Lighting the Way in Sapé

    Sapé is the tenth largest city in Paraíba, population 50,000. It began in 1883 with a Great Western train station, coming to be recognized as a city in 1925. Its name comes from the indian word for a type of grass predominant in the area, Eçape. The indians would bundle the grass together, making a torch to light their path at night.
    Sapé is called the "Pineapple City", because of its pineapple festival in November, and Augusto dos Anjos, one of Brazil's greatest poets, was born there. He was elected Paraiban of the Century.
    Catholicism is predominant. There is also a spiritist center, and several evangelical groups (Assembly of God, Baptist, Foursquare Gospel, Congregational, etc).
    And on September 4th, 2011 we arrived and had a first Bible study in Sapé. Severina's sister, Vera Lúcia, had been begging us to come. She invited 15 neighbors, half came and we studied about God's purpose for our lives. His purpose is to bring the True Light to the people in Sapé, setting their hearts on fire.

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"What About Baptism?"

Edda and I went to a nearby city to study the Bible with a family, Genilda (who is already a Christian), Ana, Mariana, Luiza, and Jefferson. While we were reading God's Word, Ana's husband, Silva, came in and sat down, and then blurted out: "What about baptism?" It took me by surprise because he has barely studied with us, but, most certainly, is already thinking about spiritual matters. Our Bible study then took a lot of detours, answering this question or that. Silva said he still has a lot of questions, and we pray that the Lord will use us to answer them, bringing him to understand the Good News!

One More Goodbye

This year has been rough for Borges's family. They lost a pillar in their family, his wife's mother in February. Now her brother has passed, buried today. He was diagnosed with prostrate cancer 18 months ago. A policeman, used to taking care of the family, he had to settle with being taken care of by the family as his body gradually shut down when the cancer metastasized to his bones. Borges and Geilza have spent every free moment taking care of Demilson's needs, and it has been torture watching him slowly wear away. His colleagues in the Military Police carried his casket, played taps on a trumpet, presented his family with a Paraiba flag, and thanked his family for supporting him in defending society for nearly thirty years. It was a nice gesture, but the event that gives us believers hope in the face of death is Jesus winning over the grave. He is our certainty that a grave is not the end.

Men Preparing Themselves in the Word

Every Tuesday night for the last month we have been getting together to study God's Word. The subject is controversial but needed because it affects relationships and families in the church, and we as spiritual leaders will be more effective if we are united in teaching Jesus' will on marriage and divorce. Just like Jesus, we want to go back to beginning and uphold God's ideal when He created marriage: “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6

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