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Lashonda returned to Henderson on May 24 to do a short course at Freed-Hardeman University. Vinícius and Adam stayed here
for a few more days. It was great having them with us. Adam’s vocabulary grew a
lot in English and Portuguese while they were here. Our relationship with all three was very good.

David, Wren and Judah were
with us for three marvelous weeks. It was great being with them again as well. David
did some filming and editing for the television program while he was here. Judah has grown
and matured very much since we saw him last August. He walked at nine months,
began running immediately and has not slowed down since then. He is very
active, just like his dad was at this age. He gets into everything, and does it
with all his might. May he be the same way in his Christian life in the future.
David and Wren are great parents, as are Vinícius and Lashonda. May the Lord
bless all of them.

The problem in Eddison’s
leg and hip seems to be completely healed, along with his extreme sinusitis and
rhinitis symptoms. He is destined to suffer these respiratory maladies for the
rest of his life, but the headaches are less often and the pain and facial
pressure less intense than earlier. Who would have thought that a slight case
of asthma would complicate so much the symptoms of these problems?

Bryan and Marlinda were
helpers and translators in the Vacation
Bible School
at the Eldorado congregation this week. They loved it. See pictures of the
event at http://picasaweb.google.com/cocarelli/MercadoDeJerusalM.

The Children’s Home in Belo Horizonte is getting
closer and closer to reality. Regular meetings are being held to elect the
board of directors, prepare the legal documents and other necessary things. A
wall is being built around the property and the city is preparing and paving
the streets around it. We look forward to receiving the children and bringing
them up to do His will.

The National Bible
School begins a new
quarter of classes next week. José Almeida teaches BIBLICAL GEOGRAPHY, Eddison teaches
THE GENERAL EPISTLES, F.H. Gates teaches THE PRISON EPISTLES and Tiago de Jesus
teaches REVELATION, PART II. Please pray that we relate God’s true message to
our students, who will then relate it to their congregations and to the world.
Our new office and library space is almost finished. The thermal ceiling was
installed this week. We look forward to receiving all of our files, books, etc.
from Campo Grande,
where they have been stored for several years, and moving what we have here into
this new space. The home office of the National Bible School will then be completely moved to Belo Horizonte and we can
do a much better job of carrying it forward.

Eddison continues preaching in several local congregations, doing follow-up
work with new Christians, leading the mid-week Bible study group in our home, counseling
several couples and meeting regularly with several ministry leaders to listen
to them, encourage them, and guide them as they do their work. Pray with us.

God continues to make
Himself known, and His presence felt, among us. Praise Him forever!

Vinicius and Adam returned
to Henderson, TN last Friday. It was a cry baby
experience. The baby cried, the parents cried and the grandparents cried. Oh
well… life continues. Vinicius begins summer classes tomorrow so they had to go
back. Pray for them as they prepare for the future. Lashonda made the highest
grade in class on her “anatomy” exam last week! The first exam was not as good,
but now she knows how to prepare for that teacher’s tests.

David, Wren and Adam are
coming to Belo Horizonte
next week, Lord willing. They must come this month so that David can keep his
permanent visa. They plan to stay three weeks. During their stay here, David is
scheduled to work on videos with the recording and TV ministry. He plans to
invest much of his life in this area when he returns to Brazil in the
near future.

Our court case against the
telephone company took another turn. They appealed the case, so it is not over.
We had until last Friday evening to disclaim the reasons for their appeal and
we learned this at noon on Friday. We had understood that it was tomorrow; the
attendee at the court office had told Eddison this on May 27. We learned of this
change when we arrived at the airport to carry Vinicius, Adam and two of the
other campaigners who had stayed on when Lashonda left. We had to leave them
there and rush to the lawyer’s office to help him prepare our case. Up to this
point we had handled the case alone, but the court system requires that we have
a lawyer at the level that the case has reached. Please pray with us that this
can be settled soon so that we can get on with life.

Eddison began having pain in
his left hip about three weeks ago. Since then it has spread to his whole leg.
Sometimes it is in one place and sometimes in another. He is consulting a
doctor and doing exams to find and treat the problem. He thinks it is a pinched
nerve or something similar. Please pray for him. The pain is intense and it
is difficult to stand and walk for any length of time.

All the best to you and yours. 

Brother, are you serious
about your spiritual life? Do you read the Word of God frequently? Is it the
pattern for how you live your life?

Do you pray to God often? Do
you pour out all of your thoughts and sentiments before Him? If He depended
upon your prayers to know about your life, what would He know? Are your prayers
self-centered, or do they include others as He wants?

Do you meditate upon Him?
How many times per day do you think about Him? How often do you recognize that
you, as well as all people and all things were created and are maintained by
Him?

Do you live in a way that
everyone around you knows that you are His and are with Him? Do they recognize
that your attitudes, words and actions are molded by the Creator? Do you take
time often to praise Him and serve Him?

How do you think God would
answer these questions about you? He knows all things and He is not a respecter
of persons. Each one of us will be judged by the relationship that he has with
God while he lives here on earth.  May
all of us be sincere and serious in our relationship with God. I confess that
these meditations awakened me to my necessity to grow spiritually. I intend to
work on this every day from now on. What about you? I love you and want to see
you in heaven.

Our church building is very conveniently located—just three
blocks from the main downtown square
of Belo Horizonte, which
has a metropolitan population of about five million. There are hundreds of
thousands of cars and hundreds of bus lines that pass both in front of and
behind us each day, besides a bridge that borders our building and links the
Central area of the city with a populous area just behind us. Besides this, the
central station of the elevated city passenger train is located just one block
from us. You can imagine how many people pass our building each day. Many of
these also read our church billboard and visit our worship services. Besides
these, most of our visitors are family and friends of our members and are
invited personally, as is the case everywhere. It is very seldom that we have
fewer than five first time visitors in a Sunday worship service. When they
come, they appreciate our simple, sincere, Bible based worship service and mark
their attendance cards asking for prayers, Bible Study or a visit from someone
at church. We try to visit all of these and involve them in activities for
spiritual growth.

In order to serve these people and help the church grow as
the Lord wants, one of our greatest needs is well prepared workers. For this
reason the National
Bible School
was started in 1989. The school is national, with several nuclei all over Brazil. Ours
was the first nucleus that was recognized and is the only one that began when
the school opened and has continued uninterrupted until today. Brethren in
other cities around Brazil
are interested in opening nuclei in their cities as well. The central office
was moved to Belo Horizonte
last year. We are now building an office and library space at the Central
church building in order to house all of the documents and books of the school.
All of the board of directors is from the greater Belo Horizonte area. The classes this quarter
in the Belo Horizonte
nucleus are Psalms, Minor Prophets, Revelation and Guided Practice. Please pray for us as we prepare more workers for the
harvest.

Our car is running great and getting excellent fuel mileage
(kilometrage) after the overhaul. Praise God!

Eddison’s health is also great now. We praise Him and thank
the doctor and medicine that helped him to get well. It turns out that the
slight case of asthma was aggravating the chronic sinusitis and rhinitis to the
point that neither was getting well. Once the asthma was treated, the other
symptoms went away. We know this is temporary, but we thank God.

We also won the case hands down against the telephone
company. The judge ruled completely in our favor, sentencing the defendant to
dismiss all charges of fines and fees against us and to pay us punitive damages
of twice what they were charging us illegally. This helped us pay the overhaul
on our car. The more we live, the more proof we have that Romans 8:28 is true.
We continue living and working and praying and knowing that whatever comes our
way, the Lord will handle it. Praise Him!!!!

The annual evangelistic campaign went very well. We had good
attendance overall and had dozens of first time visitors. Please pray with us
that the churches carry through with the contacts and help them become strong
and faithful Christians.

A blessing of the campaign for our family is the visit of
our kids and grandkids. Lashonda, Vinicius and Adam came as leaders of the
campaign group from Freed-Hardeman
University. Unfortunately
Lashonda had to return to FHU for a summer course that begins tomorrow, so she
could not stay but a couple of days after the campaign was over. Vinicius and
Adam remained, however, and plan to stay until June 6, Lord willing.

May the Lord continue blessing you and keeping you in His care.

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