Bits November

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! Sarah started putting up lights the begining of November and our tree is already up. After so many years in Brazil it is still weird to be working and sweating outside and come in and hear Christmas music playing. We are excited to see friends and family for the next few months. Jeremiah and Cindy Cook will make their third trip to visit us as they arrive with their kids Hudson and Nora on Sunday. Jeremiah is a police officer and will speak and train some local officers. Cindy does women’s ministry and will do a couple events with women. 

November started big for the church. We had a church organizational meeting in order to be a legally organized non-profit in Brazil. The next day we had a baptismal service in which we baptized five adults and two children. We also had a good meal and fellowship time. 

In Pesqueira we are a few months into our Bible study we do every other week. Ricardo and Wilker are very faithful and even do extra reading. We are studying the Story of Hope and just finished some lessons on Moses. They had some very good observations. 

Sarah had her last module of the year and we went to Fortaleza as a family again. This time another couple from our church went and we were able to go to a water park again. It was nice to have a couple days to have fun in the sun. While we were gone we left a member of the church to preach (our colleagues Roger and Marcy Smith left for a 9 month furlough). The day before his father passed away (pray for William during this difficult time); this meant that the church in Tupanatinga wouldn’t have a preacher or the church in Arcoverde. The church of Tupanatinga ended up having a time where they shared Bible verses and prayed together. I was glad they were still active in our absence. In Arcoverde I called José who has been nervous about preaching and hadn’t made the leap yet. He agreed to help out and did a great job. It seems God in His providence had a way to help our friend make a great stride in his life. 

We are already planning for next year and covet your prayers! We are offering a Servant Leader’s Bible certificate and we are structuring the preaching around it as well. Pray it is a year of spiritual growth in the lives of our members, but also with other churches. Pray that they will take up the challenge to equip leaders in their own churches. Despite officially being a couple hundred dollars short per month, on average more than we need is coming in each month. Thanks to “Anonymous” and others who have gone above and beyond, we are extremely blessed and we thank all of you, especially those who faithfully send in a gift each month. We are so grateful for you!

God bless, 

David, Sarah and my growing like a weed firstborn who could overtake her daddy soon, and the second one who is turning into a super organizer, pulling weeds outside and sorting our clothes in the closet, all by her own initiative. 

Evie also made a Thanksgiving video...in portuguese.