March was a little bit…rough. I was knocked onto a concrete tube by one of our horses and was badly bruised. A few days later, I got a kidney stone. I now know what the ten scale of pain feels like, so everything else should be easier, right? That remains to be seen. We are honestly doing just fine now. Those medical incidents are behind me, and we look forward to what’s ahead. Our Easter was blessed, and our choir again pulled off a fantastic special. We are very proud of the hard work they put into the song. We also baptized five people this month! God continues to bless and grow the ministry here.

Please continue to pray for Lucas and Fernanda. They have excused their way out of our discipleship for the entire last month and have not returned to church even though they say everything is ok. Please pray fervently for them as they work through a challenging time that they will make the right spiritual decisions. The Christian life, the life of a disciple, was never said to be easy. We refuse to give up on them, but we also need wisdom about how we should proceed.

As I said, Easter was a success and a blessing. It felt strange having Easter in March! It feels like April was robbed of its Easter holiday! Our ministry continues to see growing fruit. We baptized five people on Easter night: a young couple and three of our teens! I also continue to improve in Portuguese. Earlier this month, my brain suddenly improved by leaps and bounds, and I am able to understand Portuguese A LOT easier (something my Portuguese teacher said would happen as I approach intermediate fluency). Praise be to God for continuing to help me improve.

We are still feeling worn out. Thanks to my kidney stone, our vacation plans had to be delayed, and we will now be spending a couple of days away this next week. Pray that this vacation will be restful, that we will have favorable weather, and that we will return with renewed excitement and freshness for the many things happening around here.

Thank you for reading. God bless you.