Settling in to the work

April 26, 2012

This region of northeast Brazil was featured on national news tonight because of severe drought conditions. In the city of Casa Nova, there is water and food available. But for those who live in the small communities and outlying areas, they have lost their crops for this year and much of their livestock has been sacrificed for lack of food and water. What makes it seem so ironic is that the largest manmade lake in all of South America is right here, available for the few farms that have installed irrigation. It would be similar to living in the San Joaquin Valley of California without having the aqueduct and other irrigation supplies available. Many ask prayer for rain but the usual months for precipitation are coming to an end.

I thought of how it can be compared to their spiritual needs. They are spiritually dying and suffering because of sin. The remedy is available to them but they don’t have the interest or the notion of how to be saved from their predicament. Opportunities for us to minister abound.

We are completing four months in Casa Nova. Honestly, it’s taken longer to get settled than we had anticipated. We are still finishing some repairs and painting to the house we’ve rented. Learning what items are available in Casa Nova, or must be purchased in Petrolina, one hour away, is time consuming. We have also traveled to different events: our annual regional conference, Carol to Florida, to assist Katy with the birth of our first granddaughter, and a recent trip to Fortaleza to visit friends and submit our Brazilian IRS documents.

Thank you for your prayers regarding safety on the roads and internet access. We completed our weeks of filling in at the congregation three hours away. For now, a pastor in that area, plus seminary students are assuming that small work. We were finally able this month to get internet access that will allow us the speed to accomplish our business transactions, and even visit family members through Skype.

We have begun to record sermons by pastors that have a gift for communicating with the interior folk. We hope to put together some video programs to use in interior communities. We have visited two preaching points and will visit more in the near future.

The church of Casa Nova has a small congregation work across town in a poor neighborhood called New horizon, near the dump. It reminds us of the neighborhood congregation we helped in years ago during our 1993-1994 short-term service in Fortaleza. Both started as a children’s work. There is a small facility available. Currently, 80-100 children come each Saturday afternoon for a program. Sunday afternoons, about 25 children and a handful of adults come out for a Bible study.

It became evident that a large percentage of the children and adults did not know how to read or were way below their age-related levels. Carol developed an informal tutoring class three days a week, morning and afternoons. About 15-20 children are attending, and a few young ladies are assisting. Several of the mothers would like to learn to read but they work or care for their children, so no formal class has been developed for them yet.

Most of the families in the community are poor, complicated by problems of alcohol, drugs, and careless choices. It is a very needy community. Many of the folk make a living by sorting through the garbage in the dump. Just this week, street lights were installed to provide illumination at night, so that people will not be so fearful to leave their homes after dark. This could open up an opportunity for an evening Bible study, as workers are available.

We are trying to keep our focus on interior evangelism but there is plenty of need in the New Horizon neighborhood. The members of Light of the World Baptist Church in Fortaleza are beginning to financially support these outreaches in which we are involved.

Education is not the answer to people’s problems but it provides an avenue through which people can learn more about God and His Word. As former educators, it is a ministry close to our hearts. Bruce has been tutoring several young people from the church in science and math. Some of the schools have been on strike, meaning the students are falling behind in the material that should be covered. Bruce is able to help and also to share Scripture with them as a devotional.

We have had numerous opportunities to speak to adults and children through programs of the Casa Nova church, outreaches in the area, and through the camp ministry on Treasure Island.

Items of Praise:
- Safety in our travels
- Financial support through Light of the World Baptist Church in Fortaleza
- Opportunities to share the gospel
- A healthy granddaughter born March 6

Items of Prayer:
- Development of Interior Evangelism outreach
- Direction in assisting the congregation in the New Horizon neighborhood
- Salvation of the lost
- Wisdom for Bruce, elected President of the region for the BMM missionaries for 2012

Though the harvest for this year has dried up and died, the spiritual harvest appears to be great. "Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest. And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together." John 4.35-36. It is our desire to motivate and train more Brazilian workers to assume the harvesting.

* More pictures can be seen at the option "Photos", the third link at the top of this blog.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

Gratefully yours,
Bruce and Carol Dennis



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