banhocheiroso

MEUNI – Missão Evangélica Universitária – Evangelical Christian Mission

This weekend, we have been invited by this university students’ group to participate in their retreat. Andrew is due to speak three times, and hasn’t yet got his thoughts in order. We will return on Sunday afternoon for our own Peregrinos meeting: Romans 12. Please pray for these opportunities to minister the word. Please also remember Bernardo, chemistry student, an old and dear friend from our English group at the PIB: he is now leading the MEUNI and needs God’s wisdom and guidance.

Cauane

You will remember our various requests for prayer for Cauane, only child of Caramuru and Alessandra, over at the military base. Caramuru had attended our church for a period (brown shirt, well lit in the centre of the photo here) but we had urged him to go to the local Baptist Church when his wife started attending there. Over the last months they have had precious little chance to be in the church anyway.

The news is very sad. In the small hours of last Monday morning, Cauane died. The last weeks had been a story of steadily deteriorating health, with Cauane suffering terribly from the effects of very strong doses of chemotherapy, and yet the end was still a shock.

We got back to Floripa at 14.30 on Monday, went home by taxi, had a quick shower and returned to the airport area for the funeral at 16.00. Afterwards, Cora went on to the interment, while Andrew went directly to IBE, to try and gather his thoughts prior to teaching the Monday Introduction to Theology Group.

Pastor Jacques, from Carianos Baptist, spoke, and spoke very well. The scene was very much as described at other funerals, although the congregation was overwhelmingly Christian. Throughout the service mother and aunt sat on the floor beside the little body in the white coffin, hands clasped on her forehead, the rest of the family in a constant chain of human contact. How important is touch! And how desperate the moment of letting go, and of positioning the lid and screwing it down.

Caramuru is wonderfully firm and secure in his faith – the love of a Sovereign God buoys him up, even in the midst of terrible grief. Regarding Alessandra’s faith we are not so sure – there has been pressure from family and friends to believe that God would cure Cauane, and also to take her to a spiritist healer because a neighbour was cured of cancer by one – so please pray for her very much at this time of confusion. And that, in his mercy and his justice, God would put an end to this sort of false teaching in Brazil.

Andrew was not in the best state of mind and body for a three hour class on Monday night, but it went very well. But there was a kind of postcript to a sad day. One of our students, Jacina, a very keen Christian girl from the PIB (First Baptist) seemed rather down in class. She wasn't very well, but there was something else. Andrew asked her afterwards. Her boyfriends' brother had been killed in a motorbike crash on the Sunday. He was a backslidden Christian. Jacina was using a Bible in classs that used to be his: at times we touched on a passage where, in happier days, he had made notes in the margin. Hence the sadness.

Jacina made one comment that sunk deep, at the end of such a day; "There is so little time." May God give us grace to use it well.

Belo Horizonte trip

Thank you all so much for praying for this journey. We left on Thursday morning for BH in considerable weakness: tired out from constant teaching, with the added load of the recent funeral and pastoral concerns having left us without any time off for a long period. And Andrew had had serious stomach problems since the previous Sunday. By Sunday Cora had similar difficulties. All in all, it was not an auspicious moment, health-wise.

Nevertheless, the weekend was very good. First in terms of excellent fellowship with Rodrigo and Lívia, who cared for us in our weakness. Second, the ministry went well. The Pastors’ module on the apostolic preaching in Acts was demanding, but a great blessing, and Cora was even more encouraged with her Saturday workshop for women. It was the first time she had given a full day of teaching, and it was received extremely well. On Sunday, Andrew spoke three times: to the youth classes in the Sunday School, and then in the two main meetings of the First Presbyterian Church.

On the Friday evening, while Cora finished preparation for Saturday, Andrew went with Rodrigo and Lívia to a birthday party for Vanessa, a girl from the adolescents' group at First Presb. How refreshing to go to a fourteen year old's party where the girl herself has asked that the central element be a time of praise, with ministry of the word. Rodrigo spoke from Colossians. How he is growing as a preacher!

The following photos give a flavour of the city – or at least a walk in the park! – and of some who came to our classes.

Leaving for Belo Horizonte: one corner of the Florianópolis military base. Alex and Sara, Levi and Adriana and Caramuru and Alessandra all live in the houses and flats visible here.

Mangabeiras Park: we understand it to be the largest park linked to a city in Latin America. The scenery and wildlife in the park and the views over the city are spectacular.

Cora and Lívia, in Mangabeiras Park, Belo Horizonte.

Ornamental papyrus, in a pond in the park.

Belo Horizonte, a city of industry, culture, great food...

... and of large, steep and violent favelas.

Friends

Friends

Vanessa's fourteenth birthday party, Friday night.

Rodrigo preaching at the party

Cora's women's group from the church: How to Teach Children the Kingdom of God.

Back to class after lunch. A variety of ages and personalities were involved!

Pastors' group for studies in Acts.

Vicente and Fátima - from the central Baptist church, it was the first time we had the pleasure of meeting this couple.

Geovan - pastoring the new congregation at Pampulha, a prosperous suburb of BH.

Isaías - pastoring a church near Conselheiro Lafayete, two hours from BH.

Teodomiro - pastoring a congregation.

Clóvis - seminary student who works with adolescents and children at the First Church.

One of the strangest things in Belo Horizonte - Peanut Road. If you stop your car on this (apparent) gentle down-slope, and let the brake off in neutral, it will roll slowly backwards. The effect is quite stunning. The fact that the hill on which the road is built is so full of iron ore that the rocks look more like metal lumps than ordinary stone leads to one popular explanation: magnetism. But it hardly deals with the fact that (apparently) water also flows "uphill" here. A better explanation is an extremely sophisticated and general optical illusion - no true horizon is visible, and the surrounding topography makes for a very consistent sense of a downward slope where the reverse is in fact the case. See http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/gravity_hill

Flowering tree

Sunday afternoon walk, in the Mangabeiras Park, overlooking the city. We were not at all well, but managed to raise a smile.

Cora with her Tuesday night Greek group. This is the first class that Cora has had "from scratch", and is now up and running and going well. The major difficulty is the wide range of ability and motivation levels: pray that Cora might have constant tact, wisdom and calm authority, as well as great linguistic skills.

Tuesday night Basic Group. There was a complaint that some had come out too small in the recent panorama, so I am now rectifying the problem. From top left: Suzana, Ireni, Joselino, Walcort. Second row: Julieta, Dudlei, Marcia. Bottom row: Luis, Eron, Katia, Jovane. Sadly some members of the group were not present.

The Blumenau Group - Saturday 18 March

As Cora was tied up with a mass of preparation for the ministry in Belo Horizonte, Andrew went with Timóteo, Alex and Sara's eleven year old son. What a great day! One or two members of the group had expressed difficulties understanding the doctrine of the Trinity (nothing new there!) so instead of doing a normal, straighforward, exposition, Andrew gave effectively a class in Systematics. With the usual rumbustuous style of the group augmented by Timóteo's sharp questions, it was a demanding study, but very rich, and all seemed to grow in clarity, even if in a sense we are only "putting fences around the mystery" when we make our careful positive and negative statements of the Biblical teaching.

The four hours of journeys with Timóteo were delightful too - great conversations.

Blumenau

Tomorrow we hope to go to Blumenau, to support the group there.


Belo Horizonte

On Thursday next, 23rd March, we will fly, God Willing, to Belo Horizonte for another training module. This time the activities are as follows:

Thursday:
Travel

Friday:
Andrew working on the Apostolic Preaching in Acts with the young pastors.

Friday evening:
Andrew preach at Sexta Jovem - the meeting for young people at First Presbyterian.

Saturday:
Andrew working on the Apostolic Preaching in Acts with the young pastors.
Cora Training Day for Women on Teaching the Kingdom of God to Children

Sunday:
Andrew preach morning and evening at First Presbyterian - perhaps twice in the morning.

Monday:
Travel home to Florianópolis - Andrew take IBE class at night.

The programme is heavy - please pray for effective ministry throughout.

We will be staying with Charley and Céia, but we hope to meet up with Rodrigo and Lívia, the couple who have been our main contacts at First Presbyterian and who are hoping to go to the UK and stay in Haywards Heath while doing the Cornhill Training Course. Which leads on to a prayer request for them...


Rodrigo and Lívia

(Couple from Belo Horizonte )

It is now a very long time since Rod and Lív re-applied for their visa and they have heard nothing at from the British Consulate. Hardly surprisingly, they are at the end of their tether, not only with the wait, but with the sense of uselessness, having handed over many aspects of ministry in Brazil. If they do not hear within the next week or so, all hopes of doing the course will be abandoned. Please pray for them.

We understand that Brazil is the country with the largest number of citizens currently being refused entry to the UK. This reflects in part the large number of Brazilians who for one reason or another want to be in the UK, but it is also somewhat surprising given the global terrorism tensions and so forth. It shows that refusal of entry is still a fundamentally economic decision, rather than security based.


Geraldo and Simone

Last night we went out for a pizza with Geraldo and Simone - our first chance to talk personally with them, without other relatives present, since Helvécio's death. We had a very good deep talk - please continue to pray for them, especially this Saturday, when the family will be together again, and Simone hopes to share more of the gospel with her sisters.

Teacher's Eye View Three
Biblical Immersion Course - Monday Night - Introduction to Theology

This new group started two weeks ago. The Immersion course runs for three nights per week, although two of the students are also taking classes on Thursday and Friday, to work for the full Bachelors' Course. Andrew has the group on Monday, for the Introduction to Theology, and Cora on Wednesday, for the Synoptic Gospels. The group is not large, but they are keen and bright. They vary from mature Christians to one young lady who is perhaps only just going through the process of conversion. So we have to teach Theology at Bachelors' level, and at the same time evangelize!

Cora dragged me out for an early walk this morning, rather against my wishes, I have to say. But I was thankful, for various reasons. The reward was, amongst other good things, this butterfly, a type which hardly sits still for a second once the day gets hot, but which was quite laid back first thing in the morning. Note the pollen on the proboscis. One forewing is already damaged - perhaps a bird attack.

The Funeral of Helvécio (Ximba)

First of all, we want to thank the large number of you who sent messages of support and pledging your prayerful concern regarding yesterday’s funeral. Generally when we send notice of non-urgent updates, we hear nothing (understandably) and never quite know if the army of receivers “out there” has actually received anything. This time the mountain of messages told us very clearly that we are cared for and prayed for.

The original prayer request was somewhat egocentric – the preacher going into a state of panic before a difficult funeral. The funeral is now over, but a large family is utterly devastated still, and the two Christian members of it are still simultaneously grieving and seeking to support the other relatives and testify to a real hope. So please pray on for Simone and Geraldo in these very sad days. We have to say that one of the most positive things in this situation is a new level of closeness to them, and a sense of wonder at the strength and quality of their lives and leadership in the family at this time. How the Word and the Spirit make better people! If anyone wishes to send them a message, we will be very happy to pass it on, translated.

Please pray also for the widow, Isabel. Helvécio left a son, André (17), by a previous marriage, and two children Manuela (6) and Davi (18months) with Isabel. Helvécio was the only son in a family dominated by sisters. The mother died a couple of years ago: the father is still alive.


Why are funerals "culturally shocking"?

It is very hard to know where to begin when describing a funeral here. Certainly, for us, funerals have always been the area of the most acute culture shock. On the one hand, a funeral is an occasion controlled by established codes of behaviour which are never taught, just picked up within your culture. There is a degree of variety, but certain parameters prevail. On the other hand, funerals are occasions of extreme emotions, and not least an extreme desire to please, to avoid shock, to be as helpful and supportive as possible. Weddings are similar, but at least at a wedding the prevailing mood is one which can laugh off the odd anomaly: one does not feel that way at a funeral. This combination of cultural codes and emotional freight makes a difficult cocktail.

Some of you have asked about why the funeral was so fast – is this normal? I hinted in my note that it could actually have occurred on the same day, if the body had been released earlier by the authorities. That was a possibility, but the general rule here is that funerals occur within 24 hours of the death. In this case it was probably 26. In the past this certainly had to do with climatic issues, but it also suits the culture. Emotions are not to be put on hold; the expression must be immediate and involve physical proximity. What you say is not as important as being there and showing you care with a hug. More than any legalities or practicalities, the thing to do when someone dies is to be together and weep, and that is what people do.

After a death, and the release and smartening up of the body, the deceased is taken to a chapel of rest where family and friends gather. In general this means a night of vigil. The coffin is open, a sea of flowers surrounding the body, whose head, clothed chest and hands are visible. As folks arrive, a pattern develops – greetings to family and friends, then to the coffin, to cry, then back to talk. For the close family this continues throughout the night, with repeated visits to the coffin to weep, and conversations either inside the chapel, or outside in the night air.

For Brazilians, love and affection are shown physically. This applies to the deceased too. The hands are held, the chest is rubbed, the face is kissed. It is not uncommon for people to throw themselves across a coffin at the burial, even to try to lift the body from the coffin. A death with special elements of tragedy (and that applies to many here) tends to provoke more extravagant gestures.

The funeral itself is, in some senses, highly informal. In part this is the product of the speed – there is no time to organise. The closest family members will in general not have been home to shower and change, so they are in the clothes they were wearing at the moment they heard of the death. In this case, the death having occurred on a Saturday morning, a significant number were in tee-shirts and shorts. Frequently there is uncertainty as to who will speak or take any kind of lead. Geraldo and Simone asked me to speak in the chapel of rest, but nothing specific was arranged for the graveside, and in the end Simone said a word there, and everyone said the Lord’s Prayer.

The hour that is arranged is the hour for the interment. In this case, 10.00 a.m. (13.00 GMT). This means that anything to be said and done by way of “service” has to be done before that. So we started at 9.35. Everyone is standing. There is no pulpit, the preacher (if there is one) standing generally near the head of the coffin. Then the closest male relatives screw the lid on the coffin, covering the face for the final time. This is often a moment of special emotion and possible outcries. The men lift the coffin and carry it to a gurney, pushing it out and up to the cemetery.

The graves are tight packed, stone and concrete affairs. There is not necessarily a deep hole, and where there is, it isn’t “in the ground”. It is more like a concreted slot. On Sunday the coffin was placed into a marble tomb at ground level. Any words to be said are said, some final demonstrations of grief, of touching the coffin and crying out, and then the tomb is closed over. Instead of earth, four paving slabs are placed over the coffin, and then the sexton seals it all with mortar. The work takes a few minutes and the people generally stand watching quietly. The women of the family bring flowers and wreaths, covering the marble slab. Then the people all drift away.

For Brits the rapidity and sheer physicality of a Brazilian funeral may seem quite repugnant. Please remember that many Brazilians might well feel the same way about a culture where the coming together of a grieving family can be coolly put off for a week or more, and where many adults have never seen a dead body. It all looks unbelievably cold, if not totally out of touch with reality! And, as a pastor in the UK, I knew something of the difficulty of those who have never given proper vent to their grief. So do not judge – we see advantages and disadvantages on both sides. Alan Davey tells me that the French take three days. It sounds like the happy medium! But at least friends may now be able to see why funerals have been a big cultural hurdle for us.


What about this funeral?

We want to give thanks again for the many of you who prayed fervently for this occasion. I have rarely if ever felt more the enabling of the Lord while preaching. Although extremely nervous, and with a few linguistic stumbles to give that away, in general I was able to speak with calm, and I trust a certain authority and relevance to the situation.

We spent the afternoon of Saturday with the family, and as was my habit in England, I said to them roughly what I was planning to say at the funeral, though in this case the plans were still very much in the early stages. But at least it established a point of contact with the family, beyond Geraldo and Simone. It was clear that they would all be glad if I were to speak.

In the evening I went to the chapel of rest, to meet other members of the family, and to take part in the vigil. It was good to go, and especially to see the face of Ximba, the deceased. We are more or less used to the open coffin now, but I still wanted to accustom myself to the situation before the service the next day. It was also important to meet the family, and to see how people were reacting. One element that was therapeutic, though very poignant, was the presence of the 18 month old son, Davi. He was a ray of light and life in the chapel, occasionally being breast fed by his mother, and then playing around his father’s coffin. I came away at 11.30 or so, leaving many family members to pass the night there

We returned at just after 9 in the morning. There were already many more people, and the same cycle of grieving and quiet conversation. But you could feel that things were beginning to come to a head. At 9.30 Geraldo said, “We had better start.” He and others called the people in to the little chapel. I made my way to the head of the coffin, and turned to face the company. There were no words to introduce me. With one hand resting on the open coffin, the other holding my Bible and brief notes and with a sea of tearful faces in front of me I began to speak.


What do you say?

I said the following:

We are here in a moment of terrible sadness and tragedy. What we need is not a word of cheap comfort, though there be many such words around at such a moment. No – what we need is a realistic word, with a firm base.

We don’t want to say or hear anything false in this moment. I am not going to pretend that I knew Ximba when I didn’t. My task is not to pretend, but to bring a word that comes from God’s book. It is this that the family has asked me to do.

And I am so thankful for the realism and honesty of the Bible. It tells us the truth. It tells us what we need to hear, even when it in uncomfortable. We are going to read one of the most important passages in the Bible to help us understand this terrible moment, and I am going to make a few comments on it.

Reading – Genesis 3 – with occasional explanatory comments, especially on the first part.

This passage tells us something very important. It tells us that the world we live in is not normal. It tells us that the world is spoilt and rotten.

Many people want to live as if this world were marvellous – but it isn’t. And this passage shows us why.

What we see here is the arrival of sin in the world. The start of rebellion against God – and its consequences.

We can see four consequences, and I am taking them in reverse order through the passage.

1. Man is expelled from the presence of God. This is the most important thing, and in some ways all the other consequences are fruit of and pointers to this fundamental problem.

2. The man and the woman suffer pain and difficulty in the most important areas of their lives – be it the fruit of the womb or the fruit of the earth, everything comes with pain. Life is hard.

3. The man and the woman suffer tension between them – and here we see the seed of every kind of fight and division and war between man and his fellow man.

4. The man has tension inside himself. He begins to experience shame. What is shame? It is to look in the mirror and dislike the person you see. Not the wrinkles and the warts, but the person. Before he sinned, Adam was at peace with himself, and now he has begun to hate himself. And sometimes that self-hate gets to the point where human beings do terrible things to themselves. As we see today. It all started here – when we sinned.

You see, what we see today is one more manifestation that this world has been spoiled by sin. We can’t escape it. We may want to live as if the world were perfect – but today of all days our hearts are telling us that something is terribly, terribly wrong.

We need to think clearly about this, about the place of sin in the death of Ximba.

• Sin in general. We can see his pain and his depression and his problems as the result of sin in general. Sin is in the air that we breathe from our birth, and it affects everything. In some ways, through no personal fault of his, nor of anyone around him, he was subject to depressions and miseries which affect some people, almost at random. His death is the result of sin in general.

• Specific sin. It is not right to do what Helvécio, what Ximba did. Suicide is a sin, a terrible sin. I have never seen that more clearly than today, looking at this family in grief. It is not right to take your life. But we need to remember that neither is suicide the unforgivable sin. Sometimes the church has spoken as if it were, but that has been in the moments when the church has forgotten how God pardons sin! Suicide is a terrible sin and a terrible death, but it does not in itself kill all hope, because we find our hope in another place.

• Sin in those around him. One of the terrible legacies of a suicide is a company of people in agony, questioning themselves, “If I had only known.” “If I had done something…” And I cannot offer cheap comfort even at this point. I cannot say to anyone here – you never caused sadness or difficulty to Ximba. All of us know that we contribute daily to the unhappiness of those around us. But nor must you see your measure of guilt or responsibility as something out of proportion. Do not punish yourself unjustly! This is a tragic consequence of suicide – people beating themselves up with little reason – and you need to remember that Ximba was responsible and that he himself chose the path that he took. Be balanced in your pain and self critique!

But the other reason for not concentrating on our own part in this tragedy is that there is something far more important and positive to think about.

The Bible is very realistic about the agony of the world. But it tells us that the greatest cries of distress in the history of the world came from the lips of Jesus.

He didn’t sin. He was never part of the system of sin, the poisoned world of rebellion that we made.

He didn’t deserve expulsion from God’s presence, nor hurt and pain, nor friction with anyone, nor self doubt and loathing.

But he came and he suffered.

I am not talking primarily about physical suffering. Many people died on crosses in the Roman Empire, and they suffered physically much the same, each one.

I am talking about psychological and spiritual suffering. I am talking about the man who cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

I am saying that he was expelled from the presence of God. And that was the greatest moment of horror in the history of the universe.

And we need to ask, “Why?”

And the simple answer is that there on the cross, the man who never sinned took human sin upon himself, so that we might be forgiven, so that we might have access to God, and a new hope of a world that is not spoiled nor rotten, but perfect. He suffered our agony, that the agony might be defeated.

This moment of tragedy is not the moment to be angry, or to punish yourself. But it is the moment to think about the foundations of your life, to face up to the fact that this world and our own lives are terrible because of sin, and to seek the only hope that has any value, in Jesus.

In all our confusion and pain at this time, make sure you do that. And I will be glad to talk further with anyone who wishes to.

Now let’s pray – giving thanks for a life, and everything positive in it, and praying for God real, gospel comfort for one another…



The people listened from start to finish with great attention. This is not always typical. But it was as if there were a desperate hunger for some word that made sense of it all. And praise God, the Bible gives us just that! Afterwards there were questions and comments from family members. The bankruptcy of spiritism to actually give hope and security at such a moment was all too evident. The tragedy of a family where all too few know Christ as yet was just glaring to see. But the Word was preached – and we pray that there will yet be fruit. Please pray on.

Funeral: Urgent Prayer Request

Tomorrow at 10.00 a.m. Andrew will be speaking for the first time at a funeral in Brazil. The circumstances are very difficult. Helvécio, brother to Simone, of the Peregrinos, took his own life this morning. He ordered his wife and children out of the house and then hanged himself. The funeral would have been this afternoon, but the extra time for some legal processes connected with a suicide meant the delay until tomorrow.

Apart from Geraldo and Simone, the whole family are spiritists, of greater or lesser seriousness. We have been praying as a church that we would see more opportunities to explain the gospel, but we would not have chosen this one. However, we know God is sovereign over all things. Please pray that he will work in this desperately sad situation.

Belo Horizonte

On 23 March we hope to fly to Belo Horizonte, to be with the First Presbyterian Church once again. Andrew will be giving a third module on expository preaching on the Friday and the Saturday, while Cora will be giving a day for Sunday School Teachers on Saturday. This is a new venture. In addition there will be the usual preaching commitments: Friday night young people's meeting, and Sunday morning and evening meetings of the whole church. Please pray for the visit.

After modules on the NT letters and the synoptic gospels, Andrew is intending to handle texts and themes similar to those preached at the Carey Ministers' Conference in January, on the Apostolic Preaching in Acts, with the conviction that this is the area where work needs to be done. Those interested in seeing roughly where the teaching in Belo Horizonte will be going may like to look at Carey Preaching where Geoff Thomas has kindly summarised those messages on the Banner of Truth website.

Curso de Aprofundamento Bíblico - Biblical Immersion Course

This new course started yesterady at IBE. The group of students is not large, but a very exciting one. Some are graduates, nearly all seem switched on and keen to learn. Last night was the very beginning of the course: in the Monday night Introduction to Biblical Studies and Theology Andrew taught on the place of the mind in the Christian life. Cora has the Wednesday class on the Synoptic Gospels.

Please pray for this new group, and for a good relationship to develop rapidly with them. Last night was most encouraging in this respect.

The Peregrinos: A place to meet

One of the issues that have troubled us somewhat as a church over the past months is the matter of meeting place. On the one hand there are all the advantages of flexibility of just using our homes. On the other hand, one home is out at the military base, in a tightly knit community which already has a reasonable Baptist church with which we have good relations, and others are in blocks of flats where singing is not a good idea. The central case for having a regular meeting place – continuity of the community and ease for others to join with us, has not been seen the same way by all of us, and the issue has been a bit of a stumbling block.

However, we are now looking seriously at finding a suitable place. It doesn’t need to be big, and ideally would be a room rented for a short period each week, whose maintenance and cleaning burdens were carried by the proprietors. Our group is very small, but we face the issue of grow or die, and there is a desire for the former. And there are marks of God’s blessing among us.

Sara’s parents, Pastor Davi and Dona Flávia, live in the centre, slightly up the hill to one side. They have a little complex of dwellings, including a small wooden house that could be a good meeting place. We all went there on Sunday morning to have a look, and had a good discussion. Many issues are involved, not least some difficulty getting there. The street outside has the approximate inclination of the north wall of the Eiger – if it happened to snow heavily crampons would be indicated. Cars cannot come close – and that leaves them just 50 yards or so below a favela with a focus for drug trafficking at its entrance. It is the real Brazil, but we need to think carefully over the kind of church we are, and the difficulties of trying to attract people both from within the area, while none of us live there, and from outside, given the very real dangers to anyone arriving.

One positive element of the visit was to see that there is a small but very pleasant apartment also going spare, as well as the little house. Perhaps Kito and Anna could live there?! That is between them and Pastor Davi, but if they were to, it might tip the balance in favor of its location.

In any case, the visit highlighted the fact that we are underway again, and stimulated the desire to seek alternatives. Please pray urgently over this issue, and the far broader matter of evangelistic momentum that is linked to it.

The wooden house, ready to have an interior wall stripped out.

Aside from the difficulty of getting there, and the local crime risk, can we Brits face meeting regularly on Nappy street?

One advantage - this view of the city.

Kito, Anna, Sara



Some people have asked us about the results of our fellow Peregrinos Sara, Marquito (Kito) and Anna in the recent public exam. Although well-placed, neither Sara nor Kito gained the the jobs they wanted, but Anna made it and is now in training as a Psychologist in the Civil Police. This is great news, as it will mean an income between the two of them sufficient to get married.

For the moment though, Anna is in a seven week intensive training, which includes self-defence, revolver practice, and jungle survival, all conducted with the atmosphere of parade ground and barrack-room discipline and aggression. Such activities do not fit well with Anna – her style is not exactly Lara Croft! But she seems to be coping, and the hope of a secure employment at the end is carrying her through. However, she is only just starting, and we are sure she would value your prayers for strength and stamina in these weeks.

Please pray too for Kito, who has had a number of near misses and who is wondering what the Lord is showing him in all this. He is currently making a living selling products in the medical area, but the income is not all he needs and the job is not all he would like. He is very able, and with a real capacity as a preacher, and is now attending Andrew’s homiletics classes. On the way each Wednesday we talk only in English, and his conversational grasp is remarkably good for someone who is basically reprocessing dialogue from films. Please pray for his future too.

Sara (Alex’ wife and mother of Timóteo and Lídia) currently has a temporary PE teaching post, the regular teacher having broken his foot. This is due to continue for some weeks. She is effectively working three days a week, but morning, afternoon and evening on those days – not an atypical arrangement here. Apparently the children are pleased that the normal guy has broken his foot. Some PE teachers have this effect!

The Storm

Saturday was a hot and stuffy day. As it wore on into the afternoon, it became one of the hottest and stuffiest we have ever known. It was almost spooky. It felt as if the world had stopped. Everyone must have been crashed out, incapable of thought, let alone work, just as we were. No traffic noise. No children playing. No sounds from other flats. Even the birds stopped singing. Just silence.

Then, late afternoon, came the thunderstorm. We have seen a good few, but this was violent. And the surprise was that the sights and sounds that dominated and even frightened were not the flashes and crashes from overhead, but the lashing wind and precipitation at ground level. The hail really stole the thunder. It was hammering on our normally sheltered balcony windows and roaring on the corrugated metal of the gymnasium next door. Ice and spray was flying upwards off the sloping roof of the house opposite. The wind constantly twisted and turned: we couldn’t take photos easily out of any of our windows, as the driving rain and hail seemed to be hitting all of them and the camera. The hail stones were the largest we have ever seen, and very much pure water crystals: transparent, with no air bubbles. Until we looked closely at one and saw a six-sided, air-born structure it was as if someone was pelting the back of the flat with half-melted ice cubes from the freezer.

And then it stopped. Trees stripped of any loose leaves. The ineffectual plastic sheeting on the side of the gymnasium shredded. And the heaviness gone. I would like to know how much the temperature dropped in half and hour, but it was as effective as dropping four ice-cubes into a warm coke. We strolled out in the evening through the silt-laden streets to our local pizza place, with Andrew wondering if he should have worn jeans rather than shorts, in the cool of the night. A delicious evening, and a delicious meal.

Our waitress, Rosie, was more chatty than we have ever known her. How we all love to talk about the weather!

The storm in its fury. Note the horizontal stream of ice and water coming off the roof of the further house.

Hail bouncing on the roof of the school gymnasium next door.

Hail stone, already well melted. I have never seen traces of a snowflake type structure in hail stones before, nor such transparent, crystalline ice.

Minutes after the storm, blue sky starts to come back. But the heaviness is broken.

Carnival retreat, 2006


This year for the first time we had a retreat at carnival, as a church. We have been concerned at lack of investment in the Peregrinos for some time. At this time of year there are always invitations to speak at retreats, and we have accepted them. This year Andrew turned down such opportunities, so that we could be together as a church and do some hard study and talking together.

We went to Marquito's family's beach-house in the South of the island. This was already a place that had become very precious to us from past meetings and days together. A number of visitors came during the days, but there were 20 of us staying together each night. With four tents in the garden, we had ample space. (I thought of my friends Peter and Terry, mountaineering in Scotland at the same time. The little mountain tent has been there too, in February, with a four season sleeping bag. Not so this time!)

Eight came over from Blumenau. We studied 1 Timothy together, and then in the evenings had separate sessions for each church group to discuss the application of the day's teaching. The arrangement worked really well, with sufficient togetherness and yet sufficient independence for it it be really profitable for the two churches.

One of the greatest blessings was simply to work together. Kito's mother gave us the use of the house for free, but asked that we helped with some maintenance and repair jobs. Alex is a phenomenon in this area, but all made some contribution. Then on the food front, Cora and Simone did wonders with the planning and shopping, and again, many hands did the work. The teaching was all accompanied with projections of the text and main points, to assist with note-taking and subsequent discussion.

And, despite the reputation of Carnival as always being rainy (just like Bank Holidays in England!) we had five lovely days. The house, garden and beach were all well used. The atmosphere was a blissful mixture of relaxation and intensity, of the physical and the intellectual, of fun and serious. The youthful liveliness of the Blumenau group was a great stimulus, and especially helped Letícia, our only teen, to really enjoy herself.

Please give thanks with us for a great retreat, and pray for good fruit. As a church we need to really take off or give up - pray that it may be the former.

To see a LARGE number of photos of the retreat, taken by various members of the gang, please see the blogsite: Retiro2006 Remember that you can see and download larger and clearer versions of the photos by clicking on them

Some retreat photos...


Poker, scoring with Jenga blocks

Pizza team

Breakfast bread run: Geraldo and Simone

Blumenau group discussing how to apply another section of 1 Timothy.

Curry making for Marquito's birthday.

Night sky - first night - a midnight walk on the beach. There were stars in profusion above us, and yet two massive thunderstorms lightening the horizon out to sea.

Washing up

Kito and Anna - this year's wedding?

Timóteo versus the rest?

Early morning walk.

 

Theology on the beach - Marcos, Stevan and Rodrigo in conversation, while Letícia watches those already in the waves.

Rafael Liebich


Rafael has returned from his journey to Los Angeles and Montreal. As we asked friends to pray for him, we thought it would be good to let him tell the story in his own words.

Well... I am back!

It was a really intense month, with all the trips, tests, auditions, meeting places, people... It was a great experience. I thank God for everyone praying for me. Your prayers made a real difference during this time.

As to the results of my auditions, I was accepted for the Doctoral Program at the
University of Southern California. I had a good audition there. But I am still not sure if I will receive financial aid. I have good chances to receive it, but I will be compared to many other candidates. I also might need to retake one of my English tests. Please, I would appreciate it if you continued praying about all that.

I have had a wonderful time in Los Angeles. The Music School is a very fine school, and the colleagues, the teachers, they are all really nice people. I have had the chance to know Grace Community Church, and the Youth Ministry and the Bible Study Group at USC. It is a fantastic place. I was really happy there! And it's a long time I don't wish something so intensively as I'm now, for being again in LA in the near future. I am longing for it...

And as to Montreal, I was not accepted for the Doctoral Program there, at the University of Montreal, although I also had a good audition. They will accept me for the Masters Program, as an attempt to make things easier for me to try finding
financial aid. But scholarships or such things are more complicated there in Montreal. The city is amazing, and it has a wonderful atmosphere, regarding arts and culture in general, as it shows many European traits as well. But finding churches there is more complicated. And it's too cold! But fun... Anyway... It's still an option.

Thank you for each one praying for me. And I will appreciate if you still join me in my prayers. Los Angeles would be a fantastic opportunity for me. I am conscious that God is sovereign, and I have also learned and experienced a lot about it during this trip. I am sure He sees things I can't. And so, may He determine the path for my life. But I can't deny my feelings and not expressing the actual wishes of my heart. I should receive an answer about the financial aid from USC in LA around March 10th. Without it, it will be impossible for me to be back there. Please keep praying.

I will keep in touch and I will let you all know what happens. Thank you for all your support. And may God be glorified for all I have experienced and learned so far, independently of the forthcoming results.

Yours, sincerely,

In Christ and in His Grace,

Rafael.

Russell Shedd on Hebrews at the Assembly of God, São José




Russell Shedd’s ministry in São José was a great blessing. The letter to the Hebrews is one of the most important parts of the New Testament in terms of its application in Brazil today, and its message is rarely heard. Perhaps the same could be said for Hebrews in other parts of the world.

The event gathered people from many churches across the city. The majority came from the Assemblies of God, but most evangelical denominations were represented, with most of our IBE students attending. There was an atmosphere of quiet studiousness, with very little music, most of the time being given to the Word. Dr. Shedd spoke for two periods of around 50 minutes to an hour each night. We are thankful that he has been invited back next year, to do John’s letters.

In a personal conversation, Dr. Shedd said that around one third of his invitations to speak now come from the Assemblies of God. This is a great encouragement, and reflects changes that we too have seen in our short time in Brazil. It is easy to see how his ministry has taken off amongst the Assemblies who are really valuing the Word. He speaks with great humility and love, constantly coming back to the text, just explaining it. He knows well where people are at, and treats all views with respect, and yet doesn’t hide his own perspective. He actually summarised the five points of Calvinism UNDER THAT NAME at the end of his exposition of chapter 6. He spoke carefully, not offensively, but in the process sowed important seeds in a community which is officially five point Arminian. Our respect and love for him soared.

The Assembly of God building, in the centre of São José, Florianópolis' neighbouring municipality.