February
John has been pastoring Bro. Juan Vallejo's church in the area of Umarizal here in São Paulo. Here are some shots from a recent stormy Sunday evening over there. Some of the pictures were taken right at the beginning of the service before everyone arrived. The roof leaks and people change their seats to accomodate the drips near them. John has done an excellent job grounding these people in doctrinal truth. These people are simple, several cannot read. It is exciting to see what God is doing in a difficult place like this.
Limeira is the city where I grew up. Here is a picture of our recent visit there. I played a special with one of the young men who is quite talented on the trombone. The church in Limeira has grown over the last year and many who were a part of the church years ago are now back and serving the Lord.
January
Paraisópolis is one of the largest slum areas in São Paulo. Pastor Washington has been there for about seven or eight years. You may also learn more about this area by reading THIS POST on our blog. Here are some pictures from our visit to Paraisópolis. Pastor Washington has been meeting with us for prayer almost every Monday night this year. The three young girls at the bottom right of the first picture trusted the Lord as their Savior that night.
Here are some recent pictures from John and Jeremy's trip to Campo Belo. The first pictures are in the city of Boticão where Pastor Anderson is the pastor. Notice the beautiful scenery around the area. From his home, church, car and several other things, it was clear to see that he gave up much to serve the Lord in this area. The city has a population of about 1,000 people and is considered a community of Aguanil which has a population of about 4,000 people. There are also a few pictures of Campo Belo and some of the issues caused by the rain and washed closed down bridges. This trip was a blessing to us, but I believe the Lord used us to be a blessing to the pastors we were with - Jim King, Cleber Rodarte Neves, and Anderson Dantas.
We held our first teen meeting this month. We had three youth groups present. It was a joy to see the young people getting along so well, and listening intently to the preaching. I spoke on avoiding a double life. Several of these young people came forward after the service. Only God knows what work was done in the hearts, but we are certainly grateful for the time and the fruit that will come of it!
Jeremy and I traveled several hours out-of-state to a city called Campo Belo. There we met with three pastors. They have a Christian publishing house and have asked our assistance. We designed their website for them (www.EditoraMaranata.com.br), and they now would like to further develop the online store. We hope to see this develop quickly as literature is such a great need in this country.
When John took the responsibility of the São Paulo Baptist Church, he knew he was entering into a very new work. Practically no one had assurance of salvation, and only two people had followed the Lord in believer's baptism. John began a series of sermons guiding the congregation through the book of Romans. He also continually emphasized the power of the gospel to save, the assurance of salvation of salvation one can have, and that a true believer should quickly identify himself with Christ in baptism. Interest in the truth of salvation grew in the heart of the congregation. Still, there remained much hesitation. Some of the people said they plainly wanted to continue in sin, and this kept them from participating in baptism. John continued preaching Christ. An opportunity arose for John and his family to take the teenagers to a youth camp. This made a deep impact on the young people, as they had never experienced such a thing before. One young girl, Suzanne (age 13), told John that God had given her assurance of her salvation and that she wanted to encourage your family to be faithful to God, especially in church attendance. She grew in faithfulness to the services, and this continued to work on the hearts of her parents and sister, though she herself did not immediately pursue baptism. Then one evening, after the service, she raced up to John anxiously expressing her desire to obey Christ in baptism. Of course, John was very happy. He proceeded to explain to her and to her family exactly what this meant. He tried to place as much emphasis on the seriousness of baptism as possible. She never turned away. On January 15, 2012, Suzanne Reis was baptized by immersion to the glory of God!
John was asked to preach at a Family Conference in Limeira, a city about 2 1/2 hours from his home in São Paulo. He and the family were very refreshed by the time there. The conference lasted a week, and John preached twice. His first message was on The True Dangers of the Internet, and his second was on How to Evangelize Your Children to Make True Decisions. The Lord blessed with great attendance and a great response.