-----Original Message-----
From: David Smith [mailto:smith-brazil@sercomtel.com.br]
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 10:09 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: Londrina, Brazil Church Planting Update

Londrina, Brazil Church Planting Update for the week of May 2 thru 9, 2005.

Dear Praying Amigos,

This week we will be holding our annual Mother-Daughter Tea. We already have some 60 to 70 pre-registered for the event and are expecting a great turn out. This has always been one of our biggest events of the year. Pray that God will be honored and that we will see some permanent results for this big undertaking.

This past week we finished painting the outside of our church. Now we need to paint the name of the church back on the sides of the building.

This week we will be starting our baptismal class. Pray for Luiz (age 48) and Allison (age 15) that have already signed up for this class.

Have a nice week

S. David & Geri Smith

Serving with Baptist Mid-Missions in Londrina, Brazil

Dear Praying Amigos,

Ebenezer Sunday 2005 - 2^nd Anniversary

On March 6, 2005 we commemorated our church’s 2^nd anniversary. We called it Ebenezer Sunday. The Lord gave us 12 visitors for that service. Many gave testimonies thanking God for the way God has used this church to help them through spiritual problems and to grow in the Lord.

Easter Play Practices

This year our church will be presenting the Easter Play called the “Cross Angel.” There are 25 to 28 people involved in the play and the practices are going well. We will be presenting this play four times over Easter weekend. We will present it twice at our church: once on Good Friday and then on Easter. We will also be taking this play on the road and presenting it at two other churches about 1½ hours away on Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening.

New Pastor for Next Church in Londrina

Last weekend a young couple from our last church that just graduated from Bible College came and talked with us about their decision to come and work with us. Our church does not have the income to officially call them and pay their salary, but they feel led of the Lord to raise their own monthly support and then come and help us. His goals are to raise support in 2005 and then move to Londrina. During 2006 he will help our church while we are home on furlough. During that same time he will began to hold Evangelistic Bible studies in the area near our new church property. In 2007, after our return, we will help him start our second church here in Londrina, Brazil.

Pray for Guto and Márcia

Last year the Lord provided land in Londrina for our second church when we did not expect it. Now the Lord is giving us a Brazilian missionary and his wife to help us get that work started. In 7 to 10 years, this couple wants to go to Uruguay as missionaries sent by their Brazilian churches.. Pray for Guto and Marcia as they raise support to come help us here in Londrina. God is good.

Bus Ministry Started

Three weeks ago we started our “Bus Ministry” here in Londrina. It is run just like a bus ministry in the USA; the only major difference is that we walk them in to church. Our Brazilian missionary co-worker is heading this up and is doing a good job. This ministry is opening up homes to us that have just been closed doors in the past.

Children’s Choir Started

In February, Geri started a choir on Wednesday evenings to train our church members’ children how to sing. They have been practicing for a month now and sang for their first time last Sunday evening. Pray for Geri as she invests our church’s musical future.

Japutá, Paraná

In January a Brazilian pastor and I started helping a small congregation 3½ hours away. Their church is a new church plant that has about 20 in attendance. They have two couples that were deacons in their last Baptist church before they moved to Japutá. Both have their own businesses and are faithful tithers. Pray for us as we help to keep this church going forward.

Construction Update

During the next 6 months we will be raising US$ 8,350.00 to help us enlarge our current fellowship hall so that it will be able to hold 150 to 175. We want to enlarge this building before we go home so that our current work will have the room to continue growing for the next few years. When we return from furlough in 2007, we want to put up a church building for 100 people [4 walls one roof and two restrooms] on the new property]. Pray with us as we raise the funds now so we can get this done before we return home in 2007.

Your Missionaries With A Vision

S. David Smith

From: David Smith [mailto:smith-brazil@sercomtel.com.br]
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 8:20 AM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: Londrina, Brazil Update

Londrina, Brazil Update for the week of March 7th thru13th, 2005

Dear Praying Amigos,

On March 6, 2005 we celebrated our church’s 2^nd anniversary. The Lord gave us 12 visitors and we received 5 people as members to our church. Many of our faithful gave testimonies thanking God for the way that God has used this church to help their family grow in the Lord. We are encouraged to see what God is doing here in our members’ lives. We have many visits marked with the visitors this week. Pray for us as we follow up on these new contacts.

Our Bus Ministry [the bus ministry without a bus] is now in its third week and we had our first family attend as a result of this ministry. This ministry is opening doors to us that have otherwise been closed.

Thank you for your prayers

S. David & Geri Smith

Church Planting Missionaries Serving with

Baptist Mid-Missions

Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 1:31 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: Smiths' Londrina Update

Dear Praying Amigos,

This past weekend we started our bus ministry here in Londrina. We don’t have a bus or a van, but the idea is basically the same. The only difference is we walk them into church rather than drive them in. Since we are walking them in, we are concentrating on the neighborhoods right around our church. We are starting with two routes and then we will go to three as needed. We will be walking the kids in only on Sunday mornings.

Last Saturday afternoon I was driving back to my house from church. As I was nearing my house, I saw one of our workers out on the street inviting people to come to our church. It brought such joy to my heart to see that other members of our church have a heart for the ministry and want to see this church grow.

On Sunday morning 5 children “rode” our “two bus routes” to church. As a result of the contacts made last Saturday, one of our co-workers met a mother that had sent her child to VBS the year before. That mother asked if we could hold a Bible study with her and her family.

Saturday we started play practice for our Easter Presentation. There are about 25 participating with speaking parts in this play. We will be presenting the play twice at our church and then twice at two other churches about 1 ½ hours away.

Last Sunday night we had a good number of people out for our service with visitors. The service went well. We had to pull out more chairs for the people that were present. Our members are once again catching the enthusiasm for wanting and desiring to see God reaching others through this church.

Thank you for your prayers for this church planting work.

S. David & Geri Smith

Baptist Mid-Missions in Londrina, Brazil

Dear Praying Amigos

In Brazil they say that the New Year only begins after Carnival [Marti Grass]. I’m am glad that this is Carnival weekend so we can get the church year going full steam ahead.

Carnival Camp-in

This year we will be having the teen girls over at our house from Friday evening until Wednesday morning. Pray that the Lord would work in our teens’ lives during this time.

2005 Summer Youth Camp

As many churches in the USA are planning their 2005 Summer Youth camp, we here in the Southern hemisphere where the seasons are opposite are recovering from ours. We took 8 of our youth 6 hours away to Curitiba for a camp that the churches were holding there. Geri and I dropped the kids off at camp and then we took a few days off ourselves.

Aging Too Quickly. Too Many Parties

Our church is officially two years old now. We started the church on January 4, 2003. Everybody loves a good homecoming day, so we are going to have two this year for the same church. That’s right, we are going to commemorate our actual anniversary of this church twice. On February 20^th we will commemorate the 2^nd anniversary of the inauguration of our church. We are going to call that service the Ebenezer service. Then, in September, we will commemorate the third anniversary of this church. We started holding services in a home in September 2002 before we finished up the construction of the building.

Ebenezer Service (2^nd Anniversary)

In a few weeks we will have our next baptism and we will receive new member. We have two to be baptized and another four adults to become members.

More Help Is On the Way

Last month I was approached by one of my preacher boys from Curitiba. He and his wife just graduated from Bible college there. Guto and his wife want to come and work with us here in Londrina. They want to raise some monthly support and then come work for us for “free.” I have never had that before, but I think I like the idea of it. Pray for them as they raise support to come over and help us here in our own Macedonia.

Bus Ministry With No Bus

This weekend we will be starting a bus ministry at our work. We just don’t have a bus and have no plans to purchase one. We plan on walking them in. Pray for us as we make contacts and start working with new families. We want our church to be an aggressive work.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Smith [mailto:smith-brazil@sercomtel.com.br]
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 7:37 AM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: Smith's' Londrina, Church Planting Update

S. David & Geri Smiths' Londrina, Church Planting Update for Ferb 7, 2005

Today is Tuesday of Carnival or what Marti Gras calls "Fat Tuesday". It is the biggest day of the carnival festivities. To protect our youth from the worldiness and immorality that goes on during this period, we are having all the adolescent girls staying at our house. >From about 5 to 10pm each day we are having activities / sports at church for the guys and the girls. One mom thanked Geri yesterday for what we are doing. She told Geri yesterday: "Everyday since Friday, Erica's teenage relatives/friends that live on the same property, start drinking, smoking and parting. Most nights they just get stone drunk. Erica is 16 years old and is a new Christian. Pray for her as well as our other youth as they fight to mantain the purity during this very popular and very immoral holiday. Most Brazilian youth are brought up thinking that the partying and immorality that goes during this time is normal. Most do not even see it as sin.

Have a nice week

S. David Smith

From: David Smith smith-brazil@sercomtel.com.br
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2005 10:38 AM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;

Prayer Requests for the week of January 17 thru 23, 2005 for David & Geri Smith in Londrina, Brazil

1. Pray for a couple that we are dealing with that are going through marriage problems.

2. Pray for Sonia's husband. He has gotten away from the Lord.

3. Pray for the youth as we take them to adolescent camp on January 24, 2005.

4. Pray for outreach ministries at church.

5. Pray for our music ministries. Geri is training some adolescents to play the piano, but we have not found anyone who can carry a tune that could be trained in song leading.

Have a wonderful week,

S. David & Geri Smith

Serving with BMM in Londrina, Brazil