Monday, May 31, 2021

Bits May


Mother's Day breakfast
This Sunday Raphael preached a great message on being salt and light in the world. We started a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount and it has already taught me so much. It is neat to see someone from our church preaching so well. He has probably preached 10-12 times since last year and he does an excellent job of preparing and delivering. This month William also preached and did a great job. A good group of preachers is a blessing and it will be good to have our coworkers Roger and Marcy Smith back with us in August. At the beginning of our services we also have a little word and prayer and we have had some excellent thoughts come out of that time where we hear from different members of the congregation. 


Raising up leadership is important to us and we thought the pandemic would help fast track that last year when we decided to divvy up a bunch of tasks. Unfortunately a lot of ministries have been stalled. We hope to have a module this month, but the uprise in cases in town has left a good bit of people hesitant about coming to church, much less eight hours of class on a weekend. Lord willing we will get the module done by the end of the month. 

Mother's Day breakfast families


Local Pastor's prayer breakfast

Our mission board ABWE likes to emphasize teamwork and having support around you. We are grateful for those who help us. We have a regional administrator, Cal Clark, who is currently in a rough spot with pancreatic cancer; please pray for him! In Brazil we have our colleagues that are an encouragement. We also have a local Pastor’s group that meets for breakfast on Tuesdays. They have helped especially during this time of navigating Covid laws. Sarah has her counseling classes that have brought friendships that help her with a good sense of community. On Mondays I meet and pray with a group of missionaries with Servant Leaders and they have been important in regards to productivity accountability. I hope that you all reading this have a group in which you can be accountable and that helps encourage your spiritual growth! 

Tupanatinga has a preais

Sarah’s small groups have been doing pretty well. The Sunday morning group had great attendance the last couple of weeks. This month it seems like we have gained an extra assistant. Evelyn has been super helpful in setting up for church. She also helps with the slides during the service. The girls just finished their school year last week and so are planning their summer routine which will include some responsibilities. Today I was able to teach the kids upstairs at church and it was neat seeing how sweet and participative my own daughters are. 


Thanks for your prayers! The gospel is spreading here. Tupanatinga had record attendances this month thanks to a couple more faithful families! We had a Mother's Day breakfast in Arcoverde that had a bunch of people here. 


All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and our now sixth grader Evelyn and third grader Anna Claire!