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June 2000
Dear Family and Friends,
Our year in the United States is quickly drawing to a close.
We have already set our sights on returning to Brazil on July
11 for our new assignment in Sobral, Ceará. During this
year Dorothy and I have spoken over 40 times to different churches,
youth groups, Presbyterian Women’s groups, mission conferences,
etc. We have put over 24,000 miles on our car. We have seen many
old friends and have made many new friends as well. We were especially
pleased that the Worldwide Ministries Division could make a videotape
of our work in Imperatriz, which can now be shared with the churches.
For those churches we were not able to visit, the video is a concise
summary of our work the last four years in Brazil. If you’d
like a copy of the tape, please contact Peter Kemmerle, associate
for Mission Connections, at (888) 728-7228 x5612. He’ll send
it to you for free.
We marvel at the Lord’s goodness to us. As we visited churches,
they were a blessing in our lives. Everywhere we went, we received
words of encouragement. I was concerned that we would begin our
work from "scratch" as we go to Sobral. The Lord has
used a number of you to let us know He has gone before us and
is preparing the way. We do not go alone. We do not go in our
strength alone, for if we did, we would fail miserably. We go
in the name of the Lord of Hosts. The Lord has people in place
in Sobral already who will join with us in proclaiming the Lordship
of Jesus Christ in that needy city of 200,000 people.
When we return to Brazil, we will need to buy a car right away.
We will need to rent a house and get our furniture, which is in
storage in another city several hours away. We will need to buy
a telephone, that is, we need to buy the right to use the telephone
line. Last year the government sold many of its utilities. The
telephone lines that cost $1,200 when we moved to Imperatriz in
1995 sold for $400 in 1999, because the telephone companies had
been sold into the private sector. It might be as low as $100
when we get back.
We have already been informed by our Brazilian presbytery that
on July 31, which is the birthday of the Independent Presbyterian
Church of Brazil, they want to hold a presbytery-wide meeting
in Sobral to help kick off our ministry there. (Our suitcases
will not be fully unpacked.)
We will begin by having Bible study and prayer meetings in our
home. As the church grows, we will probably move to a storefront.
As the Lord leads, and the need arises we will begin building
a church building.
Dorothy will home-school all three children next year. John will
be in the eighth grade, Elizabeth in the sixth, and Daniel in
the first.
Before leaving Brazil we knew our year in the States would be
full of new experiences and opportunities for service. This has
certainly been true. Dorothy and I did some studying at Columbia
Seminary. We participated on the worldwide ministries committee
of the Greater Atlanta Presbytery in the Mission to the U.S.A.
program, facilitating a visit to Atlanta by the director of the
seminary in Fortaleza to Atlanta for six weeks. That was an enriching
experience, working side-by-side with two churches that participated
in the Mission to the U.S.A. program. We helped on a volunteer
basis at our children’s schools. Living at Mission Haven—the
home in Decatur, Georgia, for missionaries, which is supported
by Presbyterian Women from four synods—has added to our fun
year. We arrived to a fully furnished house and have been supplied
with all that we needed. The schools in the neighborhood are excellent,
and we have made many new friends. This has been a very full and
fruitful year for the whole family.
I have always wanted to attend the meeting of the General Assembly.
This year I will attend as a Mission Advisory Delegate in Long
Beach, California, from June 24 to July1. Pray that the decisions
that are reached will be positive for the whole denomination.
Please make that meeting a matter of prayer.
We now have a mailing address in Brazil. As of July 1, please
direct our mail to:
Caixa Postal 47
62011-970 Sobral, Ceará
Brazil, S.A.
After we are settled we will have an e-mail address in Brazil,
but we do not know what that will be at this time. Our current
one will work for now: dggartrell@juno.com.
Thank you very much for standing with us in the ministry of church
planting and evangelism in northeast Brazil. Please keep us in
your prayers in this time of transition. As the people of God
pray, wonderful things happen. We can do effective work there
because you are praying for us back here. Thank you for being
part of the team to take the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus
Christ to all nations.
In Christ’s precious name,
Gordon Gartrell (for the whole family)
The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 252
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