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Dear Friends, family and brothers and sisters in Christ,
We have so much to share with you that I am just not sure where to
begin. I
think that I will just start with before we left for furlough in June.
As many of you know, we were engaged in a campaign with Let's Start
Talking
during the month of May and part of June. I began coordinating all the
details back in February. This was a project that I could tackle
without too
much language interaction. So, it was really good for me as I felt I
was
contributing to the work. As it turns out, we were all so blessed by
the
presence of these wonderful soldiers for the Lord, that we are still
feeling
the effects of their efforts and God's intervention. I placed an ad in
the
local newspaper that ran for one week. The entire ad was in English.
This
way, I was ensured of receiving calls that I could understand and the
callers
would have a better chance of qualifing for the program. If they could
read
the ad and could carry on a conversation with me then they had mastered
the
English language to the point of reading with the team.
Anyway, to
make a
long story short, we had 70 people at the information meeting and
almost 50
readers all together throughout the program. Many of them stayed with
it till
the end and some are still with us in a program with Bryan to continue
learning English through God's word. He also is studying with those
who
could not participate in the program because their English was too
weak. We
did not want to loose those contacts, so he started a beginners english
course with them. As a result of these great contacts, I am
conducting a
Bible class for ladies on Monday nights, entirely in English! We are
into our
third week of study and I have 3 ladies participating every week. We
are
learning about each other and they are falling in love with Jesus as we
explore the book of Matthew with the visual bible series. It is a
wonderful
tool because they can see the action, read it from the bible and hear
the
words being spoken all at the same time. This is very important when
one is
learning a language, as I am finding out myself! We are spending two
hours
together each Monday and these same ladies are in an English class with
Bryan
once a week. One of them is 17 years old and is becoming Angelina's
close
friend. Angelina is a wonderful evangelist with the young people. They
love
her and they know that she loves them. God is blessing her with new
friends
and a mission of her own. She has four girls from the LST campaign that
she
is organizing a teen devo with once a week. I am planning to lead this
devo
for them. Please pray for Angelina as this is her first formal attempt
at
organizing an evangelistic activity. We are confident that God has
supplied
her with all she needs to reach these teens.
Also, from this campaign,
I have
started a study with another of the readers each week in our home. She
could
not make the Monday study, so I am repeating it with her two days a
week for
one hour each session. The names of these ladies are Lucatia, Clelia,
Gabriella and Bitania. I am asking you to offer each of these ladies up
in
prayer to God that they will understand and be touched by the message
of
salvation. They are all very special to me and to those who read with
them
during the campaign. Also, the girls that are with Angelina are
Gabriella
(the same as with me), Bea (the daughter of Bitania), Renata (our
neighbor in
the same building) and Danielle. These are precious young souls that
are
searching for something. Please pray that Angelina will be the example
they
need and that I will be able to bring God's word to them in a powerful
way.
Another ministry that I am beginning this week is children's church
service.
We had a meeting with the congregation and it was agreed that our
children
needed more instruction on how to worship and to be reached at the
level of
understanding that will help them. It was decided that I would take
the
little ones each week during worship and conduct a service geared to
their
level of understanding. Now, I am sure you have not considered that I
have NO
IDEA how to talk with these children! I am in prayer about this and I
am
expecting a miracle as I begin to teach them to pray, sing and all the
other
things they need to know! What better place to begin putting into
practice
what I am learning. Children are very forgiving and they will help me
gain
confidence, I am sure. So, this ministry is for two purposes as you
can see.
We also plan to include one of our young members as my assistant. Each
month
I will take a different teen with me to learn to teach the children.
This ,
also, is for two motives. One to help me communicate and keep the
children
attentive and the other to develop an interest in these young people to
become teachers themselves. We are very excited about this and are
praying
for God's blessing as we develop the future of the Lord's church in
Natal.
Alvaro is still conducting his radio program for 30 minutes a day, 5
days a
week. We have, thus far, had over 70 inquires about the correspondence
course
we are offering and at the present time have 50 students participating.
We
have not had any visitors to the services from this number, but think
how
ripe this harvest must be!!! Praise God for showing us where these
searching
hearts are and the opportunity to serve them. We are confident that
God's
glory will be revealed in this city. Jorge is still working with
Alvaro
every day on this program and he handled everything while we were in
the
states. This is a man who is learning to serve and to love the lost. We
love
him so much and are very excited about his future growth.
It seems we keep talking about the computer school and that we never
have any
progress to report. We are still hopeful with this. As a matter of
fact, we
have begun this past week conducting classes with our youth. We have
not
opened it up to the public yet as there are still details to work out.
However, the kids are in class with one of our visiting young men who
is a
computer expert. He has conducted two classes with them already and
they are
loving it! We have a few ideas about ways to begin this program with
the
public but we must be very sure of our plan before we do. As soon as we
open,
we are going to be swamped with people and we want to be able to serve
them
the best way we can to bring them to the Lord. As you can see, this is
still
a very important prayer request. We don't want to do this to just be
teaching
computers. We want to do this for God's glory. It is only then that He
will
bless this ministry as He has the others.
We are praying that all these new avenues and tools to reach the lost
of
Natal are pleasing to God and His plan for us here. If we are doing
this for
Him we cannot fail! Thank you so much for your continued prayers and
encouragement as we begin our second year of service here. We are
always
grateful to the Carruths, the Martins and all the others of the
original team
who first planted the seed among these beautiful people and it is our
prayer
that someday we will all come together for a great homecoming of this
church
when it is bursting at the seams and we are no longer needed here! We
know
that God is setting the groundwork for that day and He will be
glorified as
the Enemy is overcome once again!
Some of you are probably wondering about Beau and how he is doing. So,
I will
take this opportunity to share with you that he is doing GREAT! In
August,
he changed gears and entered the AIM program in Lubbock. He loves it so
much
and seems happier than he has been since our journey began. He is still
on
fire for the Lord and is closer than ever to doing what he loves best,
preaching and teaching. He is young and has so much to learn, as all of
us
did at his age. However, he is feeling blessed to be where he is and is
very
excited about entering the mission field next year. For those of you
who do
not know what he will be doing with this program I will give you a very
brief
description. He is in intensive study of the bible for the next 5
months. He
is studying and memorizing scripture, bible history, greek, evidences
and all
the subjects that will equip him with knowledge to teach from God's
word. In
December, he will be assigned to a mission team. This team will come
from the
group he is studying with now. In January they will begin with team
dynamics
and preparation to go into the field. They will receive their
assignment and
will leave sometime around May. This in the field work will last for 18
months, as I understand. So, you can see that he, also, is in need of
your
prayers and encouragement. Of course, we are praying that he will come
to
Brasil but who knows where God will send him. Wherever it is, he is
studying
hard to prepare for this leg of his journey. If you would like to
write him
or email him, please let me know and I will give you his address. His
email
address is shadowscross@yahoo.com. I know he would be so happy to hear
that
others are praying for him.
We love you and always are in need of your prayers. We feel your
presence in
our hearts and we thank you for your continued efforts to spread the
gospel
of our Lord and Saviour throughout the world.
In His Service,
Gloria Mello with Alvaro and Angelina
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