Bro. Alan Eyre of Jamaica recently visited the brethren in Brazil. Following are excerpts from his letter:
“After some initial difficulties, I was able to find Bro. Roberto & Sis. Leila Queiroz in Brazil…In the end, I located the actual home on Sunday morning by recognizing Christadelphian singing on cassette tape — in the heart of Maw Grosso!”
The Queiroz’ live in Cuiaba, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Cuiaba has a population of about 1 million and Mato Grosso is about the size of the state of Texas. Cuiaba is about 1,000 miles from Rio de Janeiro.
Bro. Roberto & Sis. Leila seek to preach the Truth to their fellow residents of Brazil but face many challenges. A Bible seminar is being planned for November. The immediate need in regard to this and any similar effort is for another brother who can read and speak Portuguese (the common language of Brazil). Bro. Eyre is currently working with the Queiroz’ to get brochures printed.
Bro. Alan writes: “Bro. Roberto considers his booklet on the Devil and Satan to be a crucial witnessing aid because of the prevalence of the popular view among the many evangelistic churches in Cuiaba. (The Assemblies of God in the city have the largest church building in the western hemisphere, holding 30,000 persons.)
“We hope that some basic preaching material in Portuguese will be printed. I have the manuscripts for three of these, and we are proceeding with the preparation of those for typesetting and subsequent printing, initially in small quantities.”
Any brother or sister who can read, write or speak Portuguese please contact Bro. Ken Sommerville of the CBMA (818)368-8579.
Jeff Gelineau for the CBMA
Continued Good News from El Salvador
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Warmest greetings in the Hope we share.
We are delighted to report the baptisms of Romeo Rodriquez and Oscar Siguenza on June 9. Both were postal course contacts and have been attending ecclesial meetings for several years. We pray that God will guide their walk to His kingdom and bless their work in His service.
Binch’s arrival
Bro. Ed & Sis. Beth Binch and their four children arrived here safely at the end of July. Their first few weeks were rather trying. They both came down with dengue fever, their car broke down and a storm filled their house with water! But they are now feeling more settled in. They are teaching at a small bilingual school where they worked a few years ago and all the children attend the same school.
Since Eddie and Beth have lived here before, they are fluent in Spanish and are already busy helping in both Sonsonate and San Miguel. God willing, Eddie will begin giving baptismal classes to a new group of interested friends next week and renew a midweek Bible study class at the home of the Guzman family.
Instruction classes
Bro. Tomas Fernandez has begun another baptismal class in San Salvador with three interested friends and travels regularly to San Miguel to give Bible classes and seminars there. In total, about 10 people are under instruction for baptism.
Sonsonate ecclesial location
In Sonsonate, the work continues to go well, with five or six visitors coming out each week to the lectures. A plot of land has been purchased in the town and the brothers and sisters have been holding working bees to clear and level it for building a small hall. We hope construction can begin once the rains have stopped sometime in October.
Family news
Bro. Douglas and Sis. Marisol Vanegas welcomed the birth of a daughter, Jennifer, in May and Bro. Manuel and Sis. Silvia Fernadez were also delighted with the birth of their daughter Rebekah (sister to Danny) in June. May God grant them the wisdom to train up their children in His ways.
Hunter’s Australian tour
We are very grateful to the Australasian Christadelphian Bible Mission for inviting us to visit Australia in July and August. The trip greatly broadened our knowledge of the brotherhood worldwide and of the work of preaching in foreign countries in particular. It was a rich spiritual experience and we would like to especially thank all the brothers and sisters who so generously offered us their hospitality and transportation. Jim gave talks on the work in Central America in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Launceston, Stawell, Mildura, Glenlock and Adelaide.
Guatemala activities
Closer to home, in our neighboring country of Guatemala, the first formal lecture series ended in July and Bro. Ross Melles is continuing to give private classes to the most interested contacts. They have rented a small hall and hope to begin another series of Bible talks shortly. Bro. Frank Woodcock of BC and Bro. Robert & Sis. Christine Alderson and Bro. Maurie & Sis. Coral Beale of New Zealand have all visited Guatemala recently to help and encourage Ross and Wendy in their work. We thank Bro. Maurie for the Bible class he gave (in Spanish!!) in San Salvador during his brief visit. Although we were not here at the time, the Salvadoran brothers and sisters expressed their appreciation and said it went very well.
Wedding bells
God willing, Bro. Manuel Rivera and Sis. Gina Lilly Vanegas plan to get married on September 16. It has been a number of years since we have had a wedding so everyone is quite excited. There are quite a few single brothers and sisters in El Salvador and we are very happy that these two have decided to continue their walk to the kingdom together.
Sara’s help
Sis. Sara Boulstridge visited her family in England for the month of June and is now back here and trying to get permanent residence. She has about 60 people on the first postal course in El Salvador plus another 45 or so in Puerto Rico. There was a good response to the first letter sent to Puerto Rico (see the last newsletter) and another will be sent this month, God willing. In El Salvador, another 250 people are receiving more advanced postal courses and showing good interest.
We thank all those who have written, faxed or phoned in the last few months and ask you to continue remembering us in your prayers.
Love in Christ Jesus,
Jim and Jean Hunter
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One