Eddison Fowler

We wrote on Monday that we should be driving our van this week. We drove it home yesterday evening! It has never driven better. It is also very, very filthy. Grit, grime, grease and dust are all over, under and through it! We carried it to the car wash this morning, where they have the equipment and know-how to clean it thoroughly.

 

I am meeting with four of our young people this afternoon to plan the work of a group of three University Students who will be coming from the USA next month for six weeks to teach the Bible in English. This attracts Brazilian students who want to learn English, but in the process they learn the Bible. We make it clear in the advertisements that the Bible will be used as text to teach English. This also usually attracts people who are more educated and more capable of leadership. Please be praying for this ministry. It is called LST, which stands for "Let’s Start Talking".

 

Bio Gomes Nascimento, a brother from the northeastern city of Recife, is in Belo Horizonte this week teaching an intensive course on the books of Ezekiel and Daniel. The students are excited about the classes. Brother Bio is an excellent teacher.

 

May the Lord continue helping you grow where He planted you.

CHILDREN & GRANDCHILDREN: We are very proud of our children and grandchildren. David lacks one semester finishing his degree in “Video Productions” at Cincinnati School of Arts. Wren is doing a great job of Stay At Home Mom and Wife, which is evident in the life of Judah and David. Judah walked at almost 10 months and at one year of age is already running ahead of his parents to open the car door for them. David and Wren wonder what the next two years will be like! For David, it is pay-back time. He was more than a handful at that age. They plan to visit Brazil in June and July during a break from school in order for David to renew his permanent Brazilian visa and work with the church’s television program.

 

Lashonda and Vinicius continue studying at Freed-Hardeman University. Vinicius plans to finish his bachelor’s degree in Bible and International Business in December, 2008. He is maintaining an excellent grade point average (almost 4.0) although he is married, has Adam (whom he also baby-sits while Lashonda studies), and is working two part-time jobs. Lashonda is now finishing the first semester of her associate’s degree in nursing and doing a great job of wife and mother. They also plan to visit Brazil during May and June and help direct our May Campaigns.

 

Marlinda continues her studies in Cooking at SENAC (a local trade school), where she is learning better how to cook, which she already does very well. She also continues dating Lucas, teaching Sunday school and auditing some courses in the National Bible School.

 

Bryan continues Home Schooling, singing in the United Voice Quartet (They recorded their first cd in March), playing basketball in a local club, playing his instruments and singing at home.

 

CAR PROBLEMS: The shop that maintains our van was negligent, which caused a serious problem. Eddison requested two times when he had the oil changed that they check the pressure of the oil pump because the oil light was blinking at low rpm’s. They did not honor his request. In early February he carried it in for another oil change and minor adjustments. This time he insisted that they check the pressure of the oil pump and stated that he would not remove the car from the shop until it was checked. When they removed the oil pan to check the pressure, there were metal fragments in it. This indicates the need of an overhaul. Their price for the overhaul was over $8,000 and when he hit the ceiling it came down to just over $7,000. They refused to go down any more and said that low oil pressure would not cause the problem. Eddison knew better. There was no way that we could even consider paying that much for an overhaul, and since it was their fault that it needed the overhaul to begin with, we began considering carrying the case to court. We also researched the price of this work in other shops, but it was very difficult to get them to make an estimate without having the car towed to their shop. We did not want to remove the car from the first shop, just in case we decided to carry the case to court. After almost three months of riding buses, taxis and borrowed cars to get around, we decided to remove the van and tow it to a highly recommended shop in a neighboring city. The mechanic from there had agreed and gone to the shop where the car was located to make an estimate on the work. He guaranteed that the work could be done for under $2,500. Lord willing, we will be driving the car this week. And sure enough, the total price should be a little less than $2,500.

 

OI CHARGES: We signed a contract in December 2005 with the Oi Telephone Company which provided 24/7 internet hookup and 500 minutes of calling per month from our landline home phone and up to three cell phones. We only accepted one cell phone at that time, but during the next year and a half we signed on for the other two to which our contract gave us the right. Because of abuse in the use of our phones, in November 2007 we were forced to migrate to another type of account. The phone company slapped us with a charge of $1,100 for changing the account, but never explained why. We tried incessantly until March 2008 to resolve the problem, to no avail. The company never returned our calls or communicated with us in any way except to collect what they claimed that we owed and to threaten us if we did not pay it. We were forced to carry it to court. We had our first hearing on April 22, which ended without their giving in to our request to drop the charges or to indemnify us for all of our troubles and expenses that they caused us. They claimed that the contract was renewed and unalterable for twelve full months from the date that each new cell phone was added, subject to a fine if changed. Please pray with us for the next hearing on May 15.

 

EDDISON’S HEALTH: Aggravated by all of the external problems that were confronting him (related above) and by his chronic sinusitis and rhinitis problems, from early December to the end of April Eddison suffered sinus pressure, blocked nasal passages, headaches, phlegm in the nose and throat, nose bleeds, an incessant cough, a sore throat, a constantly hoarse voice, a pulled muscle in the chest caused by so much hard coughing, a general “down” feeling, low productivity, etc. Six specialists were consulted, hundreds of dollars worth of medicine was taken and many exams were done before he began to feel good again. The allergy specialist said he was not allergic to anything. He doubts this because of certain symptoms that he suffers. The pneumologist discovered that he suffered a light case of asthma (16 % blockage of the air passages), which when alleviated, helped him feel much better immediately. The coughing stopped, the sore chest healed, the sore throat improved immediately. Pray with us that he continues to feel well.

 

NATIONAL BIBLE SCHOOL: The National Bible School continues to prepare brothers and sisters to better serve the Lord. The Belo Horizonte nucleus continues its teaching of full-time classes. A family from Belo Jardim, Pernambuco (a three day journey by bus or car) arrived in January to study in our nucleus in Belo Horizonte. Both Adilson and Rosa are taking the classes to become better leaders in service to the kingdom. Several other cities around Brazil have expressed interest in reactivating their nuclei or opening nuclei there. Another brotherhood church leader training school contacted us this week, requesting to unite with our school. Discussion of this possibility has begun. Please pray with us in regard to these decisions and processes. Also, please pray with us as we seek to purchase and implement video conferencing in our school.

 

BAPTISMS AND SPACE PROBLEMS AT CHURCH: The Lord has blessed us with growth the past few months. Because of this we need more classroom space. Please pray with us that this problem continues to haunt us. Pray also that we be able to finish at least one extra classroom very soon so that the new converts can have a classroom all of their own.

 

CLASSES IN PALMEIRAS: Eddison is teaching a series of classes called “The Real Man” in the Palmeiras congregation in Belo Horizonte. He developed this series about fifteen years ago and has taught it several times.

 

LaJUANA’S TEACHINGS: LaJuana has taught classes on “God’s Will for the 21^st Century Woman” this quarter in the women’s class at the Central church. She was invited to teach in April 2009 in a congregational ladies’ retreat for the Rivergate Church of Christ in Madison, TN. Please pray for her as she prepares for this retreat.

 

EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGNS IN MAY: Our annual May campaigns will be held from May 11 to 22 in several congregations in greater Belo Horizonte. Lashonda, Vinicius and Adam arrive this Friday, Lord willing, to help direct this campaign. All total, twelve students from Freed-Hardeman University plan to arrive within the next week to help with this project.

 

LOWERING DOLLAR / REAL EXCHANGE RATE: The dollar continues its downward slope. It is now trading for about 1.75 Brazilian reals per dollar. No one knows when it will stop losing value.

May God continue blessing you and yours and using you to His glory.

Eddison & Family

Yesterday was a very good day. After taking care of Bryan’s passport renewal I was able to invest my time for the Lord’s cause and organize several ministries. I instructed the secretary of the National Bible School about communicating with the nuclei of the school outside Belo Horizonte (Rio de Janeiro, Belo Jardim, Cuiabá, Uberlândia, Manaus). I also encouraged her to help us think of ways to involve all seventeen congregations in greater Belo Horizonte in all levels of the school: students, teachers and administration.

 

Much of the afternoon was invested in communication with my supporting churches, scheduling our furlough itinerary. This is a very time-consuming task, which takes weeks or months to plan and work out. Our twenty churches, more or less, are scattered from Jackson, AL in the south to Plattsburgh, NY in the north to Abilene, TX in the west. They are located in the states of AL, TN, KY, IL, IN, VA, PA, NY and TX. We try to make a schedule of travels that places each church at a time that would facilitate visiting churches in their area and beyond. As we travel from TN to the north, for example, we try to schedule the churches in IN and IL on the same Sunday, the churches in VA, PA and NY the next week. On the way, we visit family. David, Wren and Judah plan to be in school at Cincinnati, OH by the time we make the trip north, so we plan to pass by their house for a day or two. Lashonda, Vinicius and Adam are at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, TN. My mother, brother and sister live in Demopolis, AL. We plan to visit all of these while we visit churches in their areas. Each church is distinct, with its own style of life, customs, communications and expectations. We have to be prepared emotionally and with different information for each visit. The Lord gave me the gift of adaptability. Not everyone in our family received this gift in great proportions.

 

Last evening we attended the worship at Venda Nova, the site of the evangelistic campaign. There were again six first-time visitors. The worship was encouraging and evangelistic. The sermon dealt with the necessity of allowing the Word of God to direct us to salvation in Christ.

 

Eddison

God blessed our campaign work yesterday in the small neighborhood congregation of Nacional. We went door to door offering prayer for the residents of the neighborhood and inviting them to the worship service last night. Six first time visitors attended the worship service. Continue to pray with us that those who attended last evening and those who will come in the next few weeks will give their lives to the Lord. Also, pray for the rest of the campaign as we go to a different congregation each day through May 22.

 

Living internationally can be interesting—and at times stressful. We are required to maintain valid documents of all kinds (identification cards, passports, social security cards, drivers’ licenses), as well as making Income Tax declarations and many other things in both the USA and Brazil. Bryan, Marlinda and I took an overnight bus to Rio de Janeiro after the Bible Study Group at our house on Thursday, May 3. We had marked an appointment at the American consulate at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, May 4 to renew Marlinda and Bryan’s American passports. After finishing the process there we took an afternoon bus back home and arrived about 9:15 p.m.

 

Bryan went to the Federal Police station in Belo Horizonte two days ago and marked an appointment for 10:00 o’clock this morning to renew his Brazilian passport. LaJuana, he and I were all required to be there today. We were able to submit all of the documents and pictures necessary for the process of his passport renewal. We should receive it within a few days.

 

Our furlough is scheduled from June 15 to the end of August, Lord willing. Marlinda, Bryan and I plan to meet up with LaJuana on June 16. We should then travel together until July 27, when LaJuana returns to Brazil with Bryan in order to register him in the American School of Belo Horizonte on August 1. Marlinda and I plan to continue our travels until the end of August. Several hours today and tomorrow will be dedicated to contacting about twenty supporting churches to schedule our visits with them to report on our work and life in Brazil.

 

God bless each of you as you live and serve Him.

 

In Christ,

Eddison O’Neal Fowler

Most of the campaigners arrived last Friday, Sunday and yesterday. One more should arrive today and another this Friday. The campaigners are coming from Freed-Hardeman University and from other cities in the interior of our state of Minas Gerais.

 

Lashonda, Marcus Vinicius and Adam arrived last Friday. It is a pleasure having them home. LaJuana arrived with the group on Sunday. She was invited to come when one of the campaigners had to give up the trip at the last moment. The directors asked if there were someone who had all of his documentation in order and would like to take this student’s place. Marcus suggested his mother-in-law, who had been in the USA since early March helping her mother care for her grandmother in her last days and then caring for her things after her passing on March 28. It was great to have LaJuana home too. 

 

The evangelistic campaigns begin today. For eight consecutive days we will be in different congregations each day inviting visitors to the night services. Pray with us that many souls are touched with the gospel message and that they be brought to salvation in Christ. See the schedule of the campaign below.

 

God bless,

Eddison O’Neal Fowler

 

January 11, 2007

 

The National Bible School begins its activities next Monday through Friday night with an intensive course on "THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL" taught by our missionary brother David Meadows from Sao Paulo. The following week will mark the beginning of the regular quarterly classes. The quarter will be from January 22 to April 7 and the classes will be at night from Monday through Thursday.

 

I will be teaching "THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN WORKER".

José Almeida will teach "INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT".

F. H. Gates will teach "EVANGELISM".

Ivan Goncalves will teach "HERMENEUTICS AND EXEGESIS"

 

The year began well for the Central church with very positive worship services last Sunday. I set up Evangelistic Bible Studies with two couples after the morning service. Please remember them in your prayers. Their names are Fred and Juliana, Robert and Monica. I continue teaching our follow-up study series of 52 basic Bible lessons with Tiago and Junio, two young men that I baptized last year. They are both very promising. I look forward to great things from them in the future.

 

The Bible Study group that meets in our home on Thursday nights is going very well. We have visitors almost every single week. Our attendance is holding very well between the upper 20’s and lower 30’s. We are now working on making invitation cards for our group. Hopefully this will increase interest and bring in more visitors who will give their lives to the Lord. We have several Bible Study groups that meet all over greater Belo Horizonte.

 

May the Lord bless you and use you as a blessing in the life of others.

 

In Him,

Eddison

Hello and a Happy New Year to everyone. May the Lord bless you and use you this year to His glory and praise. About one hundred members of several congregations in the greater Belo Horizonte area met at our “Camp Of the Pines” outside the city last Sunday for lunch, fellowship, the evening worship service, an evening meal and celebrated the opening of the New Year. We returning home on Monday morning.

Sorry I haven’t posted to my blog site the past few weeks. The elders of the Central church started making and implementing plans back in September to improve our communication within the congregation and its various ministries and making our budget and calendar for 2007. Praise God that this was all done successfully, but my time has been consumed with this and my other regular activities.

Also, the nucleus of the National Bible School in Belo Horizonte continued and fine-tuned its plans for the new directorship, curriculum and better-organized activities beginning in January of 2007. Lord willing, the first course will be an intensive study of the History of Israel from January 15 to 19. Brother David Meadows from Sao Paulo will be the teacher for this course. We had rather begin with another course, but this one has been marked since last year. The courses taught after this one will follow a basic to in-depth graduating sequence, finishing in December of 2008. Please pray that the Lord blesses our school and helps us prepare many more workers for the harvest.

For some reason there were many names missing from the mailing list for our newsletter and Christmas card. This is now being corrected. Evidently this problem has existed for some time. We are sorry that many of you have not been receiving our reports and cards. If you missed them, please contact me by e-mail and I will send you a copy of the December 2006 newsletter.

Eddison fell the week before Christmas and dropped onto his shoulder a metal top weighing about 75 pounds. The doctor said his shoulder was not broken. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and heat pad to reduce the swelling inside the shoulder and allow it to heal. It is much better, but still hurts if the arm is raised at a certain angle.

On January 2 he was bathing and twisted his body to wash his feet. His back locked up and he could not move for a few seconds. The anti-inflammatory and heat pad were resumed to resolve this problem. His back is much better, but until it is warmed up it is hard to walk correctly. He has suffered with back problems many times in the past. He once stayed in bed nine days on his back, unable to turn over. It has been several years since he last suffered great back pain.

Our prayer is that God is using you to His glory. If not, we pray you will repent and give yourself completely to Him.

In Christ,

Eddison

Hello to everyone. Our prayer is that the Lord is blessing you immensely and using you as a blessing to others.

 

Invasion of your privacy, robbery and trickery–how do you feel about these things? Someone stole my Internet access code recently and was using it at the same time I was, which ended up costing me money. I learned to change all of my private codes regularly to avoid this. I recommend that everyone do this. This is serious.

 

The Lord is rejoicing in heaven for many reasons. Our brother Julio Brasileiro came back to his family and to the Lord last week. I had the privilege of maintaining contact with him for the past two years while he was in Vila Velha, Espirito Santo, separated from his family and the church and living in sin. He had a good job in a big national company at the freight dock, but far from his family and the Lord. Julio said that during his stay there, the Lord was constantly troubling him. He finally decided to obey the Lord’s discipline and come back to his family and to the Lord’s fold. I drove to Vila Velha to bring him and his things back to Belo Horizonte. Those of you who know Julio must know how happy we are to see him come back to his family and the fold. He is an extremely talented and intelligent person, very loved and respected by all age groups and very useful to the kingdom. Before his departure he was teaching Greek and several other courses in our National Bible School, teaching Sunday School and other classes at church, preaching, etc. Please pray for Julio, his family and the church in the coming months as we readjust to his presence.

 

Also, Junio was baptized on October 15. I had been studying with him for some time. I continue to study basic principles of the Christian life with him. We have a series of 52 studies that we do with new converts to help them become well grounded in the faith. I am also continuing these studies with Tiago Brasileiro, (the son of Julio, mentioned above) who was baptized in February.

 

Please pray for Melissa, a young neighbor of ours who has been studying with Marlinda and me for many months. She has an aunt who is a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who is fighting against us to keep Melissa from giving herself to the Lord. Please pray for Melissa and for us as we try to help her see and obey the true gospel of Jesus.

 

Also, please pray for Patricia, who was baptized on December 25, 2005 but has fallen away because of several family, health and other problems. She has disappeared, but we are looking for her. We only had work and cell phone numbers for Patricia. She quit her job and sold her cell phone, and the people with whom she worked have moved. Pray that we can find her and bring her back to Christ.

 

The National Bible School is going through some major changes. Please pray with us that we can raise US$ 1,500.00 more per month to support a full time director, pay for several physical changes and give scholarships to several full time students so they can dedicate all of their time to preparation for future service in the kingdom.

 

Thank you very much for your prayers and support of all kinds. This helps us stay in Brazil and continue the work of saving souls and helping them grow.

 

In Him,

Eddison

The trip to Curitiba from August 31 to September 5 was very good. Marcos Sacramento, Garibalde Oliveira and I traveled in Garibalde’s car to Campinas, São Paulo on Thursday and passed the night in the home of Marcos Rogério, a brother in Christ. We stayed up until 3:00 o’clock encouraging Marcos to continue firm in the faith and continue developing as a Christian. He aspires to becoming an elder some day, and is well on the way. His congregation had problems in the recent past as they tried to establish the eldership there. On Friday we continued our trip to Curitiba, arriving well before the Three-In-One Conference began that night.

 

The conference was a success, with the participation of brethren from five states and twenty-eight congregations. Classes and keynote speeches were centered on the subjects of Family, Bible Study Groups and Church Growth.

 

A meeting of the community of the National Bible School (Seminário Bíblico Nacional) was held on Saturday. Unfortunately there were not enough of the present national officers, official professors and directors, and coordinators of the five nuclei of the NBS participating in the conference to establish a quorum and make the decision in our special meeting to move the home office of the NBS to Belo Horizonte; however Alvaro Pestana, the president of NBS encouraged us to prepare for the move to Belo Horizonte. He is confident that it will become official in the regular meeting of the community on Easter weekend of 2007. The brethren in Belo Horizonte are in expectation of the move. We are preparing the space necessary to receive the 1,500 library books in English and all of the files of the NBS since 1988. Please pray for us as we continue the process of this move. Pray for me especially, as I have been nominated as the future president of the NBS. Much of the future of the school will be my responsibility.

 

While in Curitiba, I met about ten people who remembered me from my visit there in 1979 as an evangelistic campaigner. We visited a family on Sunday afternoon that had just become Christians when I was there in 1979. They said that my acceptance of them and the special time I invested in their children was one of the major things that helped them become firm in the faith and in the church. The entire family is faithful today and one of those children in 1979 is presently a full-time preacher in São Paulo. We never know the influence we are having even while doing what is natural and enjoyable. Paul said that the simple things are used to confound the wise (I Co 1:27). May God be praised!

 

We passed through the city of São Paulo on our way back to Belo Horizonte so that Garibalde could get his visa to visit his supporting churches in the USA next month. While there, we passed the night in the home of João Cruz, the brother I mentioned above. The trip from São Paulo to Belo Horizonte was uneventful and pleasant.

 

Please remember us in prayer every day. Our lives and work must be left in His hands.

Eddison