Report July- August 2007

Iglesia de Cristo en Brewer Road

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

" Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love." Ephesians 6:23-24

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The summer months have been extremely busy and exciting for us at Brewer Road.
The weekend we came back from the Gospel meeting in Venezuela, I had the blessing of baptizing a couple that had been attending the church for a few months. They had been members of an evangelical group in a neighboring town (High Point) for several years. They finally realized the many discrepancies between what the Bible says and what they were learning and practicing. We studied the Bible, focusing on and discussing central doctrinal teachings they were unaware of or misled by. They realized immediately the need to change and to receive acceptance of the message of the Gospel of Christ. Their names are Manuel and Aracelis. They have two children; one is 8 and the other is 19 years old. They are all attending church services faithfully.

The following Monday, July 2nd, we launched our summer tutoring camp: “Camp High Hopes”. This wonderful experience was made possible through our partnership with the YMCA of Western North Carolina. The kids had the opportunity to review and learn in the subjects of Science, Math, and English. We had teachers and tutors from the school system and a medical student at Wake Forest University who served as our science teacher. She is a member of the church.

The YMCA requires that the children take an examination before and after the program. We are very happy to report that the majority of the kids improved their scores in a very exponential way. Math was the subject where the kids showed the most impressive improvement.

Gustavo and I served in different capacities. Gustavo taught a parenting class every Tuesday evening for the parents of the children enrolled in the program. This was a requirement for the kids to be able to attend the program. We had a 95% attendance rate at every session. We also shared the coordination of the extra curricular activities. Gustavo rode the YMCA bus every morning to pick up the kids at their homes and to take them to a nearby elementary school for lunch. I was in charge of driving the church van to pick up the kids that live farther away and take them back home after the program was over each afternoon. Every Thursday the kids had a field trip and they also enjoyed an end-of-the-program party on the last day. The summer program was held at our church building from Tuesday to Friday, the whole month of July to the first week of August. This took 4 to 5 hours daily. At the end, the students received certificates and most of all; they had a wonderful summer experience where the core values of Christian character were taught by way of teaching and example.

The same day the program ended, Sarah and I went to Raleigh to pick up two ladies that came from Northwest Church of Christ in Houston, TX. Cynthia Cedeno and Sylvia Santana came to our congregation to teach a ladies seminar on “How to Teach Our Children to Love God.” They presented the ladies different opportunities parents can use at home to teach the message of the Scriptures in a “real” and practical way. Our ladies were very much edified and encouraged by the living example of these two godly Christian wives and moms.
After all of this, we took a three day family trip to the beach!!!!

We also sold our house and bought a new home. We will be sending our new address and home number pretty soon via e-mail. WE FEEL TIRED! But it is a GOOD kind of tiredness!

This coming weekend I’m planning to travel to Dallas, TX, to teach a five day seminar on preparing and delivering sermons and Bible classes.

Finally, we want to thank you for your prayers, love and support!

In Christ,

The Nieto Family <><