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August 24, 2000
Dear Friends:
An island. Yes, we are living on an island! It is also the capital
of the state of Santa Catarina (Saint Catherine), the second state
if you start from the south of Brazil. We were called here by
the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil to help train their
missionaries.
This island has many beautiful sandy beaches and a developed
urban area that takes up about one third of its territory along
the West coast. The population is about 300,000 swelling up to
about a million in the summer. The weather is pleasant most of
the time. We got here a month ago and went through a very cold
July (they say the coldest in the last 30 years—down to low
40s, with no central heat or even a fireplace). We are learning
quickly to wear layers and to cook soup and hot beverages to keep
warm.
People
As it happens in most capitals in Brazil, the people are divided
between those who are doing financially well and the poor, mostly
in the slums, a little bit better here than in Rio or São
Paulo, because the weather doesn’t allow cardboard housing.
As for churches, we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know our
brothers and sisters here. Our local church is very warm, open
and willing to grow. The young people are very active and have
been receptive to our children.
Family
Our family is slowly fitting into the routine here. Tim Jr. started
college prep classes—he’ll have to compete for a place
in college by taking an entrance examination in December. Sarah
is in a Brazilian school, starting the second semester of 9th
grade. Jenny is still working on a transfer to the local university
to continue her art degree. As many of you know, she is at home,
having left UNC in Charlotte because of Crohn’s disease.
We are very happy that the disease is now under control and that
she’s slowly getting back some of the 20 lbs. she had lost.
Thank you so very much for your prayers for her. God has been
gracious to us!
Work
We teach at the Missionary Training Center in the evening. It
has about 35 students now. Tim started the semester teaching contextualization
and also introduction to the New Testament. Marta is teaching
Linguistics II, which is basically phonetics, so that the students
can be prepared to learn other languages. Tim is still speaking
at other churches and events and has plans to write.
Last April and in early May Tim spent two weeks in northeast
Brazil, in the city of Natal (on Brazil’s outer "elbow,"
look on the map), about 2,000 miles north, at another Missionary
Training Center. There in the mornings and evenings he taught
80 hours of biblical exposition classes on Mark and Romans. Some
afternoons he would surf nearby on his long board! That was a
lot of time with just eight students, who were already engaged
full-time in missionary ministries. Once each semester they take
two weeks from their work for an intensive training course like
this one.
Also during the first semester of this year, Marta and another
woman taught a Sunday school class at the church we attended.
It was a big hit with the 40 women who attended. She had an opportunity
to minister and to pray with some of them and just the other day
a woman who had been away from God since her youth recommitted
herself to Him after attending the class for a few weeks. Praise
God!
Amazon Project
Since last September Tim has been working with the directors
of the Board of Missions and the Board of Social Ministries to
develop a long-term mission project among fairly isolated peoples
in the Amazon region. It is a multi-faceted project involving
a number of partnerships: with government and developmental organizations
(for the social aspects), Brazilian mission agencies working among
indigenous peoples, and the Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship,
which focuses on unreached peoples. In the next month or two the
project will be launched and you will then hear more about this.
Meanwhile pray that God would give clear direction for all those
involved in the planning.
500 years of European immigration
This year is the controversial celebration of Brazil’s "discovery"
by the Portuguese in 1500. Even more than in the U.S., indigenous
groups were enslaved, killed and oppressed, and it goes on until
this day. The proclamation of the gospel among these peoples and
the demonstration of God’s grace requires special sensitivity
to their own cultures and to issues of justice. Tim has recently
been asked to represent the PC(USA) on the board of the Caiua
Indian Mission, which works with several indigenous groups in
central-west Brazil. Pray that God would raise up their own leaders
that bring them to faith in Christ and bring justice among them.
Prayer requests
- For courage and discernment for our students as they prepare
to serve the Lord as He leads
- For this island to be reached for Jesus (for it is also called
the "magic island," in both senses of the word)
- For the HIV victims here (highest percentage of the population
in the country)
- For our children’s adaptation
- For us as we teach
We thank God for the opportunity to join the efforts of the Independent
Presbyterian Church to train their missionaries. We thank God
for you, our faithful supporters, for your interest and dedication.
May our Father richly bless you.
In Christ’s stead,
Tim and Marta Carriker
The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 252
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