A letter from Virginia Gartrell in Brazil
November 2006
Dear Friends in many places,
This is the first time since 1998 that I have been in the United States in the fall, and I am really enjoying the changing seasons and traditions that go with it. I look forward especially to Thanksgiving, which is a holiday that seems truly American to me. Years ago in Brazil one television station used to show a special noon Thanksgiving service on that day, but it must not have been profitable, because currently there is no attention paid to American Thanksgiving, although Halloween and parties at English schools often make the news.
It has made me eager to share with you things that have brought me gladness and joy in the past few months. It has been wonderful to meet new people and make new friends of many who have opened their homes to host me as I have traveled to churches to share about our work in Brazil. Equally precious is the renewing of old friendships and meeting new people in churches that have been supporting my work for as many as 25 years.
In between traveling to churches I have visited my mother, Sandy Gartrell, who at 86 is living in a retirement community in Asheville, North Carolina. We have a rich and blessed time and are often joined by sisters Joyce and Ellen. My mother has tales to tell about the time her father, O. F. Yates, fell out of a tree and hurt his back in their yard in Huaian, China, in the 1930s, and about bringing her infant son, Richard, to Montreat by train in January, 1947, because there was a post-war shortage of coal in Princeton where my father was pursuing a graduate theological degree. I help her stay up to date on current family news by downloading pictures and messages that arrive by Internet.
This past 4th of July we had a family gathering in Montreat with all my siblings and had a historic, although not formal, picture of Mother taken with all of her children. The rarity of the opportunity is due to the fact that my brother, Gordon Gartrell, and his family are also missionaries in Brazil and we are not often in the United States at the same time. The most fun at the grand reunion was having not just our generation, but the next two mixed with more relatives, guests, and a few dogs!
I have reveled in the brilliant autumn colors while traveling from weekends in Detroit, New Jersey, across North Carolina, and though the mountains of Tennessee and Georgia. On long rides I have basked in the beauty. It has been a good time to reflect and recognize that a greater appreciation comes with years of experience and maturity, and, of course, living in another country and culture.
Life is lived in instants that will continue to bring joy in the future. A few weeks ago my great-nephew, Will Goldsmith, aged 2, was with me for a couple of hours while his mother took baby Peter for his 6-month check-up. We sat reading books on the front steps of my comfortable apartment at Mission Haven, nestled in a wooded area behind Columbia Theological Seminary. A strong gust of wind rustled through the tree tops high above us, and Will raised his blond head to watch, entranced and with shining eyes, the “weaves” floating gently down around us through the bright fall morning. It was a lovely moment!
Perhaps my most enduring joy is God’s amazing call to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with children, youth, and adults who are impoverished and often ignored and marginalized by their own culture in Brazil. Your faithful support and encouragement makes my ministry through the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil possible, and I am honored to live out your loving care, interest, and faithfulness, which is a witness to our living and loving God among the “least of these.”
During these months while I am physically away from that ministry, yet often speaking of the many facets of what is happening through Bethel Association in various places in the great nation of Brazil, I am drawn to rejoice in the God of the impossible who from the time of Sarah has been answering the question, “Is anything too difficult (or wonderful) for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14) with marvelous deeds and transformed lives.
Thank you for your participation in fleshing out the immense love and grace of Jesus Christ in the lives of real people with needs, hopes, and difficulties of various kinds.
In the love and grace of Jesus Christ,
Virginia
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 45
