As information comes in, I'll post it on this page. The most recent information will be posted first.
September 12, 2003
Email from Monty
We continue
to look forward to coming home in December and hope we have time to see
everyone. We are also staying busy here. We are doing about a dozen
home Bible studies. This week we began finishing some up, but plan to
start some others next week also. These studies have been a blessing to
us and them. One positive side effect for us is that it has helped with
our language acquisition. I could relate many stories about the Bible
studies but one of the most rewarding ones for us is with a young man who tried
to commit suicide on the day we were to visit him during the crusade when the
teams from Campinas and Texas were here. Later that week he and his
mother and father all accepted Christ. We just finished a 7 week Bible
study with them and you could just see the difference in all their lives.
Their pastor tells me the mother and the father have not missed a service since
they were saved and the young man is there every time except when he has to
work. Last week at the end of the study, the mother said, "first we
want to thank God for salvation, but second we want to thank you for sharing
the message of salvation with us." Makes one remember why he is
here.
On
the other side, we still see things that make you want to cry. Two weeks
ago, while doing a study in the home of a family with several small children, I
noticed that one of the children was eating something that looked a little
strange. I looked more closely, and having spent many years in the
chicken business, I recognized chicken feed when I saw it (they have a dozen or
so hens in the back yard). After the study, I asked if they had food in
the house. The lady said they had nothing. Well of course we did
what any of you would have done, we went out and bought them a few
groceries. One of the family members has now found work so we hope they
will at least not go hungry now.
We
are excited about several events that are coming up and ask that you pray for
us and the ones to be impacted:
09/14
I will be preaching at a mission front in Abadia. This is the first time
I will preach there and it is the only Baptist work in Uberaba where I
have not preached.
09/21
We will be teaching a personal evangelism/mini pioneer evangelism clinic at the
First National Baptist Church here in Uberaba (Although they have the word
"Baptist" in their name, they are more closely related to Pentecosts
than Baptists. We have a very good relationship with the pastor of this
church.
09/27-28
We will be doing a pioneer evangelism clinic in Conceição das Alagoas and
Planura in two Presbyterian churches. These communities are about an hour
from Uberaba and we are also doing an open-air meeting in conjunction with
these meetings. The Presbyterians here are very close to Baptists in
their doctrine. We have made a commitment to work with any other
Great Commission Christian churches that will have us. We
Baptists can't win the world by ourselves.
10/04-05
We will open up a new work in a "bairro" (neighborhood)
called "Estados Unidos" (United States) here in Uberaba.
It is kind of a neat bairro as all the streets there are named after American
states. We will be doing an open-air meeting just off of
Virginia Avenue on Saturday and will also be inviting everyone we can to come
to the Bible studies we will begin Sunday in the home of a strong
Christian that lives there in the bairro. We are also talking to a
company that has a fair size building in the bairro and they are not using
it. At first they were opposed to any arrangement for us to use the
building, but they are softening up and last week offered to rent us the
building for about $35 US dollars a month. Hopefully next week they will
just decide to let us use the building until or if they need it
again.
September 3, 2003
Email from Monty
I just got back a little while ago
from Delta. We do 5 Bible studies there
each Wednesday (Marcus and others do about 15 more during the week also). Today
we started doing 2 lessons in each home so as to complete the 7 lesson study in
half the time. At the end of this
study, we will bring the 20 or so families that participated in this study
(Boas Novas para Você/Good News for You) together at the church and start a
second study called "E Agora" ("And Now What"). This 8 lesson study will lead to baptism and
church membership. The first study is
an expanded version of the tract that we used (How to Have Peace with
God). For example the first lesson is
"The Problem of Man" the
second lesson is "The Solution of God" and so on. Therefore they get
the whole tract again, and it eliminates doubts and gives assurances of
salvation.
We started doubling up on the
lessons because we still have another 20 or so families waiting for
studies. The people are responding well
in Delta. You probably remember the young
man who tried to commit suicide early in the crusade and who later, along with
his father and mother made a decision to follow Jesus. He and his family are one of the 5 we do the
study with. I can't describe adequately
the change in that family. He works
nights, but his parents have not missed a service on Wednesday or Sunday since
the crusade.
We still see things that make you
want to cry. Last Wednesday we were
doing a study in a home with several young children and I noticed the children
were eating something that looked a little strange. As you may know, I spent 25 years in the chicken business and I
know chicken feed when I see it (they have a few hens in the back yard). I asked them if they had food and they said
they had nothing. Of course we did what
any of you would have done; we went out and bought them some rice, beans, oil,
coffee, sugar, etc. This week one of the family had found a job but because she
had not been paid yet, we bought a few more groceries for them.
I think it is great what you all are
doing to purchase the land. This week
he found another lot for R$3.000. We
look forward to seeing you when you come.
We have officially submitted a volunteer request form for a volunteer
team from the states to come and build a chapel there next year. While there is no guarantee that a team will
choose to do this project, they nearly always find a sponsor and team.
Ebenezer is conducting several Bible
studies in homes right now too. We are
doing 5 there ourselves also. It is a
bad time to do studies at Primavera. We are in the middle of the potato harvest
and nearly everyone in that bairro works the harvest because it pays so well
(Britt, that means about 10 US dollars a day).
They don't get home until 7:00 in the evening and then they have
household chores to do. We decided just
to wait about 2 more months to try to do studies there as we are overwhelmed
with studies anyway. I think pastor Nivaldo is doing some in Abadia and
regretfully, I don't know if anyone is doing anything at Parque das
Americas. We are doing one study there,
but that is about all the time we have right now.
Britt, I think it was Shelia who visited a young man in Primavera that had a cancer in his hand. They did amputate that hand last week, but the young man is in very high spirits. Please pass that on to Shelia. Also, everyone in Uberaba is showing me their postcard you sent. I would have never thought to that, but I want you to know that it has been very effective and so many have commented that they couldn't believe you took the time and money to sent them a card.
August 7, 2003
Information from Deborah about Delta:
- A total of 69 people have made decisions since the conclusion of the crusade
- This total includes the local Catholic Priest
- The land that the Delta Baptist Church wants to buy sells for 3,400 realis (about $1200)
- The Vila Uniao Baptist Church is considering making a trip to Delta in November
- The pastor has asked Elisangela to consider becoming a missionary
Prayer requests:
- for those who made decisions
- for workers to disciple those who made decisions
- for wisdom about expansion of the church
- for preparations as VU considers going to Delta
- for God's will as Elisangela decides about going to Delta
August 2, 2003
Information from Monty about the follow-up plans
-
At Delta - 7
teams of 2 people each will lead 7 week Bible studies in the homes of people
that made decisions last week. Janis and I will also help them each
Wednesday by leading 2 or 3 Bible studies there. We may even be able to
take a couple from Uberaba with us who could also lead studies.
- In 3 women's meetings (at Delta) that were missed during the crusade week, a total of 58 people made professions of faith
- At Second, Bro. Hamilton needs greater participation from Primavera. Monty and Pastor Jonas committed to help in Primavera one day a week. We are having a meeting at his church next Saturday to plan Bible studies in Primavera.
- At Abadia, Pastor Nivaldo plans to follow-up on those who made decisions
- Ebenezer will assign Bible studies to various leaders. They already have a number of studies scheduled and now we just have to match up leaders with the times. Janis and I will do several here, beginning with one tomorrow afternoon.
- Hopefully, Pastor Luiz at First will get some of his members mobilized to help in Primavera and Delta. He has the biggest church and they will be blessed if they help.
July 27, 2003
Summary and results
of the crusade:
Delta – Mission of First Baptist
-
130 in-home
decisions and 157 in women's meetings and other activities
- Drama performed on Wednesday afternoon
First Baptist
- Hosted, provided sleeping quarters and meals for folks from Campinas
- 3 decisions were made at the church during the crusade
- Drama performed on second Sunday morning
Second Baptist and Primavera
- 72 in-home decisions
- VBS held at Primavera (Thursday-Saturday)
- Drama performed at Primavera on Thursday
Ebenezer
- 35 in-home decisions
- VBS held (Thursday-Saturday)
- Drama performed at Ebenezer on Friday
Parque das Americas
- 67 in-home decisions
Abadia
- 42 in-home decisions
Overall
- 506 decisions
- 2 VBS conducted
- Drama presented 5 times
- 40 church meetings were held
- all Baptist churches in Uberaba cooperated and worked together