Last Post from Brazil

This will be our last post from Brazil.

Our work is far from over, but after today we will no longer have access to the internet.

We will spend tomorrow at an Indian reservation about 1 and 1/2 hours away from Porto Seguro. Tomorrow night, we will have a dedication service at Casa de Apoio.

We will start our return trip Thursday and will arrive in Memphis around 1:00 p.m. on Friday. We appreciate your prayers during our trip and ask that you continue to pray. We look forward to seeing all of you in the very near future.

Once we are back in the United States, we will also post some more of our pictures and stories from the week.

Casa de Apoio

Our construction team has worked very hard this week. They have constructed two buildings. They have built a home for the street kids in a very poor area of Porto Seguro. They have also built bathrooms at the soccer field directly across the street. This team has put on two roofs as well as building the buildings. There will be a dedication of the building at Casa de Apoio ("House of Support") on Wednesday night.

Each morning, Gary and his crew have to get ready for the day ahead by doing some exercises. In the picture below, you can see them getting prepared for a long day of work.

They also start the morning with a devotional. Several of the workers are from the surrounding area and are not followers of Jesus. Gary has shared his testimony with the workers this week, and several have accepted Jesus. Praise be to God!

Shout to the Lord

Each night during the trip, we have gathered together as a group to worship. David Grimm along with several singers lead us each night in singing. Upon arriving in Brazil, we discovered that one of our interpreters played the saxophone and another played the guitar. They have joined our group each night and formed our own little praise team.


Each night, we have heard testimonies from people on the team about what God is doing on a daily basis in our project. Pastor Lyle Larson from Ripley First Baptist Church leads us in a time of Bible Study. We talked about asking God to help us to focus daily on what He is doing in our midst. We have also journeyed through the beginning of the book of Acts and discovered how to prepare for and recognize God moving.

Since we did not have obligations at any local churches on Sunday morning, we held our own service at our condo. That morning we had some surprise visitors. A family staying in the condo heard the music and came to join us for worship. Our plans for the morning service quickly altered as we added an interpreter to our time together. We discovered after the worship service that the mother was a believer but the rest of the family was not. We invited them to come again on Monday night.

We did not know whether the family would come again or not. As the time for service approached, we noticed that they had come again along with several other Brazilians. We forged ahead again with the entire service being interpreted. We sang songs in both Portugese and English praising God together. We studied the apostles response to so many people accepting Jesus after Peter's sermon in Acts 2. We also talked about the importance of trusting Jesus as Savior. Following the service, one of the Brazilians that came told our missionary, Tony Gray, that he had asked Jesus to come into his heart. Praise be to God.

Evangelism

Each day during our trip, we have had six teams going out into the community to do evangelism The teams are assigned to an area connected to a local church. Each team consists of two Americans, an interpreter, and members of the local church in the area. Using a tool called the EvangeCube, teams have seen many people come to the Lord through this ministry. The picture above shows a typcial scene from a visit that was made this week. We have visited literally hundreds of home this week and have been excited to see the local churches become involved in evangelism on their own. The stories of God's work in the homes in this area are too numerous to mention, but we will be glad to share them with you when we return to the U.S.

Eyeglass Ministry

Another ministry being performed this week is the eyeglass ministry. We received donations to help purchase eyeglasses as well as donations of eyeglasses prior to the trip. We use reading glasses in varying strengths in the ministry. The people working in the area test each person that comes in to see what strength they need. Once they have determined the strength of the glasses that they need, they them give them a pair of glasses in that strength.

Many of the people who come to the ministry are able to read for the first time in years. Praise be to God.

Smiles and Blessings

One of the important ministries that we have been doing in Porto Seguro, Brazil is a dental ministry. For the first few days of the trip , we were privileged to have Dr. Barry Glenn come and partner with a Brazilian dentist. They were able to do extractions, fillings, and other minor procedures on patients from around the area. Dr. Glenn worked with adult and teenage patiets. Most of the people in this area have very little access to a dentist, and were very appreciative of the work.

We also had a group of girls who worked with children. They served as dental hygienists for the children of the area. They would clean the teeth of the children and do basic instruction for them as to how they could continue to care for their teeth. They also gave them toothbrushes and toothpaste to allow the children to take care of their teeth at home.

Rhonda Ford also worked in seeing children who might have minor problems with their teeth. Rhonda was touched last year in this ministry in Nova Contagem, Brazil. She has helped start a ministry called "Smiles and Blessings" that intends to use dental ministry to meet the needs of children all over the world. The ministry this week was made possible through generous donations of several dentists in the West Tennessee area.

Every time you see a child smile after getting their teeth cleaned, you truly receive a blessing.

Sunday Night Worship

On Sunday night we helped lead worship in 7 different locations throughtout Porto Seguro, Brazil. We led worship in the six churches that we are working with during the week. We also led worship in First Baptist Church of Porto Seguro in the downtown area. One of the great things about the time we spend in Brazil is that God uses people in ways that they never expected. We had several people give testimonies and preach that had never done that. We also had several people preach through an interpreter for the first time.

One of the things that we discovered is that the Brazilian people are very celebrative in their worship. Dancing and singing loudly are normal parts of their worship. Several of our people were challenged to "keep up"with the pace and fervor of the worship. One man from America proclaimed, "Now that was a worship service."As we gathered again together, we related story after story of God's movement in the services. We truly had great times of worship and look forward to worshiping again with these people. We know that if that does not happen on the earth again, we will worship again in Heaven.

All Work and No Play ...

Our Missionaries - Tony and Karen Gray

Not all of the time that we have spent in Brazil has spent in working. We have also had a few moments to relax and enjoy our time together. Sunday was a day of rest for the team before we led in 7 services throughout Porto Seguro on Sunday night. We hope you enjoy some of the pictures below that show us during some of our more relaxing times.

"The Push"

"The Result"

Ubaldinao

Yesterday, several of our team went to Ubaldinao, a small community outside of Porto Seguro. The people in that town live in extreme poverty. They currently have one water spout for the entire coummunity of 2,000 people. Parents were so anxious to get their children onto the bus for the shoes they would receive that they literally tried to push their children through windows. Police officers had to return with our group with the children to maintain order and make sure the right children got on the bus. While leaving the area, one of the police officers said to Tony Jones, youth minister at First Baptist Troy, that "this town needs this God of yours more than any other." The day was a great day of ministry and impact. Several of our team will be leading worship for the church at Ubaldinao on Sunday night.

Several memebers of our team will be leading worship in Ubaldinao on Sunday Night. They are expecting God to do great things in the midst of that service.

Please be in prayer for them as they prepare and go.

Crianca Bonita

"Jesus loves the little children ... All the children of the world."

The words of that song ring through my head as the children of Porto Seguro come through our ministry sites. The children of Brazil are absolutely beautiful. They are very affectionate and love to hear us talk. Each day we see a couple of hundred children come through our ministry site and loving them is not difficult at all. The best way to let you understand a little of the way that they can capture your heart. We thought you might to see a few of them that we have had the privilege of seeing this week.

Pes Felizes

One of the exciting ministries that we are performing here in Porto Seguro is a ministry called "Happy Feet" or "Pez Felizes." Thursday was the first day that Happy Feet was able to begin to give out the shoes. We had children come from a local shoe to be given new shoes. The shoes have the name of Jesus and the socks that we give them have the phrase "Jesus Te Ama" (Jesus Loves Me) sewn into them. As each child enters the Happy Feet area, one of the volunteers begins to wash and treat their feet. Many of the children here have never worn shoes other than flip-flops. As a result, their feet have many dry areas as well as cuts and scrapes. The volunteers then proceed place the new socks and shoes on their feet. The children's faces light up with the new shoes and they run out to show their friends. A very important part of the project involves the volunteers sharing the story of Jesus Christ with the children as they put the shoes on them. Yesterday alone, the volunteers from America and Brazil placed over 150 pairs of shoes on children. Praise be to God.

If you would like to send comments to the team, you can click on "Comments" at the bottom of any of the posts.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Getting Started

Wednesday in Brazil was a day of preparation and work. The construction crew hit the ground running as they worked on the boys home (Casa de Apoio). They are hoping to put the roof on the building today. Since they have arrived, they have decided to build another building across the streetat a community soccer field. The field basically consists of two goals on each end with dirt in the middle. Our group began construction yesterday of two restrooms and changing areas to be used by the people in the community. We believe that the extral building will provide a great service for the community and further the ministry of Casa de Apoio.

On Wednesday morning, the various ministries located at the Church of Philadelphia set up for their work during the week. Each group unloaded supplies and got their areas ready for ministry. After lunch, the people scheduled for the dentist arrived. Dr. Barry Glenn of Jackson is working with a dentist from the area. People stood in line outside to visit the dentists in a trailer that houses all of their equipment. Yesterday they saw 7 people accept Christ during their ministry. Our dental hygiene team also began work yesterday with children in the community. They cleaned the teeth of around 30 children yesterday. During the time they were cleaning teeth, Rhonda Ford met with the mothers to tell them how to better take care of their children's teeth.

The eyeglass station only had a few visitors during Wednesday afternoon but are preparing for a larger number each day. They have about 500 glasses to give away this week.

The evangelism teams went out on their first series of visits yesterday afternoon. Some of them were easily accepted and some of them met with a great deal of resistance. Many seeds were planted and prospects were discovered for churches around the area. All of the teams are returning to the field this morning to share the Gospel with people in the area of Porto Seguro.

Each session of work begins with a performance of the "Redeemer"drama. Yesterday the team performed the drama for the first time for a Brazilian audience. Everything went well with the performance (except for Dan accidentally hitting Lyle pretty hard during the performance.)

We ended the day with a great time of worship together. We were reminded to take each day as a gift from God and praise Him for the work that He is doing in that day. Continue to pray for us. We know God has great things in store for us and we look forward to the way He will work today.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We finally arrived. After 5 plane rides, one airport tram shuttle, a bus trip, and 32 hourse of travel, we have arrived in Porto Seguro, Brazil. The plane rides were definitely long and tiring, but were very smooth (except for a little bit of a bumpy landing in Miami). We greatly appreciate your prayers for our safety during the trip. One of the praises that we can already report is that we had a very smooth trip through customs. We only had two people stopped to have their bags checked. They were only held for a couple of minutes, and their bags were allowed to go through. As a result, every bit of our luggage made it to us in Porto Seguro.

The area where we are serving is beautiful. We are staying in condos that are located across the road from the Atlantic Ocean. Last night, we shared our first Brazilian meal of Chicken and Beef (along of course with rice and beans). We also spent a few moments in orientation and worship together. After that time together, we all retired for a much needed night of rest.

Please continue to pray for us and we prepare to work in Porto Seguro. We believe that God is going to move in mighty ways here. You can specifically pray for each ministry as they begin. We will start our ministries one afternoon earlier than expected (Wednesday afternoon) and look forward to what God has in store.

Pre trip Report

Here is a picture of Ellen Carrington from last year's trip. She is holding a baby outside of the medical clinic in Nova Contagem. We hope to use this spot this year to show pictures and information from our trip to Porto Seguro, Brazil. We leave for Brazil on Monday, July 11, and will return on Friday, July 22. Please pray that God will move in a mighty way on the trip.