Greetings from a chilly São Paulo!
Most of the year we live in a warmer climate but this year we are facing extremely cold days. For those that might be confused about why it's cold here, we are in the Southern Hemisphere so climates are opposite from the USA. So it is winter here. Temperatures have been in the 40s and 50s this past week. There is no central heat here so sometimes it feels even colder inside our cinder block and tiled floor homes. We beat the cold with lots of layers, blankets and small space heaters.
In our last email update we shared of the difficulties of ministering here with Covid restrictions. We are excited to say that things have started to get better. Covid is still strong here in Brazil but with more of the population getting vaccinated, we are seeing some improvements in the government regulations or restrictions. The government has allowed our churches to be at 80% capacity. Both of us have been able to get the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, by the way.
Here are a few more blessings/highlights to share:
Attendance: We have now gone to in-person services again. We still post videos on our church Youtube channel of the adult Sunday school class for those who still cannot attend in person. Editing videos continues to be a big part of our ministry day, which Odir enjoys.
Sunday School classes: Last week was our last online kids Sunday school class and we will be starting our in-person kids classes this Sunday, August 8. We had a meeting with the teachers to address some of the covid requirements in the classes as well as hand out Sunday school material. Cynthia is one of the coordinators and she will be one of the teachers of the teens class (ages 13-16). Odir is co-teaching the Adult Sunday school class with Pastor Messias in the book of Revelations. And David will be in his own Sunday school class and is so excited to be going to church again to have some, as he says, "school lessons about God". The last time this church had an in-person kids program was more than 2 years ago when the former pastor resigned and attendance fell, so you can imagine how this return is exciting for everybody as a new beginning in the life of Good News BC. Please pray for growth.
Good News BC Anniversary: Last month we celebrated the church's 21st year. We had about 50 people present for the services (Saturday and Sunday evening). Due to Covid, we did not have the typical celebrations with cake. But we did have small pre-packaged cakes that were made by Odir's Grandma to give out for people to take home. We also created and we printed professionally an annual wall calendar (which Cynthia designed). It had the faces and family photos of everyone in the church to give out as a gift.
"Cesta Básica" project: A "cesta básica" is a Brazilian term for basic needs a family usually uses in one week or more. We had an aim to try to collect 100 of these to hand out to the community along with a sister church. We were able to collect a total of 60 and hand those out, also using the opportunity to invite neighbors to church. You can see some photos of that ministry on the side.
Pastor Messias on Vacation: We are so glad that we could serve the church while Pastor Messias (the part-time Brazilian pastor we are assisting) was able to take a month-long vacation. Odir had the joy and the privilege to take care of all preaching and teaching while he was gone.
Parsonage: Speaking of Pastor Messias, our main goal of serving this church, besides "revitalization" in general, is to move the church to be able to fully sustain him as the full-time pastor of the church. One of the steps for this to happen is to build a "casa pastoral" (parsonage) for him and his family on the edge of the church's property so renting will not be something to worry about anymore and he will be able to take some steps to quit his secondary job. We are slowly but steadily advancing things to move to this end. Please keep this in your long-term prayer list.
New Supporters: This month God has provided a couple new supporting families which has really helped with our monthly support needs. We are so grateful to God for always providing in unexpected ways!
New Colleagues: A few weeks ago we welcomed the Greve family to our ABWE team. We are so excited for their arrival. They have impressed us with their language learning and we can't wait to see how God will use them here. David is especially loving having kids that speak English to play with.
David learning Portuguese songs: David has really been picking up Portuguese songs well. He loves music so much and he tries his best to sing out. Even during the church services, he will try to sing out something.. most of the time it is just "aleluia" on repeat :)
VBS: We ask you to pray for us as we are working on our VBS that will be hosted in October. It will be an online VBS during the week of Children's Day here in Brazil. Odir has already written the script and organized the theme for each day. We are working now with planning the Bible memory verses and other details on Bible lessons. We will be working many hours on video editing to make the VBS extra special for our kids, including using Cynthia's digital paintings! Please pray for us and this ministry.
Lastly, just a reminder: you can follow us on Instagram or Facebook Page. The links are listed below. We do try to post weekly updates there. If you are reading this as a printed letter, you can search for @ocbrandao on Instagram or Brandãos in Brazil on Facebook. Also, let us know if you need our WhatsApp numbers (an app that we use on our phones to text and talk for free from Brazil).
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/brandaos
Instagram: www.instagram.com/ocbrandao
We thank you for your many prayers and expressions of love! Enjoy a glance into our life in Brazil through our pictures below/on the side.
Association of Baptists for World Evangelism
PO Box 8585
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8585
www.abwe.org
Sending Church:
Hope Baptist Church
Galloway, Ohio