On Thursday mornings I participate in a Pastor's group from the Arcoverde area. It is an informal time to pray and encourage each other...and eat breakfast. The last few weeks the group has seen growth as far as participation as well as deeper conversation on cultural issues in the church. It has been neat to be a part of and see some possible progression in relation between the churches. The culture here has certainly been different than any other area I have seen and it has been hard to see the lack of unity between churches. But I think this is getting better, at least between the Pastors.
On May 30 we will have our first "preview service" where we will have a worship time with some of the mother church members from the "big city" Recife. We will be handing out invitations all month as well as getting a good push when the church bus rolls in. Pray for people to come and get interested in the studies! I have many people I want to invite.
This month, Lord willing, we will be moving into our house (I think I said that last month as well). We are looking forward to opportunities to have people over. Sarah is already planning some play dates on at least one afternoon per week. We are excited about Sundays now where we will have a place for kids to have a good time while the parents study. Please pray that we will use our new house for His glory!
This month we will have a financial class on May 21. We hope to reach out through that. On May 22 and 23 I will be teaching the first module of Theology at the church in Recife. Pray that goes well! We also had an exciting meeting about our Servant Leader's program and we are looking forward to some pretty cool opportunities with what we can do through the website.
Thanks for all the prayers! This summer we have a lot going on; pray for fruit from 4 different couples/groups that will be coming down. (My sister and her husband (Kevin and Kim Patton, my parents Dan and Bonny Carrel, West Huntsville Baptist Church, and a college intern named Zach).
All for HIS glory,
David, Sarah, our big 1st grader who finished Abeka Academy's kindergarten class earlier this month, and our big talking away 2 year old
