Meet our missionaries

We currently have five native missionaries working in the region around Ubaúna.

Audrey Feitoza
Audrey is 32 and has been an evangelist since he was 16. Shortly after his conversion he began working in a "missionary house" in a shanty town in the Amazon. He spent 14-16 hours each day in the streets caring for the downtrodden and preaching to the poor. This experience, while involving biblical studies, forced him to rely completely on the power of the Lord.

Holding a B.A. in geology, he is a certified teacher, an adept guitarist and a passionate believer. He believes the Bible, seriously. He sees it written and goes out and does it; he has a difficult time understanding why American Christians don't live the same way.

Audrey is the lead pastor in the work in Ubaúna. He coordinates the activities of the other missionaries, preaches, teaches and ministers to the people in Ubaúna.

Andréia Feitoza
Andréia is Audrey's wife. While she makes up part of the "Team Feitoza," she is a dynamic servant on her own.

Though only 29, she has been in active, evangelistic ministry since her mid-teens. She was also trained in the jungles of the Amazon with Audrey, going house to house in some of the most inhospitable circumstances imaginable.

Talented with children, she is able to access the natural abilities that children have and channel it into creative and productive uses. Women, including older and more mature women, are completely at ease in her presence. Compassionate, loving and energetic, Andréia is responsible for the operation of Seed of Hope and is over the active children's and youth ministries.

Mardônio (Donny) da Silva
“Donny” is twenty-five years old and a native of Ubaúna. This makes him uniquely qualified to be in a position of leadership in the church; he understands the mentality of the local population and is able to communicate with them in a way that many cannot.

Holding a B.A. in geography, Donny has studied in Ireland and teaches English in Ubaúna. A believer only since January 2006, Donny was instantly on fire! The enthusiasm he exhibited resulted in seventeen on his friends and co-workers being introduced to and accepting as Savior the same Jesus he’d discovered. This within a matter of weeks! Since then Donny has immersed himself in the Word, study, prayer and seeking the will of Jesus. He is a hungry student who is actively putting to use that which he is learning and receiving.

He is married to Fabiana; she is currently in the last semester of nursing school and works with elderly citizens in Ubaúna to improve their heath and hygiene. Donny’s primary responsibilities in Ubaúna are working with teenagers, Bible teaching in the “Warriors” program and the “Seed of Hope” program.

Márcia Ximenes
Though only nineteen years old, Márcia has been certified as a teacher for over two years. She has operated her own primary school during this time but recently closed it in order to work directly with and through the church. She has passed the difficult “vestibular” exam, an exam that has intense competition for a small number of places in the local state university and gives a “full ride” scholarship for the entire four years. She is studying primary and elementary education.

Márcia became a Christian in July 2007 and has been working with the children at the GFB church. She has taught drama, interpretive dance, Bible and coordinated community activity by the middle school and high school students. Her responsibilities include this work with the children and teenagers and coordinating the Seed of Hope program with Andréia.

Mazê Pontes
Dona Mazê (all "older" Brazilian women are called "dona" as an expression of respect) is a remarkable individual. She began a ministry in the town of Araticum, approximately 10 miles from Ubaúna in 2007. It quickly grew to over 40 children and she is making inroads into the homes of each of them.

In September 2008 GFB came along beside her and began supporting this flegdling and promising work.