News from Gary and Ellen Sweetman September 2026.

Olá a todos do Brasil e de Brasília.

Hello everyone from Brazil and Brasília, we have arrived in Brazil and Brasília safely after three flights, one stopover in Turkey, with 11 bags of luggage, two backpacks, two laptop bags, one baby changing bag and one buggy, and we have just received two boxes of household items that we shipped when we left Northern Ireland.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, encouragement and support. There is a great work ahead of us where we are stationed, and we are excited for the work ahead and what God has called us to. We are adjusting and settling in Brasília. It has been a totally different way of life from our country life that we had back home. 

What's been happening

Over six years ago, God put a calling in our hearts for Brazil. Then, just over one year ago, He put Brasília and Ceilândia on our hearts. To be fulfilling this calling and seeing what He is doing has left us in awe. After arriving in Brazil, we spent some time in São Paulo getting to know the Elim Brazil team there and what an amazing work they are doing. We had a welcome reception at Socorro Elim and we had the opportunity to share. This was a great blessing to us as this is the first Elim church that was planted in Brazil by Henry Jeffrey and his wife Edith. If you heard us share in your church, you will remember we shared the story on these two missionaries and the beginning of Elim’s work in Brazil.

We preached in other churches in São Paulo, which was great, as this allowed us to make connections, learn some insights regarding church culture in Brazil, and gain some knowledge also. God has also opened doors to other churches in Brasília. 

Elim Ceilândia and The Work Ahead

We are really excited for the next season ahead and everything God has planned for us and the team there. But we would not be ourselves if we were not honest and say the ground is hard where we are stationed. We were aware of some of the social issues in the area, but guess we have been really taken by surprise at the level these issues are. Although this has brought challenges, it has made us more determined to win people for the Gospel and see real transformation in the area. We are fully embraced and ready for a long season ahead, and know God is with us in this. 

The church is a replant, which requires a lot of work and manpower to get thriving once again and to make an influence for the Gospel. We are starting with a clean slate, and have many projects in our hearts, but this will require trial and error to fine-tune these projects. But we can celebrate that we have arrived to help with the work, that we are starting to see change in people, and we have led meetings in a house group, have started to lead prayer meetings, and hold weekly Bible studies. The work has only just begun. 

Many of you would have signed our flags; these are now hanging in the church, and these flags are a great encouragement and reminder to the people to know that churches in Ireland are praying for them.

Family News

Sophia has started school, and has jumped straight in even with the language barrier. She is picking up Portuguese with amazing ease and even singing songs in Portuguese. She has made one close friend already, and it is a blessing to see that this has been a smooth process for her. 

Ellen celebrated a birthday, and Asher has been adjusting to the weather. He is sleeping a bit more because it is warmer. Please also pray for Gary as he begins Portuguese lessons. Although he has a basic understanding of the language, he feels a couple of lessons a week will advance his language skills. 

Blog

We mentioned in our last newsletter that we would like to start a missionary blog. This is something we are still very much on our to-do list. We are hoping that by our next newsletter we will have this up and running. 

Prayer Requests

We would appreciate prayer in that the church would be strengthened, not by anything we would do, but by what God will do. We do have fantastic space to do a great work. We are looking at starting a baby group similar to what we see in many churches in Ireland and the UK, and would love to have this established by the end of the year.

The next coming months will be important as we continue to settle in our new surroundings and start to disciple the people in the church. Although our projects do involve reaching the community, we are asking for wisdom in this. We need to build the church back to serve the community. Our focus will be on this over the next coming months; please remember us in your prayers. 

As self-financing volunteers or missionaries, we are required to raise our own support. We thank everyone who has joined us and agreed to partner with us. We appreciate everyone who has generously given so far. Please pray for the provision we need for the coming months and years as we seek to advance the Kingdom in Ceilândia.

  more about the Sweetmans
  Donate Now