Railson & Heidi Gil
Thank you...
...to the many people, especially our parents and granddad, who have made our trip to the States possible and wonderfully restful. We are thoroughly enjoying our stay in the cool air of the Pacific Northwest.
December was an anxious month for us as we awaited Railson's visa to be granted. Christmas was drawing nearer, and some erroneous information, which had been inserted into our visa petition, was causing delays. When we were told that we would need to schedule a personal interview in Brasilia to straighten out the situation (as we did in 1999), we called the American Consulate in Belém and were relieved to find the Consul herself willing to help. Unfortunately time was running out for us to be home for the holidays, and, as things turned out, we spent Christmas in a hotel in Belém. The Consul, in the meantime, obviously wrote a great cover letter for Railson because two weeks after making our new petition, Railson received a 10-year multiple-entry visa, which is more than we had hoped for. The same morning that we retrieved his passport, we bought the last seats on the flight out of Belém (which was to leave within two hours) and began the 31-hour trip to Oregon. Timothy behaved remarkably well and we will always be grateful that he decided to sleep much of the way.
At the time of this writing, we have had the opportunity to visit churches in Portland and Corvallis, OR and have plans to visit Grants Pass, OR; Port Angeles, WA and Seattle, WA before the end of February. Please keep us in your prayers.
Keeping You Up To Date
The enclosed inserts reflect a change in our financial administration. Please be sure to take a close look. We want to emphasize that nothing has changed regarding our ministry status; we continue to pastor the Igreja da Vinha in Porto de Moz, Brazil as a part of the network of churches through the Missão Xingu (Xingu Mission). We still consider Grace Christian Fellowship (GCF) to be Heidi's sending church and our church home while in the States. Donations sent to GCF in our name, however, will now be routed to the Xingu Mission office in Ohio. When you send a gift, continue to earmark it for us, THE GILS, or for another specific project such as GIL--RADIO MINISTRY or GIL--CONSTRU-BLESSING. Make your check out to The Xingu Mission. Gifts are still tax deductible.
The photos above: 1) The riverbank is reached by canoe from the main boat on a routine trip to the interior.
2) One of Porto de Moz's main roads is flooded each year when the winter rains hit.
Thank you for being a part of reaching the lost in the interior of Brazil.
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Letters & Packages: Railson & Heidi Gil, Rua Abel Alves dos Santos 1704,
Cabanagem, Porto de Moz, PA 68.330-000 Brazil
Financial Support: The Xingu Mission, PO Box 1218, Delaware, OH 43015
(checks made payable to the Xingu Mission with a note for Gil-Brazil)
Phone: 55-93-3793-1259
Email (forwarding): harnold@orst.edu