Bits April

Teaching a module at another church

Vidão. That is the Portuguese word for Big life, or good life. When things are going well. It is the expression I like to use when people ask how life is going. This month we finished the Story of Hope Bible study in Pesqueira. They decided to start a new one and study the book of James. In Arcoverde we have had ups and downs as far as groups and meetings and services. Brazil is still having Covid problems and some have lost friends and relatives and it has made them more hesitant about coming to church. 

The church in Tupanatinga is seeing a good bit of visitors. A couple of the women started an Instagram account for the church and have been faithful with posting and that has drawn more people. We are looking into having a praise group from there soon which has gotten me excited. The group there has also been excited. I am going through the Pastoral epistles with some of them just to kind of paint a vision of church leadership. We talked to some brickmasons about starting the church building in a month or so. 

Here is a picture of Rodrygo in Tupanatinga reading the Bible with his father-in-law who is unchurched. The group there has taken to heart God’s Word. Rodrygo will now pray in our Bible study after being ashamed to for a long time. In a meeting about possibly starting a praise group one of the guys talked about how he came partly because of the encouragement of Rodrygo. The group there are getting answers for life from the Bible and sharing with others how the Word can help their lives as well. 

I just had a conversation about the social ministry with our colleague that has now been here three months, Sarah Rogers. There are so many needy people around us and how do we know when it is wise to give and not give. Our church has adopted a community called Batalha in which we have taken food baskets as well as our little thrift store where they can buy items inexpensively. We have a “person of peace” in Batalha who knows where the needs are and we have tried to empower her to help her community. On their own they have asked for services and Bible studies and so we have one person interested in doing a Bible study there. We also have someone in our church that we helped start a small business making signs. Please pray that Roberta can keep up the business. 

This month we watched the series The Chosen as a family. It has been a blessing and helped give us a different view point on Scripture that we have appreciated. Each disciple has their own story, just as each of us has our own story. May our stories point others to Christ!

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and our two little disciples of Christ that are learning more and more what it means to follow Him.