FROM ALAN FOR CENTRAL MISSIONS WEBSITE
God saw those about to be born (Psalm 139:13-16) and wrote a tremendous life mission for them, just waiting for them to grasp His hand and live the life He planned for them. Alan Nalley was raised in a Christian home, fifth generation in the church of Christ. From his youth, he wanted others to know about Jesus, being influenced to become a preacher, when he was fifteen, by a great preacher Bob Hampton, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He started working for his dad at nine years of age, and worked till he graduated from high school, Steamway cleaning carpet, janitorial mopping floors, repairing and selling Kirby vacuums and helping to manage dad’s store of cleaning products. Dad told him upon graduation from high school that he had four professions under his belt and he did not need a university education, but Alan saw that the fire in his bones needed higher education for training. Ree (Roberts) Nalley was raised in a Christian home, at least fourth generation, in the church of Christ. From her youth, she wanted to be a missionary, influenced by the missionary stories of Jud and Pansy Whitefield who worked in Malaysia, Asia. Ree began playing piano when she was five, is an amazing pianist, along with singing like an angel and flute player. Alan and Ree met at Wyoming Bible camp, when he was just fifteen years old. He went home and told his mom that he found the girl he wanted to marry. Ree, being older, graduated from high school and went to study piano performance for two years at York College. The teacher at York heard her play the first time and said that the freshman Ree knew more piano than she did. Ree’s mom, Hazel (Roberts) Ramsbotham is an amazing teacher. Alan, wanting to catch up with Ree, graduated a year early from high school and studied for three years at the Bear Valley Bible School of Biblical Studies (Now Bear Valley Bible Institute). Ree has her two year degree from York and a Missionary Women’s Certificate from Bear Valley. Alan has his Bachelor’s Degree in Biblical Theology and Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies. Before they married, they joined the Curitiba Evangelistic team that was formed at Bear Valley, then they were married in 1983, when Alan was just nineteen years old.
In 1982, the Curitiba team was formed, ten year strategy written and survey trip planned. The three men on the team traveled to Oklahoma to raise funds for a survey trip to Brazil and make possible contacts for future fundraising. Howard Norton allowed us to use the phones at the Memorial Road church of Christ and Alan called Louis Kasbaum on the phone. Louis said that the Central church of Christ in Moore, Oklahoma had just taken on a couple to be sent to Brazil, and that they could not do anything at the moment, but asked for Alan to send his resume and plan for Brazil. Other congregations provided funds, and a wonderful survey trip was made, opening the team’s eyes to the needs of the city of Curitiba and the reality of moving to Brazil.
Alan and Ree graduated from Bear Valley in 1984. Ron Freitas visited with Louis Kasbaum in Oklahoma and heard that the couple Central in Moore originally planned to send was unable to go. Ron was raising funds and Louis asked Ron if he had heard of Alan Nalley? Ron said that Alan and Ree are on his same team going to Curitiba. Louis said, “I have his resume here in my hand, tell him to give me a call if he is ever in town.” Ree and Alan got down on their knees in Denver, Colorado and thanked God that the Central church of Christ in Moore, Oklahoma would send them to Brazil, even though they had not talked to Louis in over a year. They immediately moved to Edmond, Oklahoma, for Howard Norton worked out a place for them to live in the OCU (Oklahoma Christian University) dorms. Each week Alan and Ree would go to the Moore congregation, Sunday morning Bible class and worship, evening Bible class and worship and Wednesday evening Bible study, and on Tuesday visitation with the song leader, Thursday evangelistic studies with one of the elders, filled in preaching on evangelism and Wednesday night classes on Daniel, and looked for an opportunity to share their mission plan with the elders. There was a long line of better equipped, more mature missionaries in front of Alan and Ree to visit with the elders. After several weeks, a meeting was set, the Brazil mission shared and then began the months of waiting for an answer. During the wait, Alan continued to serve at Central, got his Ham Radio license and Alan and Ree studied the Portuguese language with Jane Norton. Alan was twenty years old. He looked more like a youth minister to the elders, than a missionary. After four months, the elders agreed to send Alan and Ree to Brazil with the mission team. Praise God again! They thanked Him before the answer and they praised Him after the answer.
Right after they secured their support with Central as their sponsoring and overseeing congregation, along with the East Alameda church of Christ in Aurora, Colorado and Green River church of Christ in Green River, Wyoming providing working funds; and Ron and Georgia Freitas and John and Sherena Langley secured their support, Alan in his immaturity said something, caused a conflict on the seven family team, and the team fell apart. Alan has been like the apostle Peter over the years, his big mouth has caused conflict. (God is still working on Alan). A meeting was held, conflict resolution solutions applied, four families left the team and Alan, Ron and John and their families were left. The team advisers told us the team was over! We were devastated. The three families explained to their supporting churches what happened, the team advisors told the elderships not to send them, for they would fail. The elders said they would support the team decision. The three family team met, prayed and ran to meet the giant, knowing that they were just a vacuum repairman, oilfield worker and railroad plumber, but All Mighty God would bring the victory for the lost souls in Curitiba. They went against all excellent wisdom and good sense, and decided to go to Curitiba, Brazil as a three family team.
Alan worked for two years with the Central congregation, teaching, preaching, evangelizing and raising relocation funds (1984 to 1986). The big task was to teach about 30 different subjects to the sixty and over age group, Sunday morning Bible class (many former fulltime preachers and elders, along with the present elders of the church). They wanted to know if Alan was sound in doctrine. What wise men! They wanted to know if Alan was evangelistic or not. Twelve souls were baptized in two years. What wise men, before sending a young man to the mission field.
The team of Alan and Ree Nalley, Ron and Georgia Freitas and John and Sherena Langley arrived in Curitiba, Brazil, August 13, 1986. In 1988, Rod and Linda Nealeigh came and joined the work in Curitiba. These team members are the ones who God saw before their birth (Psalm 139:13-16) and wrote the same mission story for them. God’s eyes were searching the whole earth, looking for those who would give their whole hearts to Him, so He could strengthen them (2 Chronicles 16:9) and He found this group of simple people: a vacuum cleaner repairman, oilfield worker, railroad plumber and store manager, and turned them into an evangelistic mission team. Their goals: establish one strong, large, missionary church, with elders, deacons, evangelists, with at least three hundred and fifty members, their own building and a plant a new congregation beyond the original congregation. They saw Curitiba as the door to Southern Brazil.
During the first year in Brazil, the goal was sitting up housing, settling families, learning the language, culture and securing a meeting place. Each family made a five-year commitment. John and Sherena Langley stayed twelve years; Ron and Georgia Freitas stayed fifteen years; Rod and Linda Nealeigh stayed twenty-three years; Alan and Ree stayed. Alan and Ree raised three children born in Curitiba: Nathanael, Natalie and Naiane. Today, Nathanael and Natalie are married and live in Oklahoma, and Naiane will marry in June 2020 and lives in Wyoming. All are faithful to the Lord Jesus.
The first baptism was Marisa Freitas, who was baptized August 12, 1987, one day before the team celebrated their first anniversary on the field. She is faithful to God and so are her children, son-in-law and grandchildren. During the years together, a strong, large missionary church of two hundred and ninety members and sixty children was planted in the heart of the city of Curitiba, population three million people. In 2000 a building that can seat one thousand people was completed, with Bible classrooms, fellowship rooms and offices in the central part of the city. The Curitiba church gave $160,000 dollars sacrificially over ten years, and churches from the USA helped them pay for the rest. Praise God for their generosity and sacrifice alongside the Brazilians. From 2005 to 2009, a fulltime two-year preacher training school was established and graduated three classes, before three of the five fulltime teachers moved away (Jerry Heidrick, Mel LaTorre Jr and Rod Nealeigh). (There are plans in 2020 for this school to begin again. Let’s pray for this). In 2010, using the Bible Institute of Southern Brazil graduates, a new congregation was established across town in Curitiba, in the Sitio Cercado neighborhood, population two hundred thousand people. In 2011, in the central congregation in Curitiba, Rod Nealeigh and Alan Nalley placed their hands on three Brazilian elders, three Brazilian evangelists (two supported by the Curitiba congregation) and six Brazilian deacons, placing them in God’s care and walked away. From 2015 to 2019 the Curitiba congregation bought land all by themselves for the Sitio Cercado church plant, and have added more deacons. They are doing a work even better than when the mission team was there. In 2017 the American mission team was invited back do be a part of the annual 3 in 1 Congress (marriage and family, church growth and small group evangelism). At the end of the Congress, at the last prayer on Sunday, the elders asked all the new converts to stand up that have been baptized since the mission team left. Lots and lots of people rose and tears flowed down our cheeks.
During the transition stage of preparing elders, deacons and evangelists, Alan and Ree began to visit the city of Guarapuava in 2010. It is a city of two hundred thousand souls in the heart of the State of Parana. The state Capital is Curitiba, and the state has eleven million people. A elderly mother of about 67 years of age, Palmira, and her 50-year-old single son Evandir and two grandchildren, Evandir adopted and they raise together, decided to move to Guarapuava em 2009. After six months of meeting in their home and praying, they invited Alan and Ree to visit and have the first official public worship service May 2, 2010. Alan and Ree visited the city every forty days for four years and fifteen people were baptized and began meeting in a home. Once the elders, deacons and evangelists were in place in Curitiba, Alan and Ree needed to decide their next step in life in Brazil. Alan taught all over the nation in preacher training schools. He was invited to be a part of mission teams in Aracaju and Campinas, Brazil, also to stay in Curitiba and direct the preacher training school, but Alan and Ree’s heart are focused on church planting. August 13, on their 27th anniversary in Curitiba, they felt to “comfortable” in Curitiba and wanted to get back on the cutting edge of evangelism. That day they prayed and made the decision to move to Guarapuava. We are grateful that the 151st Street church of Christ in Olathe, Kansas wanted to help the Nalley family with working funds and more. We praise God for your amazing generosity.
January 2014, Alan and Ree moved to Guarapuava to help the small church plant and simultaneously, with the power of God planted a new congregation, a four hour drive away, in the city of São Mateus do Sul, population forty thousand. Each Sunday they would have worship and Bible class in Guarapuava in the morning, then drive four hours to São Mateus do Sul, almost every Sunday for ten months. This was an eight hour round trip drive every Sunday. Today there is a congregation of eleven members and several visitors come. They also have their own land and building that sits thirty people (it is a start) and space to build a lot more. Alan’s body could not take the eight-hour drive each week, so the Curitiba congregation began sending a group weekly to help the church mature.
In Guarapuava, Alan calculated how much rent would be paid over a ten-year period and decided not to waste one dime on rent. He borrowed money and purchased a building just a few feet from the major avenue of the city. The building sits one hundred people and has one Bible classroom for children and three bathrooms. Then Alan prayed for a year to buy the land next door, that would place the meeting place on the main avenue of the city. The price of the land was astronomical, so Alan prayed more. Within the year, Alan negotiated the price down by half, then God did something in the Brazilian economy that changed the value of the dollar briefly and God made it a reality to make the purchase. Alan borrowed all the money in his name and bought the property for half of half price. Praise God. Alan took a leap of faith and with the generosity and sacrifice of the church in Guarapuava, along with USA Christians, all the land and a newly built Bible classroom wing was built, totally paid for and inaugurated in 2019. Thank you so much brothers and sisters. To God be all the glory.
So far, during the first five years in Guarapuava, Alan and Ree, have seen the church grow to sixty faithful, loving, mature and dedicated members. Alan and Ree and one of the possible future elders and his wife, took a trip through half of the state of Parana. They stopped along the highway and prayed in each city. They asked God to help them plant more congregations in each city. Two months later, they received their first contact in the city of Cantagalo, population thirteen thousand. They visited the couple, studied for twelve hours on Friday and then two more hours on Sunday and the couple was baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. Within the year, this couple taught and baptized four more and they meet in a home. The Guarapuava church visits them almost every week to worship with them as they mature.
During the past three years, the Guarapuava congregation has hosted and helped financially support two Brazilian AIM (Adventures in Missions) teams. One team was made up of three young sisters eighteen to twenty-one years of age and the other team was made up of two young sisters nineteen to twenty years of age. They helped us start in Guarapuava an annual Vacation Bible School, set up the children’s Bible classes, started a women’s ministry, planned youth events, began an annual women’s conference in Guarapuava, evangelized the lost and more. They were a huge help during these years with Alan and Ree working without a team effort. Thank you Cody church of Christ for not only starting to help support the Nalley family with working funds, but also help the Raniere Menezes family carry out the constant training of young people for the Brazil AIM program (called AME – Adventuras em Missões if you want to find them on Facebook).
In the past two years, the Guarapuava church has began training and sending missionaries. Alan published two books and uses all the sales of the books to help support them. Thank you for those who have purchased the book for digital readers like Kindle and Nook on Amazon.com or at Barnes and Nobles (The Holy Spirit: His Work Past and Present, by Alan Nalley). Hopefully it will be in paperback form, when Alan has time to get it done.
Look at those God is sending out (Acts 13:1-3). There have been two teenagers and three couples, all taught the Gospel and baptized in Guarapuava, that are being sent out. Henrique and Jhenifer were the first. They were sent to the fulltime preacher training school SerCris in Campo Grande and graduated December 2019 and now work fulltime in ministry in Guarapuava, fully supported by the Guarapuava congregation. Atauã and João Gabriel, two teenagers, were sent to eight months of training at the Brazilian AIM ministry in the city of João Pessoa. As of January 2020, Atauã will work for fourteen months with a three-man evangelistic team in Belem, Brazil and João Gabriel will work with a four-man evangelistic team in Vitória, Brazil. João Gabriel is fully supported by the Guarapuava church of Christ and Atauã is half supported by the Guarapuava congregation and the other half from the Curitiba congregation and other individuals. After their AIM teach experience in missions, they will get a university education in accounting (Atauã) and architecture (João Gabriel) and Bible degree’s from the SerCris preacher training school, and then be capable of forming a vocational missionary team, Lord willing. In January 2020, the Guarapuava congregation will send Seann and Scherles, converted in Cantagalo, baptized in Guarapuava, to the fulltime preacher training school SerCris in Campo Grande for two years of training and then return to Cantagalo to build up the church. They are fully supported by the Guarapuava congregation (huge leap of sacrificial faith). Also in January 2020, Paulo and Emanuelly, from Guarapuava, will be sent to the same preacher training school, partially supported by the Guarapuava congregation, but principally supported by those on the bottom of the Nalley monthly newsletter. Thank you brothers and sisters for your amazing generosity to spread the Gospel. Ree and Alan love each of you deeply and speak to the Father about you regularly in thanksgiving and to ask His blessings on your lives and families. The sending of these workers from the Guarapuava congregation has caused a vacuum effect in the congregation and new leaders are rising to take their places. Praise God continually for His amazing power demonstrated in Guarapuava and beyond.
Alan and Ree needed a sabbatical in 2019, after thirty-three years in Brazil, so the elders at the Central church of Christ in Moore, Oklahoma provided all their needs for a five month break, hiding in the forests of Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee. How refreshing it was to not have responsibility, but to rest, enjoy God’s presence and each other. How loved they felt! What amazing care these shepherds gave to the Nalley family. They are full of energy and back on the field, led by God every day. Alan learned to take a day off each week, sits quiet with God and admires Him each day and he sits quiet and is loved and admired by God (Zephaniah 3:17; Psalm 46:10), being taught from His Scriptures. Alan also plays his cowboy songs on his guitar each evening to relax, takes mini breaks for silence and solitude and then each day serves God with all of his heart, mind, soul and body in the mission, trying to love his neighbor as Jesus would.
Alan and Ree have just made contact with another couple in the city of Toledo, Paraná. A four hour drive from Guarapuava. The Gospel has been taught to them, awaiting their decision as they continue to study Alan’s online audio Biblical Theology course. Alan and Ree will visit them next month. Pray for a new congregation to begin in Toledo, population one hundred and ninety thousand people. Also, the Guarapuava congregation is planning right now to plant a new congregation in their own building, at a different meeting time, and also a new congregation in a distant neighborhood in Guarapuava, called Residencia 2000, which already has fourteen members living there. The harvest is great, pray for God to raise up more workers for the harvest.
Alan sets up Bible studies almost everyday of his life, as he goes about life. He always loves to sit down one on one or in a big group to share the love of Jesus and His Gospel of the death of Jesus for our sins, His burial and His resurrection on the third day and how to obey the Good News in baptism (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, Romans 6:3-7; Colossians 2:12). Alan has an audio Bible study online, that when he meets someone on the street, a supermarket cashier, at a bus station, airport or hotel receptionist, he can send it to their Messenger, Facebook or Whatsapp cell phone and they can be listening to the Word of God immediately in Portuguese form their cell phone. Prayerfully this will be ready in English in 2020, for it has been a goal for several years, along with a list of new books to publish to support more Brazilian missions. It will happen when God allows, for Alan tries not to burn the candle at both ends anymore, but walk like Jesus.
There are three hundred and ninety nine cities and towns in the state of Parana, Brazil with a population of eleven million. There are congregations only in nine of these cities….only three hundred to go. Will you continue to pray (Matthew 9:35-38), give, participate and help us exalt the Master, evangelize the spiritual morgue, edify the members, equip missionaries and prepare elders, deacons and evangelist in all these congregations? We are so thankful for our partners in the Gospel all these years!!! You amaze us with your love, active participation, prayers, generosity, love for our family, care for our family and help with benevolence projects. In June 2016, one of the team advisors, at the forty year celebration of Latin American Missions said: “I glad you did not listen to us.” LOOK WHAT GOD HAS DONE! To God be all the glory in His church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever! Amen!
