Missionaries - Brazil

Fabio has been a missionary in Rio Grande do Sul since 2008, and Joy Anna since they were married in 2013.

Fabio is Brazilian, originally from São Paulo. His grandpa was one of the first Regular Baptist pastors in Brazil, and Fabio grew up seeing his grandpa church-plant together with American missionaries in Maceió, Alagoas. God saved Fabio at age 7, and he was always involved in church as a teen and young man. After "running from God" for a few years, he surrendered to God's call to full-time ministry and studied at the Cariri Baptist Seminary, graduating in 2006. 
 

One of Fabio's fellow students during Bible College was from Rio Grande do Sul, and she told him about her state's need for gospel-preaching churches, and also how "gaúchos" were harder to befriend and reach with the gospel compared to other Brazilians. God burdened Fabio's heart for Rio Grande do Sul, and he met a team of missionaries from BGFM planning to work there. He arrived on the field in 2008 and served as a single missionary for 5 years before marrying Joy Anna.
 

Joy Anna grew up in Northeast Brazil, where her parents serve as missionaries. God saved her at age 6, and she grew up loving the ministry. Fabio and Joy got to know each other when he studied at the Bible College where her parents serve. Joy went to the States for college, graduated from Faith Baptist Bible College in 2010, and returned to Brazil to teach English and help in her parents' church plant. 
 

After many years with no contact, Fabio and Joy Anna saw each other again, got reacquainted, and were married in 2013. God has blessed them with four children: Kristina (2014), Hannah (2016), Daniel (2018), and Priscilla (2020).
Working with a team of BGFM missionaries, they have invested in several cities. By God's grace, two churches were planted: Igreja Batista Bíblica in Campo Bom in 2010, and Igreja Bíblica Batista in Estância Velha in 2013. They led a Bible study in Sapiranga for two years, that colleagues continued and developed into a church. As church planters, they have worked with all types of people and age groups: adults, couples, university students, teens, and children. They have served in various ministries: preaching, teaching, evangelistic Bible studies, discipleship, counseling, children's ministry, and music.
 

Their current ministry is a church plant (Logos Baptist Church) in the city of São Leopoldo, where they have been since January, 2018.