April 2, 2007
Dear Friends and Family,
Many thanks to all of you who hosted us during our seven-month
home assignment that finished in February! Thank you for the great
meals and the great time. We’ll treasure the moments we
spent together and your interest in world mission through the
PC(USA).
IPIB moderator Assir Pereira (left) accompanied PC(USA) visitors
to see church development projects in Rio Grande do Sul. He
pauses to play chess at a church program in a public school
Upon returning to Brazil we went back to Florianópolis
to pack, and I (Marta) immediately took off to meet a group from
four different churches who came to southern Brazil to visit the
Gaucho Project. This is the Independent Presbyterian Church of
Brazil’s church-planting effort in the most southern state
of Rio Grande do Sul. Just in the greater Porto Alegre area we
visited four congregations and met five different missionary families
involved in church development. Their holistic approach includes
participation in the community as members of school boards, neighborhood
associations that promote the gaucho tradition, and a project
for the preservation of the environment in partnership with the
city government of Viamão.
We then traveled five hours east to Passo Fundo to meet César
and Elaine Ramirez, our former students at the Missionary Training
Center in Florianópolis. After meeting the pastor of the
church downtown—one of only two organized churches of our
partner denomination in Rio Grande do Sul—we headed to the
poor neighborhood where César and Elaine are planting a
church. The members of this congregation hosted us for a very
special churrasco (Brazilian-type barbeque). We were
humbled to receive their sacrificial gift of love. César
and Elaine had just had their first baby, Priscilla. We also visited
their project with senior citizens. Elaine is a PE teacher and
has used her talents to bless the community. They pray together
at the end of each meeting, which provides an opportunity to witness
to God’s love.
Later we traveled five hours south to visit the church development
efforts in Santa Maria. The congregation there is growing, and
a large percentage is youth. They use a small-group approach to
disciple new members of different ages and interests. Their focus
for the year 2007 is on prayer.
Another five hours on the road took us back to Porto Alegre,
where we finished this short week with a wonderful celebration.
The leadership of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil
joined us for the Lord’s Supper, and we rejoiced together
in the 24 years of renewed partnership.
After this trip, Tim and I moved 2,000 miles north to Fortaleza.
We have been here enough time to find a small apartment and a
car, and today we bought a washer. After a week of intensive courses,
Tim has started teaching at the seminary in the evenings, when
the heat subsides.
Among our first observations, we are especially impressed and
saddened by the economic and social distance between the poor
masses and a rather selective wealthy part of the population,
much greater than in southern Brazil. One of the consequences
of this distance is the sexual exploitation evident in the thriving
tourism from Europe and North America. How do we respond to these
challenges in our ministry, especially in our educational ministry?
Pray that God will direct us and give us His discernment over
the coming months.
We also count on your prayers as we adjust to this new location
and we keep you all in our prayers, especially as we look forward
to October as a mission
awareness and support month.
Finally, since our last newsletter, we have created several Web
sites, a personal one on the
family and one with mission
resources and reflections for local congregations. They are
in the form of “blogs,” so will be updated regularly
and encourage your comments. These are in addition to our ministry
news that can be found at our
home page on the Mission Connections site.
In Him,
Tim and Marta
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
45
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