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Note: You can download the PDF version of this report at randal.fastmail.fm

Brazilian Zeal

2 November 2004 • São José dos Campos (SP) Brazil • Monthly report • J. Randal Matheny

‘The Jesus We All Need’

After preaching a series of sermons in the new Taubaté church on “The Jesus Brazil Needs,” the Guarulhos church, in the greater São Paulo area, chose this theme for my time with them on October 23.

Some 40 people participated in the five-hour event.

Valdir Silva, from the Pimentas congregation (planted by the Guarulhos church in the same city), liked it so much, he’s using the material for a series in his congregation and has invited me to speak there at least once in November or December.

For an idea of this series see my article “The Jesus We All Need” in Forthright Magazine: forthright.antville.org

When Jesus praises people

October 31, I finished up the sermon series “Compliments Jesus Paid” in the Taubaté congregation.

In the SJC church, I’m also preaching this semester, getting near the end of a series on the list of words in Philippians 4:8. Earlier, I preached a series on gospel summaries in the NT.

In our Sunday Bible school at SJC, I’ve been leading a study of missions since July. This is important for us in a region of millions with so few Christians.

Studies held in city without church

In our entire region only two churches meet, in SJC and Taubaté. Our brother Jorge and Paula Santana are teaching relatives of Paula’s and neighbors of theirs in their home town of Guaratinguetá. (For a map of our region, see the PDF report.)

On October 16, Vicki, Leila, and I visited this study group as I encouraged the 10 people present to be the firstfruits in that city of some 100,000.

No pics this report

Joel served at the Mt. Of Olives Christian camp in July, camped his last time during the third week (for 14-17 yr. olds), and joined several others for an experimental fourth week.

It was during the latter period, with few people and no security guards, that someone stole into camp and carried off our digital camera. So we don’t have any pictures to share this report.

No takers, so I’m doing it

Our websites were in desperate need of work, so since nobody volunteered (and it’s hard to comandeer help from thousands of miles away), I’m working hard on updating them with new software.

One great possibility is offering online courses for minsterial training to Brazilians Christians. I successfully installed a program, used by universities and colleges world-wide, that manages courses, teachers, and students in one excellent package.

You can get a preview of the online course site here: alcanceweb.com

Now to get teachers to put their courses online! Pray this may be a useful tool for the Kingdom.

Edification Magazine

We’re working hard to keep the magazine published. Due to problems and sickness, the printer kept one issue an entire month. Doesn’t help our schedule much.

Another regional oportunity

On October 24 a Christian couple visited us at the SJC congregation who had moved from São Paulo to the coast city of São Sebastião. They have had some Sunday meetings, but hope to begin something regularly. So we have yet another point in our region to work and establish the gospel. (For a map of our region, see the PDF report.)

SJC men meet monthly

The men began a monthly meeting in September, at the same time as the women, on the fourth Saturday of each month. Both groups meet at 3 p.m. for study and prayer. The first meeting in September, I led the study. Since I was gone to Guarulhos em October, Otavio Carvalho coordenated that month’s meeting.

Writing for a construction magazine, of all things

A man who picked up some of our material which we’d left in a store contacted me to write a column for his new construction magazine for our region.

The first issue was published in September, and my column focused on “voting” for He who changes lives. Sepember was election month in Brazil, as voters chose mayors and aldermen.

I hope to have a pdf version of the cover of the magazine and of the page of my article, and will post it on the BZeal page as soon as I receive it from the editor.

This represents yet another opportunity to place the good news in hands that otherwise would never have heard it.

Women’s Conference

Vicki and Leila participated October 29-30 at the women’s conference in São Paulo, with 10 other ladies from the SJC and Taubaté congregations. Reports are upwards of 400 women attended.

Family focus

Joel and Leila both finished up another year of school at the end of October. I’ve taken Leila out for ice cream – our standard celebration procedure–, but Joel is still waiting for his.

Vicki had surgery on her face to remove a skin cancer, but aside from a small bandage she’s wearing for three months, all went well.

She’ll have another small growth removed November 4. In mid-September, Vicki and I started walking at 6 a.m. every morning except Sundays.

Leila has been giving flute recitals with her music school in various locations, and in November she’ll be in the group to play in the old City Hall.

Micah started his second year at Freed-Hardeman University. Having passed the culture shock stage, he’s finding it more pleasant that the first year.

Orphanage ups and downs

The Lar Cristão orphanage sponsored the first Regional Encounter for Gospel Workers August 14. About 40 men from nine congregations were present.

October 10 the Lar Cristão inaguarated a new cottage that will hold up to 10-12 children.

The following Sunday, 17, however, a storm did over $1000 damage to various buildings. Thankfully, no children or employees were harmed.

Several area churches have sent help to repair the damages. If you would be interested in helping also, please contact us.

The Brazilian Zeal newsletter reports on the work of the J. Randal Matheny family in the city of São José dos Campos (São Paulo state), located between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Mailing Address: Caixa Postal 11 – São José dos Campos, SP – 12201-970 Brazil

Telephone: home: 011-55-12 3942-7753; office: 011-55-12 3949-1246

Email: brazil@randalmatheny.com

Web site: randalmatheny.com

Sponsor: Center Hill church of Christ, Paragould, Ark. 870-239-8032

Supporting churches

Center Hill, Paragould, Ark. (sponsor) 870-239-8032 Acton, Michie, Tenn. Baker Heights, Abilene, Tex. Iuka, Miss. Lemalsamac, Newbern, Tenn. Mtn. Home, Paragould, Ark. Somers Avenue, North Little Rock, Ark.

Note: You can download the PDF version of this report at randal.fastmail.fm

BZeal focuses on the progress of the gospel in Brazil and around the world. Please share this email with friends.

by J. Randal Matheny Sao Jose dos Campos (SJC), Brazil

The year 2003 was chocked full of God's blessings in our family, in the congregation here in SJC, and in our work as a whole across the country.

Here are only a few of the most recent blessings and news items.

Internet Ministry Reaches Out

In December, we received this email from a former denominational elder involved in adultery:

"Today, after a long time without 'losing my time' reading the devotionals of God With Us, I decided to read. And to my surprise, I felt very clearly God speaking to me, through this email so pure, yet magnificent. My question which hangs in the air is, Do you suppose there is still hope for me?"

So we began to correspond with him, and hope to put him in touch with the brethren in his city. It's a struggle to keep the emails going and the site up, but such responses encourage us in what we do.

You can peek at our main web page here.

Support to Ministries

In recent weeks we have met with the directors of the Mt. of Olives Christian Youth Camp and the Christian Home orphanage. I continue to serve as a member of what, in English, we would call the board of directors of these two ministries which do a fine job of serving children and, each in its own way, teaching them the way of Christ.

Sermon Series Concluded

On Janary 4th, I concluded in the SJC church the three-month sermon series "Why I'm Still Just a Christian." It was very well received by the brethren, and several suggested I put it in book form, which I'm working on.

Daily Bible Reading

With Vicki's help we completed, by email, a full year's daily Bible reading in Portuguese. This email list sent out a daily reading. Quite a challenge!

For 2004, we're using a weekly selection which people can distribute according to their schedules. It provides for greater flexibility, as well as cutting down on our work to send out emails. We pray it will be as effective or more so in helping people get into the word.

This schedule is available online to be printed out, and we've offered it to the SJC church and about a dozen or more people here are following it on paper.

Ladies Weekly

In mid-December, Vicki began a weekly Bible study for the women on Thursday afternoons. The ladies have a monthly meeting on Saturdays afternoons, but this provides a more constant feeding on the Word for those women who can be present during the day. She has about 8-10 women each week. She is using the book, Conquering Your Giants, published by Gospel Advocate.

Foot Forward

On December 15th, I started a Monday night Christian growth group, that will go to the end of January. After that, we see what the possibilities are. We are working through the book of 2 Peter. About 6-8 are participating.

School of Life

In the Wednesday night groups in our house, I concluded November 19th the year-long theme on "The School of Life," a loosely organized series of Bible studies that show the application of the Word to daily life.

To round out the year, the remaining weeks I devoted to the theme "Six Times," a study of six Biblical words on time.

During 2004, we'll devote the year's study in our home group to "You Decide," highlighting decisions people made in the Bible. The first quarter will take passages from the five books of Moses.

Bible School

For the first quarter of 2004, we're joining two studies to complete the thirteen weeks in the Sunday Bible school. First, ex-missionary Joe McKinney's eight-lesson Life of Christ, based on the Beatitudes. For the first time in SJC, different brethren are rotating each week, so we're having several men to teach a Bible school class for the first time -- one more sign of the congregation's maturation.

For the last five weeks of the quarter, Jorge Santana will teach using our Bible correspondence course, "Jesus Christ, the Simple Way." He has been teaching this material in a study group of family members and friends in the city of Guaratingeta, to the east of us.

Settled in for Five Years

The SJC church got accustomed to a new location beginning in September. There are still some legal registration issues to be resolved before we can publish our address, but that should be taken care of soon.

I don't have all the figures for our pre-building attendance, but our numbers have held steady.

Sept. - 47
Oct. - 48
Nov. - 51
Dec. - 50

Rackin'em Up

Last November 28th, our family celebrated 19 years of work in Brazil. Nine of those have been devoted to the work in SJC, as of December 30th.

As we approach our 20th anniversary of work, we wonder how well our support will hold up, from congregations in the U.S. But we are confident that the Lord will provide, as he has always done before.

We welcome the Mountain Home congregation in Paragould, Ark., as the latest congregation to participate in our work. They are making up some support we're losing this year. We're grateful for their closing the gap.

Writings Here and There

I have been added as a staff writer for The Voice of Truth International (J. C. Choate Publications), a magazine with over 60,000 circulation. Also, my poems continue to be published in magazines as I have time to submit them.

At Christmas, I published for some friends and family members in pdf format a chapbook of some poems written during 2003.

Family

Micah is home from college on Christmas break. He returns January 9th to Freed-Hardeman University for his second semester. He and Joel are enjoying plenty of basketball these days.

Leila continues to perfect her flute technique and enlarge her repertoire. This year, she will move to the alto flute. Joel says he'd like to go for piano or violin.

Joel will serve as monitor for the second week of Christian camp January 17-24, for ages 11-13. This will be Leila's first time during this week, since she had gone to the first week for ages 7-10. Vicki and I will have a whole week to ourselves!

Coming Up

Several teaching trips are already lined up. Please pray the Lord will use these for good.

• Jan. 31 - Pirituba church, Sao Paulo - Couples encounter
• Feb. 10-13 - SerCris Training Center, Campo Grande (MS) - Short course on evangelism
• Mar. 18-21 - Centro church, Salvador (BA) - Back to the Future (Christian doctrine)
• Apr. - Still open, but closing fast.

Our family plans to be in the U.S. from mid-May through June. If your congregation would be interested in a seminar, I'll be available to teach on these: Total Transformation; Why I'm Still Just a Christian; Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Praise All Around

We are glad the Lord has placed us here in Brazil to serve. He uses our lives and even (maybe, especially) our weaknesses and thorns to show his strength and grace. May every work and every word be done for his glory, as together we seek to bring more and more people to his kingdom. Thanksgiving will increase, to the glory of God (2 Cor. 4:15).

by J. Randal Matheny RE: May 2003 BZeal report (31 May 2003)

SJC = Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. City of half a million in the state of Sao Paulo. Sits just inside the Tropic of Capricorn. Site of Brazil's airline and aerospace industry, as well as industries like General Motors, Kodak, Phillips, Johnson & Johnson. Happens to be our home, since 1995.

Here's a short wrap-up for the last several months for the church here in SJC and around the country.

Evangelism and Teaching

Vicki and I studied with Erisvaldo and Ana Paula in January and February, and they were baptized even before we finished all the studies. They continue faithful in their profession. You can see pictures of their baptism here: bzeal.antville.org

Erisvaldo worked with brother Benedito, who invited them to church and encouraged them to study. We keep telling Benedito, a 71-year-old, widowed brick-layer, that he's our best evangelist.

In the SJC congregation, Jorge preached during the month of May in Otavio's absence and did a terrific job. On May 25th, he preached and taught the adult Bible class, on the Spirit's fruit of patience.

I've been teaching the adult class this quarter on the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, from Galatians 5. Almost all our material has to be written from scratch, since there is precious little available by faithful brethren.

Next quarter for Bible class: the Minor Prophets, developed from material I wrote some years back.

Seminars

March 4-5 I went to Rio de Janeiro, during the Carnaval holiday, and taught the Total Transformation seminar. Though I was apprehensive about this wild period, the brethren there catered to me in every way. There had been shootings by drug gangs earlier in the week, but the military police came out in force and quieted things down.

About 45 people were present at the Ramos church's building, and various congregations, such as Madureira and Jacarepagua, were represented. Some pictures of the seminar are on our Portuguese-language site here: alcance.antville.org

It was the eighth time I taught this course. We have touched the Federal District and four states: Sao Paulo (four times), Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro. There are possibilities of teaching this course in Belo Horizonte and Urberlandia, in the state of Minas Gerais, this year.

June 28-29 I'll go to the northeast to Fortaleza to teach in a new congregation on the doctrine of the New Testament. It appears there are problems in that region, and they have asked me to teach on what the Bible says about truth and unity. Pray for them in this difficult situation and for me, that I might be able to strengthen them in the faith.

Building search

The saga of the building search continues. But it may soon reach an end. One of our first options didn't pan out, but now it looks as if we will sign the rental contract for that very building the first week of June. Pictures of the building may be seen at this link: bzeal.antville.org

It is near the beginning of the main street that runs from the Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro interstate highway (Via Dutra) to the center of town. Most city buses run down this avenue or by the street corner on which the building is located.

For what it's worth, the building is also about three blocks from the largest of our three shopping centers.

The contract would guarantee five years in that location.

National Workers Encounter

We men of the SJC congregation planned the Easter-weekend National Christian Workers Encounter at the Christian camp outside of Sao Paulo. Some 330 men from all over Brazil came to hear eight speeches on "Faithful and Capable Men."

Brazilian congregations are feeling many of the same unhealthy religious influences as American churches, so, for the first NCWE in several years, we emphasized the true doctrine of Christ's gospel. It was generally well received, but also caused something of a reaction in others.

I was busy emceeing the event, so I only got one picture, of six of the eight speakers. alcance.antville.org

We're trying to assemble all the speeches to publish in book format. Pray for that, too! We were able to do it in 2000, but haven't had much success in getting all the speakers to cooperate since then.

Family

Vicki's mother, Jean Cunningham, of Iuka, Miss., had a pacemaker implanted May 27. She must remain nearly immobile for two weeks following. Please keep her in your prayers.

Micah started studying the will of God May 24 with his friend Rafael. Pray the Lord may use him to bring this young man, age 20, to Christ.

Leila has started competition swim training. Keeps her winded. Her first competition, before she started the intensive training, got her fifth place. Check that out here: random.antville.org

June is a big family month. Leila will turn 11 on the 16th, and Joel notches number 17 on the 12th, Brazilian Valentine's Day. He's a sweetheart!

May was also a biggie. Vicki unsuccessfully tried to ignore one more added year on the 1st, and on the 5th Micah hit the big 2-0 with all-you-can-eat pizza. See him stuffing it here: random.antville.org

Looks like both Joel and Micah will have short articles published in the May edition of our Portuguese-language magazine, "Edification." The theme is "From Generation to Generation: Bringing Your Children to God." They take a look from the children's angle.

Forthright Magazine

Our online and email magazine has progressed well this year, especially with the addition of Tim Hall as a columnist. He joins people like Jimmy Jividen (on leave), Phil Sanders, Greg Tidwell, Emmett Smith III, Barry Newton, A. A. Neale, and yours truly.

We've also had a number of excellent submissions by other writers that have brought added variety to the publication.

Recent articles have included these titles:

• Whose Athlete?
• The Four Gospels Are Gospel
• Bible History and Iraq
• Wide and Narrow
• A Time to Remember
• Cocooning

One person commented recently, "Forthright is without a doubt one of the best things I've seen on the internet." We're glad to be of spiritual service for the truth and grace of the gospel.

If you're not a subscriber, you can do that by sending any email to: forthright-subscribe@associate.com

Unfortunately, we lost the .org address, but have a good one here: www.forthright.net

Wrap-up

On the BZeal site are a number of independent observations and articles. Among them:

• Two More Examples of the Internet for Good
• Are We Evangelicals?
• An Educational Institution's Mission ... or Lack of One
• A Time for Tears
• Brazil Has Largest Number of Fish Species

You can read them here: bzeal.antville.org

Please keep these people mentioned and situations in your prayers, so that through them and us the Lord may be glorified.

Let us hear from you.

Blessings, Randal, Vicki, Micah, Joel & Leila Matheny

Address: Caixa Postal 11 Sao Jose dos Campos, SP 12201-970 - Brazil

Email: bzeal@randal.fastmail.fm

Missions website: bzeal.antville.org Personal weblog: random.antville.org

Home telephone: (011-55-12) 3949-1246 Office phone: (011-55-12) 3942-7753

by Randal Matheny, in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil 28 August 2002

Note: SJC is an abbreviation for the city where we live and work, Sao Jose dos Campos.

Transformation in Salvador

This story has been posted already here.

Course in Jundiai

Fourth time around for the Transformation course was in the city of Jundiai August 23-25, a couple of hours away here in São Paulo state. Thirty-one attended Friday night, with 25 on Saturday.

One man who found the course especially helpful was Marcelo, a new convert of one month. During lunch and intervals we talked at length about the Christian life, and he shared his spiritual journey with me.

Flavio considered the course "very direct and intelligent." And Katia said it "made me see everything in a totally new light."

We were blessed to stay with our friends Alexandre and Yoshie Pestana.

During the course, on Saturday, I celebrated yet another birthday.

As planned, we made it back to SJC just in time for me to teach the adult Bible class on "The Prayer of Thanksgiving" in the series "An Hour with God."

Valeria faces mastectomy

On Wednesday, the 14th, Valeria da Silva, a young mother in the congregation, underwent surgery for breast cancer. Lea Silva (no relation), Vicki, and I visited her and her husband Clayton the night before to encourage them and pray with them. The day of the surgery, Vicki and I traveled to Taubate, 40 minutes from SJC, and prayed with Valeria before her surgery, and sat with Clayton and Valeria's mother Deolinda.

Were we surprised to see her at church the next Sunday! This unfortunate experience has driven her to greater intimacy with the Lord and a greater devotion to spiritual things.

Vicki, Elida, and Lane, all from the SJC congregation, went to visit her the 27th and came away very encouraged.

Attendance up

After the July holiday slump, our Sunday attendance has improved. I missed the August 4 count, but there were 44 on the 11th, 61 on the 18th, and 57 on the 25th. Average total attendance for the month was 54.

Our three mid-week evangelistic home groups studies need to improve. Attendance per week was 10, 31, 15, and 30, for an average of 22 people per week. One group is not meeting regularly, and another missed one week.

Otavio Carvalho is studying with one family where the wife is a Christian, but the husband and adolescent son are not. He should conclude that study soon.

Vicki will begin a study Sunday with a young lady named Joelia.

Meetings and such

I made a quick trip to the city of Mococa, in the northern part of the state, on Saturday, the 17th, for a meeting of the Christian camp's overseeing council. The council president lives there, so we met at his home this time. I had to go alone, so the three-hour trip seemed long by the time I got home.

Last year, we on the board of directors finished our second term and recommended a new group begin work. Several of us moved by invitation to the council, which oversees the board's work.

The 31st the men of the SJC congregation will have their second meeting to plan next year's National Christian Worker's Encounter.

Wedding Celebration

Vicki and I took an overnight trip north of town to a mountain resort, where we celebrated our wedding anniversary on the 3rd. It was just an hour and a half away, but that short breather gave us time to reflect on 23 years of married life.

Leila and I swimming

Occasionally I take out time to accompany the kids in their activities, watching the boys play in a basketball game, for example. This month, shortly after Father's Day, the swimming school had a special event for fathers and their kids, so Leila and I jumped in the pool and played "soccer" with a watermelon and other wet games.

Wrap-up

Please pray for these tidbits of news, that in each moment and situation, the Lord may be glorified by our work and lives.

Thanks for your prayers, support, and encouragement. May our Lord bless your efforts.

Randal & family E-mail: randalm @ uol.com.br

Mailing Address: Caixa Postal 11 Sao Jose dos Campos, SP 1220-970 - Brazil

Tel.: (11-55-12) 3942-7753

BZeal for July 2002

by Randal Matheny, in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil 31 July 2002

Note: SJC is an abbreviation for the city where we live and work, Sao Jose dos Campos.

Congregation plans national event

During July the men of the SJC congregation met twice to plan for the National Christian Workers Encounter for next year. A good group of men met July 16 and 30 at my office and defined the theme and speeches for the event.

This preaching event is held on Friday and Saturday of Easter weekend each year at the Mt. of Olives Christian Camp. It is the major event for Christian workers in the Brazilian brotherhood.

Each year a different congregation is responsible for the program. We have the privilege of planning it for 2003.

We'll meet again August 17 to consider speakers.

An hour with God

The adult Bible school class began studying "An Hour with God" in the third quarter. My study is designed to help people know what to do in their devotional time with the Lord. Otavio Carvalho is using the same material to teach the young people's class.

Once again, I'm working up the material pretty much from scratch, since so little material is available in Portuguese for the churches.

Sickness

A young Christian wife and mother in the congregation was diagnosed with breast cancer. Valeria da Silva lives in Taubate, about 40 minutes from SJC. She and her husband Clayton have two small children. Please pray for her and the family as she undergoes further tests and schedules surgery.

Transformation course in Sao Paulo

Thirty people met early Saturday morning, July 13, at the Hotel Estan Plaza on Funchal St., in Sao Paulo, for an all-day marathon of the Total Transformation course. The course began at 8 a.m. and ended at 8 p.m.

Because of the city-wide nature of the course, it was not deemed feasible to hold the usual period on Friday evening.

Christians attended from several congregations in the city: Butantã, Itaquera, Jardim das Flores, Nove de Julho, Vila Maria. The coastal city of Sao Vicente was represented, others came from the city of Sorocaba, and one couple, Carlos and Emmanuelle Prazeres travelled six hours by bus from the city of Curitiba especially for the course.

The course materials and lunch, held at a nearby restaurant, were included in the registration fee, which costed just over $5.00.

In this course, I invited Francisco to share the teaching load. He developed well three of the thirteen course modules. Francisco is Events and Promotions Manager for the Rio-Sul Airlines and editor of Edification Magazine, published by BZeal. He arranged the hotel conference room and negotiated the restaurant meal.

Five more courses have been scheduled for 2002 and one for 2003.

Vicki and I stayed in Sao Paulo Friday and Saturday night at the hotel, thanks again to Francisco's contacts. Sunday morning I preached at the Jardim das Flores congregation on our unity, basing the sermon on Peter's exclusive use of the word "brotherhood" in 1 Peter 2.17 and 5.8-9.

A group of three families from that congregation and the couple from Curitiba lunched with us, and we headed home for our meeting with the church in SJC. There, I taught the Bible class and lead singing. A great day, in all.

Magazine on course

I traveled to Sao Paulo the 30th to meet with Edification magazine editor Francisco Bezerra. We lunched together and talked about the magazine. Francisco has worked hard to get new writers and has recruited people to help with news, ads, and promotion.

Since I'm online and he is also in his business, we've both hooked up to the praize.com messenger and exchange messages as needed. This has greatly facilited our joint work with the magazine.

If you'd like to contact me during the day by messenger, here are my IDs to various services:

Praize.com - randal Yahoo - randalmatheny ICQ - 162797959 AOL - randal32916 MSN - randal32916

Ripples of usefulness

Many of our published materials are reprinted in bulletins and media all over Brazil by the brotherhood. Not only Edification Magazine, but even our church bulletin articles, which we often post on the web.

On the 29th, missionary Larry Zinck from Rio de Janeiro wrote, "Thanks for that info. I went to your site and read what you wrote. I hope you won't mind if I use your article as the basis for a radio message. I do some three-minute spots for a community radio station here in Jacarepagua."

The article he referred to is a brief response to a report in a national magazine that purports to separate truth from legend in the Bible.

New site coming

To be less dependent on freebie services and the goodness of people who have granted us free space, we've started the move to paid web hosting and a first- level domain name for our sites in Portuguese. Except that the name we chose had been taken by the time we got our payment in. Now to think of a new name!

Visit

On the 21st, we met and lunched with Don Ward, a Christian from Sidney, Texas, who came to SJC for the week to teach an course to engineers at Brazil's aviation company, Embraer. The company is based in SJC. We spent a pleasant afternoon together and took him with us to church that evening.

Don had contacted us by email about the church's meeting address and time.

Before retirement in 2000, Don was an elder at the College Station church.

Family

Daughter Leila went to the first week of Christian camp, for her age group (7-10), and Joel went the third week (ages 14-17). At 19, Micah can't attend the regular sessions.

Joel has been invited to play basketball at SJC's Tennis Sports Club, which represents a move forward for him, as does Micah's move to train with the Trianon Sports Club in the neighboring city of Jacarei.

Wrap-up

Please pray for these tidbits of news, that in each moment and situation, the Lord may be glorified by our work and lives.

Thanks for your prayers, support, and encouragement. May our Lord bless your efforts.

Randal & family You can read this newsletter and more on our website at bzeal.cjb.net E-mail: randalm@uol.com.br

Mailing Address: Caixa Postal 11 Sao Jose dos Campos, SP 1220-970 - Brazil

Tel.: (11-55-12) 3942-7753

by Randal Matheny, in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil 1 July 2002

From the street, fireworks have sounded all month! And at home and in the church, there have been many reasons to celebrate as well.

Walk with me through the corridor of June, 2002, for an overview of what happened in the church in Sao Jose dos Campos (SJC), in our ministry, and around the country.

All in the Family

Last night I had a privilege nearly as great as baptizing my sons. Micah baptized Bruno into Christ, after he and Joel studied with him for a couple of months. It was a joy seeing my children being used by the Lord to bring others to salvation.

Bruno is the 15-year-old son of Peruvian parents, naturalized Brazilians. They live the next block down on our street. He is good friends with Micah and Joel. One of the good influences on his life has been the Christian camp sessions over the past couple of years, as well as his friendship with the boys and his participation in our home group studies.

Bruno's family may not react well to his decision, so please keep him in your prayers.

All in the Family II

Micah started working with me in the office the last week of the month. He's managed to "fit me in" for three half-days a week. He and Joel do stay busy with schoolwork, basketball, swimming, and church activities. (One more in August: youth group.)

Big Challenge

The Sao Jose church has been scheduled to plan the next National Christian Workers Encounter during Easter weekend, 2003. The men decided June 16 to accept the invitation of the Christian camp board to coordinate the event.

That will be a big responsibility for our small congregation, but we have good people to work with.

The SJC church

It seems it's taken the congregation the first semester of the year to adjust from Alvaro Pestana's leaving in January. Alvaro and Otavio Carvalho began the church in SJC, so his exit required some changes. He was supported by the congregation for full-time work, so now we have no one person to fill his shoes. During this time, Otavio and I have taught the brethren, as Alvaro also did, that the work belongs to us all and as members of the body, we all have our part to do.

Home Groups

In June we finished in our home study groups the thirteen-week series "People Jesus Praised." It was a fascinating effort, and at the end of each discussion we asked ourselves, "What must we do to hear the same compliment Jesus paid this person/group?"

I write the study outlines and questions for our three groups in SJC.

Bible School

June also concluded our second-quarter Bible school study on "Great Doctrines of the Bible," based on Walter Swain's work published by Star Bible. I translated the chapters as we went and administered the classes. The book was used for preacher training schools in India and summarizes well the various topics treated.

Next quarter, I continue teaching the adults Bible class with the subject "An Hour with God." We'll examine how to spend time alone with the Lord in Scripture and prayer.

World Cup Month

This past month all eyes were glued to the TV as Brazil worked its way through the competition to capture its fifth World Cup championship. The green and yellow colors of the flag flew everywhere, from banners, clothes, cars, windows. That affects one's work, but we enjoyed the festive atmosphere, and also enjoyed seeing the U.S. team go further than expected.

Publications

We printed a second edition of our seven-lesson evangelistic study, "Know God."

The Bible correspondence course, "Jesus Christ, the Simple Way," went through its fourth printing since we've been publishing it.

Birthdays

Joel turned sweet 16 on the 12th and Leila turned 10 on the 16th of June. Micah had his turn May 5 when he hit 19. Vicki refused to tell her new age May 1.

Around Brazil

The new mission team for Porto Alegre arrived at the end of June to add to the work already being done there by the two congregations. On the minus side, Rick and Monika Sandoval left the city of Vitoria to return permanently to the U.S.

Total Transformation

It's countdown for the Total Transformation course in São Paulo July 13.

This time will be different since we'll be holding the course in a hotel which Francisco Bezerra, editor of Edificacao Magazine, arranged for us. (Usually, the course is held in a church's building.)

We have invited all the area congregations to participate, but since we don't have a congregation that is promoting the course, it presents a special challenge. We hope it will work to our advantage, with the course being seen as not one congregation's event, but as a service to all. The downside of that could be that, since it's not any congregation's effort, none will feel the need to advertise it or encourage the brethren to participate.

So pray that the churches will support this effort and that the course will be a blessing to the Sao Paulo Christians.

Total Transformation II

We've invaded the year 2003 to begin scheduling the course. A brother from Sorocaba, to the west of São Paulo, requested a date for them, so since this year's slots were already filled, we nudged into next year and set it for January 10-11.

From Taguatinga, in the Federal District near Brasilia, where I'm set to teach the course in September, Joao sent this note: "Yesterday we talked about your coming in September. We're anxious and needing a lot of encouragement. I believe that God will use you that we might be transformed."

Newsletter Help

Cheryl Hissong, a friend from college days, is giving us a hand with our newsletter and websites. How about giving her a hand? Thanks, Cheryl!

Wrap-up

Please pray for these tidbits of news, that in each moment and situation, the Lord may be glorified by our work and lives.

Thanks for your prayers, support, and encouragement. Our Lord helps those who helps others.

Randal & family You can read this newsletter and more on our website at bzeal.cjb.net E-mail: randalm@uol.com.br

Mailing Address: Caixa Postal 11 Sao Jose dos Campos, SP 1220-970 - Brazil

Tel.: (11-55-12) 3942-7753