I am Igor Dias Ramos, born in 1986, in a German colony in southern Brazil. My parents raised me with Roman Catholic principles until I was 18 years old, when some friends invited me to join a Pentecostal church. My dream since childhood was to be a soccer player, and this was my passion until 2008, when I was hit by a truck and this accident was God's way of taking me out of a world of vanities to lead me to an eternal life. It was from this moment that I understood that God's calling for my life was to lead people not just to celebrate a game for a moment, but to rejoice in the eternal salvation that has been given to us in Jesus Christ.

In 2007 I married my beautiful wife Eliane Kochhann de Miranda, and we have been married for 17 years. For over 12 years of marriage the doctors had told us that we would not be able to have children, but our prayer to the Lord was to give us wisdom to rest in His will. Until 2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic where many people died, the Lord granted our heart's request, we have been graced by Him with a son through IVF treatment and in this month of July 2024, our son Christopher will be three years old with great health, lots of love and desire to know God and our King Jesus Christ. Glory to God for his tremendous generosity and goodness to us.

After some years of theological training in seminaries and participation in Reformed churches, the Lord is sending us back to Spain to help strengthen the local church in this country. But in March 2022, on a mission trip to Paris, I met two Christian women, as in the book of Acts 16:9; "At night a vision was shown to Paul in which a man from Macedonia was standing praying to him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" These two women told me that they had been praying for a Bible church in their city, Lleida, for more than 15 years. They begged me to help them get to know God in a way that the churches around them had not been doing for many years. So from that moment on, my wife and I began to pray and ask advice from our pastors about the possibility of starting a work in the city of Lleida.

Lleida is the capital of the region of Segrià, with 211.7 km², it is one of the largest municipalities in Catalonia. Founded in the 6th century BC, it is the largest city in the Principality outside the province of Barcelona, a modern and cosmopolitan capital, an AgroBiotech reference in southern Europe, with an important communications network, a pillar of its geostrategic position.

In September 2022 we moved to Lleida and started meeting in our house until we had no more space and moved to new premises in November 2022. I am pastoring this small group of brothers, which sometimes has grown due to the curiosity of the people. Curiosity to know a reformed church, but they do not want the commitment that God demands of them with Himself, with His Word and with the people of God, so very few stay to be part of the people that the Lord has called, justified, is sanctifying and one day will glorify Him. 

Today we are a group of 8 members, five candidates for baptism and eight candidates for membership. On Sundays we gather about 25 people to read the Scriptures, sing the Scriptures, pray the Word of God, listen to the Word of God and see the living Word in the fellowship of the breaking of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper and in loving one another. 

We have spent over a year studying the book of 1 Timothy in Sunday services. This summer we will study the marks of a Biblical church and in September we will begin the study of a book of the Old Testament. On Thursdays we study the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. And once a month, on Sunday afternoons we have our prayer meeting, in which we meditate briefly on the Word of the Lord (this meeting is an opportunity for new preachers), listen to two or three short testimonies and spend a lot of time praying for our church and for the churches around us and around the world, and also spend time seeking the Lord together as a church.

OCTOBER UPDATES FROM OUR FAMILY AND MINISTRY

Dear brothers and friends, may the grace of our Lord be multiplied in your hearts. And may the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding guard you from all evil and trials in this fallen world. 

DIAS KOCHHANN FAMILY UPDATE

Brethren, in this September update, I would like to thank you very much for your prayers for our family and ministry. In our last reports, we asked for your prayers to find a more affordable rental for our family. Well, the Lord has been very merciful to us. As it is said in many places in Scripture for our encouragement and prayer to persevere in prayer because God hears our pleas, “I have heard your prayer and the plea you have made in my presence.” The Lord has allowed us to meet the owners of a first floor apartment in our community. They offered to rent us their apartment, which is larger than our current one and is also more affordable, costing €130 less than what we are paying now.

The Lord has also allowed us to replace our car, that consumed a lot of fuel each week, for a more affordable one. This will help us stabilize our finances after the last three years.

We have no words to express our gratitude for God's goodness and His timely response to our requests. When the Lord exhorts us in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests on one aspect to God,” it is because He has everything under control and knows what is best for us. Although we do not know the future, we can rest assured that our lives are not left to chance, but are in the hands of the one true and living God. 

This month, our son Christopher started classes, and we are seeing the Lord's goodness through the teachers and the professionalism with which they care for our children. This Tuesday, September 30, Christopher had an activity in which he was the student of the day, and he had to share with his classmates a little bit about his life, his favorite toys, his favorite teddy bears and playthings. The teacher said that he spoke very well, that he loves to play with his father and that he loves Jesus, and that every Sunday he loves to go to church. And the Bible is one of his favorite books, along with the book about dinosaurs.

This September, Eliane took on two major projects in her life. She started working at an English academy located in a village 25 minutes from Lleida. She works twice a week in the afternoons. The academy has given her a good chance to share the gospel, as well as our values and biblical worldview, with her fellow teachers. Many of them had never heard such a clear explanation of the gospel before. Furthermore, these values are opening doors for her to help younger teachers that approach her for advice about their personal lives.

She also received a great opportunity to study for a university degree in Early Childhood Education, (Professional Training) with a 50% discount on the online course at Christopher's school. So her schedule is now super busy, but above all, she continues to be our companion who leaves everything behind to play with us, go on outings together, make us the best meals we don't find in restaurants, and even find time to take care of the house, clothes, disciple the sisters of the church, and even study and prepare for classes at the academy. This month was also her birthday. What a month full of new developments. 

Thank you, Lord, that my pain has decreased while I am ahead in waiting to be called by the doctors at the public hospital for a surgery. The Lord is good, and He gives us the exact measure of grace and relief at the right times.

IBL CHURCH UPDATE

At our Lleida Bible Church, we are going through a period of strengthening the faith of our younger brethren and sisters. Many of them are facing enormous challenges at school and university. For example, two ladies, Thayná (studying law at the University of Lleida) and Debora (that is finishing high school), are being attacked by teachers and classmates for their Christian beliefs. They are suffering philosophical attacks to abandon the Christian faith. Their opponents try to prove to them that Christianity and religions are human creations to enslave people and control them so that they do not rejoice in the pleasures of this world. 

Thank you, Lord, they are looking to the Lord even in the midst of doubts and internal struggles in their hearts. We are studying together the challenges they receive each week and bringing their minds captive to the truth of God. We are praying that the Lord will give them courage to respond and defend the Christian faith with love and boldness.

On the other hand, as a church, we are saddened by the case of a person we considered a sister, because for the past two years we have cared for and helped her and her family in many ways. She was a candidate for baptism and membership in our church, but she also has decided to marry a man who, although he is participative in the church and does not openly reject the gospel, confesses that he does not love Jesus, that he is not repentant of sins, and that he loves money and the good life. We are saddened by this situation, as she has not listened to the Scriptures or to the beloved ladies who visited her and asked her to remain steadfast in the ways of the Lord, that she would reap the fruits of this faithfulness in due time. She also did not accept the pastoral counsel and that of the entire church, preferring to enter into an unequal union with a non-Christian. 

But despite these struggles, we continue to receive new participants every week, and the brethren have been growing in committed Bible reading, fellowship with the saints, and a life of evangelism in their daily lives.

This September, we have completed the baptism course with three candidates: Marc, Yaima, and Sara, and we have already begun the membership course with five candidates for membership.

REASONS FOR PRAYER

We would like you to join us in prayer for these reasons:

1) For our family, that the Lord will give us the wisdom to wisely manage the resources He has placed in our hands. 

2) That we may be good stewards of time and know how to properly manage our family, work, studies, and entertainment time. That the challenges of life and a busy schedule may not cause us to take our eyes off our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

3) We pray for Eliane's work and her colleagues, that the gospel she has preached will produce fruit worthy of repentance and deliverance from the bondage of sin.

4) We pray for the growth of our son Christopher and also that, as the book of Exodus 23:1-2 teaches us, "Do not join hands with the wicked to be a malicious witness. 2 Do not follow the crowd in doing evil, and do not testify in a dispute to go astray after the crowd in order to pervert justice. May our son have the mind of Christ and follow those who do good and not evil.

5) We pray for the unity of our Church. That we all may be united in one mind, spirit, and doctrine. That the enemy not gain advantage in our relationships and destroy the work of Christ due to our sins. 

6) We pray for our young generation, that their minds and hearts may be protected by the Lord in the midst of this philosophical and worldview war, and that they may not be deceived by their hearts, but remain steadfast on the rock that is Christ and overcome evil with good. 

As in Psalm 73, may they see the end of the wicked, who have enjoyed their lives here on earth, and in the end will lose all the true pleasure of being with Christ forever and rejoicing in life. 

7) We pray for public health in Spain; that I may be called in for a surgery in the shortest time possible. 

8) We pray for Europe, and the attacks against Christianity, against Israel, and against Christian ethical and moral values.

9) We continue to pray for our neighbors, who heard the gospel during the vacation period. We pray that His church will be faithful in personal evangelism.

10) Pray for our move at the end of October. That it be a due time to share the gospel with the owners of the new apartment and with the new neighbors, although we already know them from the pool.

11) For the conversion of some young people in our church and the strengthening of the faith of others, such as the young Marc. Pray for the conversion of Marc's family, his father Pere and his mother Asunción.

12) We pray that our hearts will be conformed and content with all that the Gentleman does and gives us each day for our lives.

We love each one of you in the love of Christ.