For the past few months the focus of our ministry has been Soulwinning.  Every sermon that has been preached on Sundays has been geared on leading others to Christ.  With this as our focus we also looked for different avenues to be involved in presenting the Gospel to our Jerusalem.  One day the some of the men approced me with the idea that during the ladies meeting, the men instead of going home should meet together and hand out tracts in a local park.  What an exciting time we had as we had 7 men and teen boys participate in sowing the seed in our local community. Another example of how the Lord is moving in the life of the people to reach others for Christ is in the life of Dave. Dave is a security guard at a local pre-school.  He is responsible for over 200 kids as they wait at the school gate for their parents to drop and pick them up for school. He makes sure that every person that comes to the school gate receives a church tract. Not only do they receive a tract but on he track Bro. Dave has written a small message with his phone number telling them that he would like to pray for any need they might have. Every week he has an average of 6 people that call him with prayer request and then we as a church pray for them during the Wednesday evening service.   What a blessing it is to see the Lord lead our people to reach people all in their own ways for the Lord. Please continue to pray with us for fruits for their labors during Saturday door to door visitation and pass out Gospel tracts at fairs and special events in our city.

This year for our Mother’s Day celebration, the young people of the church were responsible for heading up a banquet in honor of the Mothers.  They prepared and served the food and were responsible for every part of the opening service including the song service, offering special music, Bible reading, and poems recited to the mothers. They were very involved, and it is wonderful to see these young people develop a heart to serve. One of the young people that participated is Beatrice.  She started attending Sunday School five years ago and has been faithful ever since. It was a pleasant surprise that she brought 13 visitors for the Banquet service, 11 of them who were first time visitors! We are very delighted to have Beatrice in our work here and pray that soon we will be able to see some of her relatives give their lives to the Lord.  

Last month there was what they called a truckers’ strike here in all of Brazil. All of the highways and roads connecting the cities in our state were closed for over 2 weeks. The Semi Truckers unions of Brazil organized these road blocks in protest of the recent unreasonable spike in deiseal oil.  There was no gas or diesel to be found in our city and there was a ration on most staple foods that had not run out, such as milk, eggs and meat. In our city there was no propane tanks to be purchased which meant that once everyone’s tank ran out there is no way to cook food. Even though it was a time of uncertainty the Lord used it for His glory and our faith was strengthened. We are grateful that things are now back to normal and all activities of the church are now able to continue.

I am happy to report that the salvation of Valentina. She has be returning to Sunday School for the last few months and just recently received the Lord as her Savior.  We have also had some recent visitors and are looking forward to some upcoming Baptisms and Lord willing adding some new members to the Church in the near future.