December, January

December and January are always very active months. This year was no exception! Every Christmas the church has a potluck dinner. This year was wonderful. The food was great, and we capped it off with Lime Mousse made by Edson, one of our regular visitors, as well as homemade ice cream, made by myself. It was Mango Lime ice cream, a real exotic treat!

Marcia and some of the congregation

Sebastian serves Cokes with flair

For a change of scenery, we invited the whole congregation and their relatives who were in town to our home for New Year's Eve to stay the night. This is a great blessing, because driving home on New Year's here is a terrible experience. Besides the number of drunk drivers, the traffic is so bad (with 2 million tourists at the coast) that it takes about two hours to go ten miles. So we hole up with the brethren and have a great, peaceful time.

Carlos and Adriana at our house

The guys at the barbecue: Jorge, Carlos, Chris, and Eduardo

The food and fellowship are unequalled

The kids ready for dessert: cake and homemade ice cream!

New Year's Day was also very interesting, as many church members and visiting family stayed over. Traffic was still very bad, so we just hung out and continued to enjoy each other. It did rain, however, and our roof began leaking on our TV. So I got to get on the roof and put my roof tile skills to the test. Fortunately I am getting the hang of roof tiles, and was able to stop the leak. I took a beating in the process, though.

January brought the delivery of Francisco and Liduina's car, which has been a huge help in their ministry. It is a little Renault Clio, and they have been able to about double the number of studies each week because of this blessing. Francisco's leg also hurts far less now. Thanks to all of you who helped with this tool, especially Christ's Heritage in Lynnwood. It is really making a difference for the kingdom here!

The new owners

Look out, world!

Another exciting episode was the termite infestation at the church building. Francisco discovered them nesting in his books, and ripped out all the siding that had been infested. Both our offices were affected. It looks OK now, but at the time it got pretty ugly.

What a mess!

They were in the roof as well.

After recovering from the termite invasion, we had another invasion. The church building was robbed for the third time, and we lost our crackers and juice for the Lord's Supper again, as well as two fans, a small radio, and the wooden door in back was smashed and had to be replaced. We are thankful nobody was hurt and that our loss wasn't too severe, although it is pretty discouraging. We feel sometimes like all we do to keep things working here gets knocked down and we spend a lot of energy putting it back together. But God has protected us faithfully up until now, and for that we are grateful. This time it just confirmed our desire to look for a safer location in a better part of town. Please pray for that search.

January brought another wonderful opportunity for Alley and I. We were invited to speak at the youth camp in Argentina. So we packed up the kids and took a trip back to Buenos Aires. It took a few days for my Spanish to return, but seeing all our old friends and faithful brothers and sisters helped a lot. The church there is doing well. There are several new members, including some youth that we had reached out to but that never came while we were there. We spent a week visitng with old friends and church members, talking about our life, and sharing thier struggles. It was very good for us to see that so many of the people we worked with are still faithful and struggling to live out their faith with fear and trembling. There will always be struggles, but most of them are still struggling alongside the Lord, and for that we are very happy.

Jonathan loved the airplane trip

Stephanie too!

Rosa, Alley, and Walter

Alley, Hugo and Judit Fuente, and Juan and Nilda Fuente

Worship with the Villa Urquiza conregation

Alley and Priscilla Lorre

Alley and Jonathan with the Celis family: Daniel, Shirley, Lizbeth, and Kathy.

In preparation for camp, Jairo and I went to El Mana, the church's land in Tigre, where I had buried a time capsule three and a half years earlier. With a little effort, we dug it up and took it back to civilization to open it during camp.

Jairo Diaz digging up the time capsule in El Mana, Tigre

What satisfaction

My job at camp was to teach four lessons on apologetics, which I adapted from the book "I don't have enough faith to be an Athiest" I love apologetics, so it was a pleasure to present to the camp all the reasons we have to believe God's Word. I think God blessed our efforts during the week. I will always love youth ministry.

Chris's class on the evidence of a Designer

Alley led a group in the team sports activities

After camp, which was in Tandil, there were 2 baptisms. One was one fo the campers from Villa Urquiza, the older brother of one of the girls we reached out to while wer were in Argentina. Please pray for the ongoign work in Villa Urquiza and the other congregations in Buenos Aires as well. The Word truly is effective, and the church there continues to grow even after us Americans have all left. This is good, as the Church belongs to Christ and not to us.

Going home

We are very thankful for the opportunity to revisit the work in Buenos Aires. We know that wherever God takes us, He will carry on what He used us to begin in every place. The Church belongs to the Lord, and we trust Him to carry on after our role in a certain place has ended.
We know He has used all of you through prayer and support, and we are thankful that you were a part of the establishment of the congregation in Villa Urquiza and all that we did there. May He reward you richly for your faith and unselfish giving.

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

January 2008 Newsletter

As I was riding home the other day, toward the hills that are Praia Grande’s western boundary, I had the privilege of watching the sun set beyond a beautiful pastel-colored cloudscape. The sky, here at the meeting of sea and mountain, is an ever-changing wonder. I let back on the throttle of the Virago for a moment to take it all in, and as I did, I realized something. I was content. I was happy. I loved my life. My wife was beautiful, intelligent, and supportive. My children were wonderful and needed me. My job was challenging but of great importance. My ride home from work was beautiful. I don’t mean to boast, because I truly hope you all have had similar moments. Isn’t that what the author of Ecclesiastes was describing by “enjoying his work” (Ecclesiastes 3:22, 5:19, 8:15)? I am thankful that I can live in such a wonderful part of God’s creation, with a wonderful family, working as a tool for the Kingdom, which is the greatest job a man can have. Thanks again to all of you who have supported us either financially, emotionally, or spiritually, for allowing us to be here.

Last I wrote, our shipment had not arrived yet. Well, now it has! And what an arrival! 156 boxes. Everything was in good shape and we got right down to unpacking. Jonathan liked the boxes! Lucy (the dog) did too, unfortunately. It took us about a month to unpack, during which time we were preparing for visitors and getting things ready for the inauguration of the church building. We decided to recycle the boxes ourselves to make a few extra bucks, and it took us four trips fully loaded to finally get all the cardboard taken. It was worth it though; we made about $75.











We were blessed in November to take a trip to the interior of the state of Sao Paulo, where we visited a farm. The kids loved it. I even got to milk a cow. Jonathan got to do a bunch of jumping and swinging. Stephanie climbed and did a bit of everything, but she was cutest sitting on a giant lily pad. There were beautiful wild birds of all kids. We all had a great time.

While we were in the interior, I took the time to stop by the School of the Bible in Jundiaí, which is administered by Paulo Bottaro. There were 34 baptisms through the school last year. I spoke to him about his strategy and materials, and am very excited to begin our School of the Bible here.
In November Ally gave the class at the ladies’ meeting in São Vicente. Her classes are always very encouraging.
December was filled with activity as we prepared for the inauguration of our newly remodeled building. Dan Goodyear, one of our elders from Southwest Church of Christ in Tigard, came to visit us for ten days. He spent time meeting with us, the Liras, and the whole team all together. It was a wonderful visit as we made plans and set goals for the coming year. Most importantly, Ally and I were very encouraged by his wise counsel and loving encouragement to keep on working toward the mission. Thanks Dan!

As the inauguration approached, Ally’s brother, Junior, offered to organize a group of volunteers from the 9 de Julho congregation in São Paulo to come and help. He made maps of the city and divided them into groups to pass out invitations. They were a tremendous help to us! Muito obrigado! (Thanks a bunch!)

The inauguration itself was a two-day event, beginning with a drama (organized by Priscila and Jefferson Barroso) about the possibility of making a new beginning in life through Christ. We followed the presentation with a class given by Claudio Rancoleta, another brother from São Paulo. He deepened the theme presented in the drama-A New Beginning.
We then took a break and had some fun Bible trivia games, and then taught a new song which I had recently translated: Can He Still Feel the Nails. We closed with a devotional that evening.

Sunday, the volunteers were up early for breakfast and passing out more invitations (we passed out about 4500 total). We had Bible classes at 5:00 pm and worship at 6:00. Our building was filled to overflowing (about 75 people) and we had many visitors. Even though none of the people I invited have come yet, they still ask me how it went and express the desire to come and visit. Please continue to pry for these contacts: Reginaldo, Felipe, William, Erika, Valeria, Léa, Fabiano, Priscila, Noeli, and Edmilson. They are all interested in visiting, LST, or the school of the Bible. Please also pray for Francisco’s ongoing studies with Marcia and her son Lucas, Pedro, Adriana and her mother, André, and Antonio Espedito.

The day after the inauguration we were blessed to receive a visit from a woman named Eloisa who had been baptized many years before, but had moved to the beach and lost contact with the Churches of Christ. Her friend in São Paulo called and told her about the church here in Praia Grande, and she came to meet us right away. She is a professor, and has been a big help since she began to come. Please keep this newest member in prayer, as she is desperate to find a job.

Christmas is a little different here in Brazil. Each family’s traditions are unique, but for the most part families here eat Christmas dinner after midnight on Christmas Eve, after opening presents. It makes for a late night, but if you think that it will most likely be over 100 degrees F during the day, you might not want to slave over a turkey all afternoon. They do eat turkey here, and ham, and a cross between a chicken and a turkey called a Chester®. That’s right. Somehow they did it.
Christmas trees are all artificial here, since there are no firs or pines here, and tree cutting is looked down on in general. Presents are put underneath, but in our case we just hid them from the kids since they would have destroyed any wrapping anyway.
We were in for another treat just a week from Christmas: New Year ’s Eve all the church got together and celebrated together with time in prayer and watching the fireworks from the roof of the building. I think it was a great way to ring in the New Year. Afterwards, since about three million people came to the beach for New Year’s, it took us two and a half hours to drive home (about 18 miles). Go figure.
January 5 was Ally’s 32nd Birthday, and we had the pleasure of celebrating with Yanina Vargas, one of the members of the church in Buenos Aires. She has come to be with us for two weeks. Happy Birthday, honey!

If you remember, Argentines love Yerba Mate. Now we have proof that Jonathan is Argentine-he loves it too!
Our family is well, the church is growing, and it seems that God, who made possible the move from Argentina to Brazil, knew what he was doing. We pray and hope that 2008 will be a very fruitful year for the church here as we open the School of the Bible and other outreach ministries, and continue to study with those who come. Thanks again for your overwhelming support.

Love,
Chris, Ally, Jonathan, Stephanie, and Lucy