Christ for Sao Lms:

A TEAM MINISTOY TO SAO LUIS, MARANHAO, BRAZIL

ic

NEWSLETTER

March 1994

Volume no. 8. Issue no. 1

Itr

GREETINGS FROM

GARY, ROSIE, IAN & BRITTON FINLEY

Christ for Sao Luis
Calumet Street Christian Church 2240 East Calumet Street

Centralia, IL 62801

Church Office: (618) 533-4421

Gary & Rosie Finley

Caixa Postal 1088

65001-970 Sao Luis, Maranhao Brazil, South America

To Call Us From the U.S. Dial: 011-55-98-226-1391

uncy

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As we announced in our November/December newsletter, we will be in the U.S.

and reporting to our supporting churches from July through December of 1995. So far, we have not received any requests from our supporting churches to schedule a general presentation (however, several Sunday school classes and other groups have contacted us). We know from experience that it is not possible to schedule 12 presentations for the month of November, there are just a limited number of Sundays available in a
month.

If your congregation supports this ministry, please decide at this time when you would like to have us bring a report of what has happened over the last two and a half years. Notify us in writing at: Christ for Sao Luis / Gary & Rosie Finley / C.P. 1088 / 65001-970 Sao Luis MA / Brazil. Or, if you prefer, you may reach us by phone by dialing 011-55-98-226-1391. The-best time to call is between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm (your
time).

Please include the date you prefer, and at least one alternate. We would like to receive all of these requests by April 15 (that should be an easy one to remember). Failure to file a prompt request could result in substantial fines and interestpenalties (just kidding!). Seriously, we are eager to see you again and share with you the exciting ways that God has blessed our work during this term on the field. Please let us know by the 15th.

With Much Appreciation

Since January 1990 Floyd and Lela Johnson have faithfully served as our forwarding agents. Over the past five years we greatly appreciated the time and energy they put into this ministry. They are now retiring. We both thank and commend them
for a job well done!

This January ^t Mike Warden began serving as our new forwarding agent. Along
with our supervising em^i=&~at Calume^^reet Christian Church, we welcome him to this
ministry. The address for contributions and correspondence with Mike remains the same (see the front page of this newsletter).^
(Note: Newsletter is for March 1995, not 199A)

ff

We announced in our November newsletter that we were able to rent a second

room in our office building to be used as an outreach center. The Center For Biblical Studies offered its first course in January. The four part series is entitled "How to Study the Bible". By the end of February eleven people will have completed the course. About 20 others enrolled but failed to show up for the first class (this is a cultural trait
we have grown to expect, but it is still frustrating).

Of the first group who completed the course in January (6 young adults) 5 agreed
to go on to study the Good News lessons with us individually (these are the lessons we use in evangelism). We will let you know what results this brings. The Center For Biblical Studies is also hosting an English language Bible study on Wednesday evenings. After three weeks our group has grown to 10 participants. We are studying the Gospel of John. Three of the participants are members of our Sao
Francisco church, so we view this as an excellent evangelistic opportunity.

In addition to our outreach activities, the Sao Francisco congregation is now using our outreach center for their worship time on Sunday mornings.

On Christmas morning Carlos celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus by experiencing his own new birth. Carlos was baptized by John Navis, obeying the same
command of our Lord that his wife Anna had heeded a few months earlier. Their eight

children make up about a third of our youth program at the Pirapora church.

In January we rejoiced as Edvan baptized his friend Lucio. Edvan is only 13 but has already accepted what many of our adult members are still resisting. That being the
fact that God has called every Christian to tell the Good News to any who will hear.

Later in January another young man, Miguel (16), was baptized by John Navis.
Praise God for the victories He has won!

News & Notes

The Portuguese edition of the New International Version of the New Testament is now widely available in Brazil. The complete Bible (OT & NT) should be released sometime later this year. Since our work began 5 years ago, we have been using A Biblia na LingLiagem de Hoje (the Portuguese equivalent of Today's English Version). When the complete NIV Bible is released we plan to switch, believing it to be a superior
translation.

OIn January we traveled to the town of Araguaina in the state of Tocantins for the annual Northern Brazil Christian Missionary Conference. Our Speaker this year was Glen Liston from Owasso, Oklahoma. Glen spoke on the subject of leadership development. Shirley Liston (Glen's wife) led an afternoon session for the ladies. As always the conference was truly enjoyable. We came away encouraged and challenged.
OWe have translated the Wiat the Bible Says filmstrip series from Good News Productions into portuguese, and have begun using it as a pre-evangelism tool. One of our member families invites their friends and neighbors into their home to see the

filmstrips. Those who want to know more are invited to study the series of lessons we use for evangelism. We will let you know more about the results in the months to come.

Prayer /Hatters
While we are in the U.S. later this year it is likely that Gary will have surgery to correct a hiatal (esophageal) hernia and related complications.

The economic situation in Brazil has changed significantly since the Real (Brazil's new currency) was released last July. Previous to that time the monthly inflation rate was on average 40%. However, the exchange rate between the old currency and the U.S. dollar generally kept pace with inflation. Translation: our living/working expenses
remained about the same from one month to the next. Since the Real was released inflation has slowed to around 3% a month.

However, the dollar has declined in value by about 20%. Translation: Since July of last year our living/working expenses have increased in dollar terms by more than 50%. You

probably noticed our budget for 1995 increased by less than 8%. Please pray that God will give us wisdom for these financially difficult times.

Christ for Sao Lms:

A TEAM MINISTRY TO SAO LUIS, MARANHAO, BRAZIL

NEWSLETTER

April 1994

Volume DO. 7, Issue no. 1

GREETINGS FROM

GARY, ROSIE, IAN & BRITTON FINLEY

Christ for Sao Luis
Calumet Street Christian Church 2240 East Calumet Street Centralia. IL 62801

Church Office: (618) 533-4421

Forwarding Agents Floyd & Ixla Johnson: (618) 532-4476

Gary & Rosie Finley
Caixa Postal 1088

65001-970 Sao Lui's, Maranhao

Brazil. South America

To Call Us From the U.S. Dial: 011-55-98-226-1391

MccdSomclLinq 1o Be ExciteJ Alxjut?

-During the first three months of 1994 the Lord added eight new believers to His church in Sao Luis. This equals the number of
decisions to follow Jesus that were made in all of 1993. In the

month of February, Gorette, Evan, Djaniro, Ligia, Lucellia and

Francisca were baptized into Christ. In March, Benedito and Rivaldo were also baptized in obedience to our Lord's instructions

(Matthew 28:19,20). They are now being taught to obey the Lord's commands and are being equipped to make other disciples for our
Lord.

-We currently have 21 people studying The Good News lessons (the name of the series we use to present the gospel message).
-Our Saturday evening Bible talk continues to attract new participants.

rieed Somciliincj io Ppaij /\lx>ui?

-Tliank the Lord for the victories mentioned above.

-Intercede on behalf of all the new believers: 1) that they will grow in their faith daily, 2) that they will be active and bold witnesses,
3) that they will resist the evil one. -Pray especially for Benedito that he doesn't become like the seed

that fell on the rocky ground (see Mark 4:5,6&16,17) -Pray for Elias that the Lord will convince him of the necessity for
regular fellowship with the local church.

-Ask, seek & knock that we will all be bold in inviting others to
hear the Good News!

HELP IS OX THIi: M AY!

Jamerson is a young man in his early twenties. He came to know the Lord through the ministiy of the Cidade Nova Church of Christ in Belem', Para, Brazil.

During the last three years David & Carol Bayless have been working with the elders of the Cidade Nova church (a 14 year old congregation which David helped establish) to train as many as are willing to be evangelists/disciple makers.
Jamerson was one of the first young people to get excited about the idea and to become involved in the discipleship training.
In Belem he led several of his friends to Christ. They are

now evangelizing others as they share in the ministry of the Cidade Nova church. JamersoQ has completed his classroom training as a metallurgist, and will conclude his required apprenticeship in July. At that time he will be moving to Sao Luis, hoping to find a job
here so that he can work with us in the Sao Luis church.

Please pray for the Lord's continued guidance in all of this:

1) 2)
3)

That Jamerson will be able to find a job here Tliat we will ha\'e a successful ministry working together in
Sao Luis

That the Cidade Nova church will continue to send out

trained workers into the Lord's harvest field.

By the way, the Mauriti Church of Christ in Belem is preparing workers using the same approach!
Belem is the closest major city to our north. It is located about 10 hours from Sao Lujs by car. It was the second city where missionaries from the Christian Churches entered Brazil following the end of World War II. There are today more than 10 churches in and
around Belem.

A Great Start to a

ear

January 17-22 of this year we once again participated in the

annual missions conference sponsored bythe non-instrumental Church of Christ missionaries working in Brazil. The conference was held in

Pirenopolis, Goias. Pirenopolis is an historic village set in the mountains about two and a half hours from Brazil's capital, Brasilia,
The speakers for this years conference were Royce and Pam Money. Dr. Royce Money is the president of Abilene Christian
University (Texas). He holds a doctorate in the field of clinical

psychology. Pam Money has her masters degree in the same area and

is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Among other important

subjects, the Moneys spoke repeatedly about building and maintaining

strong marriages and parent/child relationships. They emphasized the

importance of strengthening these ties within the missionary family as

well as equipping our church members to do the same for their
families.

Also participating in this year's conference was Karen Jones of

Albuquerque, New Mexico. Karen teaches in the continuing education program at the University of New Mexico and is in private
practice as a self-management consultant. She conducts seminars around the country teaching people to better managers of their time, money, interpersonal relationships, and other resources. Karen shared
much of the material from her seminars with us in the afternoon
sessions.

This year we drove to the conference. To travel by car from

Sao Luis to Brasilia takes a little more than 30 hours. So, we divided

our trip into 3 days, driving about 10 hours each day. The conference proved to be well worth the effort. Following the conference we drove on to Brasilia and stayed through Monday so that we could
register Britton's birth with the U.S. consulate and secure an American passport for him.

We arrived home from this year's conference with a renewed

enthusiasm for the work here in Sao Luis, and with some great ideas we are anxious to put into practice throughout this year.

A'
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Christ for Sao Luis:

A TEAM MINISTRY TO SAO LUIS, MARANHAO, BRAZIL

NEWSLETTER

November 1!>94

Volame no. 7, issue no. 2

GREETINGS FROM

GARY, ROSIE, IAN & BRITTON FINLEY

Christ for Sao Luis
Calumet Street Christian Church 2240 East Calumet Street

Centralia, IL 62801

Forwarding Agents Floyd &L^Ia Johnson: (618) 532-4476

Gary & Rosie Finley
Caixa Postal 1088

Church Office: (618) 533-4421

65001-970 Sao Luis, Maranhao Brazil, South America

To CaU Us From the U.S. Dial: 011-55-98-226-1391

In Julywe celebrated Britton's first birthdaywith the traditionally large, Brazilian parly. It was a success, with around 30 people (or more) attending. We generally try to use birthday parties as a way to strengthen friendships with neighbors and new
aquaintances. Our party was really quite small by local standards, but ifs hard to fit many more people into our apartment! I believe that everyone had a good time, even the birthday boy - he ate three pieces of chocolate cake!
In September we celebrated lan's fourth birthday. This time we had a much

smaller party with a special guest fi-om the States. Grandma Sandy (VanQeve) came
to visit with us for around three weeks! We decided to take Grandma on vacation with

us to a nearby city so she could see more of Brazil than our living room. Now in our part of the country "nearby" is at least a 10 hour drive on bad roads. This little trip was
two days of driving through terrain that is similar to a desert, in a car without eiir-

conditioning. The city of Fortaleza was beautiful and we had a good time there. You can ask grandma for details of the trip! I think that she really enjoyed spending time
with the boys and they talk about "when grandma was here", all of the time. Well, Britton doesn't, he doesn't say much of anything yet!

Our ladie's meetings are going well. Now that we have two congregations we take turns having the meetings in the homes of the ladies from one congregation one month and from the other the next month. This is the only time they get to see each other since they live on opposite sides of the city. These ladies have decided to study through the whole Bible using a game format. Each person studies the assigned book of the Bible, or certain chapters during the moDth before the meeting and at each meeting we have a contest to see who can answer the most questions correctly. It's really become
the highlight of our time together. We have just finished the book of Exodus. It is

really a great time of learning and everyone has to study because no one, except Ruth and I, have prior knowledge of the Bible to draw on. The Bible is truly a new book for them and they often get very excited when reading the "same old stories" that many of
us have heard for years.

When a person makes the decision that they want to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, the first act of obedience to God's Word is to submit to baptism. We always
allow the person being baptized to choose the locale where they would like to have it

(Cont.)

done. Being an island on the Atlantic ocean gives us lots of water to choose from. I believe that so far everyone has chosen the ocean. Even one lady who had never been in salt water before. I had the priviledge of performing my first baptism in the Atlantic ocean with a young lady whom with I had studied the gospel. Well, I thought I was going to be doing it alone, but when we arrived at the preferred beach with the three people who were going to be baptized, the waves were about four feet high. So Gary helped. Baptisms on the beach have a little less ceremony to them, though we do tiy to sing and read a Scripture over the roar of the wind and waves, but they certainly add
a bit more excitement to an already exciting time!

1995 Budget Approved

Ifyou (as an individual or a congregation) are a regular financia! supporter of this work you should have already received a copy of our 1995 budget. If not, please
contact our forwarding agents at the address on the front of this newsletter and they will get a copy in the mail to you right away.

We thank each of you for your continued stewardship. May God continue to
bless your efforts in His service in your own communities even as he is blessing your ministry through us in Sao Luis.

199(5 rurgcusti Plans

Next year we will be in the U.S. and available for speaking engagements from July through December (1995). The primary purposes of a furlough are: 1) to allow a missionary to keep his/her supporters informed of the ^'ork which they underwrite, and 2) to allow the missionary family time to renew and maintain family ties and friendships. We look forward to doing both during the later half of next year.
Some missionaries follow a furlough schedule of three or more years on the field followed by a one year furlough. Others take a short furlough of four to eight weeks every year.

Our current practice is to schedule a 4 to 6 month furlough every 2^ years.

During our last furlough (August through November of '92) we discovered that it is not possible to report to all of our supporting churches within the span of four months (scheduling conflicts left some Sundays unbooked while others were requested by three or more churches). This time we are extending our furlough to six months. This should insure us the opportunity to report on a Sunday morning or evening to all of our supporting churches. Of course, our families kind of like the idea of our being home a little longer too.
Please help us achieve our goal of reporting to every one of our supporters by scheduling a date for our presentation within the next month. The following approach will work best for
us:

1)

Select the date you prefer, along with two alternates should your first choice be
unavailable

2)

Decide on which occassions you would like for us to speak (Sunday morning only, both morning and evening, Saturday evening and Sunday morning, etc.)
Notify us in writing at the following address:

3)

Gary & Rosie Finley

C.P. 1088 65001-970 Sao Luis MA
Brazil

Once we receive your request we will confirm the dates and send you a questionnaire to help us tayior our presentation to your needs and interests. It will take your letter about two weeks to reach us, and our reply will take an additional 10 days to travel back to you.
We look forward to seeing you next year!

^Ipolp
Clipist Fop Sao Luis

Progress Pepopt
^ovml)ep 1994

New Births Thus far in 1993 we have had 21 baptisms. This brings our total number since the work began to 29. This has been a veiy encouraging year so far.

There are an additional 6 people who have finished the Good News

lessons who have notyet made a decision, butwho are continuing to study the Bible with us. We are still hopeful that they will become disciples. Help Has Arrived Earlier this year we informed you thatwe were awaiting
Since that time he has become

the arrival of a young man from one of the churches in Belem. Jamerson
arrived in Sao Luis at the end of June.

-involved in many-asperts nf our work. We have hired him_to work ^ringjh^ week with us in our outreach center (the Center for Biblical Studies). On Sundays he is serving as worship leader in both of the congregations we have established in the city (see related item below).
Jamerson is trained as a metalurgist and is seeking a full time job in that

area. The large aluminum plant here on the island (Alumar) has shown
interest in his resume, but insists that he take several computer courses at his

own expense before they can offer him a job. He is currently enrolled in one of the required courses and will enter a second later this month.
Please pray that he will be hired and thus able to serve the Lord along
side of us for many years to come.

New Congregation Begins

We now have two churches in Sao Luis

established after the New Testament pattern. The last Sunday of August we

met in two separate locations for the first time. The Sao Francisco areachurch is now meeting at a well known hotel. We are renting a meeting room for $28 a Sunday. This congregation consists of 13 adult members and 3 children.

The new church consists of people living in the Santo Antonio area.

They are meeting in a public school. The rent is nominal (about $20 a month). They are quite happy that they no longer have to spend an hour on the bus to
get to our worship assemblies. This congregation has 26 adult and teenage
members and more than 20 children.

Both churches are now in the process of incorporating. Ruth and Jamerson put together the paper work (quite a complicated task). We held provisional meetings with both congregations on September 11, and official organizational meetings on October 30. Now, the churches have to register their incorporation with the civil clerk's office and publish an announcement in the official state-government newspaper.

This new registration gives the church the right to receive offerings, buy and hold property in the church's name, open a bank account, hire employees,
etc.

Outreach Center News We finally have a location for our Center for Biblical Studies, We were able to rent a room in the fi-ont of the building where we have our office. We can use it regularly as a place for individual studies, and

set it up for 20-25 people when we offer our seminars. The first seminar is tentatively scheduled to begin the third week in November.

God has truly blessed our work Evangelism continues to be our #1 priority. Equal in importance is discipleship (equipping the believers not only to grow in theirfaith, but to evangelize others). Please pray that God will continue to open doors of opportunity, so that His message of love and salvation will increasingly be heard by the people of Sao Luis,
Serving Our Glorious Lord and Savior,
Jjary <&. Rosie Finley