Each month we are featuring a different overeas office, giving you snapshots and stories of the joys and struggles of ministry in that part of the world. This month the spotlight is on Brazil. We'd like you to meet Leandro Tarrataca, one of our dynamic and energetic Bible teachers who leads our Brazil office.
E-mail Updates from Leandro--2008
I am involved with ministry in Brazil and to the Portuguese speaking world. As you know there are about 230 million Portuguese speaking people around the world, in the western world is only behind English and Spanish. So it is a huge work, especially because there are not many sound Bible teachers to the Portuguese world. Here goes my heart to you....
June--Some highlights.... 1) Bob Beasley [Canadian Director] and I worked together in different Bible teaching settings--small ones, big ones. The Lord really blessed us as many came to Christ and others were restored by the power of God's Word. 2) Preached at the Harvest Celebration. Around 200 people gathered at a special event to hear the Word of God, most of them young people in their twenties. Many of the young people shared the desire to pursue ministry as pastors or missionaries. Please pray for... Recording a New Testament Survey for BBN; new nook to be launched in September; the Webtelevision to be launched in September.
May--Monday, I had a very powerful encounter with a man named Rogerio. He is a journalist and a very gifted man. As a matter of fact, Rogerio's gift has helped our ministry to communicate in major newspapers. But this week, he was not feeling well. He invited me for a cup of coffee so we could chat personally. When I got there, he was very distress and crying. The reason was because he suffers from a rare degenerative disease, and day by day he is losing his ability to move. He is only in his 50's and is losing the ability of typing and walking and is not able to hold his youngest daughter on his lap. I could have given him many Bible verses. I could have given him many inspirational stories. But I decided just to cry with him. It was like the words of Paul yelled in my head: "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." I prayed for him and left his home/office. It was powerful! Rogerio is consecrating his talent to deliver God's message by partnering with us, but he is running against time. Tuesday morning, he wrote to me. Here are his words:
"After our time together, I felt more secure and confident, and I feel like I can better understand God's message. There is always a reason for us to keep on doing the best we can, for his grace is all that we need."
Funny, after my time with Rogerio I had the exactly feeling. His grace, that's all we need.
April--This is one of the most difficult times in my ministry; every month I ask God: "Lord is this the month I will have to shut down the whole thing?" So far by His grace and the sacrifice of many, it sounds like He is saying: "Not yet."
Even though this is a hard time as we have seen many good opportunities to go away for lack of resources, I praise him for His care with me. He gave me a wonderful wife who understands when I explain to her that our groceries will have to wait. He gave me a group of five people who are not my staff; they are my brothers in Christ; they are co-workers willing to face the same difficulties because they believe in what we do. They see the results in people's life, so they keep going. They do not give up...five people! They produce television, Internet content, radio, publications and special events, among other things.... What a blessing.... As the Word of God says: "A friend loves at all times. And a brother is born for adversity."
Not only did they become more than friends, but many others who came along are putting their hearts in this ministry. On my end, I am doing everything I can to keep the ministry reaching as many people as we can. I find myself teaching, writing, preaching, recording for TV, recording for radio and many other activities--even working as a consultant to business companies. This amount of work is really time consuming, but it's worth it. Like the special event we had in February when 20 teens committed their lives to Jesus.
And of course I do not want to be only a preacher or a Bible teacher. I want to be a husband and a father, so it has been a challenge to balance all those things. But thanks to God I am still playing soccer with my 6 year old Leonardo, taking my two-year-old Melina bike rides and playing chess with my 16 year old Jeniffer. I also enjoy watching a nice movie and eating popcorn with my dear wife, Julie, but I want to take her for special dinner one of these days.
Brazil's Web site: www.verdadebiblica.net
"I discovered this program some time ago and became spiritually much better. There's nothing better than listen to God's Word at the beginning of the day. I had a very turbulent moment in my life and considered giving up, but as I listened to the program, I got new strength."
(Testimony from Brazil)
