California bound....

Someday we shall dwell in sweet union and communion with our God and Savior forever and ever. The final silence will be broken, and we will see Him as He is---as He has been---there all the time. Kay Arthur*







My thoughts...

I wish I were young again to give more of myself o the mission field...however I am glad I gave and have no regrets that He called me to be a missionary. Dear ones I must tell you the cost has been great…It has taken its toil on my body…the long hours, nights without sleep, physical work almost beyond my strength…Oh but the reward has been so great…I pause and look back down life’s journey…I see the once witchdoctors now preachers…and I have lived long enough to see my spiritual children’s children preaching the gospel! Even if there were no heaven after this life I still have been rewarded greatly for serving my fellow men and women.
My life has been one of adventure and faith a life of trusting and learning we do not need as much to live on as think we have to have. when I was younger I traveled the backlands many times with no money, sleeping wherever but my great lesson He taught me was HE watches out for his own…pure strangers have taken me in and listened as I told them the story of Jesus…
My friends and I even broke into a house once! We did have that address that someone had given us from a another state…the people were not home and we were tired, hot dusty and hungry…so we picked the lock, fixed us some of their rice for us, took showers in cold water (at least they had a bathroom and a shower) …then we all hung up our hammocks and rested…what a surprise the couple had when they got home…ha…anyway we preached Jesus to them and in time they were baptized and received the precious Holy Ghost…

I remember a message preached by Brother Stoneking maybe 20 years ago or so entitled, I choose to gamble it all…
I too have staked my eternity on the fact that men and women must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. That fact has been an overwhelming drive in my life…eternity without Christ is the most awful doom I can imagine.
I have been blessed to see them change into the image of He who called us into holiness with Him…


As many of you know we are traveling in the northeast and last night we visited a little church in the state of Ceara where I remember the conversion of the pastor’s mother and father in south Brazil some almost 30 year ago…. yet the very first visit I could tell they were hungry for God…just because they were devout catholic did not scare me…Today Brother Milton’s father has gone on to higher ground…yet because of his decision to serve the Lord he became a pillar in our south work and his father and mother helped us in south Brazil for many years. His other brother pastor’s a church in the south…Brother Milton is one of our national missionaries that our work supports for him to work full time in the harvest.

Because you pray and give souls are coming to the Lord…thank you for helping us to help others.
Your Missionaries in Brazil
Brother and Sister Alvear and family









I will never forget as she turned to wipe away tears from her eyes...there was no earthly way to express how happy she was that we were in her little humble abode. Our son had met her in passing on a jungle path and she invited him for a visit. When mother comes I will bring her he told the lady. So there we were a whole truck load of us!
It is interesting to see those who receive a visit for the first time from one of God’s messengers.
She was so poor...her home was nothing more than a lean to at the edge of the jungle...No door or windows just an open space...the floor was dirt other than 3 chairs and a few hammocks they had nothing.
She came running when word reached her we were waiting for her. She had been in the dry rice fields…(their only hope of survival)Her feet were bare…her hair was not combed…her dress was tattered and torn. I saw lice but that does not even bother me anymore…after all, 40 years on the field and much of that has been spent in the backlands…so lice is a common sight…many of their homes do have even an outside bathrooms.
OH! You have come to visit me…she was beside herself with joy Standing quite timid inside was her daughter with a naked baby in her arms.
I heard the lady saying I am so happy you all are building a church in my area…how I long for God…( I wondered what her concept of God really was…I hugged her tight.
What can I give you missionary…she had nothing but oh yes they had saved the nuts from the cashew tree, she poured them out from an old dirty plastic bag on her dirt floor to show me…take these she said to the native man and roast them for the missionary…she gathered them up and gave me her saved treasure…
We prayed and assured her our son would help her find the way to heaven…she wept…because we had to leave I wept for the millions that still sit in pagan darkness…I gave her my hat that I had brought.
She wanted her picture taken in my hat. That will be a treasure to her.
I wept for all the money that is wasted on needless things in America. I wept for the fun loving, church in America…I wept because of “things” that we don’t really need in the light of eternity.
I wept because of such shallow depth in the Christian world…I weep every time I see people trying to impress each other with new cars and clothes, bigger and better this or that while a world drops off into hell. I cannot feel at home even among the finest people in your land. my heart yearns for the Brazilian people…I weep because people joggle for positions, preach to climb some political ladder…I weep because we need mothers in Zion to teach our young ladies that the kingdom needs us too…I weep looking for someone to be an Ester, a Ruth, aDeborah…Where are our prophetess that love God more than styles or fashions. We preach what is convenient for whoever we run with but where are the God given convictions…we worry about the gold and silver on people while all the time we surround ourselves with gold and silver…we preach Jesus is coming back but our way of living makes us into hypocrites…how could we believe he is coming and be so selfish…
Just today and today alone a cry came from a pastor that is a leper that with help he is almost finished building his church that a storm tore down. Yet he told me he still needs 300 dollars and has exhausted every means of his…can we help…
Some may say we are all not like that Sister Janice…yes, I know…there are spiritual giants among us but they are dying off…and another generation arises that knows little of trusting God.
In Maranhao our son can reach many of these people but he cannot unless you help him with gas money to get back into these areas. It takes thousands of dollars to sit up an American missionary and most of the time they return home but a native is another story it is their home and their land, their people…Through your help we pay our son’s truck payment but many times we cannot give gas money because we do not have it to give…yet you can help put a tank of gas in for 50 dollars or so a month…each tank represents him having money to reach more souls and establish those he has reached.
In a street service we were so touched as an old man thanked us for sending our son to their village to tell them about Jesus.
I want to thank those that have helped and those that are helping reach into the backlands of Brazil.
Another great need is for our church in Belem do Para. We need to help our pastor have a little house to live in. He has borrowed 2500 and built 3 small rooms over the church but he has no way to pay the money back and depends on our help. Pastor John and his wife have been some of our moist faithful people and now they are getting up in years nad need a little place to call home until Jesus gives the come up higher call. They have a good group of people and many contacts. We just feel that God will speak to someone to help them.
Sometimes I cannot sleep at night thinking of the so many churches that need help so many calls I receive especially pastors asking for help to put roofs on their churches. They can usually raise the money for bricks but getting money for roofs is so difficult for them.

Our national missionary Brother Hugo is always ready to travel to help in churches but lately funds have not been available. We just borrowed the money for him to go to Paraguay this last time to baptize a precious soul over there…
We have good men…men that are ready and willing to go that take so little yet they can give so much to Brazil.
Our son Ednei just baptized a trinity pastor and his wife last Sunday in the precious name of Jesus. He has some more to baptize next Sunday the Lord willing.
Our son Raul Jr conducted a baptismal service Sunday also.
We are traveling and we desperately need your help at this moment…this is a great day…let us use it to reach the lost for Jesus.









When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God’s true worth, the light of missions will shine to the darkest peoples on earth.” – John Piper
This finds us on a missionary journey with Brother Mar and Sister Lori in the far northeast corner of Brazil. Our hearts are burdened to see the masses of humanity that live and die and never hear the life giving story of Jesus…hundreds of cities have never had one Jesus name witness…paganism is so dark I weep. However I must look back some 40 years ago when I first came it was much darker…so much darker. Brazil is such an immense land and needs hundreds of young men and women with a real call and a passion for lost souls. It is not a fairy tale land where everything is easy but rather a battlefield of sweat and blood. I look at our son, Brother Raul Jr and he looks so tired…going day after day…pushing his body beyond limits…I look at our son Arlei sacrificing so much up in the far interior of the state of Maranhao…..working among people that are so bound by the rituals of Rome…
In Maceio where Bro. Alvear and I have labored the past 10 years we just turned the headquarters church over to our son Ednei. We will be helping him for several more months during this transition period and then we hope to be free to travel more and visit many of the churches that need our help.
Pastor Hugo his family and our daughters Lucia, Rose and William just returned from a missionary trip to the country of Paraguay. They baptized one more precious soul in that area.
I would like to share with you how thankful we are for your assistance and for making all of it possible for us and many others to work in God’s fields. I am telling you the people we serve day in and day out are people who live in such extreme poverty. It is almost incomprehensible how people in the 21st century can be left to struggle in such poor conditions. We suffered a severe blow but we knew that God will intervene for us. There is always the challenge to continue the work for the Lord, saving lives and saving souls. I cannot think of anything more important than the ministries God has birthed in our part of the world.
I started this a few days ago and will be writing more as we journey further and further into the far northeast of Brazil. Please do remember us in your prayers and that each need will be supplied by His faithful hands.
Thank you for your help in missions.









HOW CAN YOU BE INVOLVED?
1. Intercession - Realizing the great power of prayer, we trust that each person will pray for the spiritual needs of our world.
2. Investment - We encourage you to financially invest in reaching our world for Christ through giving.
3. Involvement - We also invite you for a short term mission trip to experience a cross-cultural field for yourself. Visit our many conferences and special services or just come and be a part of our everyday life.




Getting ready to travel soon

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Dearest Friends:
Our trip to the state of Para approaches so fast…As we get older time seems to fly! Not only do we plan to go to Para to help Missionary Mar and Sister Lori we plan to visit our little group in the city of Belem. We are so happy they are moving up there…Long have we prayed for someone to penetrate that area of Brazil.
We also plan on visiting the work in Fortaleza and Maranhao on this trip. We will be traveling thousands of kilometers in many dangerous and interior areas. We know the grueling of such long hard primitive trips and we are no longer young. Yet we are going on this trip to help point the way to these younger ones that will follow in our footsteps.
There is still a lack of financial means and I would like to encourage you if possible to help us in any way you can. We would deeply appreciate your help.
I want to applaud you precious folks who have continued to support us even in these economically difficult times. It shows your compassionate and giving hearts. I am so proud that we have friends who look beyond their own needs to see to the needs of others. This has touched my heart. I am so blessed to have you for a friend and prayer partner.
We have been so encouraged with souls coming to the Lord and new people in various areas of Brazil taking on the precious name of Jesus.
We request your prayers, for our protection, health and for some decisions that we will be making. We are thankful for the time that you dedicate to our favor in prayer and your faithful economic support that allows us to stay in this place as representatives of the gospel. My prayer is that God blesses you rich and generously.
Together We Serve the Risen Savior
Brother and Sister Raul Alvear
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