Wow! What a difference! That's right, living in Rio Grande do Sul is different from anywhere I have ever lived. Knowing things will be different is not the same as actually living there and having to adapt. I am so thankful for our gracious God who comforts and guides us through each day. The last couple days have been especially encouraging as I begin to build new friendships and settle into my new city. Starting this next week I will begin to settle into my new home.

The Lord has provided an apartment right in the heart of Campo Bom, RS. This week I will focus on getting the apartment cleaned and hooked up to electricity and such to be ready to receive my things on Friday. Below is a picture looking out from my living room. I will attach another picture later of how beautiful the "praça" is with all the Christmas lights. There have been presentations many nights this month for Christmas.

Each town seems to have its own presentations to celebrate. In Estância Velho, where co-workers Jon and Denielle Johnson live and are currently working in a new church plant, our church chior has been invited to share Saturday night, December 12. Please pray God would work in hearts and lives as we share the gospel with a translation of Ron Hamilton's presentation of "Ten Thousand Hallelujahs," which explains the real meaning of Christmas. Especially be in prayer that the rain would stop so people will come! We will also be sharing in Campo Bom on December 20th. The city will be having a BIG presentation at the same time, so please pray the Lord would bring people to hear of the birth of our Savior.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Hope to write more news to you when I get the internet hooked-up in my new apartment next week.

Wow! My first update from Southern Brazil! I can't believe the second week is already coming to an end. In these two weeks what has been happening? Well...

Jon and Denielle moved into their new home. So I rode along to see the stores and what is available here and helped clean, move, and unpack. Below they are going in with the keys for the first time. Also I met the church in Campo Bom. It was great to meet the poeple I have been praying for. Tuesday nights is chior. Saturday night I attended youth group and led the game time. Instead of playing "Cat and Mouse" we practiced fleeing temptation with "Lion and Christian." Below are some of the visitors. Please pray for the salvation of the two girls on either side in front. Monday night included a trip to see the seminary and meet the two other single missionaries. Erin with ABWE and Rôse who serves in the Maranatha Baptist Church. Wednesday night is the planning meeting for a new evangelistic outreach in a poorer community nearby. Please pray for these four couples who have a burden for the people in Marisol. In the pictures you will see in yellow on the right is Pr Roberto with his wife Rôse to the left and Maria to her left. Maria is married to Otavio who is leaning over toward Edio his father who is sitting on the right. Edio's wife Candida is in the picture of the chior on the far left. The other couple is Vitor and Marcia. Pray the Lord would work in the life of the director to allow them to use the school. This has not been permitted in the past. This afternoon is the Ladies' meeting and I will be attending the youth group in Feitoria. Please pray for the next two weeks as we begin looking at apartments, see other minstries, meet with the Pastoral team here, and visit other towns in the region.

FUN OBSERVATIONS:

It is interesting that the fruit trucks comes up the hill to Phil and Rachel's street! Monday is the Italian and Thursday is the German. She asks if he has what she wants and he holds up the bags for her to see. Then when an amount is agreed upon he wieghs the fruit in a old fashion scale and Rachel pays him.

Lately Phil and Rachel have been needing to turn their sideview mirrors in every night. Why? For several mornings they would go out and find droppings all over the car door, but there were no trees or anything above the car. Apparently the birds are quite vain in Southern Brazil, or at least one is. If they don't cover or turn in the mirrors, a little bird with a yellow breast peeks in the mirror and leaves little droppings on the car door!

July was full of finding a moving company, spending a day helping Jon and Denielle pack, and all the other normal busy-ness of ministry. By the way, Alisa Pierschbacher can now drive a stick-shift! She is getting used to the different style of driving here in Brazil and is slowly getting more comfortable with shifting in her car.

The last Sunday Jon and Denielle spent in Fortaleza was a special night. Jon preached that night. Then, as a surprise, there was a time of prayer over them followed by a time of fellowship with food and visiting. Everyone wanted to get their picture taken with the family. I was impressed with how well Elliana did with all the attention and pictures. We even had a big card that everyone wrote in to send home with them.

The Jon Johnson family are now down south in Rio Grande do Sul. Please pray for them as they adjust to the climate and look for housing, a car, and so on. They will also need a new language school teacher to finish their classes there. I am looking forward to seeing them again Saturday afternoon when I arrive by plane to spend a month with the church there. Please pray for clear direction from the Lord as to where I will be serving in the future.

I am thankful for the opportunity the Lord gave me to visit Jim and Lydia Johnson in Morada Nova, Ceará, Brazil. They moved to this new city to start a new church a few years ago and were now preparing for their next visit to the US. So... since I may be moving before they return, it was time to get down there and see this young church. While there, they had an evangelistic movie night in which I helped with the kids while the parents watched "Fireproof". It's definietly worth watching if you haven't seen it yet!

Saturday morning was the annual horse parade. I love horses, so I went to watch with a gal that lives with the Johnsons. Here is what I learned. Morada Nova is a ranching community. That Saturday morning was spent in a special mass at the Catholic Church you see in the background of the pictures. They are worshiping and honoring Saint Christopher in hopes of getting his attention. Following the mass, as many horses and cowboys as can be gathered walk in a parade. At the head, is a car with huge speakers blasting a song calling on Saint Christopher to see the multitudes of horses and observers and remember them in the coming year to give them a fruitful year on their ranchs. Most the people are there for the fun of riding in the parade or watching all the horses, but even so they too are participating in the worship of this Saint instead of calling of the one true God who can truly help them and give them eternal life. For me it ended up being a difficult experience seeing the people so blinded to the truth of Scripture. The week they held a daily rodeo with special masses at the church. Please pray for the small group of believers who are seeking to grow in Christ in Morada Nova. Pray they would be a light to the community of what it truly means to trust in God and not man.

Keep checking. I hope to have more pictures and articles about what has been happening in July and August posted soon.

Over the next few days I hope to post several short articles with pictures of the last couple of months. There has been so much happening that I haven't kept up on correspondence. Due to illness I have had the blessed time to get a couple of officey things back in line. See there are blessings in everything. So please keep poppingin and checking out not just the main page, but also the news tab so you don't miss any of the pictures! Talk to you more soon.

You can already get a brief glimpse of what is coming up in the "Prayer Requests" tab at the top. Don't forget to click the I'm praying button you will find in under the article in that tab.

In Christ's hand, Ellie

This week has been full and exciting. We have been planting seeds.  Starting Tuesday night we have had 1 1/2 hours of kids club each day. The first day there were over 30 kids and teens. Then we have been averaging 20 kids faithfully attending with one or two new children each day. Backwards from a VBS in the States. This is the first Kids Club ever done in this area. So we are really at a ground breaking stage. We are so thankful for all 20ish kids who keep returning. Last night they suddenly realized they were able to memorize all ten of the verses in the verse challenge! We had to tell them no more verses tonight, come back tomorrow to say more! Please pray each of these verses would be a seed to grow into salvation in each heart. Another interesting twist to this kids club is that our teen helpers also need to trust the Lord as their savior. They are working hard and hearing all the lessons and verses. Please pray they too would understand their need for a Savior. Below are Bárbara and Alef, a brother and sister, who are great helpers, but need the Lord. There are also pictures of game time, snack time, and sharing the gospel with a soccerball full of colors of the wordless book.

The week following Kid's Club has been beneficial in getting questions answered concerning ministry opportunities in Maceió. Also, it is great to see a more "normal" schedule of life in the family here. Below are several pictures of my time in Maceió so far.