PMI Missionaries
Luciano & Luciene Pires
Ministry Area: Brazil
Responsibilities: University students, discipleship, theological training, church equipping.
E-mail Address: lupires@yahoo.com
Luciano and Luciene returned to Brazil in 2002 after completing degrees at Covenant Theological Seminary. Luciano received an M.Div. and Th.M., while Luciene earned a MA in Theological Studies. They established a home-based Christian Institute called Colloquium in Goiania, Brazil, a city of 1.2 million people with over 20 universities which are home to about 65,000 students.
Their mission at Colloquium is to present the truths of the Gospel in a way that will challenge the hearts and minds of this generation, aiming as a result to reach out to non-believers and to equip Christians to live all of life under the Lordship of Christ.
During the first five years of ministry, the average attendance has been of 25 people per week through their Bible Studies and various outreach activities. The annual Colloquium Conference attracted 350 people. Their hope to one day open a Center for Theological Education to serve Brazilians and leaders from Portuguese-speaking countries.
Latest Report: (updated 5/19/2011)
Greetings from Brazil,
We are enjoying our Fall since it is the coolest time of the year. The city is green still, and there is an interesting contrast between the many beautiful parks in town with the new skyscrapers that have been recently built. Just across the street from our house there is a 36 store apartment building "under construction."
Well, this is a plus to the neighborhood as far as increasing of properties market value. Indeed the three houses across the street from ours were sold for 1.4 million Dollars (yep, you read it right!) for the three of them. They were torn down and then the 36 store building is fast taking their place. The building will have 144 apartments, and they are now priced 420 thousand dollars each (yes, you read it right again!). This is just one among the dozens that are being built all over Goiania. The city is blowing, as you can see, and it is now ranked among the top 3 cities in Brazil to live in. This is great for many investors, and upper middle and high classes. Yet with development the cost of living is also sky-high, and it is pushing Goiania to be among the top 5 most expensive cities to live in Brazil.
We understand that the time for us to move out from the house we are in has come. There are two main reasons for that. First, the landlord, who is a developer, gave us up to next May to stay in the house, after that she will tear the house down, and build a plaza with offices to rent out on its place. We could wait up to next year, yet because of health issues we are now house hunting. As you may know Luciano has diabetes, and also he has suffered from severe allergies since his childhood. With the end of our rainy Season, we cannot keep all the dust, debris and even dirt from the construction out of our home. The allergies medicine increases Luciano's sugar blood level to the point that he was on bed rest for two days because he couldn't take it. Mila and Pedro are also suffering from allergies, but they have been in better health than Luciano. Luciene is doing well, we can say she is doing great compared to the rest of the family. Praise the Lord someone is doing good to take care of the others!
Colloquium is going well. We, purposely, reduced the number of people in our events. We have now no more than 20, since we felt the need to spend more quality time with less people. We continue to host the same events, but now more people are coming to us for counseling, or to discuss about topics related to the Christian faith. One of the best news we have is the planting of a Campus work. This was not started by us, but by someone who became one our "pupils" (Moacir Gabriel). He is doing an excellent job, and we are overseeing, and helping him with the work. Luciano taught Science to Moacir on 5th grade, and they were reconnected again upon our return in 2002. Luciano has been mentoring Moacir since then, and we pray that the Lord continues to prepare him to become one of the next generation Christian leaders in Brazil.
We would like to share with you some praise and prayer requests.
- For the last three years we have been praying for a very important add-on to our Call, which is church planting. We are seeing God leading our path on that direction, and it has been confirmed especially through the affirmation of many who are close to us. We will continue the work of Colloquium (we just love it!) and will use it to serve the youth and family groups, and also for evangelism at the church.
- As it was mentioned above we are now looking for a suitable house for us. The Lord blessed us with, and at the house we are in now. At our house we saw the birth of Colloquium, Mila and Pedro. This is also a place where we have started, and strengthened many good and deep relationships. We have visited some rental houses, and for all of them the rent costs, at least, twice as much as we currently pay. Please praise God for all the many blessings he has poured upon us at our currently house, and pray that he goes ahead of us preparing a house that will serve our family, and Ministry (Colloquium and Church plant) well.
- We have had for these 9 years faithful and generous supporters. We developed many friendships that will last for eternity. We are now seeking new supporters that could join these who have been with us. With the Dollar losing its value compared to the Real, and Luciano leaving his work at our church's Christian school, our income will reduce about 38-40% of what currently is.
- Luciano has reached the last phase of his project to establish a Chaplain at our church's Christian school. These last three years proved to be very challenging, and time consuming. But now we can contemplate that all the pieces are falling on place. Please pray for these last months that he will be heading the Chaplain department, and pray for Andre Marques who is now a senior at Covenant Seminary, and will return to Brazil to take the chaplain full time position. By the way, Andre and Thais Marques just welcomed last week their little baby boy —Athos. PRAISE THE LORD!
- This last April we were blessed with a short vacation to Rio to join a birthday party of a dear friend, and to rest. We all got refreshed, and the kids surely had a blast!
We thank God for his provision on everything, and also for all the love and care he has daily provided to us. We are certain that it is through people like you that this daily provision is poured upon us, and we pray, that our God will continue to look after us through you in the years to come.
In the Lamb,
Luciano, Luciene, Mila e Pedro.
Presbyterian Mission International
12330 Conway Road
St. Louis, Missouri 63141
Telephone: (314) 434-4044
Fax: (314) 434-4819
