This month was a very heartbreaking month. Our first heartbreak was the cancellation of a church event. We were ready to have the church come to our house and have a wonderful barbecue and a full day of fun to celebrate Brazil’s Independence Day! All of the weather apps said the temperature was going to be 75 and sunny! We have the meat ready, our people have their potato salads in the fridge and desserts in the freezer! EVERYONE was looking forward to our FIRST ALL-CHURCH EVENT at our renovated house!...but when we woke up that morning…the clouds rolled in…and a storm hit hard. Without any warning, it rained all day. We had to cancel our event…So we rescheduled. Caxias do Sul has two holidays in September: Brazil’s independence and our State’s founding. It was only a two week difference between the two holidays. But when we got closer to the date of the event, we had to cancel again because of the rain. The same week, another sad thing happened. Joneia’s horse, Chocolate Fudge, was put down. She had raised this horse since she was four years old, and he had been her best friend for a long time. He was 31 years old, and we already saw this coming with his age, but the events were very sudden and very quick. God blessed us with peace during this time, but we were also hit with a sudden wall of sadness. It hit my wife hard, but I was very surprised at how hard it was hitting me. We miss her horse a lot, but we are now looking forward to whatever miracle God is going to give to us next. The last heartbreak we are encountering this month is my grandfather’s failing health. He has been suffering from dementia for some time, but it seems that something in his brain is no longer functioning, and he cannot stop rambling. The neurologist has just diagnosed it as Alzheimer’s. It has taken a toll on my family especially my grandmother. Please be in prayer. It has been a heavy and emotional month for us. But God continues to give us strength and peace in all of our circumstances as we trust in Him.

In our time of need, we have had a lot of help. The day after Joneia’s horse passed away, one of our men stepped in to preach in my stead. Several of our members joined us for a day of cleaning and decorating the church! Joneia has felt a lot of love from our members since most of them had known Chocolate Fudge since the beginning, and knew how much Joneia loved him. Our members have really stepped up this month in helping and encouraging us. It wasn’t an easy month for any of them either! Most of our members were sick with a bad virus this last month as well. Our numbers have been low, but we have also been seeing our members become more faithful. I am still preaching Wednesdays, every other Saturday for our Teen church, and every other Sunday morning. Robson is preaching every alternating Sunday morning, and Jonir is preaching every Sunday Night. It has been a blessing to give these men the opportunity to preach, and it has been an enormous help with our already busy schedule (and my language proficiency). Discipleship with Robson and Sabrina is going great. Our church looks wonderful with the help of our members. Since we didn’t have the event at our house, we planned a church-wide cleaning and maintenance day. We just installed a speaker system, so now I don’t have to strain my voice while I lead singing! It was a blessing to have our members help clean and maintain their church. Our ministry continues. Thank you for your prayers.