Thank you for your continued prayers. God blessed our first youth meeting. Two churches joined ours for a time of fellowship, food, games, singing and preaching. I have been particularly burdened to expose our young people to other quality young people, to give them a sense of what "Christian youth" are like and to preach to them against living a double life. I was able to do all this at the youth meeting.

They told me afterward that they loved the meeting and wonder why we don't do one every month. 

Please pray for these young...

This has been a blessed and busy time. 


1. Conference


My family and I just returned from the city of Limeira, about 2 1/2 hours from São Paulo. The church there held a Family Conference. I was asked to speak twice. My first message was "The True Dangers of the Internet." I emphasized that the real problem these days is how people use the Internet. The Internet is a tremendous tool, but is just as powerful in the hands of the devil, and if we are not careful, it can destroy us.


The second message was...

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are back in Brazil. We arrived safely last Friday. The trip was very smooth other than the two lugnut studs on the car that broke off on the way to the airport. The other three were loose and about to come off when the car started shaking. The Lord lead us to a mechanic who had the car fixed in less than 45 minutes and we were on our way to the airport with no further incidents.

Our flights went very well. On the long flight from Detroit to São Paulo, we had a row of seats for each of us. There were only 30 people on the entire flight.

Since our arrival we have found out that our car needs a little work done to it, but the mechanic that I use has left for the holidays. We are waiting a few days to see if he returns, but we might have to take the car elsewhere if he delays.

We knew our arrival would not mean settling down. Next week we will be gone for 3-4 days. I will be preaching and helping in a conference in Limeira. The week after that I will be gone for 3 days travelling to Campo Belo to meet with a missionary friend and several pastors from the area to discuss Christian literature and our involvement with their ministry.

Please pray for us as we are starting to make preperations for our move northwest. Very soon we will be making plans and looking for transportation. Pray for the Lord's timing in everything we do over the next 6 months. There are dozens of events that must fall into place at the right time. We are thankful for those who have prayed for us and continue to pray for us.

-- Jeremy

We would love to be put in touch with new missionaries coming to Brazil! If you happen to know of someone considering this country, and they would not mind, please, send us their information. In the least, we would love to have a link to their website. Also, you are more than welcome to send them a link to our website: www.BraziltotheUttermost.com. 

Thank you!

-- John

God has used your faithfulness to keep us ministering here for two years now, and we didn't want to miss telling you! We are now entering into our third year and have high hopes for it. You have faithfully prayed for us, written us, sent support to us and overall been a great encouragement! May the Lord bless each person, each church and each pastor. You became our deputation family, and you have been committed to your promises to help us remain in Brazil and fulfill God's call on our lives. While all of you cannot be here to do this work, you have worked hard so that we can. The longer we are here the more we see how desperately this land needs the message of Jesus Christ. There is so much confusion, carnality and corruption. We need the Lord's empowerment more than ever and your continued faithfulness. Please continue to pray that we would look to Him, follow His will and rely on His resources.

God bless you!


-- John

PS: Have a happy New Year!

• Prayer Letter
• Gleanings from the Missionary
• Ministry Photos
• Family Photo

Last night we had our Christmas Cantata here in the little São Paulo Baptist Church. I was a bit concerned it would not go over well because our digital piano has been acting strangely. It will cut off and on. Thankfully, every service and every official practice, it has not done this. We continued praying and thanking the Lord that the piano worked when it was most needed. 

I prayed a lot yesterday before the Cantata, that the piano would work. I knew we could try singing a capella, but we had always practiced with the piano. To make the story short, just before our 5:00 o'clock rehearsal, the power went out in the entire neighborhood! Not only did we not have the piano, we did not have the screen which shows the new congregation music, the sound system or any lights! The way the auditorium is situated, that made for a rather dark place. As the Cantata participants funneled in, I prayed and told them, "With or without power, we will continue." They each agreed.

When 6:00 o'clock came, we were supposed to start. Not only had the power not come on, but also...

John (João) Ferreira de Almeida began his translation of the Portuguese Bible in 1644. The complete story is captivating, as it shows a man dedicated to Christ and guided by the Spirit to produce a wonderful and trustworthy translation of the Bible. Due to various groups taking his original work and inserting critical text material (which often includes deletions), Bro. Tom Gilmer began the Trinitarian Bible Society of Brazil to reclaim Ferreira's original work. 

Recently...

Thank the Lord for my parents! They came and stayed with us throughout the Thanksgiving time, and my dad worked hard to take a good family photo for us. We have been waiting a long time to get a good shot. If you would like to download a copy, use the following link. 

Kokenzie Family Photo

God bless and thank you for all your prayers and support!

-- John

It has been a blessing to see so many folks get involved in this year's Christmas Cantata at São Paulo Baptist Church. The folks will be distributing invitations this week. The actual Cantata will be very basic, but we trust, effective in communicating the truth of our Saviour's birth. The Cantata is on Sunday night at 6:00pm. Please pray!

-- John