Itu Inaugural

this weekend we are in Itu, a town close to São Paulo. We are here because the church here is inaugurating their new church building. We are also here because the missionaries, Antenor and Phyllis Goncalves, are supported by Highland in Abilene.

Our time here has been such a blessing. We arrived on Thursday and have spent several days doing this and that to help get ready. This morning the inaugural service started. What a wonderful morning. The place was packed with well over 300 people, which for a Church of Christ in Brazil is a great Sunday. regardless of how many people came today, though, it was a great Sunday. The church itself is so excited about their new building and how God led them here. They are excited about how God will continue to use their building as a light to the city and safe haven for those seeking shelter from a life lived without God.

As we got going this morning I had a wonderful thought about how this can one day be us. I thought about how we one day hope to have a place the church in Salvador owns and is able to use long term for the Lord. Until then though, we will continue to use what we have, where we are, to declare that God is God and in Him alone is our salvation.

Finishing Classes

Tonight was the final class of an 8 week series I have been teaching up at the building. It is part of an effort to reach out the community and create more opportunities to people about God. I have used our evangelistic Bible studies as the basis for the class. Although the class has not had our desired result of attracting mostly non-Christians, I have enjoyed the class immensely. The first time I taught the class we had a hard time keeping up consistency, but this time was completely different. Early on we settled in with about eight people, one of them being one of our members and another being a seeker from our neighborhood.

The classes have been very lively. Each week we worked through my basic outline and each week our discussions led us beyond my outline into discussions about who God is and how we are able to live with Him in relationship. Tonight as everyone was leaving I felt a little sadness. Over these eight weeks we have grown together and shared much of ourselves. I am sad we don’t have next week to look forward to be together again.

It has been a great class and I pray God’s blessings on all those who came. I pray the most for Othon who came out of curiosity and has now received the seeds of the Gospel. I pray they will grow and that he will be open for more opportunities to journey together on this road.

Couples Night

One of the great (and sometimes confusing) things about being a missionary in a foreign country is the holiday schedule. While we cannot celebrate them all (we would never get any work done) it can work to our advantage.

Some of the holidays are the same (Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day). Some are close. For example our state celebrates both the national independence day and its own independence from Portugal. The state independence day is on July 2, close to both Canadian and the US independence days (July 1 & 4). Of course there are some holidays new to us because we are living in Brazil now (i.e. Tira Dentes – literally “to pull teeth” celebrating a dentist important in Brazil’s independence) and some that we miss all together (I totally missed Memorial day this year). But every now and then we get to celebrate some holidays twice. Such was the case last night.

Because we were on furlough this year Jennifer and I got to celebrate Valentine’s Day like most of you in February, and because our furlough ended before June, we also got to celebrate it in Brazil too. To celebrate we invited all the couples we have at church over to the house for a night of burgers and a movie. In the end we had 8 couples, including one of Travis and Alicia’s neighbors.

It was a great night. I made “American Hamburgers,” which simply means I made the hamburger patties by hand and cooked them on a grill (most hamburgers here are bought pre-made and are cooked on a griddle). Jennifer made her wonderful potato salad and we ate to our hearts content. We watched Baz’s new movie Australia starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.

Here are a few of the pictures from the night.

New Prayer Calendar

Here is the Prayer Calendar for June. (you can click here or on the image below to download a PDF of the calendar.)

the boys

the boys sure are growing up. here is one of Samuel taking a few steps and Kelton repeating memory verses.

Easter Sunday

What a great day Easter was this year. Easter is an important holiday here in Brazil and one that usually allows for people to leave the city. Most people that can travel to be with family or get out the city during Easter leaving Savlador a little quiter and calmer for a few days, which I must admit I enjoy. Because so many people travel, our services for Easter are generally a little smaller as was the case this year with only about 35 or 40 people present on Sunday morning. The smaller number has actually been a blessing for our church these last several years.

As is becoming our custom we took the opportunity to do part of our worship around tables. (I mean think about, when was the last time you worshiped God as a church family looking at your church family rather than the song leader. It is quite a blessing to see one another while we worship our God.) So for this week, while our numbers are smaller, we take time to worship God in song and the celebrate communion as a family that sees one another. Around our tables we sing songs and we also break bread talking to one another about who Christ is and what His death and life mean to each of us.

As if that was not enough, when we finished celebrating communion together we then all turned back to the front as one of our members presented us with God's Word for the day. In this year we are trying to actively do more training of our members both in and out of our services, and with all training, were we begin is not necessarily where we hope to end. This wasn't the case with Gabriel and God's Word this Sunday, though. As he preached I was awe of the gifting God had placed on him and the blessing I received in hearing him take God's Word and help it come to life for the day.

It was truly a great day and one I wish all could experience.

3rd Anniversary

Today while walking down the stairs from my apartment I was struck again by the reality that Salvador really is my home. We have lived here for just over four years now. In that time God has been at work both in my life and the life of His church here.

it is hard to believe that this Sunday we will celebrate our third anniversary. In some ways threes years is such a short time and it is. We are still a baby church. We pray there is much growth still ahead of us in the months and years to come. We stay confident about that growth because of what we see God doing in just three short years of church work in Salvador.

Three years ago we started with about 14 people. We sent lots of invitations and prayed that someone would come at our first service. In the last three weeks, God has blessed us with 60-70 people each Sunday.

Three years ago our conversations about God were limited to a years worth of Portuguese. In the past several Sundays multiple Brazilians have participated in our worship and Travis is currently working with Tennyson to help share God's message with everyone this Sunday.

Three years ago our invitations were limited to those we knew or those from the other Churches of Christ in the city. For this Sunday, there is no way to count the number of people who have been invited and most of them by other Brazilians.

Three years ago our vision for this work consisted of what we learned while in the states and what we had observed in a year of observation. This past year we have had open conversations as a church about how we can be God's church in our new neighborhood and we have followed ideas that did not originate in the US.

These are just a few examples of what God has done in Salvador in the three years since we started meeting. If He can do this in three years, just imagine what is possible in the next three. This Sunday we celebrate our third anniversary. Please remember us in your prayers this week. Pray that those invited may come. Pray that we will be ready to receive. Pray that the truth of God will be heard by all and that we might all draw closer to Him as we celebrate what He has done.