April 28, 2004

Dear Friends,

May the Risen Lord continue to bless you and give you peace!

Greetings from Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. We have been here for three months now and are getting along quite well. By learning to read a map and by asking people for directions, we are able to go to several places in this city. Once we learn which direction is north, south, east, west, it should be easy to drive in Brasilia! Please stop your car when pedestrians at the cross section lift a hand—it’s the law in Brasilia. At first I used to wave back at the people because I thought they wanted a ride.

Brasilia was built during the presidency of Juscelino Kubitschek and inaugurated on April 21, 1960. It is called the capital city of “Hope.” Today Brasilia has about 3.5 million habitants and is growing. The federal government reported that from 1988 to 2005, there was 3.5 billion dollars of private investment in Brasilia. This will increase the per capita income of Brazilians. Brasilia is the economic center for the central western part of Brazil. Did you know that 30 cities the size of Washington D.C. can fit into Brasilia? It is considered the youngest capital city and, with its architecture, the most modern one. It is Brazil’s third capital, after Salvador (Bahia) and Rio de Janeiro.

In November 2001, the Synod of Central Brazil of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB) met in Goiania, Goias. During that meeting, Brasilia was chosen as the site of the extension of the Seminary Rev. Antonio de Sobrinho, which is located in Londrina, Parana. Work at the extension began in Feberury 2002 with 17 students from Brasilia and nearby cities. In 2003, five new students arrived. At the end of 2003, seven students decided not to continue their studies, but in 2004 seven more students enrolled. So we now have a total of 22 students, and they come from Brasilia, Goiania, Luziania, Rio Verde, Jatai, and Cassilandia.

The Synod hopes to reach out to all the people of central-west Brazil and prepare women and men for pastoral ministry, evangelization, and new church planting for the Lord Jesus Christ. The Synod has three presbyteries: Distrito Federal (Brasilia and up to Tocantins), Central Brazil (south of Goias to the border with Mato Grosso do Sul) and Mato Grosso-Rondonia (the far western part of the region, about 800 miles from Brasilia).

The leaders in our region hope that this extension will one day become an independent seminary of the IPIB. Please pray that the Lord will bless this effort.

At the meeting with the leaders of the national church and the seminary in Londrina, we made goals together:

• We’d like to increase the number of students to at least 15 students per year. Students from Mato Grosso-Rondonia and Tocantins, we realized, are not able to bear the costs of travel from Brasilia to these cities to attend weekend classes at the extension. Therefore we decided to seek help for students from poor families. We hope to select six or more poor but academically and spiritually apt students for the pastoral ministry. This will cost approximately $20,000 per year. Each presbytery will receive grants for two students. The presbytery and the student’s church will contribute a certain percentage of the total support for each student.
• To upgrade the library with books in the area of pastoral counseling, theology, biblical commentaries, anthropology, etc., we are seeking help of $5,000 per year. All books are in Portuguese and the average price per book is $25 to $30.
• We need to produce folders, pamphlets, and other materials advertising the extension, which will cost $2,000 per year.

Contributions to this may be sent to: Central Receiving Service, Section 300, Louisville, KY 40289. Write the title (Seminario Antonio Godoy de Sobrinho—Brasilia extension) and the ECO number on the subject line (ECO #047960) of the check and put it on your cover letter, too. Send a copy of the cover letter to the Office of International Evangelism at 100 Witherspoon St. Louisville, KY 40202-1396. Or click on the "give" button below to donate online.

At our meeting, I was selected dean of the extension of the seminary. My job is give students guidance in their pastoral work, study, and spiritual life. I will also travel to meet with sessions of different churches to recruit, to consult, and to report on what the students are doing at the seminary. I will work with the session and pastor in the supervision of each student’s fieldwork. In addition, I’ll teach four courses: two levels of pastoral counseling, an introduction to the Bible, and urban mission. Irene is preparing a class in the theology of Christian education. She will work in the library and the office. At this point the seminary is operating under the generous offer of the First Independent Presbyterian Church’s building in Taguatinga, Brasilia. In the near future, we hope to have our own building.

Please come to visit us in Brasilia and see what God is doing. Pray for Brazil and its 12.5% unemployment rate and high interest rates, which means people have less money for food! Pray for the leadership of our synod, presbyteries, sessions, seminarians, and professors. We appreciate your prayers and your financial support of PC(USA) mission in Brazil and around the world—without them we would not be able to do the work of Christ and help our partner church in its effort to build a better Brazil. Thanks you very much for your letters and words of encouragement

Sincerely,

Michael and Irene Sivalee

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 146