April 26, 2005

News From São Paulo

Marvin and Diane Fray are missionaries with our mission board, working in the heart of the city of São Paulo. I first met them on July 17, 1994. It was my first day in Brazil, and I was able to attend a service at the Esperança Baptist Church before I caught my connecting flight to Fortaleza. The Frays were there, and were very encouraging to me as I began what would be a two-year stay in Brazil.

Today I received their most recent prayer letter, and asked them if I could share a portion of it here. They agreed. I hope you find it as encouraging as I did.

Wednesday night 30 youth departed on a missions' trip to a new church plant in a town about eight hours to the north of us. They had planned and prepared well and got off to a good start. Friday night Pr. Sérgio and Célia arrived home from the yearly conference of our fellowship of churches saying it was the best conference ever. The theme was Missions and they felt that pastors and leaders answered the challenge to greater outreach in their own areas as well as more investment in missions and missionaries. Sunday morning we were happily surprised to see good attendance even with the youth gone and others out of town over a prolonged weekend. Sunday night found the entire church in tears. Brazilian missionaries to Senegal reported on their ministry as they get ready to go back. Then 12 new Christians were baptized, including five from the ministry with the handicapped. All these touched our emotions, but one boy with a severely deformed body caught everyone's heart with the huge smile on his face and the joy he had in sharing the verse on which he based his salvation. The service lasted three hours but all left rejoicing, not complaining. About 11pm Sunday night the mission team arrived back and they were all so happy they were ecstatic. They had spent three days evangelizing through a morning VBS and then afternoons and evenings in the town squares. Many, many decisions were made and many visitors then came for the Sunday morning service. All the way back to São Paulo the team prayed, sang and shared testimonies. The impact on their lives will have eternal results, as will the impact on the town. PRAY for Pr. Rodinele and his wife as they follow up on this ministry.

If you are interested, you can visit the Esperança church website, where you will be able to see a picture of Marvin and Diane Fray.

Posted by Andrew on April 26, 2005 2:39 PM.