While we are STILL waiting on our building permit (stalled at Brazilian IRS right now), our first missions conference as a church was a success.
Video updates from the 3 missionary families that we support were shown, and the special speaker was our very own missionary, Breno, who shared from God’s Word and updated us on their journey to plant churches in Albania. Twenty families brought international dishes for our carry in dinner, and God was gracious to plan a beautiful evening to facilitate our having to meet outdoors. Even the children who attended are now excited about a project collecting plastic bottle lids for recycling. For every two pounds of lids, our church will receive 60 cents towards missions. Every little bit counts!
In October, all of Brazil celebrates “Children’s Day”. Most families buy gifts for their children and all schools have special programming. For the kids here, it’s bigger than Christmas. Taking advantage of this opportunity, our church planned a special outreach event for children. We had a rented trampoline, large blow-up slide, competitive games, crafts, and most importantly a clear Gospel presentation.
Kids from all over our neighborhood came. One of our members, brought 20 kids in 3 car-loads of 7-8 kids each (yes, his car should only fit 4 kids). Continue to pray with us that kids will be transformed with the Gospel and families in our neighborhood reached through these opportunities.
During the last few months, we have rejoiced in several young men coming to know Christ as Lord and Savior.
One of these young men is currently in the hospital in his last days here on earth. Tim’s former ICU nurse asked us to visit with him. She had shared the Gospel many times, and we went to also share God’s love. The next week, he wrote her saying that he was a “new man and felt something special” after praying and surrendering to Christ. It’s a beautiful story that came out of a very difficult time in our life (meeting this nurse through our icu experience in 2021). Keep praying that our church will reach into the darkness and see lives authentically transformed. Currently, there are about 5 evangelistic Bible studies being led by one of our members.
Rainy season is quickly approaching. Please pray with us that the building permit will be granted and that in the meantime, we will have wisdom regarding renting or buying a large tent to use for meetings. We have outgrown the outside porch space.
As we continue the transition to independence for this church plant, Tim and Andrea focus heavily on training and preparing the leadership team. Weekly mentorship meetings and trainings are a continual part of our schedules. Even though Tim has the spring semester off from teaching a class at the seminary, he continues to serve on the board of our partnering Brazilian mission agency, and Andrea and Levi weekly serve at the orphanage as well.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and partnership in the Gospel.
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