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  A letter from Tim and Marta Carriker in Brazil
 
             
  Dear Friends:

We have been in Florianópolis for a year now. The beauty of the island still moves us as we drive by the ocean on our way to work.

Our classes at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) have been Bible, Biblical Theology of Mission, Contextualization (Tim); and Phonetics and Language Learning Skills, and English (Marta).

 
Students at the Mission Training Center (Itamar with glasses, Meire in red)
 
     
  Our director, Jonas Furtado, was appointed as pastor of the local church (Independent Presbyterian Church at Estreito) for this year. As a result Tim, has also helped, teaching Sunday school and preaching. He is considered a co-pastor. We have studied the books of Jonah and Ruth and now are on the theme "The Church and Justice." As a result of these lessons, we decided to "adopt" a couple that started coming to our church recently. They are homeless and have a baby. One of the members gave him a job caring for billboards and says that the man is his best worker. Our class will raise half of his rent; a deacon found him a small apartment. We are also helping to raise money to fix the roof of the house of one of our parishioners.
 
     
 
More CTM students, with Clévis and Ety at far left
  Besides Marta’s classes, she too is involved in local church activities, having spoken at a women’s retreat and speaking at Wednesday afternoon evangelistic meetings for women, called "Hope Afternoon."

Tim continues to travel, teaching missiological courses at seminaries in northeast Brazil (Fortaleza and Natal) and last month at Fuller Theological Seminary in Los Angeles, California.

 
     
 

He also supervises graduate students at MacKenzie University in São Paulo, two of which recently successfully defended their dissertations. He also participated in two important consultations, one on evangelism in Latin America (CLADE IV in Quito, Ecuador) and another in Miami on the formation of a network of doctoral programs all over Latin America.

Our students at the MTC are very committed. Some of them, who finished the second year last semester, are now doing their internship either locally or in other states in this area. Last June, they were back for intensive courses. Itamar and Meire, for instance, have been working as evangelists in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, south of here. They report that a small church has already started and is growing. Baiana is working at the local Methodist Church. She invited Tim to preach once, and we could witness the love and appreciation of the members towards her. Some of the students who are still in their second full-time year of studies are also involved in ministry in Florianópolis. Clévis and Ety are working out of the camp facilities of the Estreito Church, starting a congregation that meets on Saturdays, at least for now.

   
     
 

Our family has been OK. Jennifer (20) is still struggling with Crohn’s Disease. She had three painful abscesses this last year. But she is a brave soul and is doing better now. She was blessed with the opportunity to take some art courses as a visiting student at one of the local universities. Our son, Tim Jr. (19) has been quite lost about his future. Please pray for him. Sarah (15) is happily involved in the theater group at her school; she has many friends and keeps us on our toes as the "future activist" in the family.

Thank you again for the support we receive from you. We count on your prayers and we pray that God will keep you faithful and will be your refuge in the times of tribulation.

In His love,

Tim Carriker

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 258

 
             
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