We’ve Moved!

Late last year we were invited by PAZ leadership to work at the mission headquarters.  After much prayer we decided it was the Lord’s will so once more we packed up everything we own and moved to Santarém.  Only an hour by plane but 3 days by boat on the Amazon River or 3 days by car on the very rough Transamazon “Highway”.  Santarém is a city of about 250,00 people and it sits between the Amazon River and the Tapajos River.  It is called the “Pearl of the Tapajos”.  There are beautiful white sand beaches everywhere, and plenty of jungle to explore!

River front of Santarem

We are thrilled to join this team of about 20 North Americans and 7 Brazilian missionaries. It is truly wonderful to see first hand how PAZ has grown to such a huge presence in this city since the beginning 30 years ago! To see first hand the churches that have been built through a passion to win the lost, and the MDA model of cell groups and one to one discipleship. It is so fun to meet some of the very first Brazilians that were won to the Lord , over 25 years ago, who  are now pastors and church planters!

PAZ has 13 churches in the city with a total of 32 services every Sunday! There are over 4,400 cell groups that meet every week, and 400 river churches. Our family attends the Central Church which has over 15,00 members. I have two pictures posted.  So there is a huge ministry in Santarém and it is a joy to be a part of this!  There are many other ministries within PAZ that I have not listed. If you want to read more then click on the link I have posted.

Central Church

Worshipers at Central Church

Our family has quickly adjusted and we are very busy. Brent is overseeing the new missionaries and language program, working with major partners, and quite a variety of other duties in the mission. Connie is  teaching David his junior year of high school and building friendships, assisting Brent in overseeing the new missionaries,  and we are a part of a strong and growing cell group.

David is having a blast with all of his friends. He is very active in cell group, and he is also ministering in drama and dance. Recently his cell group performed the skit “Everything” several times over one weekend to different groups and 25 people received Christ!! They were all excited! He also finds time to play lots of soccer and go swimming.

Micah is studying nursing in college and is about to finish his first year. He is also teaching English and is very active in cell group and discipleship.

Much to come and I promise to be more faithful with the blog.

Our Friends from Dardenne!

In April, we were blessed to have a great team from Dardenne Presbytrian Church in O’Fallon, MO. come to minister . 

One of their team projects was to stop the mosquitos from snacking on all human visitors at the bible school in Maruda.  How were they to do that?  their project was to make screens and install them in every bedroom.  What a great team they were.  The worked very organized and a conscenious, hard working team.  They also ministered to many children in Maruda and a near by island.  The children were truly blessed by the bibile stories, games and crafts.
 

The Dardenne Team

Winning the Lost Piece by Piece….

What does this mean?  Let me explain.

In October, we were blessed with another team from our home church MECF.  We went to the city of Marudá which is the church and community that MECF felt led to partner with after the scouting team in April. This team went to Marudá to lay sod on the soccer field at our conference and training center where we hold many youth camps. The soccer field formerly was sand, which made it very hard to play in.

Pastor Hélio had a dream to replace the sand with sod, and this is the project that the October team adopted as its goal.  Pastor Hélio wanted to create a resource that would help him attract more youth to our facility and allow the church to reach more souls for Christ.  In laying this sod, the unanimous prayer of each team member as well as our pastor at MECF and the congregation there was to believe God for one soul saved for every square meter of sod laid.  When Pastor Hélio heard this he quickly said, “I am believing God for one new soul for each piece of sod.” Since each piece of sod was about 1/3 square meter, that equals 3 times the harvest than what we and our church were originally praying for! This is the passion for the lost and the faith that the “scouting” team saw in Pastor Hélio when they visited.

Pastor Hélio and Marcela

For some time Pastor Hélio and a team from the church has played soccer every Monday night on the beach.  Their goal has always been to win people to Christ through friendship ministry.  Praise God this outreach has been fruitful, and he has seen several come to Christ.  Now that there is sod on the field at the youth facility, they will have more regular games there.  As the teams are playing ball, Pastor Hélio will be praying and believing God for one new believer for every piece of sod!! This work project will bear much fruit for the kingdom!!!

The pictures below also tell the story, click on each one to enlarge it.

Winning the lost..Piece by Piece!

Scouting the Way…

Besides a visit from our pastor and his wife (see blog “We’re thankful for Teams”) we have had two other teams visit this year from Metro East Christian Fellowship ( MECF), our home church in the states. A link to MECF’s website can be found to the right of this page if you are interested in visiting it.

The team drinking cold coconut water

The first team came in April 2008 and was a “scouting” team of four people. They came to see all the ministries we are involved with here in Castanhal. They visited PAZ churches on the ocean and on the Moju River, and then prayed and asked God which ministry MECF should partner with and build strategic relationships with over time. Before they arrived they told us their goals were to:

• Explore – Spy out the land to see, to feel, to taste, to smell everything they could in Brazil!

  Boy, they did not know what they were getting into when they told us that! When we were on the river visiting churches they got to eat pan-roasted monkey and river turtle soup! They were real troopers and tried everything we gave them to eat. We also walked through the jungle at night with only a few small flashlights and they got hear all the sounds of the jungle at night. It was so neat and they loved it. They got to experience a cell group at a home way out in the jungle. They slept in hammocks, traveled on two different rivers in two different boats, met many wonderful Brazilian people, swam and more!!!

• Inquire – Ask as many questions as possible. They met with pastors and leaders of our churches and many workers and members as well, asking about their visions and dreams, what they saw God doing, where the greatest needs were.
• Engage – Determine ministries that MECF would be able to engage with.

  Through seeing our churches and ministries first-hand, observing the needs for themselves and interviewing pastors and leaders, and through prayer they sought to discern opportunities for strategic partnerships between MECF and the local Brazilian churches.

• Inspire – Return to MECF and share with the church what we’ve seen and learned.
• Opportunities – Provide opportunities for the church body at MECF to become involved.

  After visiting at our Marudá church and getting to know the pastor Hélio and and his wife Marcela they were moved by their passion for the lost and zeal for winning their city for Christ. They chose to partner with the church in Marudá by investing with them in their work through ongoing projects and ministry.

We praise God for our church MECF! They not only provide us as a family with unbelievable support and encouragement but they are also building relationships with the Brazilians and partnering with them in winning the lost to Jesus.

Ronald eating Roasted Monkey!

The team with Micah’s children’s cell group.

A group of Brazilians they made friends with quickly.

We ate fish grilled on an open fire at this house.

Taking a trek through the jungle.

PAZ church on the Moju River

Cell group by candel light out in a jungle home.

another home on the river.

I guess it was the day all the guys wore red?!

Connie got to introduce the team to two of her favorite friends of that live on the river.

Connie and Kerri

Brent demostrates that the filters do such a wonderful job of cleaning the water that he can drink it!!!

A boat trip visit the churches in the salt water area.

The meeting to decide who they deveople a long term partnership.

Pastor Heilo and Marcela at the church in Maruda

The team drinking cold coconut water

We are so thankful for TEAMS!

One really fun aspect of our role here in Castanhal is to host TEAMS!  You might ask, ”What is a team?”  Does a football team from the states come down to Brazil, or maybe a soccer team?  Is it an evangelistic group?  A work team? Ok, I will tell you and show you some pictures of some great teams that came to visit us just this year.

A team is a group of people that come to Brazil to visit, do work projects, or minister here.  They may or may not know us (the Gregorys) personally, but have a desire to see and participate in the ministry here. A team can do many different things. One team might just come down and visit to see the work that PAZ is doing first hand.  We take them on the river to meet our Brazilian pastors and participate in church services or cell groups.  Another team might do maintenance such as plastering and painting some of our buildings.  One team made and installed window screens in our conference building, and yet another laid sod on the soccer Field for the youth.  Teams come to do medical ministry, evangelism, or just to pray and encourage the local leaders and Christians here.  The possibilities are endless but each team has one thing in common.  They all want to be a blessing to the local Brazilians and be a part of reaching more Brazilians for Christ.  The projects and ministry that teams do facilitate the work of the kingdom in Brazil.

When a team says they want to come to Brazil we make all the preparations here on this end. Depending on the project, we must get all the supplies ready for that particular project, buy the food, make the travel arrangements to the river or to the churches they might visit, join them on the site where they are staying and oversee their project, translate for them, and coordinate the time that they are here in Brazil. It is a big job but it is very rewarding and so fun to see how both the Brazilians and the visitors bless each other and make a lasting impression on each others’ lives.

I could not include all the teams we have hosted over the past three years so I am including pictures of some teams that came this year.  Metro East Christian Fellowship, our home church in O’Fallon, IL, blessed us with two teams this year as well as a personal visit from our pastor and his wife.

The first team of this year was VERY special!!  Our pastor Rich and his wife Charlotte came to visit us in February.  Their visit was such a blessing to us. They loved on us, prayed for us and brought many letters and gifts from our church family to encourage and bless our family. Below I have a picture of our time together at a beach that’s about two hours away. Thank you Rich and Charlotte for making the sacrifice and coming to Brazil. We love you!

 

Our pastors Rich and Charlotte

The Last Three Years

It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since we came to Brazil.  We have experienced so many things these past years personally, spiritually and in ministry.  How do I attempt to show you all that has happened in our lives in a couple blog posts?  It’s impossible. but hopefully I can give you a glimpse of what has happened.  In this blog I will share about two ministries in which our entire family is very active.

Cell ministry:  PAZ’s main means of outreach is through cell groups.  Cell groups are small groups that meet weekly in peoples homes.  Most people who come to Christ are reached through the ministry of the cell groups.  Everyone in our family is a cell group leader.  We invite neighbors, friends and acquaintences to our home, and we have a time of in the Word, worship, prayer time, fellowship and snack. When the group gets large enough, about 12 people, then the group multiplies into two groups.  The new group is lead by a person or couple that have been trained in the first group.  The multiplication is a BIG event because now there are two more cell groups in the city to bring others to Christ. Right now our church has over 100 cell groups in Castanhal.  Our whole family has had the privilege of personally leading people to Christ through the cell group ministry. 

I have some pictures of our cell groups below.  We host three in our home each week, and Micah also has a cell group our in another neighborhood in Castanhal with young kids.

Click on thumbprints to enlarge image 

Connie’s group of disciples

Victor, One of Micah’s disciples

David’s disciples

Brent’s disciples

Brent and Connie’s cell group

Micah’s cell group at a multipication praying for David the next leader.

Micah’s cell group of teenage boys

Micah’s young kids cell group

David’s cell group

Discipleship:  Another aspect of the cell ministry is one to one discipleship.  This is the heart of the ministry.  All active members of the PAZ church are encouraged to have a discipler, and to disciple one or more persons.  We are a young church full of new converts.  A discipler may be a new believer, just one step ahead of his disciple in his faith walk.  At times, we have had as many as six or seven disciples per week, often new believers.  During discipleship you study the word, pray, and share what’s going on in your life.  It is an accountability relationship and a time of growing spiritually.

More Family Pictures from Manaus

This is the 2nd part of the “Celebrating Our Anniversary in Brazil”.  Below are pictures from our first 10 months in Brazil.  Enjoy!!!

Click on the images below to enlarge

Behind a falls at President Figueiredo park

Tubing on a wild river

At the falls

Beautiful waterfall at Presidente Figueiredo

Our 1st Christmas

Cards from “home”!

Micah is thrilled with his new CDs!

David can use this new soccer ball living in Brazil!

One of many varieties of beautiful Macaws.

The world’s largest leaf – from an Amazon tree!

Even our dog Tuffy had to learn to sleep in a “rede” (hammock)

Wthout a car for a year we did a LOT of waiting for buses.

Anyone for a soda to go?

Celebrating Our Anniversary in Brazil

On September 23 we will celebrate four years in Brazil! Amazing. We spent the first 10 months in Manaus at language school.  Then we moved to Castanhal.  I remember those early months of transition in Manaus where everything was new and different, but God was faithful to bring people into our lives that loved us even though we couldn’t communicate, helped us with the simplest of tasks, introduced us to the culture, and some great new and tasty Brazilian dishes.  I thank God for our time in Manaus. God’s faithfulness and grace was continually evident during that time.  We hope you will enjoy these photos of a few of our friends that truly blessed us. I will be adding more.

Click on the thumbnails to see an enlarged version of the photos.

Our dear friends Marcelo and Analucia

Our first Thanksgiving in Brazil – with fellow new missionaries, a couple who are career missionaries, and our Portuguese teachers.

Some of David’s friends came over to celebrate his birthday.

Vicente and his family surprised Brent with a birthday cake and sang happy birthday in English!

Micah and his friends leading worship at church.

Our friend, Eunice