Where has this year gone? Here in Taubaté and in other cities here in Brazil, we continue to see our God working as only the ALL-POWERFUL God can!
The last Wednesday of August, I traveled eight hours to Araguari, Minas Gerais, for a five-day Missions Conference with Pastor Marcos Gesiel Lauentio at Igreja Batista Fundamental em Araguari. At a Youth Camp in November of last year, Pastor Marcos and I talked about the importance of being personal soul winners. From that conversation, he invited me to preach the conference with the emphasis on reaching their Jerusalem. During the conference, God blessed with 24 people trusting Christ. Several were saved through personal soul winning on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday morning, several members joined the pastor and me at the local open market to pass out tracts and share the good news of our Saviour. One of the men we met at the market on Saturday rode his bike to church for the Sunday evening service. He and two others trusted Christ during the service. At the end of the conference, the church voted to take on two new missionaries, giving them a total of 20 missionaries at R$100.00 a month. Please pray for this pastor, who had a kidney transplant over 10 years ago, to have the strength and wisdom needed to lead the families of his church to continue fulfilling the Great Commission.
When I first met Nicolas in his home with two of his friends from our church on August 3, 2017, he had already battled cancer for about three years and had lost his left foot due to the cancer. That night he heard the Gospel and trusted Christ. From time to time over the past year, he came to the Saturday teen meetings and Sunday services. On Friday evening, August 17, of this year, I was asked to visit him in a cancer hospital about 45 minutes away. The next day I was privileged to spend 18 hours with my buddy and his family. The following Wednesday as I was preparing for the eight-hour drive to the above-mentioned Missions Conference, I knew I had to stop and see Nicolas. When I arrived at the hospital, he was very tired from the medicines, but God allowed me to share the Gospel with his oldest sister Joyce. That was the last time I saw him this side of eternity. Tuesday morning, September 4, after returning home from the conference on Monday night, I received word that Nicolas had moved to Heaven earlier that morning. Since funerals here happen about 24 hours after a person passes away, several of us stayed through the night with the family. Please pray that the many people who heard the Gospel at his funeral will accept Nicolas’s Saviour as their only hope for eternal life in Heaven.
“Until the Last Man” was the theme of the church competition between the children, the young people, and the adults during the last three Sundays of September and the first Sunday of October. Each person received points for their class by being present in Sunday school, by passing out a full-color brochure and getting the name and phone number of the person they invited, by bringing visitors, and by putting labels on our John and Romans in preparation for a special church-wide soul-winning day in November. Many brought visitors, and several trusted Christ; but one of the many blessings was that the families, which God brought during those weeks and continues to bring, are hungry to learn and grow.
October 11–14, 17 of us went to a Family Camp, where Bro. Dan Johnson, our counseling pastor, preached on how to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s control through biblical meekness. What a blessing the time was to all!
THANK YOU for the $150.00 that was donated for Maria’s roof. We are preparing to put the new roof on her home in the month of November.
“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” (James 3:13 )
For the PEOPLE of Brazil!
Dave, Dawn, and Children