May 2009: April Intensity

April was a very intense month for us, as you will see. It was very positive and productuve, but also challenging and full of activity.

Chris preaching in Sao Vicente

To begin the month, Francisco was able to get four hours per week on a local radio station that covers about half of Praia Grande and part of São Vicente. He presents his “show” for two hours on Saturday, and on Sunday uses recorded materials for two more hours. His show is called God's Eternal Purpose, and we hope it will reach many with the gospel. We set up a post office box and special email address to receive feedback from the program. Please keep that project in prayer, as it requires much preparation, but has the potential to reach many people.

Francisco leading singing

As I was unloading my pockets one day, my cell phone fell on my Palm organizer just right, and broke the touch screen. I instantly lost access to all my phone numbers, addresses, as well as my agenda and reminders. This was a real bummer, as I depend on it for nearly everything I do or need to remember. Fortunately, my brother-in-law Jefferson lent me his, so I can continue to function until my replacement arrives in June.

The congregation had a Put Luck this month, with was a wonderful event. There were 19 visitors and a total of 50 people, not counting several members who were traveling that day. We pray God will continue to bless us with many visitors as we reach out with the Gospel.

Good food

Visitors even helped out!

My motorcycle went into the shop for over a week to repair the rear suspension. The parts weren't available even from the factory, so they had to be machined from scratch. Fortunately, it didn't cost too much, but it did crimp our schedules as we worked with just one vehicle for a week. As if in sympathy, the microwave quit working too, and a day later the phone line went dead, along with our Internet, of course. It took a week to find the problem and fix it, so we were unable to communicate for a while.

As soon as we were able to communicate again, we got news from our friends the Kaisers, in Itu, that they wanted to bring the youth group from Itu to Praia Gande and have a joint youth retreat here. We were delighted, and since they had the events, lessons, and crafts all planned, we just had to arrange for food and lodging. We got right to it.

Alice and Mark Kaiser, from Itu

Meanwhile, The kids school arranged a special event for a city-sponsored retirement home here. Alessandra asked if she could also invite some church members to help, since we wanted to make contact with the home and help in the future. They agreed, so Alley and the ladies from church went along. Florinda wrote Psalm 113 into a song and sang it, Alessandra sang several hynms in English and Spanish, and even ended up emceeing the talent show of the school. It was a great day for the elderly who lived there, as well as for the church here. The administrator of the home said we could come back whenever we want.

Florinda singing her version of Psalm 113

Alley was a great MC

Alley singing in Spanish and English

Francisco and Rosa, a former neighbor, whom we have been trying to evangelize for a long time. She came with the church ladies to help.

The kids loved the ears and make-up. Grandparents love the kids.

As Alley was driving the ladies home again after the event, the car burst a hose and overheated. Fortunately, it died just in front of a good mechanic (we later learned that they are highly recommended). It took a week to fix the head and valves, and replace the hoses.

While the car was in the shop, the campaigners from Itu arrived! In order to keep up with the activities, Manuel, one of our regular visitors, loaned us his car and even drove to some of the campers home. Thanks, Manuel!

Isabele, Naiara, and a visitor at the retreat

Evening devotional

Game time (Guilherme Roncoleta on the right)

Carla, a visitor from Praia Grande

Crafts

Worship on Sunday with Itu

Chow time

Morning class

The inevitable Group Picture

Thanks to Mark, Alice, and Itu for a great time, and great outreach!

The kids stayed in Igloos (made of cement, not ice) and had a wonderful schedule of crafts, devotionals, beach time, study time, and small group discussions. More than half of the youth were visitors (9 came from Praia Grande and São Vicente), and two studies were set up afterward: Liduina will be studying with Edriana, Jorge's daughter, and Alessandra is already studying with Isabelle, Adriana's daughter. Praise God!

Easter in Brazil is a little different than in the US. Here, kids pretty much just get one, big, chocolate egg. There isn't a big hunt, but it is great fun to eat the chocolate (adults get one too!).

The day after the retreat ended, we took Jonathan to the doctor and discovered he had sinusitis with bronchitis. He was scheduled to have surgery at the end of the month for a small hernia and undescended testicle, so we were very concerned. He began ten days of antibiotics and got better quickly.

Three couples placed membership this month with us: Caio and Sabrina, who will be married next week. Caio is a student in the School of the Bible. This young couple recently invited us to thier engagement party to pray with them and thier family for thier future marriage. It was an honor to be able to be there. Many of the people present were not Christians.

Alley, with Caio, Sabrina, and Sabrina's mom

Engagement here in Brazil is different than the states. Here instead of a private dinner by candlelight and a spakling diamond ring presented at just the right moment as part of an intimate evening, the couple invites the both families, like a huge birthday party, and they announce together the engagement, giving each other gold bands (but work on the right hand instead of the left, until they are oficcialy married).

The moment of the announcement

Marcia and Valdivino, and their two children Marlon and Maria Eduarda also placed membership, also from the School of the Bible. I continue to study with them on Thursday evening. Sebastian and Gilda Rodriguez, and their two children, Diego and Debora will also be worshiping with us this month. They had been worshiping in São Vicente, but had to sell their car, and since they live in Praia Grande, will be with us now. Sebastian was trained at a preaching school in northern Brazil, so we know they will be a blessing to the family here.

As Jonathan's sinusitis/bronchitis cleared up, it became clear that I had caught the same thing. I didn't need antibiotics, but it still was a pain to deal with the congestion. Jonathan did get better, but then caught a cold right afterward. The day we went to Santos for his surgery, the anesthesiologist didn't want to take any extra risks, and postponed the surgery for 15 days until his congestion cleared up. Please continue to pray for him, as he goes in in about a week.

Alley and the kids' class on Sunday

We averaged 38 per week in worship in April, and our cell group averaged 11. We are involved in many studies, so please pray for these wonderful people by name as you remember the work in Praia Grande before God in prayer this month:

Chris studying with Marcia and Valdivino, Lucas

Chris, Alley, Marlon, Marcia, Valdivino, and Maria Eduarda after studying in their home

Alessandra studying with Isabele

Liduina studying with Edriana

Francisco studying with Fatima, Serra and Albina, Gilberto, Analda, Egipcio, Edson, Maria, Vania, Jorge, and following up with several members as well

Liduina, Stephanie, and two of Jorge's daughters

We pray that through it all, our efforts will yield eternal fruit in the kingdom that belongs to the Lord. We are indebted to you for your prayers and support. May God bless you all.

Chris, Alley, Francisco, Liduina, and family

Liduina, Francisco, Jonathan, Chris, Alessandra, Jefferson, Stephanie, Priscila

January 2009

The work in Praia Grande is going well. We average 22 on Sundays and are working on learning new songs. In December we were encouraged by many visitors from São Paulo. One of the families that visits us frequently is from Campinas, about three hours away. They love to stay and visit, and even treated us to pizza after worship. It is so nice to be appreciated!

We would like to give a special thanks to the Christ’s Heritage congregation in Lynwood, Washington. They graciously donated a digital projector to the work here.

The new digital projector

New possibilities open up with digital technology!

It is a wonderful and flexible tool for both outreach and worship. I was told about this special donation in a phone call on Sunday evening. I wanted you all to know it was the same evening the bulb burned out of the old overhead projector we had been using. I have no doubts that God is looking over the work here and blessing us. Many times that blessing comes through you.

Another special thanks goes out to the Kite family, who generously responded to a previous newsletter with a donation to help us with the church's legal fees as we try to set up our official non-profit status. Thanks for the timely help! We are currently awaiting the city's approval of the statute, at which point we will be official and can apply for a CNPJ number. This is our tax-exempt number that will allow us to recieve donations from businesses for food baskets, camp supplies, building materials, and even properties. Please pray that the process will continue smoothly.

The Holiday season is almost always a busy season, even though it may be a different sort of busy. I started off December with a urinary tract infection, which had me down with a fever for two full days. Then Christmas and New Years, which here on the coast means lines for everything. An hour to get to church (7 miles away). Lines of an hour in the supermarket. Parking gets scarce. The water pressure drops significantly, and in some neighborhoods, including the church building, there is no water at all on the 24th and 31st of December. The motorcycle helps me get through the traffic and park a little easier, but I guess I still like the laid-back pace more than hyper city speed.

Brazilians usually eat Christmas Dinner at midnight Christmas Eve, then open presents. It makes for a late night. In fact, at about 10:00 Christmas Eve, our neighbor Bete called Alley and told her that all her family had cancelled, and they were alone. Alley went over, and took some fajitas (our Christmas Eve dinner) for them to try. Alley stayed until after midnight, which in Bete's eyes was like forsaking her own family to be with theirs, so it meant a lot. We tried to be as American as possible for Christmas this year, which meant celebrating the next morning, so Alley was free to encourage this dear neighbor.

We had to work hard to convince our Brazilian family to try opening presents Christmas morning instead of Christmas Eve. After it was over, though, they all seemed to like it that way. Jonathan and Stephanie absolutely loved it-more for the presents than the schedule.

Chris carves his first Christmas bird(s). Turkey and Chester.

Christmas dinner was in the afternoon, outside, since the weather was nice (80 degrees). We took advantage of the fact that everyone was here to take a team picture too.

Please join with us in prayer for the Guerrero family. Carlos and Adriana had been struggling financially until about six months ago, when they both got new jobs. They had been growing in their faith and Carlos has even preached for us twice, but recently they have begun to be with us less often, and haven't come to worship for the last month. Please pray that they won't let the jobs God gave them become stubling blocks to their faith.

Our new sister in Christ, Florinda, got really sick last month with a bad flu. Alley stopped by to visit her and she could barely get out of bed. Florinda is retired, and didn't have much food in the house. Alley made a quick trip to the supermarket for some basic necessities, including coconut water, one of the best electrolytes there is for combatting dehydration. Florinda was so encouraged that she began to feel better right away. Florinda is working on putting one of her favorite Psalms to music.

We celebrated the end of the year with a pot luck on the last Sunday of December. Everyone brought different dishes and we spent around three hours eating and fellowshipping after worship. The end-of-the-year pot luck was delicious.

Gingerbread houses are irresistable!

It was truly a great evening, perfected by the lime mousse for dessert, made by Edson (a professional cook, and regular visitor). We then invited everyone to our house to ring in the new year later on that week.

Marcia and Carol checking email. We started our New Years party about 10 am.

Marcia and her son Lucas and her mother Ofenicia came, along with Francisco and Liduina, Florinda, Alley’s sister Priscila and her husband Jefferson, and her cousin Carol. So we had a full house and a wonderful time of fellowship.

Chris and Lucas playing LEGO Star Wars

Lucas got a haircut in the afternoon, and Chris did after that!

Priscila, Ofenicia, Liduina, and Marcia preparing dinner

Marcia's mother, Ofenicia, is a member of the church from Aracaju, Recife, in NE Brazil. She wrote a letter to the church in Sao Vicente looking for a congregation for her daughter and son-in-law to attend. Adauto showed the letter to Francisco, who went to visit with Marcia and Edson. When we inaugurated the building in December of 2007, Ofenicia came and brought Marcia with her. Since then she has been a faithful member, and even volunteers to help Francisco and I clean the building every Friday. She is a dear sister to us. Please keep Edson, her husband, in prayer, as he is considering baptism but still has a few doubts.

New Years dinner

They have a fireworks display at the beach every year, so all went down to the water to ring in the New Year and watch the show. Everyone loved it, except Stephanie, who is terrified of fireworks.

Another highlight of the month was meeting as a team to plan next year’s calendar of events. We spent four hours together thinking through sermon topics, youth and married activities, ladies events, and everything we could think of in order to get ahead of the game next year and be as fruitful as possible in helping the church grow. I look forward to describing each event to you all as they happen.
May God bless you all in 2009. May it be a year filled with purpose, faith, hope, joy, peace, and love, as we each grow to be more like Christ; our Savior, our example, and friend.
Chris and Alley Kelley