November 2007

Dear supporting Churches and Friends,

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Recently we attended a wedding in Imperatriz where we worked until 1999. It was wonderful to renew friendships. While serving as PC(USA) missionaries in Brazil for the last 17 years we have worked in four different cities in a variety of regions.

Youth from Tocantins church about to cross the river on a barge, enabling them to visit another youth group.

When we came to Brazil in 1990, we spent six months in a large, modern city in the state of São Paulo going to language school. In early 1991, we moved to the state of Tocantins, just north of the capital, Brasilia. Tocantins had only been a state for one year; so many things were new and just being developed. We lived in a town of 2,000 people and worked with five small congregations. The people taught us a lot, as we lived with folks congregations are much stronger. When we left in 1994, a Brazilian lay evangelist continued the work. We have heard wonderful stories about new leaders in the church—how one part of the strong youth work is chorology, and how the well-attended worship services and Sunday school have blossomed. To reach four of our congregations we had to cross a river via a barge.

These children from Imperatriz, shown here at a Christmas worship service in 1996, have become strong leaders in the church.

The second place we worked, from 1995-1999, was Imperatriz, Maranhão, a city of 180,000 people. It was about 16 hours further north. When we arrived, the congregation had five participants. We watched the congregation grow to about 55 members, with many more regular participants. They built a large church building while we were there. The congregation will become an organized church this January. When we returned, we saw how folks had grown spiritually and physically. Many of them are in college because of large scholarships, some are married, and others have well paying jobs. At the same time, they have also become strong leaders in the church. When we visited it was rewarding to see how the adults had grown in their faith, too.

In 2002 we began our work in Salvador, Bahia, a coastal city of over 2,500,000 people. Salvador has a strong African heritage, which influences the diet, style of clothing, and causes spiritual worship to be strong. There we helped nurture a congregation that hadn’t had a pastor for some time. Sergio was brain damaged from heavy drug use. He came to know the Lord and although he wasn’t considered smart by the community, they knew him as one who cared about others and always reached out to those in need. Since we left, he has become a deacon. Edicarlos wanted to grow spiritually. He read a lot, asked many questions, and was active in a variety of church programs. Today he is an elder. The youth group was strong, especially reaching out to others in the community through service projects and inviting them to be a part of the church. We also helped begin a congregation that will soon become an organized church.

Each time we have left a location, Brazilians have carried on the work, so we’ve been able to see it grow. The Independent Church of Brazil (IPIB) has many pastors, very strong lay leaders and is growing in number. Its evangelism is strong and it has developed a number of social programs, reaching out in a variety of ways to those in need.

Therefore our time in Brazil will soon come to an end. Our work ends December 31, 2007, and we will be returning to the United States in January. It’s beautiful to see that we have “worked ourselves out of a job.” At the same time, it will be hard to say goodbye to our friends and the land we have lived in for the last 17 years. We will be living at Mission Haven when we arrive. Our address will be 211 Inman Drive, Decatur, Georgia 30030-3834. Our email address remains the same, dggartrell@juno.com. We have lived at Mission Haven the last three times we have returned to the United States, so it’s “home.” Daniel will be able to go to school with friends.

Please pray for our ministry and friends in Recife, as it’s hard on them, too. Thank you for your prayers and support over these many years.

In Christ,

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