JANUARY 2014
SOULS SUBMIT TO THE SAVIOR!
Twins, Raquel and Fabio Penna, were baptized into Jesus by their dad, January 5. They are now twins in Christ. Ree and I met David and Eliana Penna in 1997 at a dinner on the other side of town. We found out that we were neighbors and exchanged addresses. For two years, we built a friendship. They finally accepted an invitation to our small group Bible study in our home. This led to a Bible study in their home to learn how to follow Jesus. Eliana was baptized in 1999. Her husband David was baptized in 2003. God blessed them with three children. David and Eliana have co-taught in the children’s Bible classes on Sunday and I trained David to lead a small group Bible study during the week; and how to teach one-on-one Bible studies. They have already brought two people to follow Jesus. David became a deacon over the finance ministry in the Curitiba congregation in 2011 and baptized his oldest daughter Leiticia the same year. What an exciting day for the twins to be baptized and to see an entire family in submission to the Lord Jesus.
Vicente, 70 years old, was baptized into Jesus, January 12. He is the first convert from the outreach in Sao Mateus do Sul (a two-hour drive west from Curitiba). Pedro Sampaio, grew up in Sao Mateus do Sul and moved to Curitiba. I met him in 1993, had a two-hour conversation with him and baptized him into Jesus the same day. He has been a faithful Christian ever since and we have worked together to evangelize his family. It took several years to see three of his four children and a son-in-law become Christians (Patricia, Rodrigo, Adriano and Johny). One day he invited me to visit and pray for his sick brother, Joao, on his deathbed. While I visited and prayed, his sister-in-law, Genoveva, showed up to visit also. I set a Bible study with both of them. His brother recuperated and was baptized and sister-in-law, along with five other family members and a girlfriend were baptized (Roni, Jucelia, Orlando, Adriana, Stela and Renato). Genoveva said she wanted to evangelize the world. She started by having me teach her family in Curitiba and then invited me to Sao Mateus do Sul. She said, “My brother Vicente is old and sickly and needs to hear the Good News about Jesus.” Praise God that Vicente submitted to the Lord Jesus. We are now studying the Bible with several other family members in Sao Mateus do Sul. Pray for the harvest!
Vera was baptized into Jesus, January 15. She recently moved to Curitiba. Her family are members of the church in another State in Brazil and encouraged her to visit the church in Curitiba. Our church secretary, Ruy, set a study with her, buried her in the watery tomb and God resurrected her to a new life.
ALAN AND REE MOVE TO GUARAPUAVA, BRAZIL
The Curitiba Evangelistic Team completed our goals in 2011, leaving a strong missionary congregation, with its own building, three elders, three evangelists and six deacons. For the past two years I have evangelized, edified new converts, lead a small group Bible study and taught in three preacher training schools as Ree and I sought God’s will for our future in Brazil. God’s will became clear in the middle of 2013 that we should move to the interior of the State. Ree and I moved to Guarapuava January 18. It is a city of 200,000 souls and sits in the middle of the State on the main interstate, where all other cities are within a three to five hour drive from us. It is a three and a half hour drive west of Curitiba. We purchased an apartment there in September 2013 to put down roots in this community to communicate that we will be here as long as the Lord wants us to be and to build up this congregation until it is a strong missionary congregation, with its own building and biblical leadership. We began traveling to Guarapuava at the beginning of 2010, making trips every thirty to forty days. Since then, there have been thirteen baptisms and the church has been meeting in the home of one of the members. In November 2013, we held a weeklong evangelistic campaign in Guarapuava with one baptism and family of four that now attends each week counting the cost before their baptisms. Worship services average between twenty and thirty in attendance. Because of the lack of space, one of the members found a neighborhood association house that we pay the water and light bills on and we can use for Sunday worship and other events as needed. It seats about forty.
Each week in Guarapuava, the church has a Monday evening of singing and prayer at a member’s home. On Wednesday evening, I am teaching a nine-week Marriage Enrichment study to all four couples in the church and a visiting couple. Each Sunday we have worship in the morning and then a group from the Guarapuava congregation drives with me three and a half hours to the small city of Sao Mateus do Sul for afternoon worship and Bible study. A group of five also drives two hours each week from Curitiba to help. In Sao Mateus do Sul we average fifteen in attendance, with five being visitors from the local community.
We are gearing up in Guarapuava for another evangelistic outreach starting in March. We will offer a Basic Theology course twice a week. In this group Bible study, I teach how to follow Jesus, be born again and participate in His Family. Pray for us.
NALLEY FAMILY NEWS
Naiane continues to live in Curitiba at our house there. She moved out of her bedroom in the main house to live in the small house in the backyard. She cares for the dog, mows the lawn and cleans the grease box under the sidewalk. She is also looking for work. Pray for her. A family of five from the Curitiba congregation that is in transition between homes is living in our main house. They are considering purchasing our house. Pray for God’s will to take place. Ree caught me by surprise and had a birthday party for me with about a hundred in attendance from the Curitiba congregation. They really rubbed it in that I am now fifty years old. Ree strapped a diaper on me, put me in a wheelchair with a lap blanket, taped a white beard on me and stuffed false teeth in my mouth. I personally supplied my baldhead. A sister in Christ made me a cake that looked like a grave with a tombstone showing that my youth was buried on January 14, 2014. We are camping in our apartment in Guarapuava as we set it up. Our kitchen cabinets will be installed mid-February, but we do have running water and a microwave. During our move from Curitiba, the truck was a bit small, so I had to fill two cars to the brim to get almost all of our things to Guarapuava. Ree drove one of the cars and followed me on Saturday morning to Guarapuava. Saturday afternoon a brother from Curitiba who helped us move drove back to Curitiba with me to get the last load. Sunday morning at 5:00 am I drove back to Guarapuava for worship, then drove to São Mateus do Sul for afternoon worship and Bible study, then I drove back to Curitiba in the evening to leave one of the cars there for now. On Monday, I drove back to Guarapuava. It was a little over twenty hours on the road from Saturday to Monday. Each week I try a new stretch of road to Sao Mateus do Sul, looking for the shortest and safest way there. I have traveled several times on dirt roads for over twenty mile stretches at a time. Pray for me. We are so thankful to our wonderful supporters in Moore, Oklahoma, Green River and Lander, Wyoming and Olathe, Kansas, along with wonderful individuals in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Colorado and California. God bless you all!
Serving our Lord Jesus,
Alan, Ree and Naiane Nalley