December 2006
Dear Believers in Christ,
As we ponder over 2006, many wonderful things crowd our minds.
In July, we moved to Recife and began our ministry of planting
a new church. It has been very challenging to build a church from
scratch without a base.
In December 2006 we saw a harvest of seeds that you helped us
plant for many years. After four years of dedicated studying,
time away from family, struggling, great joys, new friendships
and much more, four friends graduated from the Independent Presbyterian
Church’s Seminary of the North. We have seen the blessings
of their hard work. In Brazil, seminary is a four-year course
done after high school. Two of the graduates will be returning
to Recife to work in our Presbytery. They grew up here and are
fulfilling personal and church dreams of attending seminary and
then being able to return to Recife to use their learning and
strengthened talents to enrich the area churches and begin new
work. We have written about the two other graduates before: Vanda
and Edivan, who worked with us during our last term. Edivan was
a lay evangelist, but both of them graduated from seminary and
are ready to return to their native state to be ordained to the
ministry of Word and Sacrament. Generous giving from folks in
the PC(USA) made it possible for each of them to study. Through
your committed giving to our Extra Commitment Opportunity (ECO)
funds (863544), they were accepted as members of their presbyteries
in December, and are working in churches.
Friends from the Presbytery of Recife who attended the National
Independent Presbyterian Church conference.
Another fruit of the harvest was the attendance of local presbytery
folks at the national church conference this fall. They joined
1,300 people of all ages from various parts of Brazil for a four-day
meeting. We spent 35 hours on a bus, four days at the nice retreat
center, and then returned on the bus. Gordon, Dorothy, Elizabeth,
and Daniel went on the bus sent for national mission workers,
and your gifts enabled two others to ride an accompanying bus.
The conference offered workshops full of ideas for participants
to take back to their local churches, plus Bible studies and worship.
The women who came with us had never left our state before, so
attending the conference not only gave them many new ideas, but
it was also a spiritually uplifting experience. Your gifts to
ECO 863544 enabled others to participate in similar conferences,
too. It’s enriching to see others grasp new ideas and bring
them back to the folks at home.
Please pray for our work, the start of a new church. We are beginning
with a core group, a number of firm believers in Jesus Christ
who have a deep commitment to Jesus and will be strong church
leaders. We are beginning neighborhood work where there is no
denominational work. This time, gifts given toward our work will
be used to sow younger seeds. We purchased hymn books and sound
equipment to be used in our worship services.
Thank you for faithfully praying for our work. We need God’s
direction in how to best carry on the planting of Christ’s
new church. Thank you for financially supporting us by giving
to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for our salary and providing
us with funds that have enabled us to continue to be PC(USA) missionaries,
spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and to plant many seeds.
In Christ,
Gordon and Dorothy Gartrell
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 45
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