December 2008

Dear supporters, family, and friends,

We thank God daily for your prayers and support. You truly are a part of the mission here in Praia Grande, Brazil, even though you may never get the chance to see the work here firsthand (in this life). Please continue to remember us in your prayers, for boldness in speaking the good news, for health, and for the safety and growth of our children.

Alley started off November attending a week-long women's missionary conference hosted by Continent of Great Cities (http://www.greatcities.org/). It was a time of deep encouragement and renewal for the women who participated, and Alley was truly blessed in many ways by the experience. Thanks, CGC! Thanks also to Liduina who helped me with the kids while Alley was gone.

We have been involved helping the team that will be moving to Brazila next year in several ways, but this time it was one of the members of the team who helped us. Otavio Calegari offered to come to Praia Grande and give two lessons on sermon preparation. Several members from
São Vicente participated, as well as Pedro and Eduardo, two of our newest members. The Brazilia team will be leaving for Brazilia in January.

(Left to right) Members of the Brazilia team: Junior and Patricia lira, Renato and Carol Pereira, Alessandra and Otavio Calegari.

At the end of November we had the privilege of participating in a goodbye conference for family members of the team in São Paulo, at which Otavio's mother finally decided to be baptized!

Otavio (right) and his sister (left) accompany their mother as she confesses Jesus as Lord.

I can't imagine a better way to begin their work in Brazilia.

We took a little "break" in the middle of November to go to São Paulo for a number of things. The first was that we made the final payment (in Brazil) on our house, and recieved the title. It took half a day of signing and bank transfers, but it was an inportant step for us as homeowners. The next day we picked up Junior and Patricia Lira at the airport, who were returning from two months of fundraising in the states. It was great to be reunited with family and be helpful in hauling all the luggage to their house. Th bonus was that they were carrying a serious payload of things our family had been holding, waiting to send to us via someone travelling to Brazil. So we had an early Christmas with Junior and Patricia, opening things like Red Vines, Zip-Lock bags, marshmallows, and most important of all, Peanut Butter. We can't get those things here so it is wonderful when people send us a taste of home. Thanks to all who participated in those care packages!

A day later, while still in São Paulo, we attended the wedding of Patricia's sister. The next day we finally returned home. It was good to stay with family and be there when they needed us.

Church members sharing pizza after worship. The pizzeria is next door to our building.

The church continues to prosper here. Eduardo, a member through the School of the Bible, finally found a job. Francisco, who was having a lot of leg pain, has been doing physical therapy and is recovering well. He walks with a cane, and probably should from now on, but the pain is gone and he is able to make his visitation and study rounds much better now. We still average about twenty on Sundays, but continue to recieve visitors on a regular basis.

(Left to right) Marcia, Liduina, and Edson , after worship service

Edson, Marcia's husband, worship with us regularly. Paulo and his son João visited recently. Paulo is the brother of Antonio, one of my students in the School of the Bible.

November brought the conclusion of Module 2 of the basic Bible course in the School of the Bible. Of my first 15 students, 2 continue faithfully (Eduardo is already a member). Next year we will reopen with Module 3, as well as the first two. Please pray that we can find a great group of students who will be truly interested in the Word and living it out in thier lives.

In all the hustle down here, I forgot about Thanksgiving until someone mentioned it to me in a phone call (the day before). Alley and the rest of the family here jumped to put together a delicious Thanksgiving meal, with a little Brazilian flavor thrown in. It was one of the most meaningful in my life, though, because I was feeling far from home. Thanks, Alley.

It's not, truly, how much you have, but with whom you share it, that makes the difference. We wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year wherever you are. May God bless you all as you seek to grow in the faith and knowledge of the Lord, and as we share together in the work of the Kingdom.

Chris

August 2008

Greetings once again from the southern Sao Paulo coast. God is blessing our work here.



We had quite a scare a fwe days ago with Alley's mom, Liduina. She felt chest pain and numbness in her arm, so went to the emergency room and they told her she had had a heart attack. Alley called one of the members of the church who is a cardiologist and he told us to bring Liduina immediately to Bauru (3 1/2 hours from Sao Paulo) so he could perform an angiogram. We lef the kids with

Francisco, Liduina, and Kyle

Uncle Jefferson and Aunt Priscila and drove to Bauru, where Kyle put us up in his own home and drove Alley, Francisco, and Liduina to the hospital the next day. When it was all finished, we were all very relieved to learn that she had not had a heart attack, and that her arteries were clean as a whistle. No blockage at all. Plus we were so encouraged by the visit with Kyle, who is one of the leaders in the congregation in Bauru, that we came home completely refreshed and renewed. We know many of you were praying for Liduina, and we thank you.

Here we are with some of our new Bibles

Southwest, our sponsoring congregation, has VBS every year and this year they took up a collection for US! We were needing Bibles for the church, for the School of the Bible, and for our personal use as well. So they sent an amazing $1361.08 for us to spend on Bibles. What a blessing! We were able to buy 60 NIV Bibles, plus 10 children's Bibles and some very valuable study tools. I can't describe how thankful I am for the help. I have already used the 2 Bible Diccionaries, commentary, concordance, Chronological Bible, study Bible, and I even gave my last School of the Bible class with my parallel Bible so I could follow along with my students, whether they were reading from the Almeida or NIV translations. Thanks to all who helped! You have truly given us the best investment money can buy. May they serve to establish a solid foundation for the spiritual temple that is the Church here in Brazil.

Last month I was invited by one of the students of the School of the Bible to speak to his small house church. They had a special meeting on a Friday night, and I spoke for about an hour and a half about the family.

Alley and I working in our somewhat improvised home office. Shortly after this picture was taken, our internet stopped working due to an error #691, and remained inoperational for a month and a half.
Stephanie continues with her fascination for both handbags and Hello kitty. And pink. Jonathan is quite the boy now, wanting to "play rough" with dad and play outside with Lucy (our Rottweiller). Now that construction has been reduced to finishing and interior work, the outside is finally, almost, clean, and he has more room to move.









Thanks to the folks who sent us the box of treats! Stephanie loves the Princess video. They both loved the dinosaur books. Your care for us is exceptional and makes us feel like we are not that far from home, after all.

Many thanks to all of you for your prayers, letters, boxes, phone calls, and prayers. Yes, I meant to say that twice. May God bless you for your support of His work here in Praia Grande. May He bless us to work hard and fearlessly make use of each opportunity to represent Christ to everyone here in Brazil.