Bits December

Party hardy! Does anyone else say that when it is time for a good party? Brazil is the party capital of the world (don't quote me on that). They love getting together here and this month has been more laid back (well, the second half of the month) and we have had more time to spend just sitting around with people. Last week former english conversation friends came over for the morning and lunch. They both study out of town and so it was good to catch up with them.

On both Christmas Eve and Christmas night along with later on tonight we have gotten together with friends over a meal. Usually the holidays are the hardest to be away from home, but we feel like this year has been really special in Arcoverde. We have so many good friends and were excited to celebrate in our home with all our traditional fixings of decorations and food. As our family reflected this morning on this past year we had so much to talk about. This year we had a blast!

We had a Christmas dinner the Sunday before Christmas. It was a big blessing having everyone together, eating, singing and hearing from the Word. The kids did a little presentation and then others did special music. I even played my trumpet. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

This last Sunday we had baptism service in the morning at a place with a pool. We talked about baptism being symbolic of our decision to be a disciples of Jesus Christ and then what that looks like. We baptized five including Anna Claire. She was really excited about it and of course we are proud of her as well.






The first day of this month we inaugurated our upstairs for our children's ministry! It was amazing. We had a bunch of kids there and they have loved it ever since. They say it is like children's day every Sunday night! It is also a big relief to be done with overseeing construction!

One exciting thing that happened to our family this month was that Sarah's parents bottled their famous white barbecue sauce.  Have you ever wished you had an idea that could go on Shark Tank? This family likes that show and so it is almost like we have an idea that could go big and so it will be interesting to watch the process.

Pray for some of our goals over the next year of growth in Tupanatinga, growth of our small groups and pray for the marriages in our church. When we went to Fortaleza last month we bought a bunch of books for counseling. Many of them are little books that help on different subjects. We are praying that people would read these books this year and work on spiritual projects in their lives.

Thank you all for your love and prayers and support. Each month we have been in the black as far as our account goes and sometimes I wonder how! Basically it boils down to a lot of faithful givers and then surprise amounts that randomly come in; which of course we know are not random. We are extremely blessed to live our lives here serving the Lord. Sometimes we are discouraged and imagine what a life in the states would look like, but it usually passes quickly as we realize how blessed we are to live here and do what God has for us here.

All for HIS glory,
David, Sarah and our girl headed to camp next week (no, it isn't snow camp), and our newly baptized Anna Claire.