September 6, 2007

Dear Partners in Christ’s service,

During the last four months we have experienced many changes in our work and family size. Throughout it all, feeling the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives and knowing that you were praying for us helped us in this journey.

We are continuing to work with the missionaries and pastors beginning new preaching points. In Boa Viagem, where we live, we are holding a Bible study. Gordon serves as the coordinator for the new three new preaching points and is the supervisor of the seminary interns.

Participants at the vacation Bible school at the small Presbyterian church in the Recife area.

Recently, the long-time pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church in Recife died. He was a dedicated pastor, shepherding a church of 280 members. He was overtaken quickly by cancer and died unexpectedly. In the Brazilian Presbyterian system, churches can only receive a new pastor at the yearly presbytery meeting held in December. Until January, Gordon will pastor that church. It is a lively church with many programs for all ages. They have services each day of the week except Friday. They have choral groups for the young children, middle-schoolers, young people, and adults, plus many soloists. Their adult choir has over 100 members!

So that the men of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:17

Thus we feel our role has been changed. The Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB) has very strong leaders with gifted and committed members. The church is active in evangelism, worship, and study of the Bible, with activities for folks of all ages. We feel like our work has shifted to meet the responsibility noted in II Timothy 3:17. We are learning a lot ourselves from the strong faith and gifted folks in the IPIB. Dorothy is helping to provide bimonthly resource events for the teachers in the presbytery, and she plays a leadership role in activities at the American School.

Children learn to sing songs of praise during vacation Bible school.

During July we participated in two vacation Bible schools in area churches. One of the churches hadn’t had VBS for a number of years. It’s a small, simple church. The children (ages 3-15) were excited by the opportunity to attend the activities at the church. Dorothy helped plan the children’s classes, and Gordon served as a resource person, coming to the rescue at various times. It was beautiful to see the joy of the children, as they learned new songs, Bible stories, and felt loved by others, all conveying the love of Christ.

The second VBS we participated in included 150 children. The Brazilian teachers displayed their gift of conveying the certainty of Christ’s love for every child. The children learned about salvation and that Jesus died for each of them. It was beautiful to be able to participate with the Brazilian leaders.

An exciting event is occurring in October in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) called Mission Challenge ’07. Forty-seven missionaries will share their stories to 143 presbyteries. We think that it’s wonderful that so many of you will personally hear their stories, plus others will know about the PC(USA)’s mission work through bulletin inserts and a DVD.

We will not personally be participating in the Mission Challenge ’07, but we want to thank you for your prayer and financial support. We also want to challenge all congregations to support mission workers in prayer and financial support.

Our oldest son, John , was here for a month, giving us a chance to all be together for a short time. In August our daughter, Elizabeth, went to Maryville College. Now Daniel is our only child at home, and he’s busy dealing with the positive and negative consequences of that while continuing to play an active role in our ministry.

We covet your continued prayers for our current work, the IPI church, and for our future.

In Christ,

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 41