waleska's corner

taking our nephew and niece to the zoo!

2009-11-14T10:51:00.000-08:00

While Matt and I don't have any kids, sometimes we practice with our nephew and niece, their names are Cassiano and Mariah! They're three years old, and they demand a lot of work!

They like to dress up in costumes, Cassiano is wearing a Batman outfit, he believes he can fly! He ran the through the entire Zoo and he tried to jump the fences ... he gave us a lot of work!

I think I had never seen a Giraffe before! The kids were very impressed by the size of its neck!

Cassiano loves to watch " The Ice Age" he recognized the elephant he said it looked like the mammoth from the movie, I just wondered where he got this vocabulary! :) Look at Matt! Doesn't he look good? He was born to be an Uncle! :)

Mariah went to the Zoo dressed like Snow White! She is very calm and obedient, I think I could take care of two or three girls like her!

These are my two sisters, Carlota with Mariah, and Patrícia. Yes, we took their moms to enjoy the day with us! :)

Cassiano ran so much that he was sweting a lot, it was difficult top catch him!

They were an extra attraction at the zoo with their outfits!

We finished our day at the port of Porto Alegre, we were allowed to visit a real ship. It was quite an experience for them!

That was the end of our adventure! Matt and I just love to spend time with them, especially talking to them. We have great conversations! :)

That's all folks!

Love,

Waleska

English Party!

2009-09-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had one more English party. It is a way to help the missionaries to meet new people by inviting my students to participate! I really like these parties, we eat good food, we play games and chat only in English. It is really fun! Kevin and Benay were very generous to offer their house! :) May God Always provide the things they need, they really know how to share!

These are Luisa, and her sister Ligia, with her friend Maria in the middle. I have gone to Ligia and Luisa's house twice a week for about a year. We talk about almost everything in class, they are only teenager, but we are really good friends. Sometimes their friend Maria visit our classes!:)

There you can see Martje in front of the fireplace, she is my student from Germany. Next to her you see Briena, my student from the US. Yeah, that's right, sometimes she visits Martje's classes and do some English exercises with us!

On the left there is Ricardo, he brought his daughter Bruna and her friends from the military school! Ricardo is a big fan of our English parties, he has even offered his house for the next one!

This is Nicole, on the left, Martje's mother, my German friend!We try to meet for a coffee, but we are both very busy. At least we could chat a little at the english party! She is talking to Cesar's mom in the middle and her friend on the right.

This is Bruna, Ricardo's daughter playing wii with Cesar! We all had lots of fun! I hope we can develope good relationships for the church!

Mariah and Cassiano`s birthday!

2009-06-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

These are my two sisters, Patricia and Carlota.. They both had their babies at the same time with two weeks apart. Matt and I helped to have a party for Mariah and Cassiano together.

This is our nephew Cassiano enjoying his first bike!

This is Matt helping our niece Mariah to get ready for her party!

And there you can see them celebrating their 3rd birthday!

I love birthday parties, I feel like a child in the middle of so many candies! hehehe! :)

Matt and I are practicing to be parents with our little niece and nephew, so let's see what the future brings for us...

more about my students!

2009-06-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hi, this is Martje! She has been studying English with me for about two months. She is very special because she comes from a missionary family (Evangelical Free Church). Martje and her family came from Germany when she was about 8 years old. She is now more Brazilian than German. She is 13 years old, very cute, and also pretty tall for her age. We are going to start to get-together with other English students to practice English and play games, she can be a great Christian influence to my other students! Well, that`s a little example about what I do during the day. I spend my days going from home to home teaching English and searching for opportunities to influence people with Christianity! Please pray for my activities! :)

News from Porto Alegre!

2009-06-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

This week our house church went to the park, we worshipped there.

We shared popcorn! We with our brothers and sisters!

It was a different experience to take the Bible to the park! After all, God does not want to be locked in a building, he is part of our life and we want to testify his word!

Remember Flavia? Our former secretary has just graduated and she is selling real estate now! We want to bring her back to the church, but it is difficult, because her job requires her to work on the weekends! :(

We also like to meet our church members for a meal. Here we are at Joao and Clarisse's house. They have a new house church at their home, we try to meet as often as we can to support each other spiritually. In the picture, you can also see Luzia and Daniel with their son Mateus! It was a happy celebration because they were divorced, and now they are back together! Luzia has prayed for this for almost five years and she has never given up! :)

April Update - Easter Retreat

2009-04-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

On April 10, 11,12 we had an Easter Retreat with all the house-churches, we had a great time, we had classes for women ministered by Nadia Diogo from the church of Viamao. Here are some pictures of this class! I can also introduce you my sisters in Christ!

And in the next picture, there is Raquel, Ines' daughter! We are great friends!

In the picture below, you can see Ines, she knows a lot about the word, and I always learn something from her!

On the left you can see Priscila, Rui Diogo's sister. She is the most ingenuous and innocent person I have ever met. I love her sweetness! :)

And this is my good friend Lorena. She is always calm. we have good conversations about family, children, etc!

And here you can see the entire group of women who attended the class. We talked about how to be light to others! I can already see a lot of light in their eyes! May God give us wisdom do pass it on!

April Update!

2009-04-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hi, after a long time without writing anything due to our long two-month fourlough through the USA I took a while to get back to my normal life, and get back to my work that I love. The Salgado family is one of the first families we visited after furlough. Alex and Jennifer were doing house church there before they left to the US. So we visited them because we miss them and also to check on how they are doing. They decided to go to a church building near their house because they can have more activities for their teenager girls. We understand that house churches are not applicable for every family, and there is also the fact that they moved away from Porto Alegre and it is difficult for the other members of our house-church to visit them more often. We will continue to support them with our visits and prayes. They will always be our dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

This is our house church. This one was on April 4th, three days after my birthday. I had a great surprise, Marzo and Lu (our best man and woman in our wedding) came to see us. I served cake and tea, and we praised the Lord and had the Lord`s supper together.

We also visited Luzia along with our friends Joao and Clarice, and they got me a surprise for my birthday. After dinner we had a delicious cake and happy birthday. I'm not used to being surprised like that. I'm always the one who prepares the surprises! So that was good!
By the way, Joao and Clarice started a house church in the military base where they live. They are starting with a another couple. Isn't it wonderful?

Luzia is congregating with a new Church of Christ building with another team of missionaries. She also prefers a building because she wants her son, Mateus, to have Sunday School with other kids. We keep in contact and pray for each other! In fact she is getting back together with her ex-husband Daniel. That's an answer to our prayers!

This is my oldest friend Blanka. She used to be my Portuguese student. Last year we celebrated our birthday together drinking champagne and eating cake. My birthday is on April 1st and hers on April 4th. Her family says she is becoming senile, she is not speaking anything but "yah". But when she saw me again, she started speaking. She said my name, and when I gave her flowers for her birthday she said: "very nice" . That was a very touching moment for me, she did not say anything else, but she held my hand strong and wouldn't let me go. I talked with her a lot, I know she could understand me, I could see it in her eyes. She is now 96 years old. It's strange to say that I don't see her as my granmother but as my friend, when we celebrated our birthday together last year I didn't feel any age difference between us!

Well, this is a little about my short life of 32 years old!

Interesting Students!

2008-11-19T11:44:00.001-08:00

As you know, I'm an English teacher, I have about 25 students, most of them come to my home to learn English. I get to know many interesting people as my job is to talk to them in English and make them speak as much as they can to practice their English. Above you can see Antonio and Lísia Machado, they are a very nice couple, he is a law student and she is a civil servant. Antônio was born in Portugal but grew up in Brasil. We have many good conversations about life in English. In this picture we are playing scrable with Matt!

This is Loreta Freitas, she is a Biology professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. She needs English because she is working in a project with the Unicersity of Bern in Switzerland. As we were talking in English about our lives, I found out that she belonged to the church of Christ when she was a child, her belated father, Joffre Freitas used to work at the American Consulate in Porto Alegre and befriended with Allen Dutton, she used to play with Allen Jr. and the Signoretts brothers that come to our house church. She said that she wants to bring her mother to our house church on a Sunday in the sake of the old times. She also said that she still remembers her Sunday classes with Maria Dutton when she was 3 or 4 years old!

I am glad that God has been using my work as an instrument to bring people back!

Please, pray for my students!

God Bless you!

Refreshment!

2008-11-10T05:19:00.000-08:00

I would like to thank the Continent of Great Cities for the wonderful conference for the missionary women which was held on the first week of november in Maresias, São Paulo. It was good to have a time to reflect about my role in the church, although I am not a "professional" missionary, I found out that I am one by heart. Georgia Freitas did a very good job by organizing this conference for us! Becky Holton was my counsoler, we had really meaninful conversations in our small group. It is wonderful to feel accepted and expected to go! I also thank Juaneyla and Nádia from Viamão for insisting me to go!
I didn't take my camera so when I receive more picture I will put some in my blog to share with you. Unfurtunately on the second day I was bitten by a moskito on the sole of my foot, I had to go to an emergency room and get some medication and couldn't walk for the rest of the week. :(
But anyway, it was fun! At least I walked by the entire sea shore on the first day!
I am glad I had a talk with Dorris Schulz , now I am back with lots of plans for our house church !
Gotta go now! Please keep praying for our challenges down here!
Love,

Waleska

2008-11-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

This is my niece Mariah, she only 2 years and half. We love to make cookies together!

She's a great assistant! She loves to help me in the kitchen!

Look, she even break the eggs and add them to the dough! Isn't it cute?

We love to spend time together! I am already practicing to be a mother in the future! :)

Women's retreat

2008-11-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

In the end of October we had our yearly women's retreat. It was a blessing to spend time with our sisters in Christ. The topic of the retreat was "women praying".

This is Lorena and I studying the bible together, she's been in the church for more than 20 years, I suppose. I always learn a lot from her.

The retreat was on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Many women could only attend it on Saturday, so on this day we had around fifty women. It was a time for sharing, learning, and renewal! It was also special because it was the first retreat prepared by the Brazilians with a little help from the missionaries! It was a victory. And now they feel more confident, as they can't always depend on missionary work!

This is Nádia, my sister and friend in Christ, she was invited to give a class! She is always there for us, even though we belong to different congragations!

This is my sister and friend Clarice, her class was very good! As she is a doctor at the emergency room in the hospital she could testify how her prayers are answered in such an enviroment of death.

Everybody came home from this retreat spiritually renewed and ready to pass this message on!

News!
Next Year the congration of Viamão and I are preparing a special women's retreat. It will be on May 1st, 2nd and 3rd next year. The difference is that it will be national. We are inviting the women of all the congrations in Brazil. It is supposed to be a big event to reunite the sister in Christ. I would like to invite you to be part of that by donating small gifts to be given as a treat for each day. It can be note pads, pens, lipsticks, etc. Matt and I will be in our Furlough during the months of January and February. If you are interested in contributing somehow, please contact us at 4th avenue church! We really appreciate it!

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.(1 Peter 4:10)

Couples's meetings!

2008-09-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

God has blessed us with many good meetings! We have all been learning a lot from each other. We usually meet at a different home every month to talk about marriage life through the bible. We chat, we eat, we have fun, we strengthen our bonds. The meetings are not only for our house church, all the couples are invited to come, some couples come from far away, like our friends from Viamão! It's been a great blessing working with couples! Please pray for our ministry!

Tholl Circus

2008-08-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I take a weekend off and visit my sister and my niece in the country, this last weekend we went to the circus. Isn't my niece really cute? This group started about 15 years ago with very poor kids, some of them didn't even have money to take the bus to go trainning, some were even living on the street. So the director of the show invested on their talent against all odds and difficulties. Now they're pretty famous all over Brasil, their show is kind of expensive, however. They are fully booked until the end of December, they even have a contract with a channel TV. This is an example that everything is possible if we have iniciative, and work hard for our goals.

Here is a link to some of their video presentation on You tube, I hope you enjoy it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfZPpGHCYl0&feature=related

Teaching the Bible!

2008-08-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is our bible study group. These girls are friends of my sister Patrícia. I met them at my nephew birthday party (which is in this blog below). Then I had the idea of inviting them to study the bible with Matt and I. As I have always wanted my sister to go to the church and she had always refused to, I decided to get to her through her friends, and amazingly they accepted the invitation and Patrícia feels comfortable among them! BINGO! :)
Now, we meet every Saturday, we have a cake or cookies and have a nice time! I wanted to reach my sister, and God gave us 4 more girls. We gave bibles for everyone, they didn't even have a bible, we are teaching from the beginning. Please pray for this ministry. If we can reach at least one of them, it is already a great victory, although it has a great possibility to become a new house church!

Pastor Dreher

2008-07-28T16:43:00.001-07:00

Now you can know a little bit more about my roots. I grew up in the Lutheran church. And I was influenced by the minister Carlos Dreher, who on July 20th celebrated 40 years of ministry at the church. He is a very open minded minister willing to know about other religions. He believes that we can all live in harmony in spite of our differences, he has many different friends in the Catholic, Methodist, and Protestant churches. He believes that we are all brothers besides the denomination of the church. That's why when I met Matt I didn't have any kind of prejudice about the Church of Christ and gladly accepted to be part of this family. We thank him for opening the doors of the Lutheran church to celebrate our wedding and give a space for a Church of Christ minister to speak. I thank God that we have people like him in the world leading a community of Christians without any prejudice and willing to accept other people as brothers.
I remember him asking me why I was leaving the Lutheran church for the Church of Christ, then I answered him: I fell in love! So he understood! :)

My Spanish Class!

2008-06-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is Gabriela, my Spanish teacher, she's from Uruguay, so her Spanish is the original. :) We met around 10 years ago at the university, we both did languages with different major, mine was English/Portuguese and hers Spanish/Portuguese. I hope someday she can be part of our house church! We were celebrating her birthday in this class! :)
These are my classmates! We are finishing the second semester of Spanish. I'm glad I still have time to grow and learn more and more! At the same time I meet more people, and have more chances to talk about our house church! Wish me luck at the sapanish test!

folk music show!

2008-06-28T12:02:00.001-07:00

This is a part of a World folk music show we had been and want to share with those who have been to brazil and want to relive special memories. Please check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdBJHRR4eoM

Enjoy it!

Cassiano`s birthday June 13th

2008-06-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

Matt and his birhthday nephew! Aren`t they cute?

This month we had our nephew birthday to celebrate. He is a cute little boy of 2 years old. We celebrated the date along with my two sisters Patricia and Carlota and the lovely Mariah, Carolota`s daughter, on the right. Matt and I are his godparents! :)

couples` meeting! May 24th

2008-06-04T13:11:00.001-07:00

Hi, Our couples ministry is doing well! Again I didn't take any pictures cause I forgot to take my camera! :( Two dear friends opened their new house for Christ, Joao and Clarice Spencer! We had 6 couples, and two non-Christians husbands. We talked about finances, one of the topics that cause arguements in the marriage life. We finished the night with hamburgers made by our brother Lauro, and soft drinks and with a good surprise, one of the non-Christian husbands offered to open his house for the next meeting! I hope it is a good sign! Love, Waleska

Game night

2008-06-03T11:47:00.001-07:00

One of my projects as a missionary's wife is to use my acquaintances at work to introduce Matt, and get to know my students better. On Friday, May 23, we had a game night at home in English. As you can see we played Scrable, it is not a very common game in Brazil, so my students can learn more about the American culture, I also made some American cookies to complete the night! We hope to have events like this once a month with my advanced students!

Ah! I was sooo involved in the game that I forgot to take a picture of the group! ;)

Rotary meeting with my students

2008-06-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

On May 20, I had lunch with my students at the Rotary Club in Cachoeirinha, a city near Porto Alegre. The one in the picture above on the left wearing glasses is my student, he is the current president of the Rotary Club. So he needs English.
That week, he and his wife received a group from the USA, and invited me to cooperate. They are professionals who come to Brazil to exchange experiences about culture, so I could help with that. Since most of them were Spanish, English and Portuguese teachers, I just had to tell them how I work here in Brazil.
This is me and Mara, she is also my student, with the ladies from the US. We had a great time, and I could know my students better. Little by little I get to know my students. I just wait for the right time!
Tha's my personality! I love meeting new people, knowing about other cultures, I love to learn other languages, right now, I am in the second semester of studying Spanish at CLEP, the school where I used to teach. I am enjoying it a lot!
I hope I can use my gift to reach more and more people!
Please, pray for this couple, Mara and Luis! They are very hardworking and a very nice couple!
May God bless this work!

Couples' retreat!

2008-05-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

On May 10th we had a couples' retreat with the team in Viamao. As I had said before I love this Team we are always keeping in contact and helping each other whenever we can. We went to this retreat to learn from them, and have a retreat with our couples in the future!

Rui and Nadia leading the study group! I think they`re great!

Afterwards we had a lovely and romantic boat ride through the famous "Lagoa dos Patos" (Ducks' lagoon) the biggest lagoon in Brazil!

On the left we had a morning meeting by the river where we could have a word and share our thoughts about God and Nature!

My birthday girl!

2008-05-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

On Monday we celebrated my niece's second birthday! Tomorrow we are going to the countryside to visit her! I hope that in the near future I can have a daughter as beautiful as she is! Ah! She is also our Goddaughter! :)

Happy birthday for my mom!

2008-05-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

This last Sunday ( May 25) was my mom`s birthday. She is a great example of a mother should be! We had difficult times together as a family, we had our losses, she became a widow at a very young age, and had to raise us all alone, she continued to have faith in the future, and she always took us to the church! She is a woman who follows her dreams! Right now she is studying English in the USA (one of her dreams of 30 years ago) and will be back in a few months! I can't imagine my life without her strength! God bless her! :)

Developing Friendships!

2008-05-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

This is Raquel! She has gone to our church for 4 years. She was there in the beginning of my relationship with Matt. She is going to our house church with her mom, she is in her 20s, the only young lady in our house besides me! We have always had a friendly relationship, but now, I think I'm touching her heart somehow; she's very nice, but difficult to open up and share about herself. Now we are spending more time together, I can understand her heart better! We have very funny and good moments as sisters! Please pray for this relationship! :)

April 26th Couple`s meeting!

2008-04-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

This time, I didn`t take any pictures because I forgot to recharge my batteries. I feel bad because I like to give an illustrated report about our work here in Brasil!

Anyway, I chose the picture above to represent the couples! We had a great time in our apartment last saturday. We talked abou finances using the bible as our guide. It was very rewarding , everybody participated and shared experiences. It is also a great opportunities some for Christian women with non-Christian husbands. They go to these meeting just to please their wives and they ended up enjoying, participating, and interacting with other members. These men don`t like to go to the worships, at the same time they don`t refuse a couple`s meeting!

Now, I see that preparing these meetings is more important than I thought!

Please, keep praying for our working here! We are doing our best to serve our brothers in Christ!

Another birthday girl!

2008-04-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

April is a month when many special people have birthdays. This is Grace and she is turning 21. I actually saw her growing up, more than that, I feel part of what she became. I met her when she was 14 years old. I was her English teacher at a language center. Yes, I used to work with teenagers, they kind of liked me; some of them, including Grace, even went to my wedding! I feel special about Grace because we identify with each other, she had her difficult times during adolescence, and one day she came and said to me that during her classes with me she could escape from her troubles, the English classes were a motive for her to overcome her difficulties. So I realized that I wasn't just teaching, I was making a difference in her life. We had a play in English "Romeo and Juliet" and she was my Juliet, as sweet as she can be, as a student she was my proud and joy, as her English is also perfect!,
To my surprise she is following my steps, she was approved at the federal university, and she is studying languages, the same course and university I went to. In 2005 we had a program at the church called LST (Let`s start talking) for teenagers. I invited all the teenagers of the language center, including Grace, she was charmed by bible studies in English, and by the people she met. She made good friends, she visited some missionaries in the US. And she was finally baptized last year!

This is her mom, Ivoli! She is also coming to one of our house churches, she and her husband haven't decided yet about being baptized, but Grace already did the first step! As a teacher and evangelist I feel that my mission is accomplished with Grace!

Ah! She also wants to be a teacher and work with English, just like me! Maybe we can work together sometime!

The message that I get from this story is that every act is important, I try to be the most patient teacher I can be, and work with love, maybe I can influence my students with my example!

I thank God for Grace`s life! She makes me want to do more and continue my mission next to Matt!

Kids` ministry

2008-04-13T17:09:00.000-07:00

These are our only two kids in our kids class, Joao and Mateus! The teacher is Branda Signoretti, she is always willing to help us, although she works full time in a bank, doing a post-graduation course, and she is also the mother of two teenage guys, Guilherme and Wagner, she finds time to think of the others! She is serving the lord according to her gift. She will be teaching the bible for Joao, we have a nice book that he can follow. It is like having a private class, as she is using my office!
The teenagers in our group take turns to entertain Mateus while we have the message. They use my dinning room for drawing and playing with bible related toys! Please pray for this ministry.

We are all trying to get envolved and serve one another! Branda said that she is doing this because Matt and Joao Spencer are giving a special attention to her two sons., they were raised in the church and still haven`t decided on their baptism yet (One more thing to pray about)!

My birthday!

2008-04-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

I would like to share with you a special day that I had, it is my birthday. It was 10 days ago, April 1st, yes, that's right, April fool's day, at least it is a difficult date to forget! :)
I had not planned anything special, and wasn't expecting anything either. Just a normal working day. Also because my husband went on a silent retreat with other ministers, I could not be that selfish and not let him go, after all love is letting the other person be happy, love is selflessness!
Anyway, I worked in the morning and during my break I went to Skype to talk to my parents-in-law. I think they were looking forward to talking to me! We opened the presents together! They had sent me a box of presents through mail. It was actually nice to be able to share my happiness with them through the technology of internet where we are able to see and talk at real time. That was my first surprise of the day!

These are the flowers that Matt sent to me in the afternoon! He also called me in secret breaking the regulations of the silent retreat. Isn't that special?

This is my other special surprise! In the afternoon I went to teach Portuguese to my oldest student and friend, Blanka Muller, her birthday was on April 4th. Her maid and she had prepared a table with specialties and a cake to celebrate our birthday!
It was really special that she did this for me. I was celebrating my 31 years and she was turning 95. I wish we weren`t so far apart in terms of age. We have lots of things in common!
Then, as classical, we finished our afternoon with a nice glass of fine champagne! God Bless our lives! :)

Then I went to a mini amusement park in the shopping center and played with my nephew Cassiano. We had a very good time!
I really play like a kid. I love to play video games but I don't usually have time for that kind of fun!
This is my younger sister Patricia, she is the mother of Cassiano!

Later, another suprise! My sister Carlota came from the countryside to have dinner with us. She brought her daughter Mariah to complete my happiness!
We had pizza to celebrate, we talked, we laughed, we had fun! It had been a while since the last time we got together!

Aren't they cuuuuuuute! They were my best presents, my goddaughter and godson!

But it was not over! Next day Matt was back and he took me to my favorite restaurant: Dado Garden. There we planned our next adventure together: our trip to Iguaçu Falls to celebrate our two-year-anniversary! To be continued...

So that was my day, it might be a fool's day for some, but I had lots of love!

God bless you all. Keep praying for our mission in Brazil!

Encouragement at the women`s meeting in Viamao!

2008-03-29T18:10:00.001-07:00

Hi, It is me again visiting other congregations of the Church of Christ! This time I went to a women`s meeting in Viamao. There were about 30 women, which is a real blessing!
It was very encouraging, every presence is valuable for this group, I felt welcomed and accepted there! I was able to observe the way Juaneylla and Nadia (the missionaries there) prepare everything, so I can bring this to my group. Everything Juaneylla and Nadia do is with love, that`s why they are so succesful. That's the example I'm following!
We had the pleasure to have Janete Parker (from Texas) as our speaker and Juaneylla was glad to translate the class, she did great! :)
This is Nadia, leading the songs! She is a very special friend for me! I thank God for having them in my life!

One of the comments that Janete said was that she was impressed with the diversity of the group, I mean there were women from different social class and races. And we are all together for one purpose, Jesus!

I learned a lot today, at the same time I felt encouraged by this meeting, I realized that my presence there was also encouraging for those ladies! :)

Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 1 Corinthians 12:27

Couple's meeting March 8th

2008-03-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here we are again, discussing with couples about how to communicate. This was our first couples meeting of 2008. I think we were the ones who learned the most! The topic of the meeting was comunication! So we started with an practical example: have you ever played wireless phone as a child? That's what we did as adults, and we were terrible, everytime we pass on a message we change words and consequently the meaning!
We shared experiences and ideas based on the Bible! e.g.: 1 Peter 3:7, Ephesians 4:26-27 and 29-30, Proverbs 18.2, and Ephisians 4:15 and 25 .
We had a great time chatting about these topics, then we had a meal and spent some time together! It is a great pleasure to open my apartment for God's purpose, everybody seemed to be comfortable and felt home. I love the home environment!
Above you can see Regis and Conceição Signoretti (left couch), they're moving to their new house soon, and they offered to open it and inaugurate in the next couple's meeting. It is a way to thank God for this new acomplishment of their lives! Next couple's meeting will be on April 26th!

Please pray for this ministry, Matt and I felt discouraged during the week of the meeting, I almost gave up this ministry, but thanks to my husband and the joy of people from the team of Viamão bringing me words of wisdom I kept on. I thank God sending "Angels" to keep me standing!
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephisians 4.29

More plans for 2008!!!

2008-03-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, that`s right! I'm starting a newspaper for the church, I don't know when it is going to be ready, but I have good intentions to unite our ideas. I want to include a message (from my husband, of course!!!), what's going on in the house churches, social projects, classifieds, personnals, comics, sudoku, interview of members of the church, praye, and things like that! I don't have much experience, so Juaneila and Mark White from the team of Viamao are helping me, they're good friends, and they are always there for me! :) If you have any suggestions I would be glad to know, any help is welcome! I just don't know how I find time to do these things...:) It might be God providing everything I need to serve and glorify him!

This is Luzia! She comes to our house church! She has just adopted Mateus. This is a picture of her getting a blessing for her son. He is her first son, he is two years old, just a cute little boy, but very active! :) As we don't have any children in our house church, except for Joca, Clarice's and Joao's son (they're our best friends that Matt talks about on his blog). Their son goes to the Blumes house church because he would be the only child here. So in order to keep these families coming to my house, I decided to have a children`s worship in another room in my house, so while Matt leads the adult group, I could be with the children telling stories while playing with them. What I remember most about my childhood in the Lutheran church was my time at the children's worship where my mom was the teacher; it was a really meaningful experience for me, and I want to pass this on to the children in our church. I see how God has given this fruit in my life; because of this Christian base in my life I accepeted to take the challenge to marry a Christian minister. Therefore, I would like you to pray for me, it is difficult for me to find time and the necessary help for that, I hope God can send me the right person. I will need to search for appropriate material to start. Right now, I have Mateus, 2 years old and Joca 8 years old . That will be a big challenge as children are much smarter nowadays thanks to the technology.

Brazilian Carnaval

2008-02-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

This is the Carnaval we know in Brazil! People love to dance in parades, have fun and just enjoy!
That's our tradition! It's part of our culture. Brazilian carnaval is known worldwide for this national party! These images represent what come to our minds when we think about Carnaval. This is what Carnaval is like in Brazil! Funny, huh?

Instead of falling into this temptation, during Carnaval our church spent two days on a mission work, we served others! As you know, the Salgado family has just moved to a new town called Cachoeirinha, part of the suburbs of Porto Alegre. Actually we are not sad for this. Now we have a new house church in Cachoeirinha. But in order to call people's attention to go to this house, we took the opportunity to paint the public day care for the children of the community, this way we could integrate the community and talk about the Salgado family house church. Unfortunately we did not have many people interested in us, at first. But we have surely planted a seed in that community. Check the pictures:

Paul Morrow
The Blumes
I was working in the kitchen! That's a good support!( Mom, I'm wearing the apron you sewed for me!) Painting is not my talent to serve! I prepared cookies, cakes, coffee, etc... As a way to keep everybody well fed while working!

Sascha Terry
Ines! She comes to our house church!
Joao Spencer, our dear friend!

The Blumes kids!
Rute Salgado! She's our hope!

My husband is sooo cute when he's working! :)
I love these girls! Ansley Blume helped me with the cookies!
The kids were taking a break!

This is Paulo Renato, a true servant of God!

Together we can do wonders in the name of God! It was really worthy to trade Carnaval for this! Now it is time for some rest and relaxation!

happy Carnaval!

My Personnal Connections!

2008-02-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

Hi, here I am in Camaqua, where my sister and her family live. I was there on February 1st to honor her. She is an accountant and she was sworn in as the new Secretary of Culture of Camaqua (a city with 60.000 people. We had a ceremony where the mayor and my sister gave a speech. It was nice to be there. I'm very proud of her! I am a person who values the family ties! :)
I hope to use this connection in favor of our missionary work, through campaigns, cultural events, etc. Now with this house church model the gospel has no limits!

Carlota is giving an interview to the radio!

She is like Evita Peron, everywhere she goes in Camaqua, she is recognized, and everywhere Matt and I go there, we say we are related to Carlota, it is amazing how people treat us better because of this! hehe!

Thank you for the Bibles!

2008-01-26T16:43:00.000-08:00

First, I would like to thank for the bibles, especially to Jeremy and Erin Bodager, and all of those who offered to help me in this ministry. I hope we can make a different in people's lives. I have already given bibles to two of my students and the reaction was pretty good. I will help them to read and clarify English questions about the grammar and structure, and of course we can talk about the content! :) For the other students, I will wait for an opportunity to give it, when they open up about their lives, a birthday, or at Christmas. I want to feel the soil first. Pray that God will bless me with this and that I will know the most appropriate time to give the bibles! I will continue updating to you new pictures of my students.

I accept suggestion, too!

May 2008 be the year of planting the seeds! :) Happy 2008!

My family vacation

2008-01-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

For a wife, especially when you are a foreigner, one of the most important things is to get along with your in-laws. In my case, I don't have to make any efforts for that. I have loved them all since the first time I was introduced to them. I really feel I am a part of this wonderful family, they are all very sweet and intelligent people ( I'm surprised they liked me!) With them I don't feel just welcome, I feel accepted! And I say the same for the North Beckley Church of Christ where I found a cozy environment and very nice people!

Now, enjoy the pictures!

This is Virginia, our good friend!

This is Ruth, she enjoys sending us cards!
My sister in law Angela!

Above, my family game night!

We all like to spend time playing games. :)

Aren't we cute? hehe

This is the adorable Grandma Boyer

teaching Matt how to play Sudoku!

We had a great time with them!
I really feel part of them!

I

I am sooo blessed with my new sister!

She is so patient to teach me how to sew!

This is Charley, he is also a member of the family!

This is Grandpa Boyer teaching me Sudoku! It's addicting!
We spent magic moments together!
I thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful Christian family!

2008 Plans

2008-01-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

We are dressed up to work for God! :)
This year our goal is to continue the couples' ministry. for the first time our church is going to have meetings once a month from March on (January and February are vacation months)!

Please pray for Davi and Katia (my students) and Cesar and Viviane (our friends)!

This year, we are working for the health of the couples, because if they are not well, the church won't be healthy!

May God bless this ministry!

"Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor". Ecclesiastes 5:9

Our trip to the shopping center!!!

2007-12-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

Last Monday we took our niece and nephew, Mariah and Cassiano, to visit Santa Claus at the shopping center. They are only 18 months old, and they were really afraid of Santa! With them we are practicing to be parents! Check out the pictures! :)

Cassiano is not happy about it! He is not understanding anything! ;)

Mariah couldn't stay at Santa's lap, she needed to call her mommy Carlota to take the picture!

We also couldn't resist, as we don't have any pictures with Santa when we were kids!

Mariah was terrified by Santa! These mothers like to obligate the kids to take pictures!

Cassiano also needed his mommy Patrícia to take the picture, he also cries whe he sees Santa!

He didn't last 10 seconds on Santa's lap! He's thinking "Get me away from this crazy guy!"

Now you know a little bit more about our Brazilian family, these two little kids are very special for us! We want to be there for them, and be an influence and example for them to follow Jesus! They mean hope for us! We imagine that they can do great things and make a difference in the lives of people who and will surround them!

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these". (Mark 10:14)

Habitat for Humanity in São Leopoldo

2007-11-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time in São Leopoldo (metro area of Porto Alegre) three little princesses lived in a very poor house like this one. One day, a group of Christians from many different denominations got together and decided to do something to make a difference in their lives.

This group of people are from Habitat for Humanity, above you can see Matt translating for them. They are Christians from different parts of the world, mostly USA, getting together to build houses for humanity. Instead of going on vacation, they travel to serve others!

In March I took a Saturday to help them to communicate with the real construction workers and a young engineer. I helped them to carry some bricks and also played with the three little princesses in the house, all the family was involved!

This is Pat, he came all the way from the USA with his wife just to serve and work hard, really hard! And he didn't need to speak Portuguese, there were times that he could communicate just with a glance, or some gesture! The universal language there was solidarity!

This is his wife, she is also Pat! They stayed in São Leopoldo for a week, and will be remembered for much longer in this family!

These are the three little princesses of the house! They were soooo happy with so many volunteers speaking different languages... But the important thing is that they will be fine and have more quality of life. They will have dignity!

This is the team of volunteers with the Brazilian family and the construction workers! Together they could do wonders, even raising up walls!

At the same time 39 houses were being built , after Easter more 240 houses were built this year in São Lepoldo, involving hundreds of Volunteers like Pat and Pat St. George!

I thank all of them for doing this. It is not easy. I just worked translating for them for 1 single day, and of course I helped by carrying bricks, by the end of the day I was so tired that I slept for 14 hours...

The three little princesses helped a lot, too! If I was tired after a day, can you imagine how tired they were? Maybe not. They were sooooo excited about having a new home that they might have forgotten to be tired!

This picture was taken yesterday, 7 months after. Adrielle (10 yrs old) is on the left, Adrianne (13 yrs old) is on the right. The house is ready! The princesses have their castle now! :)

Here it is! After an initial work of 40 days, with different groups working every week, and continued work by the Brazilians, it's finished! Together we can make a difference! I am happy that I could have a small part in this house! I am really motivated to work more in the future, and make more difference! We can work wonders in the name of Jesus!

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another" 1 Peter 4:10

Couple's meeting / fourth Edition

2007-11-20T05:09:00.000-08:00

Bossa Nova show!

Renato & Branda
Moema & Roberto
Davi & Kátia
The Signorets

Benay & Kevin
César & Viviane

Lorena & Lauro

Me & my cake!

Saturday, we had our fourth couple's meeting with the help of Branda and Renato. We used the parlor of our building. We had less couple's this time, 8 couples! But the good thing is that we had 2 couple's visiting; Davi and Kátia, my English students, and César and Viviane, friends of ours, they had us over for a barbecue when my mon and sister in law were visiting !

Love wins!!!

2007-11-19T11:39:00.000-08:00

This is Carolina Crippa, we just had a farewell party for her at the company. She was learning English for a romantic reason, she is going to marry an American from New Jersey. They had been dating for three years, and finally after all the bureocracy they will get married and be together. I'm glad I can be part of this romantic story by teaching her to say lovely words to her future husband. I really appreciate this couple for overcoming all the difficulties and distance to be together, they prove that when there is true love, there are no barries!!! :))) I'm sooo happy for them! I told her to look for a church of Christ to make friends and get some support, it is her first time in the US, and the adaptation can be difficult! Please pray for this new couple! We are going to try to meet in December, as New Jersey is closer to West Virginia. I always try to do more than my duty for my students! :) We are starting a beautiful friendship!

This is my english group of one of the companies I work for. We were having a farewell party for Carolina. We are sooooo happy for her.

The group is doing great, they are all systems analysts and programmers, so they need English to work. It is a really nice group to work with! And then there were 4! I really like to work with this group, but sometimes I need to be strict when they are not studying enough. By the way, they're still waiting for the Bibles in English!

Our couple's ministry continues!

2007-10-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hi, this is Davi, he is my English student. He was presented here before. This last Saturday, Matt and I had dinner with Davi and his wife Cátia. We had a great time together. We also invited them to visit us at the next couple's meeting on November 17th. They were really optimists about it. They are both very intelligent and open mind. Cátia works for a Dutch company for hair products called Keune, she is a technician. Next year I am going to work for this company to teach English to hair professionals, as they have to travel to have courses abroad, that is being a pretty big project for me right now, as I am preparing my own English book for this purpose. God has opened many doors for me since I started to use my gift and acquaitances to serve and glorify the name of Jesus! I ask you to pray that our relationship with this couple grow! And also pray for their relationship as a couple!

Bible Campaign

2007-10-19T17:33:00.000-07:00

I was talking to Jennifer Terry, and I found out the she also has a study group in English at her home, she is teaching English using the Holy Bible, she is teaching Moema and Roberto, they're new members and they are interested in learning about Jesus and also to study English. I believe it is a blessing for Jennifer to be part of it. So it rang me a bell! :)
It is me again with another idea. Christmas is on the way, it would be a great opportunity for me to give mini new testament bibles for my students, and I could offer a free class (maybe Matt can help) to read with them one of the gospels, maybe John would be a good one to start. Their interest in English plus a mini bible from the States could make a big difference. I know most churches distribute mini bible for possible future members to introduce Jesus. Would it be possible to separate some and send to me? Now, I have about 20 students and Jennifer is expecting more students after Christmas, maybe 5. They are all adults and workers, from middle class families. I believe that with such an ecouragement we can have a new English group for a Bible study class! If you want to help us with some mini-bibles please write to Matt or to me at: waleskapauls@globo.com
We are here to serve!!!

Meet my students!!

2007-10-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

These are Felipe and Alex, they are computer programmers.Our class is on Tuesday and Thursday at noon, after class they have 30 min for lunch. they studied together for a few months, and then Felipe left to work in another company. Alex is the one wearing glasses , he is very smart and has an advanced English, right now he is studying with another student, Rafael who is also a computer programmer. Great news, I will have this group over next Friday night for a pizza and a game night in English. Matt will help me with that. I will have more students coming. I will take more pictures to show you later! :)

This is one of my study groups, their names are Rita, Graziela, Gustavo and Éder (on the computer). I go to where they work, our class is on Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:30 , they have just 30 min for lunch before class. It is a good group, the English is basic, and they are getting better everyday. It is a computer software company, they are systems analysts, so they need English to have better opportunities in the job market. I like my work because I see them growing proffessionaly, and I know that I was part of this growth. Matt also visits this group once in a while to check their English and talk about our mission in Brazil.

And this is Fábio. He is 26 years old, from São Paulo. He was transferred to Porto Alegre to work as a System analyst. But it is not his dream. He really wants to be a tour guide. We have fun studying English, he is very forgetful and never on time, however he has changed lately; once I got home just in time to teach him, and he was already in my living room waiting for me , he had arrived half an hour earlier for the class, and when I get home, he was playing chess with Matt, and it was difficult to take him out of the game. I believe a seed was planted in that moment, maybe it is the beginning of a friendship!

Couples' meeting October 6

2007-10-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

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! :)

2007-10-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-10-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2007-09-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-09-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

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.

more students

2007-08-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

These are Maria Foster and Luis Roncato, they have been studying English for 1 year, they are able to communicate in English very well now. When they travel to other countries they even write me postcards in English, it is really rewarding for me to know that I am part of it. Luis and Maria are both psychologists, we study in Luis' office. They really like the class, it is twice a week in the afternoon between their appointments with their patients. It is a good way for them to get away from work for a while. Sometimes we go to a cafeteria to practice English and chat. They are catholic, but they are not going to any church as far as I know. They know I am a Christian, and whenever they want to know about our church in Porto Alegre, they are welcome. I introduced Matt to them and my husband could explain more about his missionary work. So they know we are there for them. Their English is getting better and better, so after a while we can open a bible study class in English and invite them. What do you think?
I love their personality, they are always happy, making jokes, willing to learn, they're awesome! We always have a great time together. I hope God blesses this relationship now and in the future. All I am doing as a Christian is making myself available through my work.

Waleska's work and ministry

2007-08-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Waleska, and I am Matt's wife. When I met my husband I wasn't a missionary, I worked in a school as an English teacher, I also worked as a translator for some companies. This way I was able to meet lots of interesting and different people. So after I married Matt I decided to continue working with English, teaching, translating, and meeting people. Working at the church next to my husband would limit my acquaitances. This way I can invite more people to come to us, and to God! I still contribute at the church organizing the couple's meeting, I invite speakers, I check the date and place of each meeting, organize favors, etc. :) There's always time to serve God!

So, little by little, I will introduce my students, people I work with during the week.

This lady in the picture is Mrs. Blanka Kronfeld Muller. I teach her Portuguese twice a week. She is 95 years old (Amazing!!!!) . She was born in Vienna, she emigrated to New York during the 2nd world war to escape from persecutions as she is Jewish. Now she is a widow and as she had no children, her nephew in Brazil takes care of her along with his family. In New York, she worked as a Social Worker. We became very good friends, and she doesn't mind if I am a Christian, I talk about Jesus, I do my part as a Christian, and she respects that. We became very good friends, she's doing great with her Portuguese, sometimes she just wants to speak English, so I let her lead the class. She also speaks French and German. I learn a lot from her, she always tells me things about her past and her history. And she corrects my accent too. :)

I know that working for this family will somehow be fruitful for God! I would never meet these people if it weren't for this work.

Love in Jesus,

Waleska Rehbein