December 2011

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Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from your coworkers to the Portuguese-Speaking World!

One more year is ending and our hearts are full of gratitude for all the Lord has done through BRoLM (Brazil River of Life Ministries) during 2011. We would like to share a few highlights and prayer concerns that we have not had the opportunity to share during this year. Please give thanks with us and also pray with us!

BRAZIL:

In January 2011, Brother Edson decided to stop pastoring the Campo Limpo Church; therefore the elders from Campo Limpo and Jundiai decided to ask Brother Ruben Daniel to preach at both churches. The church in Campo Limpo has Sunday and Friday night services and the Jundiai has Sunday morning and Thursday night services. Both churches have Tuesday night home groups. Ruben is also responsible for the “Hands On” Bible College, that by God’s grace and the generosity of His people, resumed classes in July with 21 students. They meet every third Saturday of the month, and they have studied 10 subjects, a total of 30 credits from July to December. Since it is summer in Brazil there will be no classes in January; classes resume in February. Please pray for Ruben and his family, he stepped down from being the principal at the high school where he works, and went back to class to teach Math so he can dedicate more time to the two churches. His wife Edna manages a cell phone store, and they have two daughters.

In January 2011, BRoLM started a monthly outreach to the children at Mursa at Varzea Paulista, Sao Paulo. Varzea Paulista is a city between the cities of Campo Limpo Paulista and Jundiai; some members of the churches located in those two cities live there. This monthly evangelistic event for the children led to a weekly home group for their parents starting in July. Brother Marcio and his wife Andrea Gut are reasonable for the work at Mursa. Members and leaders from the Campo LImpo and Jundiai churches corroborate with this outreach, in which our goal is to plant a church in this location. The monthly children's outreach has an average of 50 children and the weekly home group about 15 adults. Please pray for the Mursa Work; most of the people at this location were born into a Catholic family, but they do not go to church. However, they are resistant to any non-Catholic churches, and another factor is that 70% of the adults are alcoholics and 25% a drug addicts. Pray for Brother Marcio and Andrea and the volunteers that help at the outreaches. Brother Marcio is a co-owner of a brick factory, his wife is the office manager at the brick factory, and they have two children, a boy and a girl.

In March 2011, the Carraozinho church had to move to a new location, and they were able to find a lot better place to meet. Brother Gilberto is responsible for the work at Carraozinho. This church has a unique characteristic of having over 70% of its member’s teenagers/youth, ages between 12 and 22. Brother Gilberto has a drywall plaster business and his wife Patricia is a middle school teacher; they have two children a girl and a boy.

The Pirituba church has struggled the last two years it has not grown much. We feel that the Lord is raising some younger leadership, Some of the children and youth we worked with back in the 90’s have now they became men and are married. We are praying that they will take more of a leading position during 2012. Monica’s father Odelmo is responsible for the work in Pirituba and he believes that it is time for him to pass on the baton. Please pray that the Lord will raise up the person that He wants to lead this congregation.

During 2011 BRoLM had the opportunity to promote 14 children, 6 youth outreaches, 6 women's teas, 6 men's breakfasts, a youth camp, and a women's conference. It was a busy year, but a blessed one too!

MOZAMBIQUE

God used BRoLM to help raise the funds so the Hope School in Mozambique could have desks; every classroom has desks - no more students sitting on the floor. Praise the Lord. The school is on vacation and this month the parents are registering their children; last year the school had over 700 students. The ministry in Mozambique has now several girls living at the school; these girls were abandoned by their parents. This month they are learning how to take care of their clothes; it is interesting to think that they have to learn all the basic things of life since they did not have any education before. We could say they did not have anything at all before.

Fife Family

Please pray for Mônica; she has had suffered many headaches through this year and it is getting worse. She's been in bed without being able to function since Dec 25. This time the headache was like the ones she had before removing the tumor; no medication was able to alleviate the pain. Usually when she has a headache crisis, it lasts 3 days and she is in bed for one day. This time we are on the fourth day and she still in bed.
Roger is doing very well at Milligan and Isaac is doing very well at Elizabethton High School.

Jeff just finished writing 12 sermons that will be preached at the BRoLM churches in Brazil and will be used at the churches in Africa, too. Every year the churches meet every day for the first 12 days of the year to give the Lord the first fruits of the year; each day represents one month of the year. The theme for 2012 is Never Give Up, a series of messages from 2 Corinthians. Now Jeff is writing the Discipleship material that is used weekly at the Home Groups for the next 5 months.

It seems like an eternity; however, Jeff and Monica just finished the third semester at Emmanuel and Milligan. Starting in January, Monica will be a Junior. “We miss the full time mission field work.”

SOME GOALS FOR 2012:

• Continue to promote all the children, youth, women's, and men's outreaches.
• Continue with the weekly home group discipleship.
• Continue work towards planting more churches.
• Continue with the “Hands On” Bible College.
• Spend the Summer in Brazil (May-August).
• Take a team from the USA to visit the BRoLM work in Sao Paulo and participate of the World Convention in Goiania. It will be 10 days in Brazil (July 20-30) the approximate cost is $3,000.00 per person including airfares, hotels, meals, visa fees, and World Convention registration. If you are interested in coming with us please get tell us! Do not miss this opportunity!

JUST A REMINDER

If you intend to still send a gift to be tax-deductible for 2011 you still have time, however the government has some rules that need to be followed. Your gift must be postmarked by December 31st to qualify for 2011. Make your check out to "Brazil River of Life Ministries” and mail it to P.O. Box 8262, Gray, TN 37615. BRoLM is a 501c3 Non-Profit Corporation, registered as a Non-Profit Organization in the State of Tennessee.

May the richest blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ abound in your life and your family in 2012.

Your prayers and financial support are vital for BRLM! Please continue to pray for us - we need all the prayers we can get!

God is good, He is among us, and He is acting!

In His love and service,

Jeff, Monica, Roger and Isaac Fife

August 2011

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Dear Friends,

Greetings from your co-workers to the Portuguese-Speaking world!

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. (1 Co 1:11NASB).

Paul urges the Corinthian Church to imitate him in everything that he does to imitate Christ. Our goal is to imitate Christ and obey Him in all things. We are far from being close to Paul’s example of imitating Christ; however, during this summer in Brazil we believe we felt a little of the same fulfillment that Paul had when he visited the churches he had planted during his first missionary journey. As Paul did through his letters and visits, we have kept a close relationship with the churches in Brazil through e-mail, Skype, phone, discipleship material, and now by visiting them in person.

Our missionary trip to Brazil was very productive and fulfilling! We left in June and returned in August. During the time we were there, we visited the BRLM churches in Central-West and Southeast; we preached 20 times, taught Sunday School, and Monica, Roger and Isaac led worship. We met with church leaders from the Northeast, Central-West and Southeast - 11 leadership meetings. We participated in a couples' outreach, 2 outreaches for children, 1 for youth, and 1 for soccer. I (Jeff) was invited to speak at the Ministerial Update in Brasilia; over 400 ministers were present.

In 2003-04 BRLM helped plant and build churches in Valpariso, GO, and Santos Dumont, Santa Maria, DF. Brother Edgard is the minister at Valpaiso Church and Luis at Santos Dumont. It was great to have opportunity to visit these churches.It was very fulfilling to visit the BRLM churches in the Southeast and see how much they have grown.Each month BRLM promotes a Children’s Outreach at Varzea Paulista. In July, BRLM started a Tuesday night home group there, and many have given their lives to Christ. In the future, we intend to plant a church in Varzea Paulista. Each Wednesday night the Jundiai and Campo Limpo Churches promote a Soccer Outreach. Every 3 months BRLM promotes a Youth Outreach; in July it was in Campo Limpo, and we called it the Harvest Festival.I was blessed to have opportunity to baptize some of the fruit of these outreaches. Poliana and Raissa – Children’s Outreach; Kenetty – Soccer Outreach; and Hartenia – Youth Outreach. During the almost 23 years in the ministry, God has given me the pleasure of baptizing more than 400 into Christ. I’m looking forward to many more!

A big highlight was to restart the “Hands On” Bible College. BRLM's goal is to continue to plant new churches in the cities around Jundiai, the City of Sao Paulo and the State of Sao Paulo. In 1965 Jundiai was emancipated and the whole area was divided in 15 cities. These 15 cities, counting Jundiai, have a population of over 4 million. The greater area of Sao Paulo, in which the Jundiai region is included, has 20 million; the entire State of Sao Paulo has more than 40 million people.

If we're going to reach the Portuguese-Speaking World for Christ, we need to prepare and train more leaders. For this reason, we launched the “Hands On” Bible College. The Students meet on the third Saturday of the month for 12 hours. They go back to their local churches and during the month work on their reading assignments and paper work; most importantly, they practice what they are learning at their church. That is why we call it the “Hands On” Bible College.The vision of planting new churches has been cast, and 21 students are being prepared. Previously we were trying to raise support for 10 students; however God has called 21 students, and because some of the costs overlap, we only need $35 US dollars per month for each student. Would you help us train new workers for the harvest with only $35 per month? We are praying that you will!

Leadership Training and Maintenance is one of BRLM's priorities. We believe that if we train the leaders and help them grow spiritually we will have strong churches. During the time we were in Brazil, I had opportunity to meet with each one of the ministers, with the elders of each BRLM church. To listen to their stories, victories, failures and needs is humbling for me. The opportunity God gives me to teach, pray and advise them is very precious. The conclusion I've reached is that they've grown a lot in the last year. Please pray for them!This mission trip was very fulfilling, because we had the opportunity to see how much our team in Brazil has grown during the past year. So many have stepped up to leadership positions and have taken ownership in many areas of the ministry. God is doing great things through BRLM in Brazil; we are very thankful to the Lord, and proud of our team. As you can see, our mission trip to Brazil this summer was a blessing; we wish we had the opportunity to share more with you. If you like, we're available to visit you and share more.

During the time we were in Brazil Monica’s brother Fabiano allowed us to use his Pickup Truck (1999 Chevrolet S-10 crew cab). We drove a little more than 2500 miles visiting the churches; however his truck broke down, and even though he wanted to pay for the repairs, we thought that was unfair, since we were using the truck.

Accountability (Mission Trip to Brazil 2011)
Expenses:
$-3,882.76 International Airfare – 4 Tickets (USA/Brazil/USA)
$- 588.39 National Airfare – 2 Tickets (Sao Paulo/Brasilia/SP)
$- 818.82 Gasoline ($6.48 per gallon)
$- 501.76 Truck Repair
$-5,791.73 Total Expenses
Gifts:
$+2,400.00 Seymour Heights Christian Church
$+1,025.53 Braceville Christian Church (VBS)
$+3,425.53 Total Gifts
We still need $2,366.20 to cover the mission trip expenses. Would you consider a special gift to help us cover these expenses? We believe it was worth every penny!

During the time we were in Brazil we took a 3-day vacation at the beach, and in our spare time, we sanded and varnished the windows and doors of our house.

Celebrate with us this New Church Pant. In 2009 Dr. Lee (First Christian Church, Seoul, Korea) approached us through the World Convention office, to see about the possibility of us partnering to plant a bilingual (Korean/Portuguese) congregation in Sao Paulo. This dream came through on August 14 with the dedication of the new church plant at Bom Retiro (Korean Town) in the city of Sao Paulo. Brother Lee sent Brother Choi and his family to lead the Korean Church. BRLM was responsible for providing all the documentation necessary so Choi and his family could move to Brazil. Brother Park, who has lived in Brazil since 1984, offered 2 floors of his 5-story storage building from where he runs his clothing factory, free of charge. For the first semester, the church will be mainly Korean speaking, and 2012 BRLM will provide a Portuguese-speaking minister. Please pray for this new church!Your prayers and financial support are vital for us! Please continue to pray for us - we need all the prayers we can get!

Please, schedule a date for us to come and speak, so we can share what God is doing through BRLM (Brazil River of Life Ministries) throughout the Portuguese-Speaking World!

God is good all the time and all the time God is good!
In His love and service,
Jeff, Monica, Roger and Isaac Fife

MAY 2011

Dear friends,

Greetings from your co-workers to the Portuguese-Speaking world!

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38NIV).

People all over the world are thirsty for God’s Word. Jesus says that anyone that is thirsty and believes can drink of His living water; not only so, but after drinking of his living water we will have rivers of living water overflowing from our heart into other people's hearts. What a pleasure we believers have, in being given the opportunity to bring the Living Water, Jesus, to others through His Holy Spirit.

Here is a word from Kleber and Juracema, Brazilian missionaries working with the Makua people, one of the most unreached people groups in the world, in North Mozambique.

“Dear Brothers and Sisters,

“We arrived in Mozambique in 1996, but in 2005, we took a bigger step of faith. We made this "step", not because we wanted to do something "big" for God, but were moved by human needs, and desire only to serve the Lord. We leaped into the dark, not sure of anything, and bare hands we could sign, but that God was with us in this journey.

“Since 2005 God has blessed us so much; we're growing in all directions, as a church, school, social work, leadership training, and other areas. Let me share a brief summary in pictures, with you being an essential part of this project, via prayer, giving, going. You have blessed the work in Mozambique.

“We are fully convinced of the goodness of God toward us and the miracle that he has done in Mozambique over the past 5 years.

“Goals for 2011:

“Strengthening and growth of churches in Nampula and the coast (until 2005 there were 34 churches planted now there are 58);

“Training and awakening of new leaders (until 2005 there were fewer than 30 leaders trained; now over 100 are trained and are training others);

“Desks for Hope Education Center (2011 enrollment of over 700 students from 1st to 8th grades - to offer 9th through 12th grades the government requires desks);

The goal is to purchase 400 desks ($10,000.00US). Through the generosity of God’s people, BROLM (Brazil River of Life Ministries) been able to raise $4,100.00US for this purpose; but still need $5,900.00US. Would you please consider helping us reach this goal? With only $25.00US you can provide a desk. Send your check to BROLM with a note saying: “Desks Moz”. Thanks!

“Construction of a new dining hall (the dining hall is very small);

“Electricity on the entire Hope mission in Nampula (only the main building has electricity, the material cost in Mozambique is very high);

“Construction of residence for the missionaries (Kleber and Juracema rent an apartment in downtown Nampula and would like to move to the mission, and also build a guest house so that others, when they come to help, would have a place to stay);

“In the love of Christ,

“Kleber and Juracema

Please pray for Kleber and his family; his Mom died in April. Pray for Kleber and Juracema as they return to Mozambique on May 5.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

The “Hands On” Bible College will officially resume its classes on May 21. Our students are very excited waiting for this re-start. Thanks to your generosity we have $1,600.00US designated for this purpose; that will take us through 2 months of school so please continue your giving towards the “Hands On” Bible College and consider supporting one student. We have 10 students and we need $70.00 US per student per month to keep the College going.

The work in Brazil is doing very well; in our next newsletter we will report on the work there.
We have been busy visiting all of our supporters and possible future supporters. The other day Dr. Jeanes (Milligan President) mention to me (Jeff) as we were talking that it is hard to travel the way we travel, plus all the work in keeping the ministry running in Brazil and Mozambique, and study at the same time. I told him that God has been gracious with us! Monica was able to transfer all of her Bible credits and "clepped" language so she is already a junior.

One of our travels took us to Atlanta, where HCM (Hisportic Christian Mission) has a Portuguese-Speaking church plant. BRLM and HCM are partners in reaching the Portuguese-Speaking World. Carl Bookout (Executive Director for HCM) has been in Brazil visiting our work and we have developed a good relationship. Our Brazilian friends Sergio and Marcia Santos came from Brasilia to Atlanta to plant this new church. During Easter, we worked with Sergio on a church retreat that they promoted that weekend. The whole church went to Brother Sergio's house and stayed there Saturday and Sunday. They had about 30 to 40 people most of the time. It was a great time of fellowship and growing in God’s presence. The immigrants that speak Portuguese live a very lonely life and they require lots of attention. During the time we were there, we had the opportunity to share as whole and on a personal level with individuals and couples. They had a great program for the children. Sergio and Marcia have a little boy, Gabriel, born in Dec 2010. We intend to continue to help this new church plant in the next few months.

Roger turn 18 on April 30, and he is graduating from High School. He intends, if accepted and he receives scholarships to start College at Milligan in fall. Roger wants to study History, Youth Ministry and Coaching; he wants to use sports as a point of interest to reach youth for Christ.

The last time we arrived in the USA the immigration officer at the airport told us that Monica need to renew her Green Card that expired in 2008 and because of her brain surgery she was not able to renew. However, the immigration officer told us that this would be the last time that she will be able to get a Green Card, he told us that she needs to become an American citizen if she wants to freely come and go from the USA. He also told us that US Government will not renew Green Cards in the future, according to him a person that has a Green Card should become an American Citizen. So we started the processes of renewing Monica’s Green Card as soon as we arrived, we have spent about $3,000US in the process, and by God’s grace on June 2 Monica will have her interview to renew her Green Card. As soon as she receives the Green Card we will start her naturalization process. Roger, Isaac and I we have dual citizenship, and God willing, Monica will have hers too. This way we can come and go as needed without worry about this anymore. Please pray for the interview on June 2, in Memphis, TN.

We leave to Brazil right after Monica’s Green Card interview. Pray for us, we need to raise $4,800.00 for travel expenses so we can go.

A special thanks to all the churches we have visited and all the homes that have been opened so we can stay, We been truly blessed by your hospitality everywhere we've been. May the Lord richly bless each one of you in Christ Jesus!

Your prayers and financial support are vital for us! Please continue to pray for us - we need all the prayers we can get!

God is good all the time and all the time God is good!

In His love and service,

Jeff, Monica, Roger and Isaac Fife

Dear friends,

Greetings and a Happy New Year from your co-workers to the Portuguese-Speaking world!

And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15NIV).

God is always amazing us; when we look back on last year and see the spiritual growth of our leaders in Brazil and how God is using them, we are amazed. They've been sent to preach, and as the Scripture says their feet are beautiful.

As you know, our ministry is all about bringing people to know Christ, disciple them and empower them to work in God’s Kingdom. We are very blessed to have a team both in Brazil, and in Mozambique, doing a marvelous job. In the last 9 months, the team in Brazil, through our orientation, has done 8 women's outreaches, 8 men's outreaches, 5 children's outreaches, and 6 Youth outreaches. The churches are strong and growing. I (Jeff) have a monthly leadership meeting with the church leaders; the last one, Saturday Jan. 15, lasted 3 ½ hours. I wrote 12 sermons to be preached at all the churches in Brazil and Mozambique on the first 12 days of the year that set our vision for this year, and for the next 10 years of our ministry in those countries. I just finished writing 28 weeks of Discipleship material that is used weekly at the home groups in Brazil and at the villages’ churches in Mozambique. I give orientation by e-mail daily to the church leaders in Brazil and to our missionaries in Mozambique.

Here are some pictures of these outreaches and other events in Brazil (These Pictures Reflects Only The Some of The Work From June to December 2010):

1) Fellowship – Campo Limpo Pta and Jundiai Churches – June 2010

2) Fellowship – Campo Limpo Pta and Jundiai Churches – June 2010

3) Jundiai Church

4) Jundiai Church

5) Youth Outreach – Campinas 6) Men’s Outreach – Breakfast Jundiai Church
7) Campo Limpo Paulista Church
8) The Elders from Campo Limpo Pta and Jundiai Churches with their wives
9) 2nd Southeast Brazil Christian Churches Convention

10) 2nd Southeast Brazil Christian Churches Convention

11) Women’s Outreach – Tea Jundiai Church

12) Children’s Outreach – Campo Limpo Pta Church

13) Children’s Outreach – Campo Limpo Pta Church

14) New Meeting Place – Carraozinho Church

15) Children’s Outreach – Carraozinho Church

16) Youth Outreach – Carraozinho Church

17) Men’s Outreach – Fishing 18) Youth Outreach – Piracicaba Church

19) Children Outreach – Varzea Paulista

20) BRLM Leadership Meeting – Pirituba Church

21) Youth Outreach – Campo Limpo Pta Church

22) Children Outreach – Varzea Paulista

23) Children Outreach – Varzea Paulista

24) Fellowship – Campo Limpo Pta and Jundiai Churches – December 2011

25) Christmas Celebration – Jundiai Church

Here are some prayer requests . . .
Thanks for praying for Monica’s health; she is doing a lot better, but please continue to pray for her complete healing.
Please pray that we will have all the funds needed to continue the work in Brazil and Mozambique. We need an extra $818.67 (US Dollars) per month to meet our budget.
Pray that we will have funds for the “Hands On” Bible College. We need $700 (US Dollars) per month to run the “Hands On” Bible College in Brazil; we already have $150.00 committed per month for this purpose. We have 10 students registered, and we intend to re-start classes in February. With $70 (US Dollars) per month, you can sponsor one student. Could you be a sponsor for at least one student?
Pray for the churches and the leaders in Brazil, for the churches, the school and the leaders in Mozambique, and please pray for us!
Please make plans for us to visit you and your church!
Here is our updated agenda:
February 27 – Weber City Christian Church (VA)
March 12-13 – Bethany Christian Church (Bumpass, VA)
Your prayers and financial support are vital for us! Please continue to pray for us - we need all the prayers we can get!
God is good all the time and all the time God is good!
In His love and service,
Jeff, Monica, Roger and Isaac Fife