Merry Christmas

Our best wishes to all of our friends and prayer warriors. It is because of you that we are able to do what we love in Brazil. Without it we could not stay in these more difficult times economically. We are awed by God's faithfulness. A big thanks and God bless you!

Grandbaby Leah

Just have to thank God for the blessing of having these days with our kids, parents and also baby Leah.  Sure having a great time and are so grateful that this time is possible. Christmas will sure be special.

A Month to Live!

We are full fling into our series on "One Month to Live".  It will last all of November and is already having an effect on our church family. We are emphasizing priorities and how we would live if we only had a month to live.  What things would we start doing and what things we would stop doing.  We are using Kerry and Chris Shook's book with this title.  Our men's prayer meeting doubled this week in size.  Yes we were already a small band - but it's a sign of life.  We recommend the reading of this book. But watch out - it might bring on some changes...

The new youth group

It has been great working with the young people at Koinonia with our new format. There is a neat team of kids doing the planning and leg work. Marcy meets with them regularly for this planning. They have a lot of energy and lots of good ideas.  A lot has happened since we met with this group in our living room when this ministry was born last semester.  Pray that many teens will continue to be reached through this time called "Radar" on Saturday nights. 

Children's Day Went Well

I know we focused on Children's Day in the Outback in our last prayer letter but thought I would share a few more pictures. One of my puppet Freddie and the other a neat shot our gang took just when the piñata broke. Lot's of fun and lots of little lives being blessed. Our team did a great job. Thanks for all the prayers. 

Fund Raiser Outback Children's Day

Our youth did a fund raiser for the trip to the Outback for Children's Day. It is a yearly event we do and is Chocolate night. Lot's of good deserts and a nice program. We had over 170 out to it. This Saturday we do our Children's Day at Koinonia and then next week it is off to Ingazeira to bless 400+ kids. As I write this our ladies are preparing the toys and goodie bags for the Outback.

Children's Day - A big deal

In Brazil Children's Day is a big deal. Most kids get a gift from their parents and get to do something fun like a day at the park, or go out to eat etc. This of course is for the children with parents able to do something for them. Each year we take a bus from Recife to do a special Children's Day for the kids in Ingazeira. We gather gifts so that each child gets something. Our young people do games and skits with them. Children's Day is a month away, so pray for this event and all that is entailed in the preparation for the big day. Since we now have a sports field there on church grounds, we are going to do something special for the young people of the town too. We need wisdom and creativity all the way around!

Youth "RadaR" Ministry

Saturday I spoke to our youth group at their new ministry called RadaR. It has been an exciting ministry that Marcy and I have helped the youth get going. It has been exciting see our college and career youth develop this outreach. I did a story telling time about how the Gospel reached the caretaker at Camp Peniel when I was a child. My point was that the Gospel is simple enough and God's grace is great.

Baptism

The Mother Church Grows

What a great day yesterday! Pastor Claudio baptized 10 with many family members there to witness the event and hear the Gospel. We once again used a pool at a neighborhood school. It's the school where our son Mike had his first job before leaving for the States. Anyway, as the "Mother Church" grows the possibilities increase to strengthen our ministry in our State's Outback region. Please pray for these new believers that ranged from a 7 year old to a dear grandma in her 70's.

The dream continues...

A Thousand Words

A dream...

I have lots of dreams, but one keeps coming back to "haunt" me. It's the dream of having a small rugged car for the Outback. I say it haunts me because I don't consider myself a fund raiser and I know times are not easy for everyone, and also I know that the cars I have had during these years are getting me back and forth. That is the why I am shy to call it a need. But it is a dream because we own no mission car now and did not have success raising money for one while on furlough. (an example of why I do not feel like a fund raiser) So, please just take it as Roger's dream and pray it will either go away or happen, o.k.?
P.S. Mission cars are bought with mission funds that we raise and are like having a company car.

Church buildings and meaning

It has sometimes been hard for the outback folks to venture into a building of "another religion" as we are seen. So much of their upbringing has been to see church as the building. They sometimes feel disloyal to even visit... Well, the house meetings don't pose as much a threat to those who may be investigating the Gospel as we preach it. This tool works well and opens many doors.

"RadaR" (A new youth ministry)

A few weeks ago our college-age young people held a Mexican food night to do fund raising for the new youth ministry format called "RadaR". The night was lots of fun and now this Saturday will be the first night of the new ministry. Pray for all that will be working and attending this new outreach. We have been praying for our youth group for a number of years now, so are hopeful this will help us win many teens for the Savior. The plan is to have it every Saturday from here on where we don't have some other event going on at Koinonia.

Triunfo team encourages Pastor Paulino

Our Triunfo team has been helping a struggling work in a city about 20 minutes away. Both of our missionaries Chico and Jorge along with their key leader Oto are pictured here with Pastor Paulino who has been delighted over the team's help. They have been able to add weekly ministries at Pastor Paulino's church along with evangelizing and making disciples in Triunfo. This fits in so well with one of our goals of encouraging and helping existing works and their leaders. Pastor Paulino is pictured lower right. The city he works is "São José da Baixa Verde".

Sweetheart Banquet at Koinonia

This weekend we had a special emphasis on the Christian home that started out with our sweetheart banquet on Saturday. Then on Sunday our special speakers Salomão and Cíntia ministered to our couples during S.S. and in the church service. It was a great weekend in every way.

Fireproof in the Outback

It is an interesting world... Recently Carlos was able to show the film "Fireproof" to couples in Ingazeira. It is neat that these tools are coming out pretty fast in various languages. It makes for a good option for an evangelistic event.

Missions Conference

We recently had our annual missions conference at Koinonia. We had ABWE missionary Jerry Neuman as our speaker. We also had national missionary Carlos Heron who gave his testimony and presented the work God has called him too in the Gambia. The neat thing about it is that he is a dentist and will be working in partnership with ABWE in the clinic there. Carlos was a blessing to our folks with his willingness to give up a successful practice here in Brazil to make a difference in missions. May his tribe increase! Please pray for this family as they prepare to go.

Conference in Outback

We had a good conference in the Outback city of Serra Talhada. There were more than 60 pastors missionaries and leaders. It was a good time for Marcy and I to be with our missionaries at an event together. The music had a genuine outback flavor. We hope to have more of these events. Each one was encouraged and challenged to live and minister with integrity.

Outback Trip

Marcy and I leave tomorrow for the Outback. These are pictures of towns along the way. Pray for our conference for pastors and leaders in the region. We look forward to being with these precious brothers and sisters.

New Believers in the Outback

Carlos (pictured upper right) just got back from the Outback city of Ingazeira rejoicing at the group of new believers. A pastor friend of Koinonia's here in Recife is now making monthly trips with some his leadership team to help Carlos with weekend activities. As you can see some of these are young couples so Carlos is using his house's living room as a nursery for now. The house is only a block and a half from the church property.

Fruit in the Outback

Just thought you would like to see some faces of a new couple who gave their lives to Christ recently and also had a little one who can now be brought up to know about Jesus and His great love for the people of Brazil's Outback. This picture was taken when Carlos went to pick up Mom and baby from the hospital.

Sports Ministry in Ingazeira

Since we sold the farm, we have been able to do some needed fixing up at the church grounds in Ingazeira. Carlos has been working hard to get three things done: Lighting for night sports, netting to protect our neighbors from unwanted stray balls, and some grass where there was just dirt to play on. Pray that this outreach will show the community our care for their young people in providing good recreation. Many start drinking and doing drugs at an early age and many things that go along with these problems, so pray we can be light and salt there in that town.

Koinonia's 15th Anniversary

We recently had Koinonia's 15th Anniversary service. It was a joy to have notes from ones far and wide who have been touched by this ministry through the years. A highlight for us was to have Phil and Bonnie Smith here as they provided our first meeting place at the English school they owned when the church was getting started. And then to top off our joy our daughter Stephanie and husband Daniel showed up as a total surprise for the event! We also had special music from a fine men's choir. The church also honored us for our 30 years of ministry with a nice plaque and a study Bible. We made more special memories!

Remembering...

50 years ago the Smiths got to Brazil. 30 years ago was my ordination. Lots to praise God for!

Triunfo Group turns meeting place back over

The missionaries in Triunfo have taken a difficult but important decision to turn over their meeting place for now. A dear family had been paying the rent to enable them to meet there for some time, but were not able to continue. We are all in peace about this as the group is moving back to the houses for their meetings. We believe all will come in God's timing. It was a little hard for Chico as the local missionary pastor not to feel that this is a step back, but he is doing okay realizing that ministry is all about people and buildings are useful tools. Pictured here is our team out there: Chico and Dalva and our new missionaries Jorge and Josy.

Sparkmans visit Outback

We had the visit of Pastor Lynn Sparkman and his wife Alma for a week. They spoke at our fundraiser evening at Koinonia giving their testimonies and tips on marriage. Pastor Lynn also preached on Sunday evening for us. Then on Monday we took them to the Outback to visit the three couples that minister there in two cities. The High Plains Baptist Church where Sparkmans ministered for many years sent funds for food baskets for some needy families. It was great to have them present to personally distribute some of these food baskets and meet some families in Ingazeira and in one rural community.

Remodeling and expansion

Koinonia Baptist recently was able to close in and air-condition its auditorium. This will multiply the possibilities for services and activities. The next phase will be to cover the sports area that is right beside the auditorium. For the time being a new netting was put up to protect the glass windows and doors from stray balls. Koinonia, which is the mother work for out outback ministries is celebrating its 15th anniversary in March. I am also celebrating 30 years since my ordination to the ministry. Time does fly!

Finally, but with good news

Well, I had a computer crash and now have it fixed and am up and running... The good news is the arrival of our first grand-baby, Leah. We were going to only be able to send Marcy to the States for the arrival, but a supporter insisted on paying my way too. Marcy gets to stay a month and I will stay for a little over two and a half weeks. It has been great to be with our kids and see our folks and brothers and all the rest of the gang. Anyway, thanks all of you for your patience in awaiting news from us. Now I will have to get a prayer letter out for those who don't check the blog.