Graça e Paz, Irmãos e Irmãs!

"Grace and Peace, Brothers and Sisters" is the traditional greeting in Brazilian Baptist churches, and we share this greeting of the Apostle Paul with you as well. May God's grace and peace be present in your lives!We have some exciting news to share with you about what God is doing in our world.

Ann is traveling right now with our JAMI colleagues Pastor Ronald and his wife Cecília.She is scheduled to return next Sunday the 3rd of December.This trip has been such an opportunity and blessing.It started in Granada, Spain two weeks ago with a conference of Iberoamerican mission agencies called COMIBAM (you can check out their website at http://www.comibam.org/).It was an opportunity to see the "cutting edge" of God's mission in the world, since these young mission agencies from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries represent a new thing in God's mission in the world.Former receivers are now senders, and very enthusiastic senders at that!

Then a week ago they traveled to a North African country and spent 5 days visiting JAMI workers there.Ann says it was quite an eye opener to visit a country closed to the Gospel and see what God is doing quietly through very courageous national and foreign believers.Those who seek are finding!

From North Africa, they went to Portugal to visit a JAMI missionary family who recently moved there to start a new work.Portugal is culturally closed to the Gospel, too, even if there aren't any legal restrictions that make it obvious.This is in fact the case in many western European countries. So today God is sending believers from former colonies (like Brazil) back to Europe to re-awaken the churches and be a Christian witness among the people.

After this they fly to England to see another JAMI missionary family who only a couple of months ago began a ministry with Portuguese-speaking immigrants. There are apparently more than 200,000 native speakers of Portuguese in this agricultural region north of London, and up to now no Evangelical outreach or witness to them. The British Baptist churches in the area haven't known quite how to respond, so they have set up a three-way partnership between JAMI, the British Baptist Union, and our own International Ministries-ABCUSA to reach out to them.After only 4 months the ministry in booming — praise the Lord!

As she visits these places, Ann is providing pastoral counseling and advice to the JAMI missionaries.We hope to be able to do more and more to support JAMI missionaries in their countries of service as our Portuguese improves, so we look at this trip as the beginning of a new dimension of service for us.

A lot has been happening here at home in Brazil in the last month, too. With the missionary training course over, this is the season when new JAMI missionaries leave for their countries of service.All have worked hard to prepare themselves and create support partnerships with local churches, and now is the moment when it all pays off.

• Last month Ann spoke at the commissioning of a nurse who is now serving in a health ministry in a North African country.
• Also last month one of the members of this year's training group arrived in a Middle Eastern country to minister among Muslim women.
• Just yesterday we sent off a couple to Guinea Bissau, W. Africa where they will open a school.
• As soon as their visas arrive another missionary couple will leave for India to work with a tribal group in children's ministries and theological education.
• Four other new missionaries are preparing to leave soon for Senegal, East Timor and the Amazon.

What a privilege to help train, send and provide pastoral care for these sisters and brothers in Christ. We pray that many will come to know new life in Christ because of their testimonies.

Something exciting is happening at the local church we have joined. Igreja Batista Reviver is a small church of maybe 150 members that is blessed with an amazing group of youth and young adults.These young people were really inspired by the visit of the "Xtreme Team" youth from the US in July.We are counselors for this group, and have led them in a couple of successful"X-file" mission activities since then.

The group has now decided to organize the church's very first short-term mission trip at the end of January 2007.We hope to take 10-12 young people to a remote part of central Brazil for 8 days of experiencing mission first hand.The group will join with a local church and its Brazilian missionary pastor in evangelism, outreach, and service, including a 4-day hike into a nearby reserve where the Kalunga people live.

One of the most exciting things about this mission trip is that the youth are inspiring the whole church.The hard work of raising the funds, planning the program, and arranging the logistics is still ahead of these youth, but the church is coming together to support them.

Grace and Peace! God is doing exciting things in our world!

Bruce, Ann, Elena, and Asa Borquist

Belo Horizonte, Brazil