Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We are having plenty of parties down here in Brazil. Now that we are connected to several church plants and a non-profit, we have attended several dinner parties. One that is going on its’ fifth year is the women’s Christmas tea in Tupanatinga. This year Sarah prayed for all the 60 chairs to be filled, which is exactly what happened. Sarah and Evelyn gave the devotional together and did a fabulous job. The women at the church in Tupanatinga look forward to this date all year and thoroughly enjoy themselves. They are great about inviting others.
On December 1 we had a baptism for the Arcoverde church. It was neat baptizing a family together and several others. Ricardo and Camylla have plugged right into the church. They shared their testimony of a party life with another member. He later started coming to our church and told them they needed to as well. After coming for several weeks, Stefan sat down and shared the gospel with them and they said that is what they needed. They have been very faithful and helpful!
On Friday we had a workday to start installation of the new flooring. We had a good turnout and got a lot done. There is still more to be done and money to be raised within the church. We are trying to get the church to be self-sustaining. For the most part it is but projects like this have been slow going. Pray the church would learn the importance of giving!
Our supporters have been very generous. We appreciate you all. Our accounts are healthy (if we wanted to finish the flooring using our mission accounts, we could!, but we want to make sure our people are taking care of the church they belong to). Continue to pray for Batalha; we are hoping to soon make some moves with land there, but this has been a slow process. There is some land in view, but there are high-tension power lands close to it and we need to find out where we can actually build as well as a fair price. Batalha is a community where there is not a high demand for land and building and so it is difficult to find the actual worth of the land.
We pray that you all have a great New Year and that Jesus will continue to grow in your hearts!
All for HIS glory,
David, Sarah and Evelyn, who spoke at the tea, and crafty Anna Claire who made several Christmas presents this year, including bracelets and then my peanut and skittle dispenser.
