Jorge de Campos, pastor of Portugal, Brazil, and two congregations in the United States (Lexington and Louisville, KY), completed his second pastoral visit to Brazil during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

His first stop was Maloca de Moscow, where he baptized four members and conducted Passover services with 12 people present.

Maloca de Moscow is approximately 35 miles east of Boa Vista in the far north of Brazil, bordering with English Guyana. The indigenous people there are from the Wapixana tribe. The brethren have an agricultural background, and one of them owns a few heads of cattle.

Sabbath services before the Passover had an attendance of 31 people, including a few visitors. Services were held on the property of Bonifácio Gomes Mateus because all the assets previously built by United brethren went to another religious organization. The total number of United members in Maloca is 25 (which includes one member studying in Manaus). The brethren are keen on building a new place to worship God near Bonifácio’s home with their own funds. They want to have it completed by the Feast of Tabernacles this year.

Mr. de Campos discussed with them their needs and identified that their first need was that of a chainsaw, so they could open ground for a plantation. This need was catered for by donations from UCG brethren in Portugal.

Their second most important need was to start a program for them to raise cattle in their region. Mr. de Campos appointed Bonifácio Gomes Mateus to coordinate this project, as he has skills in this area. The project was kick-started by providing some startup funds with assistance from the United brethren in Portugal. In the next few weeks they will be purchasing 6 or 7 calves (about one year old), including one “producer.” We hope to report in the next United Newsthe status of this start-up project and how brethren can further sponsor this project. Their goal is to have 20 heads of cattle, which will be a gift from United for the benefit of all United brethren in the region.

Another need is to purchase a tractor to work the land, as they do all by hand or by renting equipment. This will be reported in the future. Mr. de Campos asked them about seeds for their plantation. They said that they did not need further assistance with seed as the Brazilian government has an assistance program in place, including land testing to determine what areas are most suitable for different crops. Because Mr. de Campos had a small donation for seeds from a member during Jorge’s last visit to Dallas, he encouraged them to build a large vegetable garden and to use the seed money for seeds for their vegetable area. The ladies were most excited about that idea.

During Mr. de Campos’s stay, he conducted a training session for the adults about basic principles regarding sermonette preparation, opening and closing prayers, children’s training and Bible studies and correct proceedings during regular services and also during the Passover service. The brethren were most grateful as they never had such training sessions before. The baptized brethren in Maloca chose Benedito Gomes da Silva as their coordinator to organize services. They also chose Suely Inácio Gomes as their Treasurer. Mr. de Campos also appointed three leaders to conduct youth Bible studies during the Sabbath. Ana Helena is to look after the little ones, Carlos da Silva over the middle aged ones and Bonifácio Mateus over the older group.

Mr. de Campos also helped them with funds for a few Bibles and to get material for the young ones, such as paper and crayons to use for Sabbath school.

Many times the conversations became very emotional when everyone considered how God intervened for them in many ways. One most notable way was how God opened a door for one of their young ladies, Verônica Gomes, to contact the home office via the Webmaster, so that they could have continued support from the home office. This was a very emotional issue with them, because they had been told by some of those who left United (and who were our previous points of contact), that they would be left in a lurch with no way for them to contact the home office and vice-versa. The brethren were literally in tears because of how God opened this door through Verônica, who was baptized during this trip. She is a fine young lady that needs our prayers for God’s protection. We can thank God for opening doors that we would not be able to open ourselves.  

Mr. de Campos then visited members in Rio de Janeiro and Montes Claros. The Last Day of Unleavened Bread was held in Montes Claros with seven people attending.

These scattered brethren have many challenges, living in a society with many pagan religious pressures. We need to pray for God’s protection to these members and children.

Two of the ladies there understand English, but the rest only Portuguese. Spanish is difficult for them, as the previous minister visited them would have to speak to them in English, and then it would be translated to Portuguese, as they could not understand Spanish. Any brethren that may be prepared to rough it (camp) during the Feast of Tabernacles in Maloca should contact Mr. de Campos. They will surely have a lovely time with a very humble and teachable group of people.