Hello everyone,

Mission work is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage, boldness and a faith willing to take a step where most in the world would retreat to safety. Daniel Peters from the Auckland AIM team probably shouldn't be in the hanggliders ramp, but his picture reminds me of the heart that you have to have to choose to leave what is comfortable and be thrown into a new and different world for the cause of Christ.

Greetings from chilly, yet extremely cool, Napier! The AIMers in Napier have dealt with some adversity regarding coordinators and other things, but are serving God mightily and doing great things for the Kingdom in Napier. Pictured here (from left to right) are Michael, Michael, Daniel, Rashawn, and Smokey (bottom). They are innovative and diligent and we should all be proud of their efforts. As you can see, when it is summer up there, it is winter 'down under'. Brrr!

Dwight and I left Napier and are now safely with the church planting team in Auckland. We will worship with them this morning and enjoy two and a half days together. Last night, we watched New Zealand and South Africa play Rugby on TV together (congratulations to Jerry Hogg and the other South Africa fans) - bit of a downer here.

Greetings from New Zealand where you can enjoy the beach all winter long! Here I am pictured with our Tauranga AIMers: Jana, Kristi, Ashtin and Kayla (in that order - left to right). As you can see, the water is blue, the trees are green and this quartet of young ladies are very happy to be on the AIM field in New Zealand. They are doing a great job of contacting and conversing with non-Christians, getting to know and minister to their church family, getting settled in their new home, and becoming an active part of the local congregation. Dwight and I have both been very pleased with the comments that we have heard regarding these young Christian ladies and it's obvious that the congregation here is being very responsive to them. I feel confident that their time in new Zealand will go well.

Greetings from New Zealand. I am including a picture of Katie Samsill feeding a kangaroo in Adelaide for the "Ahh" factor it will generate. I have pictures of penguins, wombats, wallabies, etc. as well as pictures of our meetings with local leaders, Bible study groups and times in the assembly I will include in later postings. We had a good seminar in Adelaide and then Dwight and I took off for New Zealand. It is an amazing thing to see the Lord's Church in places like Australia and New Zealand! I am abundantly blessed... as well as a little tired.

Greetings. I am, once again, on the road. I am presently in the LA airport awaiting a flight to Sydney, Australia. I will be visiting the Macquarie congregation, meeting with MSOBS (Macquarie School of Biblical Studies) personnel, having a seminar in Adeliade, Australia, meeting with our 2 AIM teams in New Zealand, meeting with the Auckland mission team, and speaking at the Macquarie lectures. What a great opportunity!  I will be meeting the Mark Samsill family (Mark, Kelle, Tyler, Colton and Katie) there and will enjoy being with our good friends from College Hill in Fort Worth. They are a family of great Christian servants. As always, I seek your prayers for safe travel and God's blessings on our efforts there. You can be expecting updates as the next few weeks unfold. I look forward to seeing the Peters family, Dwight Whitsett, and all of our co-workers 'Down Under'. A special thanks to those who give to our travel fund and make this possible. The funds aren't going as far as they used to due to the US dollar falling, so each gift is especially needed,

In Him,

Chris

We often take for granted the amount of information that is available in the States. Brazil has not had that luxury of the abundance of information. The country of Brazil is very family oriented.

However, because of the lack of good instruction many couples struggle with their relationships. The word struggle is a little mild because we all “struggle” with relationships. These struggles here are not always normal. The desire is present, but the “how to” accomplish all that is desired isn’t easily acquired.

For that very reason we began what we call Eternamente Juntos, (Together Forever). It is an eight week course done with seven couples each time. We have encouraged all of the couples here in the congregation to do this at least once.

Most of the married couples in the church have done this course over the last eight years. Many have repeated it several times. It has strengthened many marriages and blessed also the effectiveness of their ministries and evangelism. We have also used this as a means to reach out to those who are not following Jesus yet. We have taught several visiting couples the gospel of Jesus after they finished this course.

We continue to thank God for your support and prayers.

Rod and Linda Nealeigh

Hello everyone,

I know it is hard to imagine but Lubbock is actually turning green. With a little bit of rain that we had we are seeing some grass and leaves and for us it looks pretty good. For those in places like Alaska or New Zealand you may be laughing. It sure is quiet around the AIM office. The rest of SIBI is still in session so we still have some students and AIM assistants around but even they will be leaving in a few short weeks.

There is an article from the The Christian Chronicle concerning a church in Georgia with which Ryan and Mandy Gray are working.