One thing has become extremely clear to me over the past several weeks – we are at war. It is something I always knew to be true, but didn’t really believe with my whole heart and soul until now. The encouraging thing is that we are fighting from a position of victory, but it is a war nonetheless, and we are fighting. There has been much attack here, and we covet your prayers for our health and protection, as well as the health and protection of the Brazilians we work with. The enemy is not happy, which means God is moving. Josiah will be posting soon with specific testimonies of how the Lord has ensured our survival in fighting this war. In the meantime, I want to share with you the exciting outcome of all this attack – God’s Kingdom being expanded.
Baptism
After a recent Encounter with God weekend, we had a powerful baptism in the Tapajós River where God showed up in a mighty way. It was very moving to see these precious people making a public declaration of their decision to leave their old selves behind and follow Christ.
Church Construction
The church in Piquiatuba has a building, but they've grown so much they no longer fit in it! We hope to build a large brick building for them soon.
The church buildings at the communities of Iruçanga and Caranazal are almost finished! Funds and teams from the States have helped tremendously in bringing this dream to fruition. Many other communities we’re working in are getting close to needing a church building as well, so we are believing God will provide for those as He has provided for these communities that can finally meet together in a temple built for the sole purpose of worshipping God.
Upcoming Events…
We plan to visit a service in the community of Jamaraquá on Saturday April 17. The following weekend, April 24-26, we will be hosting a conference in the community of São Raimundo. At the conference, we will be ministering, distributing water filters to individual houses, providing dental services and donating clothes to the community members. In the month of May, we will be traveling to Illinois to help with PAZ Chicago’s first Encounter with God weekend, then to California for Isaiah’s wedding (yay for Isaiah and Erin!), and then a quick visit with family in Louisiana before heading back home to Brazil (have to hit the old stompin’ grounds). 
If possible, we’d love to see our fellow supporters around these areas. Please let us know by e-mail if you will be available in May to get together. We ask for your prayers for all these events and for protection in travel, and for God to be glorified in all we do.
1 Comment
April 13, 2009 at 12:34 pm
hey, is there a possibility of taking some of the cell group people from here to São Raimundo to help during the conference? A girl from my cell is from there and her parents recently gave their lives to the Lord at the PAZ weekly service they have there! So I’d love to go there with her and others from the cell sometime