Dearly Beloved Flock,

We took a short one hour flight from the Neumans in Fortaleza to see the Franklins in Natal. Natal is the coastal capitol of a north eastern coastal state. We are closer to Africa here that we are to the western boarders of Brazil or to Central America.

This area was claimed by Portuguese explorers in 1501 and a century later the Fort of the Three Kings was built here to protect the sugar cane industry. It was called this because the feast honoring the Magi of the Christmas story was on January 6 which happened to be the day fort construction was started. Inside the fort is a Catholic chapel with statues of the Magi.

Later the city was established nearby. It was called Natal because it was established on Christmas day 1599. Natal means nativity or Christmas in Portuguese. Even though it is 75 to 85 degrees year round, you will see lighted Christmas tree designs and Magi figures in the heart of the city all year long. It would be a good place for a Living Nativity.

Today about 750,000 live here in a variety of dwellings from very poor dwellings with dirt streets to beautiful high rise apartments. The culture is friendly and we were welcomed by all. Crime is not as bad as the previous cities we visited. Like all of Brazil, Catholicism with a spiritism influence and the Universal Church are very common here, although Catholicism has waned in recent years. The Universal Church is a form of Protestantism with a twisted health and wealth theology with a lot of emotionalism. People are exhorted to give based on what they want to get. We had a chance to visit sample some of these churches.

Tim and Martia Franklin and the girls (Natalie, Rebecca, Rachel and Hannah) met us at the airport and we have had a great time with them. Tim teaches Bible and theology at a the Berean Baptist Seminary and Institute here which was established in 1950 http://www.seminariobereiano.com.br/. The primary focus is ministry training. ABWE is assisting Brazilians in the leadership of this school.

We attended chapel here the opening week of classes. About 50 students attended, gave testimonies and were exhorted by a speaker. I had the opportunity to speak to them also about how the Lord built the church in Gig Harbor and Ukraine.

The campus is old and in need of repair. Because the city has built up around it the price of land has gone up. Therefore, they have sold the campus and obtained three acres to the north of the city. Here a new church building is being built that is about the size of ours. Seminary buildings, class rooms and dorm rooms are also being built for up to 120 students. Currently there are about 50 students. Buildings should be ready to move into in January 2009. An ABWE missionary is helping supervise the construction.

The Franklins have been living in very small quarters with only two rooms at the old seminary. Recently they moved into a larger set of quarters on campus. Most Americans would gasp if you saw the buildings. However, this is saving them money while they are in transition. We stayed on campus also in their old quarters.

Tim and Martia have purchased an old house a block from the new site across town and will extensively remodel it this year with the goal of moving in late this fall. It needs major repairs but labor is reasonable and in time it will make a spacious home for their family. It is on about 3/4 of an acre and will provide room for the children to play within the security wall. It also has space for growing a garden and fruit trees. All buildings and houses here have bars on the windows, tall gates and high masonry walls for security. Cars are kept inside the gates.

We attended the Mango Plain Baptist Church that Tim is currently acting as interim pastor for. In time perhaps a seminary student will become the pastor. This small church of 40 or so is in a poorer area of Natal with mainly dirt roads. Unlike the other churches we visited, this church has a separate building on a lot with a small amount of open space beside it. It was tidy and clean. We quickly became friends with these beloved people who welcomed us. Accompaniment for singing was provided for by a twelve year old boy with his guitar. I spoke in the morning during Sunday School. The main worship is in the evening and outside in an unimproved dirt lot. It was a great place to do a chalk drawing. Neighbors watched across the fence as loud music played from neighbor's homes. We had a good time anyway and enjoyed Brazilian coffee and corn cakes after the service. There are about fifteen churches of like faith here in the city of Natal and about forty in the state.

Later this week we visited a local church camp north of town. It is located on a large fresh water lake near the ocean. Facilities can house three hundred or more campers. The care taker showed us around and then treated us to fresh coconut juice direct from the tree as well as good coffee, sweet bread and crackers. The coffee here is strong and sweet. A regular coffee in Brazil is only slightly larger than a communion cup. It would take about four of them to make a small Starbucks.

While here we also had lunch with Pedro and Rachel. Rachel is the Neuman's daughter and is married to a local Brazilian. It was a delightful time visiting with them in their tiny upstairs apartment.

Our time in Brazil was well worth the trip and expense. We can now understand better what our missionaries are doing, their culture and how God is working. Prostitution and immorality here have a much higher profile than in the US resulting in many marriage problems. The people are more emotional, so, feelings based theology and spiritism thrive here. However, the Gospel continues to go out through the solid teaching of many leaders that God is raising up. We are thankful for God allowing our church to have a part in these ministries.

-Pastor Mark

Dearly Beloved Flock,

Sunday morning I preached in Brasilia where Nancy and I had a great breakfast and service with the Jon Mitchell's WORD OF LIFE church there. About 73 folks were there for a very encouraging morning. I spoke on the persecuted church in Ukraine and showed pictures. Jon thought it would be good for everyone to know what God had done in other parts of the world. The testimony of the persecuted church was encouraging to believers here. Following the service they presented us with gifts and then we headed for the airport and Fortaleza, our second missionary journey.

We arrived 1,200 miles later in Fortaleza on the north coast and were met by our missionaries, Jerry and Linda Neuman. Fortaleza is a city of 2.5 million. It is a high crime city. The Neumans live in a comfortable home with electronic security and a high gate and wall with charged wires on it. They also have hired community street guards that monitor traffic 24/7 into their neighborhood. Almost everyone has some form of security. Their home is rented for an unusually low rate because of a generous landlord.

It is very warm here year round so we found it necessary to take three showers a day like many locals. It was interesting sleeping in the heat which rarely varies from 80 degrees and high humitity. We slept in a comfortable second floor bedroom. Often during the night a five minute down pour would wake us since we slept with all windows open. Early in the morning a rooster next door repeatedly alerted us to the coming dawn. It was like living on the farm even though we were in the midst of a city.

Like all our missionaries here the Neumans need more support primarily because of the devaluation of the dollar. It has gone from an exchange rate of 1 to 5 to a rate of 1 to 1.75 in the last six years. This means they are short $900 a month. Gas is now six dollars a gallon.

They whisked us off to their evening church service. In Brazil Sunday School is in the morning and worship in the evening. This little church was started about 6 years ago as an outreach to an extremely poor and dangerous ghetto. Forty people were murdered there in the past year. People are extremely poor, live in small dilapidated houses with common walls between them and no yards. It is a extremely different from Gig Harbor. The good news is that police have purchase extra cars for better patrols recently and come through the neighborhoods in groups of six. If a thief is caught he is beaten before he gets to jail.

The church is meeting in a small brick building that appears to have been under mortar attack (no pun on the "mortar" intended). Broken bricks were everywhere, one side of the building was totally missing and the second floor had no roof. Actually it is not under attack but under reconstruction.

We met on the first floor. A guitar and clarinet played soothingly as a mix of children and adults gathered on white plastic chairs for worship. Soon one of the young Brazilian leaders, Fred, led us in worship as we sang. Then they took the offering by asking people to come forward with their gifts and put them in a box by the pulpit. It is amazing how much this small band of poor folks were willing to give. They are paying for the extensive remodeling project themselves.

This little church of 60 or so has put on summer Vacation Bible Schools with from 300 to 500 kids attending. They use a local school for it. They usually do two of the VBS ministries a year and touch lots of kids and families with the Gospel.

One afternoon Nancy and Lynda Neuman went calling on ladies in the ghetto. Nancy was extremely impressed with their poor conditions and need for Christ and His Word. Some of the streets are too narrow for a car to go down so they have to walk. These can be dangerous areas.

I spoke at the Fortaleza Academy three times for missionary emphasis week. It is a nice school for American missionary children mostly. It was great to interact with the children and staff. I also met a seminary class mate, Randy Pollard. He also works here. Pray for a serious infection he has in his leg.

Later Jerry gave us a look at the burned out seminary (SIBIMA) in downtown Fortaleza. Jerry's primary ministry is teaching ministry students here. Only a quarter of the building remains usable. The large building next door had plastic materials for sale and caught fire. Resin from the plastic burned for three weeks. The remaining SIBIMA building will be sold and the money invested in a better site. Additional funds will need to be raised. God has a way of bringing good from bad.


Praise the Lord! This week a proposal for a new site with buildings was accepted for $428,000. The seminary will relocate to the new site which has existing space for office and classrooms as well as a large open and covered basket ball court that will be good for all kinds of activities. It is located more in the residential area of Fortaleza but immediately beside a new commuter rail station as well as a major bus station. This is a real blessing making it easy for the students to come and go in ease and safety. When the deal is finalized they will have to arrange work crews to fix up and paint things which will take time.

We also found out the world is a small place because we met old friends, Tyler and Gigi Hopkins here. Tyler is a missionary with Grace Community Church of LA and works with the ministries of Central Baptist Church here. This church has 4000 on Sundays and a host of outreaches. Tyler gave me a tour of the high end tourist beach area with flashy hotels and many people who come here to surf and play from all over the Brazil and the world. Sin all kinds flourishes here in this culture. Their church sponsors a ministry to local surfers by setting up a sound system at a beach amphitheater. Music attracts people and then one of Tyler's 19 year old students preaches the Gospel expositionally to hundreds of people. Pray for their outreaches. God has many people at work in both large and small works carrying out the Great Commission.

Dinner with the Hopkins was in their nice home similar to the Neumans. The only difference was the street by their house has armed thieves that jump into the street at night to hijack cars. You can buy a very nice house for very little in an area like that. Any buyers? There is a double row of razor wire on the walls. Several times they have been held up recently. After dinner Tyler and Gigi took me back to the Neumans. We went down the two blocks of dangerous streets at a high rate of speed to avoid being held up. It is a little like the old west.

Our last day we toured the city and saw the many Catholic churches here. Syncretism causes many of these churches to be mixed with spiritism. Brazil is the most prominent Catholic nation in the world. The Universal Church is also very big here with its corrupt health and wealth gospel; they are everywhere with large buildings. They appear more like charismatic churches. This is a recent phenomena. Poor people are encouraged to tithe on the income the "want to make." It is a twist on what God says in the Bible about our motivation in giving. We don't give to get materially. We give because of we have already been given much spiritually.

Our third missionary journey will take us down the coast to Natal and the ministry of the Franklins. -Pastor Mark and Nancy

BRAZIL WHISTLE IN THE NIGHT & the Mitchells

We heard a strange sound in the dark after going to bed the first night here in Brazil. It was coming from the street in front of the Mitchell's home where we were staying. The place seemed secure with bars on the windows and a high wall around it.

I thought it was some sort of tropical bird call. The next morning Jon and Dee, our missionaries here, explained that it was the night security person on a bike and blowing a whistle. The bird-like call alerts thieves to his approach. This is fairly common in Brazil where there is a lot of crime.

In Gig Harbor our homes are more secure. But here broken glass juts from the tops of walls, bars are on every street level window, and high locking gate systems mark the entrance to homes making them seem like prisons. This pictures the the problem of crime and the need of the Gospel to change lives. Only Christ can change the heart of a thief such as Matthew the greedy tax collector.

Jon & Dee Mitchell have been working as missionaries here for twenty years. This was our first opportunity to visit their field. We are only the third supporting church pastor family to visit since Discovery sent them here in 1988. They are now church planting in Brasilia, the capitol, in the south of Brazil. Their church is called the Word of Life Regular Baptist Church.

This capitol city is a newer planned city and meant to be a modern model for the country. Since it was planted a dozen or more satellite cities have grown up around it much like the greater Seattle. Jon and Dee live in one of them called Taguatinga of about 300,000. It is a bustling place with thousands of cars, lots of people and varying forms of mystical religion. Many people are poor.

This week we enjoyed getting reacquainted with Jon & Dee and their two boys at home, Nathan and Timothy. It has been like old times talking about church planting at Discovery and their work here too. We saw local sites including the congress building and the president's palace. Thursday we had a great meeting of about 40 folks for a special service where we spoke. Saturday night I spoke to the men's group. There were a lot of questions about our lives in the US and about how God worked through cancer and the death of Gabriel. Sunday we meet the whole church and then we will depart for Fortaleza right after church.

The church has a tin roof and no ceiling. Services are often interrupted by the roar of rain. Next month a team of workers from the US will come to install sound insulation and patch leaks. It will be a great improvement and make it possible to worship in all types of weather.

Pray for the Mitchells as they move ahead. One day they hope to establish a Bible Institute here in this needy place.