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!