinkable just so we could have the chance to return that love. No guarantees that we would, just the chance. God loves us that much. May we all serve and obey Him diligently this month.

Worship service with visitors Edson, Jorge, and Nalda present

May our obedience lead to fruitfulness, and our efforts multiply into the growth and joy in the Kingdom that God wants so much for us to experience.