SERVANTS OF CHRIST in Brazil

1-1-2015
SERVANTS OF CHRIST
in Brazil
January-February 2016
The Rod and Ann Anderson family
Highlights:
1. XIX Convention of Churches in Northern Brazil
2. Jeremy starting College - Electrical Engineering
3. Rebecca transferring to AHS Online (sophomore)
4. Church in N. Araguaina transitioning to independence
Final Sunday at Nova Araguaina
1.
2.
3.
4.
Prayer Requests:
Wisdom for/in transitions
Guidance for focus and direction of mission
Car Repairs from accident
XX Convention to be here in Araguaina, 2017
Transitions
The last two or three years have been full of transitions. First
Eliot and then Cynthia moved to colleges in the US. Cynthia continues
at Ozark Christian College but Eliot completed his time at Otero Jr.
College and transferred to the University of Oklahoma, Norman. That
transition proved very difficult indeed and Eliot chose to sit out this
semester and got a job. He is continuing on at O.U. at Norman this fall
to work towards completing his degree.
Josue leading at Nova Araguaina
The transitions continue: This February, our third
child, Jeremy, started college at ITPAC, the largest
University in our state while continuing to live at home. (At
16 yrs old he scored in second place for Electrical
Engineering!) Rebecca also transitioned out of the Brazilian
school system to the American Highschool Online program
where she is a sophomore. Both Rebecca and Jeremy are
doing very well and enjoying their new schools.
The congregation at Nova Araguaina where we have
been for the last 7 years is also transitioning into
independence, the 14th of February was our last Sunday with
them. Josue, the elder who takes care of the church when we are on furlough has accepted responsibility for
the congregation. As part of the transition our family continues to be there helping on Wednesdays for now.
2016 Convention in Belem
Around 600 attended
Our transition – since 2007 “2007 Focus of Future Work
From a primary focus on the Jardim Goias congregation
we will expand to multi-congregational discipleship and
leadership training.
1. Helping the Brazilians establish a balanced, complete,
Brazilian reproducible discipleship and leadership
training program.”
The First major stage of that transition was to help several other
Ann’s choir continues to grow
families start the congregation at Nova Araguaina leaving the
and is well received.
Jardim Goias congregation completely in Brazilian hands. We
had hoped that Nova Araguaina would become the base for our
continued expansion into the muti-congregational outreach. But
things haven’t happened the way we expected and Nova
Araguaina was requiring us to maintain our focus there. It got to
the point that the church was so dependant on us (“church” was
the missionaries’ job) that our continued presence was preventing
the church from maturing further and so it became necessary both
for that congregation’s maturity as well as that of our mission
work to make this second major transition. Except for
Wednesdays, we are back at the Rodoviaria congregation where we started out a quarter of a century ago.
We can serve there and are hoping that things work out for this congregation to become the base we work out
of in our multi-congregational outreach.
Results:
Since we moved to Rodoviaria except Wednesdays Nova
Araguaina has started an outreach to youth using volleyball to attract
interest on Sunday afternoon. On the last two Wednesdays we have
had people from three different families that had once frequented
Sunday services but stopped coming over a year ago no matter how
often I called on them. Now with the church people themselves
doing the calling instead of “the missionaries” they are coming
Youth volleyball outreach started
again!!! Sometimes our efforts to “help” make things easier
after we transitioned away.
actually prevent the growing up process. (No, that doesn’t make it
any easier to let go, just ask the parent of any teenager!)
At Rodoviaria, where the majority of her choir members are from Ann will continue with the joint
choir of all our churches here in town. Ann just got approval to begain working on a joint choir project for
all of our churches that are involved in the Northern Brazil Convention which will be held here in Araguaina
next year. I have been asked to lead a small group focused on leadership/discipleship. I will also be working
on organizing lessons and training materials from a variety of sources and completing some of my lessons
with a look at making them more available to whoever has an interest or need (making them Brazilian
Reproducible). I will also be in the process of developing contacts and opportunities in the various churches
both for teaching and for learning what the Brazilians are already doing or think might work in this ongoing
training. Since the Convention will be here next year I plan to be very involved with that. Early in March
the 19th Convention was held in Belem for the first time. It was an excellent convention with a number of
churches from the Belem area that participated in the convention for the first time. I was told there were
approximately 600 in attendance.
One of Ann’s classes at the Convention
Ann’s Araguaina choir did so well that She has
been put in charge of preparing a multi-city
choir for 2017!!!
About three weeks ago Ann and I were in a car accident.
The other driver didn’t stop at his stop sign and so he hit our car hard enough to knock it on its side. No one
was hurt but there was enough damage that the mechanics expect it to take till the end of March to get it
fixed (and then only if they can get the parts used or new.) We have needed a second vehicle for a long time
and so this seemed like the best time to do so. After 10 days of looking around the best option we had was to
buy a new Chevrolet Onix. It cost about $13,000 of which we have about $4,000 and so have borrowed the
rest. Be praying that God will provide the rest so we can pay off the loan as soon as possible.
In the service of Christ Jesus our Lord,
Rod and Ann Anderson and family
Forwarding Agents email: montdon@juno.com
Monte & Donna Shepherd
2413 W 25th ST N, WICHITA, KS 67204
phone: (316) 831-0878
Field Address email: rraaea@gmail.com
Rodney and Ann Anderson
Rua Antonio JD Lira 186
Setor Jardim Goias
77824-030 Araguaína Tocantins
Brazil, South America
Phone(from US): (316) 444-3447
(Kansas number that skype bounces to our
Brazil phone)