Bits May

Another strange month for the books! Two weeks ago I was robbed at gunpoint. Two

young men took our car, my wallet and cell phone after pointing a revolver at me when I was driving out of our sub-division. It was pretty disappointing that it was so close to home. Fortunately God took care of us as there was a policeman literally in front of our house in his car as I ran home. We went after the robbers while at the same time letting all the police groups know of the occurrence. Apparently the robbers were not able to make it through the next town and ended up back in Arcoverde the next day where they tried to take the car apart in the woods. Someone saw them and called the police. They had thrown my cell phone out the window shortly after the robbery and so I received my cell phone back within a couple of hours. The car we got back the next day with minimal damage (they had driven it into the woods and so the front end suffered some damage). 

the main dent from the thieves

We are grateful for many things with this rather disturbing incident. 

1. The many missionaries who have gone before us and already told us their stories. We kind of had it in our mind it would happen sometime and so that has helped.
2. Sarah or the girls weren’t with me.
3. We recovered the car and cell phone.
4. The wallet didn’t have any cards that could be used. 
5. We have so many friends that offered help. 
6. I could add to this list for a long time.

Brazil is behind the US as far as the advancement of the virus. We heard there will be an eleven week opening up process that hasn’t started yet. We are thinking of having some

Praise group practice

small group meetings at the church and following some spacing issues. We have been able to see many of our members at some point, but still wish we could meet all together. If the state’s parameters hold up it looks like our first service will be the last week in June. 

During the quarantine I decided to do a pilot run of an online course. There had been some murmurs of interest from a few friends in our church wanting to study theology. I have a systematic theology course that I used in the Amazon and loved teaching it. So a project has been putting these videos online and having the Servant Leaders platform site facilitate this class. It has been outstanding and the five students are loving it. We met for the first time Sunday spread out in our space at the church where we hold services and we chatted about the favorite lessons being learned and then played a review game. It was really a lot of fun. 

Neighbors working on the neighborhood

The quarantine has brought up some interesting perspectives when it comes to church. Are we the people the church or does it need to be a group meeting in a building? Is the Word a priority in my life that I need or is it just a part that is optional? It is exciting to see those in our church who have chosen to make it a priority as well as its application in their lives. 

A prayer request we have is for the girls school books for August! All of the groups coming down here needed to cancel, understandably, but now we need to see how we can get the girl’s school stuff down here. Another request is for our car to get fixed up (we are just waiting on the parts). Then pray for wisdom for us as we start back up, as well as for Sarah (and me a little) as we counsel some. 

Abraços pra todos (hugs to everyone). And lots of thanks for your prayers and encouragement!

girls playing school during their summer

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah, our Narnia loving, conversational, loving, sweet girls Evelyn and Anna Claire

learning kickball!