Hubert Nolen and Steve Turner back in the USA

The India trip is over. Pastor Hubert Nolen and Steve Turner have arrived safely back in the USA. Steve says "Take 1000 people put them in your house and you have an idea how crowded India is. 70% poor 20% middle class and 10% ruling class. Also trash everywhere."

From India 2

You can check out the pictures at :http://picasaweb.google.com/wribrazil/India1#

http://picasaweb.google.com/wribrazil/India2#
http://picasaweb.google.com/wribrazil/India3#

From India 2

Steve Turner and Pastor Hubert Nolen in India

From India

Please Pray for them while they are in India. Steve Turner will only be back in the USA for 6 days before he leaves for Brazil.

Pizza Fundraiser

From Tracunhaem Pizza fundraiser

The Community Church of Tracunhaem had a big pizza fundraiser this month. It was a huge success! They raised over R$1,000. A lot of different churches were attending and the music was provided by a baptist church from the town over. David Moraes was in charge of making the 100+ pizzas and Pastor Anselmo along with his wife were the hosts of the event. Thanks to everyone involved and let's hope they do this again.

1st Annual Women's Conference

Today was the very first women's conference for the community churches of NE Brazil. There were women from all of the community churches attending. It was a big turn out and a very well organized and spirit lead conference.

Here's what Lindsay has to say on the event:
The conference started at 9am with a praise and worship time lead by a mix of women from various community churches. This was the first conference of it's kind for the women of Community Church Brazil. Four keynote speakers lectured on a verity of topics from finances to the historical roll of women in the church. Between speakers we broke off into small group prayer and discussion groups. Kattia Silva (Pastor Ricardo's wife) organized the event brilliantly. She has had a vision for women's ministry of CC Brazil for a long time. This year only women in leadership and pastor's wives were invited to participate, but in the future the event will be opened to all community church women. I left with the other women at 4 feeling uplifted and excited about the future of women's ministry here in Brazil.

To follow up with the conference there will be a women's monthly breakfest on the second to last Saturday of the month, starting next week! Exciting things are ahead for the women of Community Church Brazil!

Prayer for Visa

Emily Taylor has been trying to get a work visa to come help teach down here at the International School of Carpina since December. The government here is very slow and it took Jeff & Lindsay Turner almost 2 years to get their visa. We have learned a lot since then and have better contacts. Right now Tele is in Brasilia (the capital of Brazil) to try to get Emily's visa approved. We need a lot of prayers during this time. We really need Emily down here ASAP. Please pray that she gets her visa.

Living Stones helped

Living Stones from Jeffrey Turner on Vimeo. Click on the link for an HD version.

For more information about Living Stones check out WriBrazil.com
You can help support this ministry by writing a check to World Renewal earmarked Living Stones Brazil and mail to:

World Renewal Intl.
P.O. Box 399
Greenfield, IN 46140

Summer Trips

Summer is coming and it is time for short term trips to Brazil. Come with us on a trip that will change your life.

The medical trip is July 3 - July 11 2009, join Dr Taylor in giving God's grace to the people of Brazil. You do not need to be a medical professional to help with this trip. Just have a willing heart to love the people and be a servant to others.

Construction and English camp trip is July 11- 21. You only need to speak English to help in Brazil. Painting is the biggest job that needs done on the trip. You also will be teaching English to eager people wanting to learn how to speak English.

For more information about the summer trip email wribrazil@gmail.com or call Steven Turner 317-840-1270

God can use you this summer in Brazil.

CCT Tracunhaem construction

As promised I (Jeff) finally got over to Tracunhaem to take pictures of the construction. For those of you that don't know the story, this land was given to the community church free of charge. The only catch was they had to start building on the land by December 2008. September rolled around and they still didn't have the money to start building. But because of the wonderful generosity of the members of the community churches in Indiana they were able to start building just in time.

From January Shot term Trip

The empty bags of concrete from the flooring.

From January Shot term Trip

The new flooring that was just put in.

From January Shot term Trip

They plan on holding their first church service in this building next month.

Community Church of Tracunhaem

I (Jeff) am going to try to get over to the Church sometime this week or next to check on the progress of the church construction. Until then, here is a video I took last January when the Pastors were here.

*edit The trip has been delayed because of Lindsay getting sick. She is almost fully recovered but still needs a few days. She had the stomach flu.

First ever "Tele Talk"

Tele Talk 2/25/09 from Jeffrey Turner on Vimeo.

This is the first of hopefully many "Tele Talks" where you get the updates of the ministry and school straight from the mouth of the Director of World Renewal Brazil Pastor Telemaco Moraes.

This video covers what the churches do during Carnaval, news about the international school, and how Tele's family is doing. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to leave feedback and let us know what aspects of the ministry you would like to hear about.

Dan Downer sick

Pastor Dan Downer who has been in Brazil for a month now, is sick and leaves tomorrow to the US.
He ate some bad cheese and has been in bed all day. He started feeling bad today around 10am. Please pray that this passes and he will be good to travel. He has gotten some medicine and is being well taken care of.

*UPDATE Dan got home safely but was still feeling sick the last time I talked with him. Continue to pray for his recovery and for God's plan for his ministry.

*UPDATE 2 According to Edna Chestnut: "I was just talking with Dan and he has been bedfast since his return from Brazil. He has terrible back pain and numbness in his legs."

Community Church of Timbauba interview

Timbauba Community Church interview from Jeffrey Turner

If you attend Brookville Road Community Church then you got to see this video yesterday at church. For the rest of you, I have posted here. Click on the title of the video to watch an HD copy.

Dr. Lake History of Community Church

15 years ago the first community church was started in Carpina Brazil. Last Sunday all the Brazil community churches got together to celebrate. The main speaker was Dr. Charles Lake the founder of Greenwood Community Church (the very first community church). You can watch his sermon that explains the history of the community churches. It is in 4 parts. The second part has the history story in it.

Continue to pray for the Pastors as they visit the community churches in Brazil.

Pastors arrive safely

The January group has arrived safely with all of their luggage. They didn't get to much rest today as they will be going to the very first service in Cha de Alegria this evening. Tomorrow is the 15 year anniversary celebration. Then in the evening Pastor Charles lake will be preaching at Grace Presbyterian Church in Recife. During the week it will be a little more relaxed. The group will be visiting most if not all the community churches. Jeff will be taking video fotage of the new construction in Lagoa de Itaenga, Tracenheum, and Timbauba. Until then pray for this trip.

Pastor Ricardo's Mother Passes away

Pastor Ricardo Silva's mother passed away yesterday. She had diabetes and went into a coma after having to much sugar. She died shortly after going into the coma.
We are unsure if she was a believer. She didn't raise Ricardo and only was with him in his early years. She was living in Lagoa de Itaenga, the same town Ricardo's current church plant is in. Please pray for the family and for Ricardo's step brother who will be living with Ricardo and Kattia now. The step brother is 14 years old. This is a big step for Ricardo's family and is very similar to when Tele brought in Ricardo to his family.

EDIT: It is still unclear if Ricardo's step brother will be living with them. It will be their responsibility to make sure he gets a good education but where he lives will be up to him. There are several relatives that he is going to stay with for a while before he decides.

Fire on the Hillside

This was the view from the Alcance (Ministry HQ) a few nights ago.

Every season they burn the sugar cane fields to drive out the snakes and clear it out. The actual stalk doesn't burn. So after they burn it they can go in and harvest it a lot easier. But, burning it also hurts the ground and environment a lot.


Dan Downer is traveling to Brazil today to spend a month here. He will be helping with electricity and other things at the 3 Church construction sites. Pray for safe travels and God to use and take care of him while he is here.

Lagoa de Itaenga Construction

The Church in Lagoa De Itaenga has been blessed and was able to purchase 2 plots of land. They were soon blessed again from a large donation and they have been hard at work constructing the Church building. They have been working for about 6 weeks now and 3 of those weeks were spent on digging the foundation. The soil in the area is extremely tough to dig in.

From Lagoa De Itaenga Church Construction

They pour water into the foundation ditch to soften the soil.

From Lagoa De Itaenga Church Construction

They plan on having a big auditorium for the service and then a classroom on the side. Right now they have most of the walls up for the classroom and bathrooms area.

From Lagoa De Itaenga Church Construction

Missions Overview 2008

Bad economy?

Even though there is a lot of bad news about the US economy the value of the dollar has gone up or the value of the Real has gone down. What this means is it is a good time to give to the Brazil ministry. 1 month ago the exchange rate was $1 us dollar to R$1.5 Brazilian Real. Now it is hovering around $1 to R$2.5. This is huge and means the money you donate goes twice as far as last month. Praise God in this time of economic trouble.

Accredited

The seminary is now accredited by the Associacao Evangelica de Educacao Teologica na America Latina (AETAL) 2008.

Praise God! This will bring a lot more students to the seminary and is a big step for the ministry. Pray that God will continue to bless the students and the people they impact. We are currently working on gathering a list of students and information about their college track and goals. We are trying to make it easier to sponsor a Church planting pastor from the very beginning.