Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

We would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy 2008!! We are currently enjoying our holidays with Matt's family in West Virginia. We return to Brazil on January 4 and upon return, we will share what's been happening around here! God bless all of you!

My Brazilian Namesakes

Here in Brazil I go by the name of Mateus - that's the Portuguese equivalent of Matthew. Some people here like to call me "Grande Mateus" - Big Matt! That's a nice nickname. But I'm not the only Mateus in town. I'm going to tell you about two of my namesakes - or xará as we say in Portuguese (pronounced sha-RAH). Let me introduce you to Pequeno Mateus and Médio Mateus.

This is Pequeno Mateus - Little Matthew. He is the newly adopted two-year old son of our sister in Christ, Luzia. She has been waiting 4 years in the adoption line for this moment! Finally, two weeks ago, her adoption was approved and she "gave birth" to a wonderful two-year old boy whose name happened to be Mateus. Coincidence? Providence! Mateus is a real energetic guy, smart, likes playing with construction toys, and loves to eat. Sound like anyone you know?

Little Mateus is also very affectionate. He took to us, especially to me, right away. We are so happy for Luzia, that God has been faithful to her and rewarded her patient waiting & praying for a child. Pray for her as she begins motherhood in mid-life! Pray also that this will continue to strengthen her relationship with her ex-husband, as he & Luzia have been in dialogue over recent months. The coming of Little Mateus may be one more step in God's plan to bring this couple back together!

Now I want you to meet Médio Mateus - Medium Matt. He is 13 years old. He is the son of Dídio and Valéria, whom I introduced in a previous post. Once a month we go to their house church on Sunday nights to encourage them and the others that meet with them. In January, Dídio, Mateus, and several others were involved in a serious car accident; no one was killed, but Dídio and Mateus were both severly injured. The whole incident caused Dídio, who used to be very indifferent to God and church, to rethink his life. He was baptized earlier this year. Two months ago, Mateus decided to be baptized as well! Praise God for how he has transformed this family!

Mateus has an affectionate nickname among his relatives - "Presuntinho" (Little Ham). So does that make me the "Big Cheese?" Yeah, I know, you're rolling over in laughter right now.

It's good to know that these two guys, Pequeno Mateus and Médio Mateus, are doing justice to the name Mateus/Matthew - which for you fans at home, means "Gift of God!"

House Church Retreat

Since the beginning of the year, I've had an idea to do a retreat just with the church that meets in our house - for two purposes: to encourage our members, and to provide an informal atmosphere to which they could invite their friends for evangelism. This past weekend, Dec. 1-2, we were able to have our retreat. We spent these days in the same house in Nova Petrópolis where we had the mens retreat in October. Everybody loves this house and its big, ample green space - I wish I owned this house!There were plenty of fun & uplifting activites for all.

For the guys, there was futebol, of course - that's how men bond. Judging from the quantity of sweat on my shirt, you wouldn't think that I was an in-shape marathon runner!

For the girls, it was reflection and sharing time on Sunday morning. The weather was perfect to enjoy the outdoors.

There were also some pranks, as there are on any good retreat - Renato getting chained up during naptime, and Dariu holding a broken ax for an hour while the glue dried!

Unfortunately, only two of our families (the Signorettis) could go on the retreat - the other families had situations come up that impeded their ability to go with us. The great thing is that the Signoretti clan invited two other families to come with us! They invited Cici, Renato's cousin, and his wife Leticia & son Ryan. They also invited Dariu & Mara, great friends of Renato & Branda, and their daughters Fernanda, Bruna, and Vitória. We had a great worship time on Sunday and talked openly about what following Jesus means in everyday life, and what it means to participate in a church.

L-R: (kneeling) Renato, Vitoria, Dariu, Regis, Vinicius (standing) Guilherme, Fernanda, Wagner, Bruna, Branda, Mara, Ryan, Cici, Leticia, Conceição, myself, and Waleska! We hope and pray that this retreat will spur more spiritual growth in all our lives! I have to include this shot of a butterfly we managed to capture that was fluttering around in the woods - in sunlight, it literally glows a sensational daytime brilliant blue. My camera flash jazzes it up a bit too much...I wish you could have seen this butterfly. Divine poetry in motion!

Cool Pics of Us Two

Waleska doin' some stylin' and profilin' on the hills and in the fields near Camaquã, the town where my in-laws live, 1 1/2 hours from Porto Alegre.

This was taken in Camaquã in the middle of the tobacco fields outside of town. It's a very pretty scene at day's end, as you can see here...

Another successful race! Last Sunday Waleska & I ran in a marathon relay (groups form teams of 2, 4 or 8 runners and run the marathon distance in relay format). I ran my 10k and then helped Waleska run her 5k. She is becoming a real athlete! And the best part of the race is the cool shirts we get!

"Mobile Church" - 2nd Edition

This is the Salgado family - l-r: Jennifer, Claudio, Lhoumar, Keity and Rute. They are a great testimony to God's faithfulness! They used to live in the apartment building next to Waleska & I. Claudio works as the maintenance man in this building. Their entire family lived in a tiny apartment (the size of our living room) in the building, not exactly ideal conditions to raise three daughters. Claudio & Rute were baptized and married two years ago in our church. Over the past several years they have managed to make much out of little - with Claudio's income, they were able to pay off over $6000 in debts and make a down payment on a house! Five months ago they moved their new house in Cachoeirinha, a suburb of Porto Alegre about 40 minutes away by car. Claudio continues to work as the maintenance man - he is hoping to be fired so he can receive an indenization package that will allow them to pay off the debts they have acquired in taking on this house. It is the right thing to do, since by law he is not obligated to live in the apartment building, but the residents are giving him a very hard time about it. Yet he remains faithful and patient, as does his whole family.
Last Sunday our house church did another "mobile church" experience - we had a lunch and our worship in the Salgados' home! The Terrys had been going out to Cachoeirinha every Sunday to encourage the Salgados in their worship, and while they are on furlough right now, different groups are taking turns going out to Claudio & Rute's home to be church with them. Twelve of our folks from our group went and we had a wonderful experience of praise, discussion and fellowship. Please pray for the Salgado family as they look forward to a bright future full of the promises of God, especially the fruition of a house church in their own home!

Church in the "Big Corner"

When I first moved to Porto Alegre five years ago, I hired a Christian lady named Valquiria to help cook and clean in my house, and I formed a close friendship with her and her family. Valquiria, her sister Valeria (far left in the photo), their mother, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, and various relatives live on the outskirts of Porto Alegre near the federal university campus. They call their neighborhood the "Cantão" (Big Corner) because of its location on a dead-end street in undeveloped wetlands property. Valquiria and Valeria attended our church for sometime, and two years ago left for various reasons. Recently, God has been working in a marvelous way through missionaries in Viamão, the suburb where they live, to reach this entire "clan" for Christ!

One of the obstacles for Valquiria and Valeria to grow in their faith was that it was often hard for them to leave their home in order to come to our services. A relative would arrive unexpectedly, or their husbands would not be able to give them a car ride, and they couldn't attend our events. Well, the missionaries in Viamão, the Diogos and the Whites, decided to overcome these obstacles. They decided to start a church meeting in Valeria's house on Sunday nights!

Valeria and Valquiria, sisters, are married to Didio and Kiko, who are brothers. For years their husbands have been resistent to coming to church - not rude, but just not interested. Didio's life changed dramatically at the beginning of this year when he and his son Mateus were involved in a serious car accident that left major physical & emotional scars - they were very fortunate not to be killed. This episode caused Didio (white shirt in center of photo below) to really examine the meaning of his life, and he began studying the Bible and was baptized. In fact, half a dozen of Valquiria & Valeria's relatives have been baptized this year thanks to the doors God has opened through the Viamão church's involvement!
Waleska & I attended the Sunday night meeting in Cantão last weekend. Twenty people were crammed into a narrow living room to share Christian life together. We were tremendously received with loving hugs, passionate singing, lots of conversation, shared prayers and laughter, and a community snack (I should mention that Valquiria & Valeria are tremendous cooks!) We hope to visit this group at least once a month to encourage them and help the Viamão missionaries in their task of maturing this young house church. Please add them to your prayers!

A Star (Athlete) Is Born!

This post is in honor of my wife, Waleska - she is now officially a runner! Last Sunday we participated in a 5.5K race in the south zone of the city, sponsored by an athletic club whose primary public is teachers in the state school system. It is a simple race - there probably weren't more than 100 participants - but well organized and fun to run, along the riverside. Waleska has been working out (running and weights) for several months now three days a week. Now it was time to put her training to the test. She ran the entire race without stopping, finishing in 37:18 - outstanding for a first race! I ran alongside her the whole way to give her a squeeze of the water bottle and moral support when she needed it. There is a fairly steep hill at the end that almost made her stop, but she kept going like a real trooper! She even got a medal and a shirt for participating, as you see here (when I ran the race two years ago, they didn't give out any participation prizes...) It is exciting to know that we have one more fun activity in common as a couple - running together, "pressing on to the goal!"

2nd Mens Retreat

There's a saying that if something gets bigger and better, it has to be good. Well, that held true with our second men's retreat this past weekend. We had 20 guys particpate (4 more than last time, 7 of them first-timers), and we enjoyed a nicer location (a vacation house of a friend of mine in the mountain town of Nova Petropolis. Our theme: spiritual warfare. The "family crest" above the mantle of the house's fireplace provided the perfect backdrop for our exploration of this theme.

The natural setting of our retreat was perfect: a warm spring day on top of a ridge overlooking the valley below, plenty of green area to explore and plenty of opportunities to spend time together and time alone with God, equipping ourselves to be more faithful spiritual warriors.

As with any mens retreat, food is an essential ingredient! Our brother John Spencer celebrated his birthday with us by buying us all mini-hot dogs for our Friday evening snack. For Saturday lunch we were treated by our brother Lauro to two whole racks of grilled ribs. The gaúchos supposedly say that these ribs, when done right, are even better than fliet mignon. After eating Lauro's ribs, I would have to agree.

Our program included a bit of everything. Sascha and I each gave a lesson; we had a time of individual meditation; we had a time of small group Bible study and sharing responses with the entire group; we had a time of prayer in groups of two or three; and a "training exercise" - capture the flag, for those outdoor sport enthusiasts! We saw the Lord working in many men - through conversations, laughter, tears, spontaneous praise, and reflecting on nature.
Who says it can't be better the second time around! Thank you God for this retreat!

"Mobile" Church

In a email I sent out last week, I talked a bit about Dariu (Darius in English) and Mara, a couple that are friends of Renato and Branda in our house church. Dariu and Mara opened their home to us this Sunday to see what the church is all about. They have been friends with Renato & Branda for many years, have attended one or two church events in the past, but have never been really interested in knowing more about Jesus - until various circumstances in their lives recently opened the door to their curiosity. Dariu & Mara came to our most recent couples meeting, where Waleska & I met them for the first time. When they learned from Renato & Branda that we meet as church in our homes, they became very interested and invited our group to spend a Sunday in their house, to have a time of worship and a lunch together. We gladly accepted this missionary opportunity! This is the kind of opportunity I have been praying and waiting for as house church - the opportunity to take church to people who are seeking God yet possess a certain skepticism basd on what they have experienced in institutional church.

We had a time of singing, a time of prayers for request and for thanksgiving, and a time of discussion centered around one of my favorite passages - Luke 24, where Jesus encounters the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The central theme of our discussion was that Jesus meets us where we are, and leads us to where we need to be. Our brother John Spencer did a fantastic job explaining the meaning of the Lord's Supper as practiced in a family home setting, in simple yet profound terms. Our sister Inês also contributed with some very meaningful and personal testimonies about her walk with Jesus. By the end of the meeting we could tell from their verbal and non-verbal expressions that Dariu, Mara, and Mara's mother Flavia (who lives with them and participated) were very touched and had been given a lot to reflect on!

In true house church fashion, we continued the fellowship with our lunch, a delicious barbecue prepared by Dariu himself. This guy has not one, not two, but three barbecue pits in his house! He works for a bank and is usually on the road during the week visiting clients around the state, while Mara takes care of their three daughters Bruna, Fernanda, and Isabela. They are both very outgoing, expressive, and energetic people, they love to talk and talk! Waleska & I really enjoyed being in their home; I was amazed by how hospitable and friendly they are. They are the kind of people you want to be around, because they just make you feel so at ease. I was thinking about them as we drove home yesterday afternoon and how they strike me as people who, upon dedicating their talents to Jesus, would be tremendous servants in the kingdom.

So what is next? We are praying that God will show us the way in terms of continuing to build our relationship with Dariu, Mara & their girls, and integrating that relationship into our church family - perhaps through a couples Bible study, more home church events, or something else we can't yet envision. Let's ask God to continue opening the hearts of this great family to the gospel and that this openness will result in response and transformed lives!

Meet Luzia

In this edition I will introduce you to Luzia, a member of the church that meets in our house. Luzia is in her mid 40s and is a high school math teacher. She teaches in Restinga, one of the poorest and toughest neighborhoods in Porto Alegre (a place that, according to Luzia, she would be reluctant to bring me because I might be seen as too "white" for them, considering all good intentions). She has been a Christian for many years, back to the time of her adolescence. She is very good friends with the Signoretti families who also meet in our house. How to describe Luzia? She is a loud person in the good sense of the term - not disruptive, but vocal, opinionated, and loves a good laugh. She knows her Bible very well, too.

I have some ongoing prayer requests I would like to make on Luzia's behalf. First, that Luzia will one day be able to reconcile with her ex-husband, Daniel. They were married for many years but divorced about three years ago. However, they maintain frequent contact and Luzia hopes that eventually he will rejoin the church & come back to her. Second, Luzia is attempting to adopt a child. She is not able to have children and has been waiting three years for her adoption to come through, but it continues to be stuck in the courts. Third, Luzia's mother is very sick right now with anal cancer. Her fragility has forced Luzia to spend a great deal of time taking care of her, on rotation with her sister. Luzia is the only one in her family who is a Christian, so that makes things difficult at times. Yet Luzia boldly and confidently lives her faith and expresses her trust in Christ in all circumstances. We thank God for Luzia and ask that you join us in praying for God's powerful hand to work in these situations!

A Little Holiday Tango

Every year, Waleska & I like to take a trip to somewhere that neither of us have visited before - we both love to travel. This year, we decided to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and spend several days doing some tourism. Along with the fun, I signed up to run the Buenos Aires Half-Marathon - one more T-shirt and medal to add to my collection!

The historic center of BA has a lot to offer. Two things that stood out in particular are the Casa Rosada, the president's palace. Also, the Obelisk, which sits in the middle of the world's widest boulevard (16 lanes!)

One of BA's fascinating places is the Recoleta Cemetery, where many famous Argentines such as Evita Peron are buried. What makes this cemetery so unusual is its tombstone architecture. Below are two outstanding examples - the Sandman and the Flower Lady.

We also ventured into the La Boca neighborhood, birthplace of the tango - the difficult and beautiful dance that has made Argentina famous throughout the world!

We caught plenty of tango performers on photo and video - perhaps you'll recognize some of these folks. Who do you think is the better pair?

Another great thing about Argentina is its beef - it is rightly touted as the most tender on the planet. If you know me, you know that I love to eat. Well, you can imagine my joy when I sat down each night to a plate like this...

And then there was the race. Unfortunately, it was one of my worst races ever - I was still in the after-effects of the flu, it was quite hot, I was not mentally focused, and to top it off, the race organizers ran out of water after 5K! Only at the finish did I get back my groove and get some liquid refreshment. Racing is just like life - some days you run like a champion, other days you are glad just to conclude the race when you feel like quitting. This was one of those days for me.

Now we're back in Porto Alegre and back to work! It was good to get away for a few days and enjoy seeing more of South America!

My In-Laws

Now I'm going to begin telling you about my wonderful Brazilian in-laws! This is Lessa, Carlota, and Mariah. Carlota is Waleska's older sister. They live in Camaquã, a town of 60,000 about 1 1/2 hours from Porto Alegre, crossing the river and going south. They own and operate a drugstore to make their livelihood. They have been married for eleven years. Mariah is their first child together - she was born May 26th of last year.

The following photo was taken at Mariah's first birthday party earlier this year, while my mother and sister were visiting. In Brazil it is common for the child's first birthday party to be a big bash - with lots of fun, food, family and friends present. Carlota is a very creative person; she chose the theme for Mariah's party to be "Strawberries." She made most of the decorations herself, put together cool treat packets for the kids, and rented a play room at a party center with a big ball pit, video games, etc. It was an excellent party for much less than what these things customarily cost!

The following picture is not a resort, though it looks like it - this is Carlota and Lessa's backyard! They have a nice green space and a pool, which is great for summertime fun in the sun. Waleska and I occasionally take a day or a weekend to get away from the work and bustle of Porto Alegre and escape to Camaquã for clean air, tranquility, time with relatives, and great barbecue made by Lessa himself. I appreciate their generosity and hospitality a great deal. When their schedules permit, they also like to come see us in Porto Alegre for an afternoon or an evening.

I thank God for my in-laws and I ask you to pray for God's goodness in their life! Specifically, I ask for prayers for Mariah's health: she had a real scare with a serious infection in her hip area that hospitalized her for two weeks in June. She is better now and we are glad to see the joy coming back in her - she's even giving me little kisses now! Carlota and Lessa have also begun attending an evangelical church in Camaquã during the past year and I want to pray that God will continue to bless their lives through their spiritual commitments.

It's time for me to tell you about another one of the families in our house church. This is Regis, Conceição, and Vinicius Signoretti. Regis & Conceição are in their mid 40s and Vinicius is 15. Regis is Renato's brother - I introducted you to Renato and his family last month. Regis works in hospital administration in Novo Hamburgo, a suburb about 45 minutes by car from Porto Alegre. Conceição works as an administrative assistant for a state legislator near the capital building. Vincius is in his first year of high school and is on the basketball team. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm going to take him on the courts and give him some training...(hah!) Actually he is pretty good.

Regis and Ceiça (her nickname) have been Christians ever since their late teenage years. They are very committed to the church and care very much about seeing the church become the best it can be. They are experiencing some joys and some challenges in their life right now. One of the joys is that they are finally beginning to build their own house! This has come after many years of saving enough money and getting enough time to engage the process. One of the challenges is Conceição's health. She has several problems related to deficiencies in her spinal column such as lower back pain and insomnia. Recently she has also been struggling with depression - overload of work and interpersonal stress. I think we can identify with that...

We thank God for this family and ask that you pray for them - that their building project will be successful, that Conceição will be healed of her illnesses, and that they will continue to mature in Christ as His servants .

2nd Couples Meeting

On Saturday night, we had our second couples meeting involving various couples in our extended church family (our first couples meeting was back in May). Waleska and Branda, another woman in our house church, are in charge of organizing this ministry. The goal is to get couples together for an evening of experiencing biblical principles that will strengthen our marriages and families. Our guest facilitators were Rui & Nadia Diogo, missionaries at the Church of Christ in Viamão, a suburb of Porto Alegre. The meeting took place at the home of Regis and Conceição, one of the families in our house church. We watched a movie called "A Vow to Cherish" that portrayed the theme of fidelity in marriage through difficult times. After the film was over, we discussed its message and application points for our lives, then stayed till around midnight munching on finger foods and enjoying good 'ol Christian fellowship. We had nine couples in attendance. All in all, it was a very encouraging night for everyone - simple, thought-provoking, low-cost, and fun!

Waleska is doing a great job in helping to organize this ministry. Her goal is to get to the point where we have these meetings once a month, so our members can anticipate them and invite their friends who are not yet Christians to get involved. Keep this ministry in your prayers as we seek to invest in strengthening our marriages and families!

She's Back!

Today we welcomed my beloved mother-in-law (yes, I love my mother-in-law!), Vanda, back to Porto Alegre. She spent the past year in Franklin, TN learning English, living with an American family, working as a nanny, and acquainting herself with our church and with many friends in the greater Nashville area. Waleska and I are very happy to have her back here with us, for a while anyway...Vanda is not one to stay put for very long. Who knows what her next adventure will be? Hopefully, she will stay in Porto Alegre with us for the next several months. Among many things, we will look forward to her being a part of our house church. I will also enjoy some of her home-cooked vegetables, fish and special salads...


Waleska and I would like to thank everyone at Fourth Avenue Church who made Vanda feel at home and welcome in Franklin, especially Walter & Mary Nelle Kriedel, for their wonderful friendship and "jeitinho" with Vanda! We would also like to thank Robert and Brandy for their hospitality and for adopting Vanda as part of their family.

You know your mother-in-law is great when she takes your side in an argument...thank you Lord for Vanda!