Couples' meeting October 6

In my opinion, one of the most important ministries in a church is strong marriages. That's where the church is first attacked by the enemy. Unfortunately nobody on the Porto Alegre team was willing to invest in it, because they were already busy with other ministries plus family. I had already volunteered to help, but I soon realized that my help would be taking the leadership. After inviting a few couples to lead a class and having "no" as an answer, Matt and I realized that God might have chosen us for this. I thought, "How come!! We 've just been married for 1 year and half! " So, we went to a Brazilian Christian store and searched for materials and activities for couples, it took just a day to study and prepare a nice class. We had the help of a very nice couple Branda and Renato. Since they work a lot during the week, they decided not to give the first class, but they provided the house , the food, and the invitations, we had three Brazilian couples acting out some situations , and that was all we needed. Together with Matt, I could use my teaching skills to lead a communication game. I felt that Matt and I have a lot of harmony working together. God really guided us in this meeting! We had 14 couples. They all had a good time, and we learned together about communication! By the way - We were the youngest couple at that meeting , they were all married for at least 10 years, and at most 25 years. It was a great experience for me. By preparing these classes, I have been learning to be a better wife to my husband. The feedback was great. Now we are going to teach more couples to lead future classes, by showing them our material, and supporting them in this ministry. We had a great time! everybody enjoyed and learned from and with us! Even with non-Christian couples we used the Bible as a basis to confirm everything we were talking about!
I hope God has touched some hearts in that meeting! :) Please, pray for this ministry! Next meeting will be a romantic dinner with candles and a singer (we have a member who is a singer in a restaurant). Next year, after vacation time we are commiting to have these meetings once a month. Our plan is: Communication, finances, sex. We started with communication, because without it we can't work out the other two areas! :) The missionary team in Viamão has gladly supported us, and helped us in this ministry Rui & Nádia Diogo, and Mark & Juaneila White!

Women's retreat September 28-29-30

Hi, Last weekend we had the women's retreat. It happens once a year. We had about 20 women. Jennifer and Benay did a good job planning the retreat. I collaborated having a study group and working with an ice-breaker acitivity. It is always important to renew our spiritual energies and be closer to our sister in Christ! Check the photos! :)

This is Juaneila. We have many things in commom. She is a missionary in Viamão with her husband Mark White. She has supported me to work more in this mission with my husband. It' s nice to have someone like her around, it is hard for me to understand what do to by myself. God has put angels in my way!

This was my study group at the retreat, they are (from the left to the right) Juaneila, Daisy, Valéria and Rosana. Rosana goes to the church that meets in the Blumes' house. Jú is a missionary with her husband Mark White in the city of Viamão. Valéria and Daisy attend a house church in their neighborhood near Viamão.

This is Valquíria , she was our cook in this retreat. She used to work for Matt and Paul. Now she attends the church in the city of Viamão, actually, she has a house church at her home, and they had about 6 baptisms within her family recently (Great blessing!). She is also a good friend of mine! :)

My Idea!!!

I have thought of ways to be a blessing for my students, I know I am just an English teacher and I have to do my job, but you know, a Christian does more than just a job. So I was wondering if you could help me with my ministry by being online missionaries. I mean, you could exchange e-mails with one of my students, it would be a way for them to practice their English with native Americans, and beyond this, they would be in contact with Christians, and you could know more about them, pray for them, and stimulate them to participate in a church (our house-church, :) ). So they would gain much more. Can you imagine what a blessing is to be a missionary nowadays with the help of technology? I think it would make a great difference for my life as a Christian-missionary and for God! You could write about your life as a Christian, your story, your testimony, how you became a Christian. And they could come to me to help them to translate and respond it. It would open many doors for God. Well, it is just an idea, I believe there are no frontiers for the love of God. Please think carefully and give me your opinion. Would you adopt someone to be your e-pal?

my students!

Hi, This is Davi. He is a civil servant and he is a very dedicated student. His son lives in Sydney, Australia. He's learning English to visit his son in the future and because he likes to study. He is a great student and he's learning fast. We meet once a week and study for two hours, we just speak English during this time. We study hard, grammar, speaking, llistening, we watch videos and American culture, besides we have a lot of fun!! He is married with Kátia, she works with imported cosmetic products. She started to study English with Davi but she gave up - she is also a university student and it was too much of a time commitment for her, so she hopes to return to our classes in the future.