BRAZIL IMPACTO MINISTRY  

Antenor and Phyllis Goncalves

“Sowing God’s love in Itu, Brazil and the World”

It is a great encouragement to be around joyful people, especially when this joy comes from serving the Lord. It is so different from the fleeting “joy” offered by the world.

Our most recent story took place two weeks ago. Adriana Luiz came to church about six weeks ago on a Sunday morning service. During the worship time, when the elders invite people to come to pray with them, Adriana came and Phyllis and I prayed with her. She was visibly upset and struggling at the time in

As I write this report from my office, I can hear outside the church building happy screams and loud laughter from children in the playground. We have over 70 kids who came to enjoy our week of “Winter Day Camp” (VBS). Their energy and enthusiasm infuse vigor and life in my soul because of their joy.

Phyllis and I have been very fortunate to serve the kingdom here in Brazil alongside some great and encouraging servants. The church in Itu continues to grow and prosper in the Lord. It is so wonderful to see people coming from a dark and lonely world have an encounter with the Lord Jesus.

her marriage and professional life. We invited her to come during the week, which she did. We counseled her and Phyllis invited her to attend the Itu ladies’ retreat that weekend. She never stopped coming to church anymore after that. The Gospel was presented to her in our Sunday morning newcomers’ class and she decided that she needed and wanted the benefits of being in Christ. Saturday before last, her husband came to church for the first time for a family night and there was great celebration in our midst!

This is how the kingdom grows, one by one, putting their faith in the Lord and discovering a brand new place in Him. A place of grace, acceptance, peace, hope and joy!

As you know, this is the busiest time of the year for us here in Itu. July is the 4-week campaign month. This week it’s “Day Camp”. Next week our teenagers embark on to Camproots. This is our bilingual camp session, which starts this Sunday and ends Friday of next week.

The week of 16-20 of July, we’ll have our 4th edition of CURA, which is our medical campaign. We’re expecting approximately 120 volunteers to serve for a week. Some 20 or more medical people will come from the US. Hundreds of people will be blessed by the kind service of these cardiologists, dentists, pediatricians, OBGYNs, counselors, lab people and prayer warriors praying with every person who comes to be assisted by the volunteers of CURA.

Then, right after CURA, Phyllis and I will be travelling to the central state of Goias, to speak at the 18th World Convention in the city of Goiania. This is the first time in its 18 years of existence that the World Convention has been held in a non-English speaking country. Over 5,000 participants are expected.

Mark and Ali had to close enrollment earlier this year because of the high demand from the kids in church and the community as a whole. The theme of Camproots this year is “Reconciliation”.

Please remember us in your prayers for extra strength and wisdom as we carry on all these ministries and try to juggle all these activities. Along with the activities come housing, meals, and transportation for all the people coming in and out of Itu in July. There are many, many trips made to the airports in our area during the month! Please pray for safe travels for all!

The last three months have been a time of focus on God’s grace as I have preached from the book of Romans here in Itu. This has stirred up the devil who cannot accept the idea of a child of God coming to the realization that in Christ we are worthy of approaching the throne of God’s grace and delighting in his great love.

Besides our local responsibility in Itu, our Impacto ministry has taken us literally all over Brazil. We’ve been from Manaus, the Amazon Basin, to the far end South, Rio Grande do Sul. In between these two places, we spoke to churches in Niteroi, Aracatuba, Bauru, Belo Horizonte, Salto, a men’s retreat in Cabreuva, and recorded a number of TV programs.

In Manaus I spoke 4 days on “Living a life with purpose”. They had people from all 9 congregations in the area present for the seminar. These are lessons based on my evangelistic DVD, which has been distributed to Christians all over Brazil. Some of them are using the DVD lessons to evangelize and plant churches in the most remote places of this country.

I will close here for now. We continue to covet your prayers on our behalf. We think of you all often and praise God for your vision to invest in our Impacto ministry. This is exactly what we want to do as we serve this great country: impact as many people as possible with the Gospel of grace from our dear Lord.

At the end of this year, on our way to visit to our sponsors, Phyllis and I will fly to Mito, Japan. We will be spending Christmas with our son Paul and our beautiful daughter-in-law Brooke. That also will be a great time to see our beloved brothers and sisters from the Mito church.

We are looking forward to seeing many of you in January.

Thank you all for your support. May God continue to supply all your needs.

In Him,

Antenor and Phyllis Goncalves