Our ministry continues well, but our difficulties this month were numerous. Our discipleship group almost quit, our electrical pole fried, our well pump exploded, and I end this month with the flu… It has been a very challenging month. There were some good highlights in our life and ministry though! The foundation was poured for our horse barn (the first project in building our camp facilities), and Children’s Day was a massive success with many visitors. My Portuguese is improving; I feel refreshed in my Bible studies and preaching; our discipleship group didn’t quit! And above all, God is good all the time, and we can trust in him.
The Yelles are back! We picked them up from the airport on September 4th, and we are all happy that they have returned. 13 months away from their home is not a small amount of time. It’s been a blessing to have them back, and our work continues.
As I was preparing to write this blog, I was overwhelmed by just how much we did this last month! It was supposed to be a deep winter, freezing temperature, slow down a little bit August. But instead, we have perfect temperatures, sunny days, flowers blooming, and a lot of work to do preparing for an early spring! We trimmed our fruit trees, cut branches off of our massive pecan trees, and cut weeds. These are things we usually do each year after the last frost. With the Yelles returning at the beginning of September!...we made sure that their side of the property looked nice, their house was ready, and a few projects were completed. Meanwhile, I am still the pastor of our church! With discipleship, counseling, preaching, and Father’s Day…….it was a chaotic month!
It has officially been a full year since the Yelles went on furlough…AND WE’RE STILL ALIVE! Of course we’re still alive, God has been helping us. God has given us a wonderful church family who is growing; our discipleship group is thriving. This month was pretty normal. We had a Friend Day event at church, and we celebrated the 4th of July with other missionaries about 2 hours south of us. We worked on projects around the property. As winter has officially begun, many things here calm down. Life is normal, and we are doing well.
Another busy month of ministry, but full of incredible blessings. We began discipleship again with a new group this month! Our goal is for all of our members to go through discipleship. We are doing this course with four ladies of our church: Vilma, Marcia, Michele, and Taisa. We have learned that discipleship can be a very difficult process, and requires preparation to encounter spiritual battles, and our discipleship students’ eyes have been opened to the spiritual war around them. In the few short weeks since we started, we have seen them grow spiritually, have a renewed spiritual hunger, and have become stronger in their faith and unity. We are excited for them in this process. Please be praying for them as they have committed themselves to discipleship.
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