Chrisstmas Program - December 19, 2010

Sunday evening our church had their annual Christmas program. The church wasn't as filled as I had hoped. Half of the kid's parents did not attend, but several did come and the gospel was presented. The membeers of our church really enjoyed the program.
The little children sang a song about Jesus the Lord is Christmas while holding picture letters that spelled JESUS.
The adolescents performed a musical play about Jesus is God's present to you and told the story of Christmas. The play focused on Christmas being for children, poor, old, and rich people; in short, He came for everyone. They did a superb job. It was the biggest production we have done in our little church, but it was the perfect year and had wonderful kids to work with.

The adolescent choir sang songs about Christ.

Mary told her story and then Adriana sang a solo about Mary's experience.

The shepherds told their story and then the angels appeared.

The choir sang, "Gloria in Excelsis"

Five kids told the story of Simeon and Anna giving their declaration of seeing the promised Messiah.

The wisemen also told their story of their jouney to find the child in Bethlehem and the gifts they gave that were fit for a King. The gold represented God's divinity, Frankensense symbolized His purity, and the Myrrh was a symbol of His death.

The chior ended the play with a song that ended with "It was Jesus' birthday, the His birth was a present was for you."

Ceilings in Campo Verde Church - December 15, 2010

With the help of three teens from our Imperial Church in Cuiabá, Don Peffer was able to put ceilings in the upper rooms of our church in Campo Verde. They are made of plastic, but durable and the termites won't eat them. We had trouble with birds coming in inspite of all the work Don did in trying to keep them out by using a foam that hardens to fill in the gaps of the roof. The rooms upstairs are now brighter, cleaner, and much prettier. We use these rooms for the youth group, class rooms, and extra activities.

Women's Chistmas Party - December 11, 2010

Our annual Christmas party was a real joy with around 20 ladies and teens participating. Zoe Peffer led the singing and gave the devotional. After playing a fun game, we opened up presents. as each number was called that person could choose the gift of there chice and it was always a surprise. It was such fun to see their reactions. And the best part of the party was all the delicious treats.

Making Pizzas - December 4, 2010

Our upstairs rooms needed the ceilings put in. Two different weeks the church sold pizzas to raise money for wood and the plastic ceiling material. when I get some pictures of the ceilings I will publish in another post. The teens had fun mounting the pizzas and also eating some at the youth group that night.

Seminary Graduation - November 27,2010

Our bible seminary, Seminário Batista Bereana had four students graduate with a theology degree and three students from the basic Bible course. Two of the graduates were Anderson from our church in Aparecida and Adalberto from our church in Imperial. His wife Josiane received a diploma from the basic course. Pastor Eleazar from our Tijucal church gave the graduation message.

Adalberto and Josiane came up every weekend to Campo Verde for three months to minister while Don and Zoe Peffer were in the states. They are seeking the Lord's will as to where God wants them to serve as a pastor. We have three churches that need a Brazilian pastor.

Anderson wants to continue his education and plans to enter the university, but will continue working in our Aparecida church.

Janus and Sheila from the Baptist church also completed the theology degree and are also looking for the Lord's will for full time ministry. They plan to get married in 2011.

Teacher Training - November 27,2010

Cristiane was in the first adolescent group I had when I worked in our Tijucal church years ago. She is now a mom of two boys and a public school teacher. When Child Evangelism came to Cuiabá to do teacher training, I took Cristiane to the two week training. She felt the call of the Lord and told me she wanted to dedicate her life to child evangelism. She continued in her training and is now qualified to train others. What a joy to see one of my former Sunday School kids now leading and training others in our church! Cris organized a training course at our Imperial church. On November 27, I participated in the first of three Saturdays of training. Cris taught them how to share the Gospel and lead a child to Christ. The students trained sharing the gospel to each other. I taught two sessions, discipline in the classroom and Bible revision games. I love to teach the importance of revision and various games to use. We had lots of fun playing some of the games. They also loved getting some free material to make their own games.