Mother’s Day tea was a wonderful event! We had 11 visitors, and Joneia clearly presented the gospel. We were so grateful for resources we gained from Southwest Baptist Church for planning events. Joneia used the theme “The Measure of Christ” to create decorations of flowers made from flexible sewing tape measures. All the decorations looked beautiful. One of the challenges of missionaries is using English resources in a foreign country. Fortunately, “The Measure of Christ” translates perfectly into the Portuguese, and we were able to use the theme and details we were given. It is one of the ways that deputation helped prepare us for our ministry here. As we have spent time on the mission field, we have seen our many supporting churches come together to help us in prayer, in finances, and in resources. We understand now more than ever how important and wonderful deputation really is for missionaries.
For our Sunday school, we have started working on memorizing scripture. Each week we have a memory verse, and we give prizes to those who can quote the verse. It has been a lot of fun to see the comradery and encouragement amongst our people. We are experiencing a time of great unity and strength in our church. But to be honest, it has been somewhat attacked recently. In the past month, there have been a few people who attended our church who began complaining about something they didn’t like. And even though we address the issue, they continued to try and attack our members and us. But God has taken care of each situation in His own way. Please pray for our church, because Satan is not happy that we are unified and growing. God has been doing incredible things with our people here, and we pray urgently that our people stay focused on their spiritual growth, and reaching this city for Christ.
God has also really blessed us in our work on our property as well. As winter approaches, our grass is dying, and our horses are hungry. But we encountered some obvious problems of leaving hay out in the field completely exposed to the elements. For years, Joneia has been saving to build new stables for our horses, and we were able to use some of those funds to build a run-in shelter for the horses where we can keep our hay dry and fresh. We are grateful to continue to use the contractor who built our house for these kinds of projects around our property. Please continue to pray for him and his girlfriend that they will be open to the gospel and that we will have opportunities to witness to them.
With all of our blessings also come difficulties. Please be praying for the health of some of Joneia’s family members. Her grandfather has brain tumors and her aunt is facing some terminal health issues. We have faced a lot of death recently, and it weighs heavy on our spirits. Pray for our co-laborers, John and Neila Yelle, as they are trying to help in each of these scenarios while on their furlough. So, please keep praying.
As I already stated, pray for protection from attacks against our church. It can be difficult as a new pastor to know how to handle many situations, but I am grateful for the training from Heartland Baptist Bible College and the experience of our co-laborers in handling situations in a Christ-like manner. Please pray for our health. I was having migraines for about three weeks straight and finally have found some relief with supplements and daily saline rinses. Also pray for the apparent health crisis we are having in our city! Our hospitals are full of people with an aggressive influenza. One of our own members has been quarantined for a full week. We think Joneia had this same flu at the beginning of this week, but fortunately she has already recovered fully.
God is good all the time, and He is continuing to work here in Caxias do Sul. Thank you for your help in prayer and support.