Hello to all of our friends and family -

Greetings from Rio! We’re just coming out of the coldest winter we’ve had since I’ve lived here (it must have gone down to 50 degrees more than once! Ha ha…), and the sunny days are coming back. This has been a year of challenges, blessings, and transitions for us – there’s so much to share that I’ll just have to touch on the highlights!

For starters, the Harding Chorus blessed us with a truly memorable visit in late May. About 45 students spent a week here in Rio doing concerts, street evangelism, and other activities with our church. We had a bilingual worship service that was really well attended as well as a full concert with lots of visitors and a concert in a local mall. Two other highlights of their visit were a concert at the Villa-Lobos music school in downtown Rio and a visit to the new church plant in the city of Niteroi. At Villa-Lobos, the chorus sang for some of the top musical authorities of the city as well as kids studying in their programs. We received an amazing reception there, and it opened a lot of doors for our congregation. We extend a warm “thank you” to all of the members of this group! (Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/49776859@N02/sets/72157624240046958/show/ for the official photos of this concert!)

(1) Official promotional poster, (2) Dr. Ganus and Adrienne at the Villa-Lobos music school

Another memorable campaign this year was our annual Let’s Start Talking project (LST). LST seeks to reach out to the lost using English conversation as an evangelism tool. This year we had five women who worked with more than 80 visitors! Several of these “readers” are now participating in follow-up activities at the church. We have had many baptisms over the years that originated from LST projects, so we’re very excited about these new contacts. Pray that these people will come to know Christ’s love through our English ministry and other ministries.



(1) Marcia (LST Worker) with her reader, Fábia, (2) MaryAnn (LST Worker) with her reader, Dayse

In other news, Rodrigo and I have been working together in the children’s ministry over the past few months, trying to create a strong ministry with strong leadership. On the positive side, we’ve seen a pretty steady increase in Bible class attendance and a lot of progress in this ministry. We’ve been able to get our materials all reorganized, set up a new space for children’s worship, organize art supplies and have monthly art projects, teach worship songs to the kids, and recuperate our “puppet house” and get puppet shows going again. We’ve been able to recruit and train a lot of volunteers for the ministry, including new teachers and children’s worship leaders, but we’re still feeling a lack of leadership – pray that God will send new leaders to take on the tasks of organizing volunteers and teachers and preparing materials for classes! We are also in need of new materials, especially video resources and art supplies.

(1) Rodrigo with "Aaron the priest" and his helpers on our church's 10th anniversary, (2) Rodrigo leads children's worship

On a personal note, Rodrigo and I have both gone through a lot of transitions over the past few months. Due to some changes in leadership in Rodrigo’s prison unit, he requested a transfer to another prison a few months ago. We are still waiting on this transfer to come through, and in the meantime he has been placed in another unit with a more difficult schedule and work environment. We’re thankful for his safety and security, but pray that God will grant him a transfer soon. He continues to study for the Federal Police test, which we hope will be administered sometime next year. I have also begun a post-graduate specialization in Portuguese-English translation at a local university. It’s been a great opportunity for me to expand my horizons and learn some new skills! Since classes are only two Saturdays per month, the work load isn’t too heavy and doesn’t affect my ministry. I’ve also been teaching conversational English 2 nights a week to help cover the extra costs. So we’re both very busy right now! We work hard to find times to rest and recuperate…We were so thrilled to receive my parents for a 10-day visit earlier this month. It gave us some much-needed rest and family time. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

(1) My mom, Kathy, with my Bible student, Taynara, (2) Saying goodbye at the airport!

Please continue to keep these things in your prayers this month:

- Personal Bible study with Taynara – she wants very much to be baptized, but we’re working with her family to get permission and support (she’s only 15).
- Upcoming Bible studies – pray for open hearts for Maria das Graças and Alice.
- Children’s Ministry – more leaders and volunteers.
- Jefferson and Hilton – our two young Brazilian evangelists who are taking on more and more responsibilities in the congregation.
- Our elders (José Luiz, Sérgio, and Júlio Cesar) as they continue to grow and shepherd our congregation.
- Evangelistic contacts made during our summer “campaign season”.

With much love,

Adrienne and Rodrigo