Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and financial support of this ministry. It is a wonderful thing to see God working here in Salvador, Brazil. Let me get right into updating you on the work here.
Transition Time
As some of you already know, the missionary family that we have been partnered with here since the start of the work, the Leland Johnson family, has been led of the Lord to transition back to the U.S., due in large part to ongoing health difficulties with Mrs. Johnson. These are some of the Lord’s choicest servants, and we will miss them dearly. The Lord knit our hearts from the very beginning of this endeavor, and it has been a great privilege and a tremendous blessing to work together with them. They were not just our ministry partners, but our dear friends, and I thank the Lord for the opportunity He gave us to work together.
Evangelistic Conference
The Lord blessed in a tremendous way during our Evangelistic Conference. Missionary Ed Johnson preached the Gospel every night to a packed house, and each night we had hands raised for salvation. The first night of the conference, we had over 140 people in attendance! Over the entire 3 nights, we welcomed over 50 adults as first-time visitors. From that conference, we have had a handful of families begin attending regularly, so we praise the Lord for good growth. Our church people did an excellent job of inviting people, bringing visitors, welcoming newcomers, working in the children’s church and nursery, and keeping everything running smoothly.
Saturday Boys’ Club
About six months ago, one of the newer men in our church approached me about his desire to start a Saturday afternoon boys’ ministry for boys ages 9-16. He had been a participant in his youth in a similar ministry, and he had a burden to see boys taken off the street and given a solid spiritual foundation. So began the planning and preparation to launch this new outreach near the end of January of this year. This ministry has been immensely successful already. We have anywhere from 15-25 boys here every Saturday memorizing Scripture, doing Sword drills, hearing a Bible lesson, as well as other activities. Not only their ability but also their desire to learn the Word of God has been beyond my expectations.
However, it isn’t just that they are showing up and participating; what they are learning is producing a change in them. One of the teens approached me about needing to be baptized. He has already signed up for our discipleship course. Just this past week, two more of the boys in the program expressed their desire to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism. Several of these young men have given a testimony during testimony time in church. It’s just amazing to see what the Word of God and solid Biblical training are doing in the lives of these young men. I am already praying for the Lord to call several of them into full-time ministry, and I truly believe He will.
Closing
Please pray for us as the work continues to move forward. We have new families that need discipled, new workers that need trained, and, of course, there is the ever-present temptation some will have to deal with of whether or not they will stay faithful and be grounded in the Word or if they will drift back into what their life was before. We love you, and we appreciate your support of this ministry. We are blessed to represent you here. May God continue to use you to reach others where you are.
Declaring His glory,
Wesley Palla
Psalm 96:3
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- Evangelistic Conference
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- Saturday Boys’ Club