© 2003                              

ABE Produções
 
Chapecó, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Phones: (49) 329-5598,  323-2356
 
Monday, Feb. 1, 2003
 
"...that those who live, should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them..."       2 Cor. 5:15

"Help me please, he broke down the gate and the glass in the door and is inside!" Dori's hysterical call at 12 AM prompted quick action and we quickly picked up two other women she had called and drove the 3 blocks of rough, gravel road to where they stood on the street in front of the house. Cristina, her 5 year-old daughter, seemed much calmer than her weeping mother and we soon brought them back to spend the night with us. The story tumbled out about how her drunken common-law husband suddenly returned to "his" house after 8 months away with his girlfriend and angrily broke in and threatened the new believer and her little daughter.

 
After earlier trying to get help from the very uncooperative, local police desk clerk ("it is his house, is it not?"), Dori decided it was time to cry out for help from her new brothers and sisters in the Lord. Rossano (a single leader in the local church) and I discussed different possibilities for Dori, then chose to ask the Lord for wisdom the next morning after a good night's sleep. The next sunny day, after getting that good night's sleep, Sonia took the now-calm woman to "officially" register a formal complain with the police. The chief was very sympathetic and cooperative and agreed to sign Dori's request for a holding restraint against her wayward, alcoholic husband.
 
In the days following this incident, Dori expressed to us how much she sensed God's love and peace, and how much He was teaching her. She told us how impactive it was to have brothers and sisters in Christ show love and concern for her well-being. Pray for Dori as she seeks God's will for her future. Her dilemma is mirrored in the lives of many new believers dealing with tough problems from their past. Her world appears quite different seen through spiritually-opened eyes, and she is asking God to help her react in a godly manner to these "consequences of her former life" situations.
 
We thank the Lord for so many opportunities to show His love to those around us. We thank Him for the blessed labor of reaching out with His life-giving Word. God is truly at work in our world today and right now! Our prayer is for wisdom and strength to keep running the great race set before us as He would have us to run.
 
 
Happenings:
  • Our Tuesday night Bible study (35 - 45 people, not including children), has passed the halfway mark with this foundational, evangelistic tape series. We continue to use the "Além do Véu" series and interest is even higher now. Last week, we traveled with them through the giving of the 10 Commandments, then Israel's subsequent promise and failure to keep those commands. They could easily identify with Israel's need for God to provide the Tabernacle and sacrifices as a way to temporarily "cover" their Commandment-exposed sin. Like Israel, God is preparing their hearts to accept His Eternal Lamb, whose blood would forever blot out their many sins.
  • Our family had the privilege of participating in the marriage of two young believers in a large social club building about 85 miles from Chapecó. They were recent "fruit" from our outreach and it was a thrill to perform their ceremony as a testimony to the audience of over 95% unbelievers! Few (or none!) of their family and friends had ever seen a non-Catholic, "Christian" wedding and we heard many positive comments. I focused in on God's plan for marriage and how modern society suffers for their rejection of His patterns and principles. Stefanie and Cynthia sang with 2 other believers, and the young guitarist and violinist we brought from Chapecó accompanied. It was very beautiful and we saw many tears as the bride and groom's vows were read by "proxies". Our time in "São Miguel do Oeste" could open further doors for teaching God's Word in the future.
  • Sonia, Stefanie, Cynthia and Richie are all either teaching or helping with various Bible studies. Richie continues to finish up his Junior year at home. He is literally "teaching himself" now, as the courses are beyond Sonia's knowledge and training.
  • We are praying about starting new evangelistic outreaches in the region, to the many small towns scattered around us. Most are located along bad dirt roads, so few have any access to the Gospel. Almost all have "community centers" for dance parties and special events, so we would like to use the new video projector, screen and audio amplifier God provided, for this ministry.  We are looking to God for guidance and wisdom for this outreach. The vehicle we have is not really appropriate for this, but we know the Lord is faithful to provide as He sees fit.
  • We already have about a quarter of the funds necessary for our air passages back to the USA this summer! Praise for God's supply through His people! We plan to spend 60-90 days in the USA, so will be giving further news as things develop. If war breaks out in Iraq, we might be forced to travel at a later date. We'll keep you posted as to our plans as things become clearer.
  • Work slooooooowly continues on the rough dirt/gravel roads in our neighborhood. The large, storm drain pipes are still being installed and buried, so the dump-trucks, backhoes, roadgraders and steamrollers are still kicking up much dust. Someday, the asphalt will be put in and this will all just be a bad memory! Now, to make it more complicated, water rationing has been started due to lack of rain! Fun, fun, fun! Dirt, dirt, dirt!
  • I'm almost finished with the "digital tape-to-DVD disk" conversion of the tape masters. I'm still working on the new DVD "master disks" with 2 lessons on them. These should enable us to switch to recording 2 hr tapes, with an overall reduction in number of tapes to only 12 for the whole series. With Brazil's depressed economy, prices most Americans would consider ridiculously low, are too much for many in this country to handle. The truth is: the lower the price, the more available these tapes will be. Your prayers and financial support are the fuel God uses to keep things moving!
 
Prayer Requests:
  • For strength, health, perseverence and continuing wisdom in reaching out with the Gospel, and for many decisions needing to be made concerning our future. We are laying our future solidly in God's hands, allowing Him to open and close the doors and guide us as He sees fit.
  • I have an invitation to help plan and participate in a very large movie project. There is growing interest in making a full blown, animated movie of the whole Bible, up through Christ's Glorious Return to this earth as it's King. The movie would be targeted for use in regular theaters and on commercial TV as a way of reaching out to the millions of children only receiving garbage and constant lies from the Enemy. I am passing this on to you folks to pray about , especially as to our participation in this. Basically, we would be part of the core group doing planning and layout. The friend approaching me on this is a professional artist and has recently begun producing animations. He has a number of contacts with other Brazilian Christian animators and artists in Brazil with interest in this project, and estimates it would take 4 years of full-time work to produce. Nothing is certain, nor are there any definite plans or even possible funding sources as yet. This same project could easily be altered for Spanish and other languages, so could have quite a potential audience. One line of thinking is to use this movie as a means for preparing the hearts of these children for receiving the Gospel even AFTER THE RAPTURE! The movie would serve as a way to focus their thoughts on God's Word and what the future holds for them.  
  • For the salvation of many different people studying the Bible for the first time in this region and throughout Brazil. The Fire is spreading! Fan the Flames! Pray! In an age of unbelief and great sin, God is still calling out a people for Himself before He returns for His Church. We are certainly on the final dash to the finish line, so breath deeply and keep on running...
  • For our travel plans, financial needs, vehicles for travel, etc. We plan to go from coast to coast, north and south, so will probably need a van. The kids want to camp our way across the USA, and the twins plan to look at different schools as we go. 
  • For speaking engagements and participation at a "Family retreat" for believers the first of March.
Thank you folks for your part in our ministry here! Every day we are conscious of the fact that without those helping us by giving and praying, we could not do what we are doing. We give thanks continually for those standing with us in this battle. Praise the Lord for His goodness and for the work He is doing in the hearts of men, women and children in Brazil! God bless you as you serve our soon-returning King.
 
Steve and Sonia Armour (Stefanie, Cynthia, Richie)
 
"...we give thanks to God upon every remembrance of you..."
I Tim 1:3 (NIV)
 
Phones:  55 (49) 323-2356 (home),  55 (49) 329-5598 (office)
 
 
Website:   www.abeprod.com.br 
 
Mailing address:
Caixa Postal 203
Chapecó, SC, Brazil  89801-973
 
Gifts: (Please make all checks payable to: ACI International - see NOTE below)
PO Box 1769
Ontario, California  91762-0769
 
(NOTE OF EXPLANATION ON GIFTS TO OUR MINISTRY:  Assisting Christian Individuals International (www.aciinternational.org), is an non-profit, Christian organization that allows us to receive gifts destined for our ministry and give tax-deductible receipts for those gifts. They charge only 5% of the total of all gifts for this purpose, so we receive 95% of everything given. They send us a list of all gift donors at the end of every month, then deposit directly into our US-based bank account. Checks need to be made out to ACII for them to be able to legally give tax-deductible receipts. Please include a note in the envelope with our name on it as the recipients for the gifts.)