First stop -West Virginia!

Hi, this is Waleska writing! We arrived in Beckley/West Virginia last week. This is where my in-laws live. It is a really nice town. Matt and i are just recovering from the temperature shock as we came from a hot summer in Brazil.
Right now we are preparing pictures and videos to present our Brazilian life style!
I thank God for providing me such a great family in law. I could never have imagined that I would be "that" blessed! My parents in law really treat me as a daughter! :)
Soon, in January we will be heading to Nashville!

We are on our way!

Good Morning, America! We are coming soon!

Couples Retreat...and a weekend trip

We held our couples retreat the third weekend in October in conjunction with the Viamão congregation. As always, this group generates lots of laughs. (Un)fortunately, no pictures were taken of me doing a skit of how I got mad one day and threw my umbrella (which I thought Waleska had bought already broken) to the ground in the middle of a rain storm. (my contribution to a talent show related to married life!) The fellowship with 14 other couples was great and the Bible studies on the book of Ephesians were enriching.Because the retreat was only one night, we decided to make an extra night of it in the mountains. We headed north to a little town called Antonio Prado, which bills itself "the most pure-bred Italian community in Brazil"- 92% are direct Italian descent. The quality of their food lives up to its billing. Here's Waleska in the heart of the town square... We stayed at a great little country inn, which had a really interesting cellar, full of old colonial tools and objects from the original Italian immigrants of the region (i'm just glad the buzzsaw didn't fall on me while I was walking through...

The best part was being able to end the Sunday of our drive back with our church family in worship, as we met in Clarice and João's house in the suburb of Canoas (the couple on the left side of this pic). The best times are truly when we praise the Lord together!

Celebrating Unity

The Churches of Christ have been here in Rio Grande do Sul since 1967. Much good has taken place over the past 40 years through this mission effort. Unfortunately these churches have suffered many divisions and separations over the years, a typical sad story of conflicting personalities, poor financial management, and lack of leadership development. Thankfully, this situation is beginning to change. Pictured here are Mark & Ju White and Rui & Nadia Diogo. They are good friends of ours; they are missionaries who have spent the past several years working in Viamão, a suburb of Porto Alegre. They are preparing to turn this congregation over to three newly appointed elders (the first Church of Christ in this state to have elders) and will soon begin working with the Cantão congregation, a church plant begun through their efforts two years ago. One of Rui and Mark's goals this year was to begin a once-a-year meeting for all Churches of Christ (11 congregations total) in Rio Grande do Sul, a day of worship, fellowship and encouragement. Last Sunday, the first of these meetings was held - a new tradition was started!

The event was somewhat hastily organized, so not all the congregations were able to participate this time. But four did, and we had a great gathering of God's people at - of all places - the Recreational Club of the Building Managers and Janitors Union of Rio Grande do Sul. Just about every profession here in Brazil has a labor union, and depending on the size and resources available, these unions often construct and maintain recreational clubs in the rural areas of cities, so their members can enjoy family activities in a quality environment. One of the newly appointed elders in the Viamão church, Ângelo, is a member of this particular union, and because of this connection, we were able to utilize these facilities at no cost. Membership has its privileges...

The Viamão elders asked me to speak at this event, and I was honored to do so. Since the theme was obviously centered around unity of brothers, I preached on one of my favorite unity passages - John 17. What could be better than hearing it from the Source Himself? The ambience was interesting: speaking in a picnic shelter, barbecue pit to my side, hot corrugated tin roof, people arriving late, occasional fireworks going off in anticipation of that afternoon's soccer game...it's always fun preaching in Brazil!

After the worship, we divided up into prayer groups to pray for the work of all the churches and for one another's needs. Here is Waleska's prayer group, from l-r: Alexandre, Inês, Santa, Barbosa, and Lauro. Barbosa was one of the three men that the Viamão church recently selected to be elders. Barbosa is a fantastic "storyteller" and a pretty good billiards player, besides being a man who is very dedicated to seeing the Kingdom grow in this state.

Here is my prayer group, from left to right: Michelle, João, Deoclides, Vera, Yeda, Teresinha, and Vanda. There are three different congregations represented here.

Here are some of the good folks from Viamão who formed the backbone of the event organization. L-R: Ângelo, his wife Christine, Roberto and Iara, Priscilla, Cintia, Nadia, and one lady whose name I forgot :(

May all of these disciples continue to become one as Jesus and the Father are one!

Open Doors, Open Hearts

As you may recall, we've had the honor of doing a few "mobile church" experiences in the home of Dario & Mara, a family we've become friends with through our brothers Renato & Branda. Recently, we've been able to develop this friendship even further. We are now every Saturday afternoon spending time in Dario & Mara's home, along with Renato & Branda, studying the Gospel of John together and sharing in some great fellowship time (last week Waleska made brownies! :>)

Dario & Mara are pictured here on the right with Victoria, the youngest of their three daughters - Fernanda and Bruna are the other two. Dario works as a corporate account manager for Banco Real, and travels quite a bit visiting clients. Mara is a full-time homemaker keeping busy managing this whirlwind of a family. They are fantastic people, and they are opening their doors and their hearts to allow God at work in their lives. We thank God for the opportunity to spend time with people like them, and pray that the Lord will make this home a "household of peace!"

A Visit to YWAM

This is our brother Roberto. As we told you in a post a few months ago, he is currently taking a on-site course in evangelism and missions through YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Two Sundays ago we, along with his wife Moema and son Kjeld, went to visit him for the day. We found him very upbeat about all that he is learning about the Bible and his relationship with God - so much so that his eyes are on fire! :)

YWAM's training ground is located in Morungava, a rural district about an hour outside of Porto Alegre. The property is blessed with spectacular natural beauty; perfect for meditation and concentration on the tasks of spiritual maturity. But don't be deceived - this is not a spiritual spa. Roberto and the other students have six full days a week of study, manual labor, chores, prayer, teaching children, theater practice, and evangelistic ministry in nearby towns. He describes it as the most intense experience he's ever had.

YWAM's facilities are pretty rustic, in need of some upgrades, but they serve as a reminder to the students that simplicity allows space for God to do great works. Here is Roberto in front of the cafeteria, and Moema in the library, where she volunteers twice a month to organize their books and help with their reading program.

Here are Moema & Roberto with Carlos and Eunice, the directors of this YWAM location. They are a great example of faithfulness to the Lord. 25 years ago, this couple sold their highly profitable business in Rio de Janeiro to move south and dedicate themselves to this work of training young Christian servants.

Roberto will spend the next two months doing field work in the nearby states of Santa Catarina and Paraná before returning home for his graduation in December. Keep up the good work, Roberto - we are with you all the way! We are eager to see what plans the Lord has for you and your family!

A Weekend with Friends

Last weekend we had the pleasure of hosting some friends of ours who are missionaries in Itú, a lovely town just outside of São Paulo. Back row, right - Mark and Ali Kaiser. I have known Ali for more than ten years, back to the days when I was doing Let's Start Talking in Itu and Ali was the "activator" of the church youth group where her parents are missionaries. We got to meet Mark for the first time earlier this year at the missionary conference in Canela.

Back row, left - Carol and Amanda, missionary interns in Itu. They came to POA last year as part of the Aggies for Christ team that helped build the chácara dormitory. Unfortunately, it rained most of the weekend, so we didn't get out a whole lot, but we did have some fantastic conversations about life, and we go to spend some quality time at the chácara! Mark & Ali recently encountered a place called Sitio Shalom in Itú that is similar to the chácara, and they would like to start helping with that work. So we took them out to our chácara and let them meet the guys and soak in the atmosphere of spiritual transformation. Mark even stayed out there a day and a night to get the full immersion experience.

We did a Saturday night on the town, hitting a Brazilian steakhouse for some great food, folks and fun, complete with a music and dance show. (Mark is acting like he's only going to take one piece of meat here, but he really wanted the whole skewer!)

Waleska and Amanda are really digging the barbecue beef! These are my favorite types of restaurants - an all you can eat meat buffet, what more could you ask for? The Brazilians know how to do it right!

We miss you guys already, Mark & Ali, Carol, Amanda! Come back anytime! :>)

The Newest Missionary in Town!

Please welcome Giovanni Müller Blume to the world! He was born to our teammates Kevin and Benay Blume in the early hours of September 3rd. Check out the link to the Blumes' blog in the right-hand column on this page to get all the inside scoop...

Guilherme's Baptism

A few weeks ago I wrote about a new Bible study we had begun with a young man named Guilherme. He is a bright guy with a bright future in the field of computer science. He has been dating Gabrieli, daughter of our friends and brothers Lauro & Lorena. Our Bible study time has been amazing - he has soaked up the Word like a sponge. It's always exciting to study the Word with someone who is so eager to learn. Last week Guilherme came to us and said he would like to be baptized! It's finally nice to be able to participate in a baptism! (It's a running joke here in POA that whenever I leave town for a trip, someone gets baptized - that has happened a dozen times over the past few years!)

The baptism was on Saturday at Mark & Ju White's home (they work in Viamão, a satellite city of POA). As you can see, Guilherme didn't need much help going under water!

Two thumbs up for a new life in Christ!

After the baptism we had a snack & conversation time at Guilherme's house with some of his relatives, several of whom attend the church in Cantão that we visit from time to time. L-r: Guilherme's aunt Daniela, his future mother-in-law Lorena, friends Valquiria, Waleska and Ju, his girlfriend Gabrieli, grandmother Helena (who is practically his mother because she has raised him since birth) and his stepmother whose name I forgot :>). Praise God for Guilherme's rebirth and pray that the Lord will continue to pour out His Spirit on Cantão!

Families Uniting in Christ

The work at the chácara is taking on new proportions! Now, family members of the guys who have completed the recovery program are deciding to follow Jesus and become part of His church! This is Jane, the mother of Rodrigo and Eduardo, at the moment of her baptism on Sunday.

Down we go into the cold waters, assisted by Isaias and Gabriel...

and up we come again in victory, reborn to a new life and new possibilities in Jesus Christ!

This is Jane with her sons Eduardo and Rodrigo, two great young guys who have finished the recovery program. Jane wants to be a part of our church family. We will be starting a new group on Sundays that includes Jane, Rodrigo and Eduardo. Pray that this group will eventually include Jane's husband, Valmir, and their entire family! Praise God for how He is moving and extending the work of the kingdom!

Happy Birthday Dad!

This post is in honor of my Dad, whose birthday was Wednesday of this week. This is Dad at his best: relaxing in a state park cabin, planning his next move to explore the off-the-beaten paths of our wild & wonderful West Virginia. If you haven't already, check out his photography websites on the links in the right column - they are spectacular! Happy Birthday Dad and we love you lots! We can't wait to see you at the end of the year!

Gabrieli & Guilherme

This is Gabrieli and Guilherme. Gabrieli is 20 years old and is the daughter of Lauro & Lorena, one of our church families. Gabrieli works as a receptionist in an English school and takes night classes in public safety. Guilherme (that's William in English) is 21 and works for a bank and also takes night classes in computer programming.
Recently Waleska and I began studying the Bible with these young "lovebirds'. Gabrieli is a Christian and Guilherme is very interested in learning about Jesus and about His word. He had never studied the Bible before until we began our meetings last month. We are becoming fast friends - he invited us to his birthday party last week and introduced us to all of his family. We apologized because we had not brought a present and Guilherme's response was "Getting to know you is my present!" We thank God for this couple and ask you to pray for them to be unified in Christ!

Mobile Church is Back!

You may remember us writing last year about a couple named Dariu & Mara (he is on the far right of the row of persons sitting across from me). They are friends of Renato & Branda and invited us to come have church in their home last year. Ever since then we have been trying to spend more time with them and find other opportunities to share Jesus with them. Two Sundays ago we finally got invited again to their house for a Sunday worship and a meal together. We talked about how Jesus is the "living water" and the only true source of life, and enjoyed a great time of fellowship complete with grilled chicken wings. Pray for this couple and for their daughters Fernanda, Bruna and Vitoria. We are planning another worship in their home for August and hope to start a Bible study with this family at that point!

Getting Equipped for Kingdom Work

This is Roberto and Moema. They attend the church that meets in the Blumes' house. They have been Christians for almost two years now. Their conversion is quite amazing - Moema was a card-carrying Marxist and sociology professor at the federal university until cancer forced her to retire early, thus deepening an already-burning desire in this couple to discover life's true meaning. Through their friendship with the Blumes, they began studying the Bible and eventually decided to follow Jesus as Lord. We have become good friends with this couple and their 11-year old son Kjeld. Waleska teaches English to Moema and I have a Bible study with her as well once a week. Roberto is a very talented singer who occasionally performs at different local venues.
Recently, a series of events left Roberto without a job. They decided to use this situation to seek God's will for their life direction. It seems that God has answered their prayers in the form of Youth With A Mission, an international Christian organization that trains and equips people to serve as missionaries and workers in local churches. Roberto will be leaving on Sunday to begin a 5-month YWAM discipleship course in a small mountain town about 1 hour from Porto Alegre. This is a big step of faith and we are all proud and excited for Roberto and family! It reminds me of when I first decided to do Let's Start Talking twelve years ago - it was an experience that opened doors to new worlds and possibilites that changed my life. I believe that Roberto is about to embark on a similar life-changing experience.

Pray that Roberto will find greater intimacy with God and find spiritual tools to be ever more useful in God's service through this course, and that Moema and Kjeld will be comforted and strong in his absence. Praise God that more workers are answering the harvest call!

Singing a New Song

Earlier this year I posted a video of Waleska & I teaching the folks at our church in Beckley how to sing in Portuguese. Now check out this video of us teaching the folks at Cantão, one of the house churches here in Porto Alegre, how to sing in English!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLT71zRAgnk

Sowing Seeds

This is my friend Julio Rosa. He just recently graduated from the federal university with his master's in metalurgic engineering. He and I have been studying the Bible together for the past year and a half. We became friends through the Let's Start Talking program when we last hosted LST in 2005. This week Julio is moving to Vitoria, in Espirito Santo state, north of Rio de Janeiro. Julio has taken a job as a railroad engineer for Vale, Brazil's largest mining company. Praise God for this opportunity that Julio has and pray that he will continue to seek God and study His Word!

Marriage, Family & Ministry Seminar

They seem like ordinary people at first glance - and in fact, they are ordinary people, a husband and wife who've been together for 40 years, drinking their daily coffee and chatting about life. Yet as you get to know them and listen to them teach together, you realize that they are extraordinary faithful followers of Jesus. They are Bryan and Jacqueline Bost, missionaries in Brazil for 32 years, who have dedicated the past seven years to work in multiplying the church from house to house. We had them in Porto Alegre last year for a weekend seminar on house churches, and the response was so overwhelmingly positive that we just had to have them come back again. This time they spent the weekend (June 13-15) teaching from their book "Partners in the Kingdom: Challenges and Victories in Life Together," based on their life experiences.

We had a packed house on Friday night, Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon to hear Bryan and Jacqueline as they engaged us in Biblical reflections on marriage and family life. We were especially blessed to have brothers and sisters from four other area congregations present to share this special time!

We held our monthly celebration worship on Sunday to coincide with the Bosts visit. Bryan gave a fantastic lesson on "Seeking First the Kingdom" which really is the fundamental principle in all things related to marriage, family and ministry. We also had a special presentation involving the newest-born child in our church family: Emily, daughter of Daniela and Jorge. As is tradition, we presented them with a framed Bible verse and asked all present to sign it, and had a prayer of blessing for this family.

We enjoyed a home-cooked lunch after worship and tried to stay warm together as we waited for the final session of warming our hearts, discussing the power of ministering together as a family united in Christ!

Thanks to God for this wonderful couple and their vivid example of "seeking first the Kingdom!" as they work from house to house in the greater São Paulo area and throughout Brazil!

Body of Christ Day - Ministry Solutions

Earlier this month we used the Brazilian Labor Day holiday, May 1st, to host an open forum with our church members, hear the positives and negatives about how the work here was going. Last week, on May 22nd, we had another holiday, Corpus Christi (Body of Christ). We decided to use this holiday to host another open forum with our church members to brainstorm solutions to the challenges and problems that were discussed on May 1st.

It was a very productive day! We divided into small groups, according to where each person perceived that God was leading them to be involved. Then each group outlined specific solutions and ideas to improve the work of the church in that particular area. The areas that were given most attention were communication, unity, ministry support, and our monthly celebration service for all the house churches. Praise God for the creativity He has poured out on His church! Now comes the next step...roll up our sleeves and take the ideas from paper and turn them into real life!

Northeastern Relatives

Recently we had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Waleska's cousin, Cristiano, and his wife Juliana. They live in Campina Grande, Paraiba state, in Northeast Brazil - they were here in the south doing some tourism. (The distance between Porto Alegre and Campina Grande is about the same as the distance between Miami and Los Angeles, to give you an idea).

Waleska's family is very interesting - she is one of four daughters and her mom, Vanda, has a twin sister, Vilma, who had four sons! Cristiano is the oldest of the four and the same age as Waleska. They do not see each other very often because of the distance; in fact, it has been about 14 years since Waleska was last in Campina Grande. Hopefully later this year or next year we can get up there so I can meet the whole clan! There are cousins, uncles and aunts, Waleska's grandmother, and many other characters that I must meet. Sounds like fun!...

Labor Day for the Lord

May 1st is Labor Day here in Brazil, a holiday, a day recognized internationally as one celebrating worker's rights and voices being heard. This May 1st, we held an important event for our church family: Labor Day for the Lord. It was a community forum-style meeting event, open to any of our members who wished to make their voices heard and listen to each other's voices. The people in this photo shared the blessings they've experienced in house churches over the past 15 months of this new work, and also shared their concerns, frustrations, and challengers with this transition. We all realized that we have a lot of work to do, a lot of improvement to make in how we communciate amongst each other and organize the work of God's church! What is exciting is that the leadership is changing and will change from this day forward. One step closing to becoming a more organic, dynamic church, utilizing all of the gifts with which God has blessed us! We will have a follow-up meeting on May 22 to outline practical solutions to our challenges. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayers!

New Brother & Sister in Christ

It is always uplifting to see the fruits of time and friendship come forth, in the form of baptisms - lives dedicated to Christ! Here I will tell about two recent baptisms in our church, the fruit of time and friendship invested principally by Sascha & Jennifer Terry.



The girl on the right is Daniela Brasiliense. She was one of our Portuguese teachers when I moved here nearly six years ago. She has been our friend and has attended some of our church meetings off and on, seeking, searching, questioning...Recently, the Terrys began meeting on a weeknight with Daniela and Luzia, from our house church. All three of these families have toddlers, which gives them a great common link. A few weeks ago, Daniela decided she wanted to be baptized! Praise God for her faith and pray for her husband, Alexandre, that he will soon make the same decision!




The guy on the left is Tiago Beck, studying with Paulo Renato. He became our friend in 2005 through the Let's Start Talking classes. Since then he has been involved in our men's ministry, and he and his girlfriend Lily have been attending the group that meets in the Terrys' house on Sundays. Tiago is a real gaucho - he is from the countryside, a town called Santiago. He grew up on a farm and knows all about how to work with horses and ranching. Sascha and Tiago have become really good friends over the last year or so. Tuesday night, Tiago made an important decision for his life - he decided to be baptized! He will be leaving in June to spend 6 months in Australia, working and learning English. Praise God for Tiago's faith and pray for perseverance in his walk with the Lord!

Open for Business

This is Lauro Lima, one of our brothers in Christ. He is a close friend to many people in our house church. Lauro took a big step of faith this year - it goes like this:For several years, Lauro has made his livelihood making and selling honey. What always bothered him was that 70% of his sales were to vendors who turned around and sold his honey to people who used it in black magic & voodoo rituals. Lauro felt embarrassed about this, and for this reason he was always evavise when asked how his work was going. At the beginning of this year, he made a decision: by the end of March, he would stop selling honey to these specific vendors. This was a big deal; he would be losing 70% of his family's income. How would he make up for this?

God provided in the form of a Christian brother who made a generous donation to Lauro's family. It was decided that part of this donation would be used to help Lauro start his own fast-food business: Lima Lanches (Snacks). Lauro is an outstanding cook - if you know me, you know I don't call just anybody an outstanding cook! He makes incredible burgers, steak sandwiches, hot dogs, sausage rolls, all kinds of great greasy fixins. Last weekend, Lauro inaugurated his business, to coincide with his son Lucas' 17th birthday (with his mom Lorena in the photo below). Praise God for Lauro's step of faith, and pray that his business is a success in every sense of the word!