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!