Bits April 26

In early April, we celebrate Anna Claire’s birthday and the Arcoverde church anniversary. This year, Easter coincided. We had an Easter play for the first time this year, and Evelyn was one of the three main characters. She did a fabulous job. Our church, plus some visitors, plus the non-profit kids’ ministry we are associated with, and a group in Batalha, all seemed to enjoy it. Stefan wrote the play and did a great job of explaining the true meaning of Easter. 

We also had a Praise and Worship service on the Saturday of Easter weekend. Our youth participated as well as our main Worship group. The youth really enjoyed it. We love seeing youth being excited about church events. 

In Tupanatinga, we finished studying James on Wednesday nights. We have been focusing on Bible study, including a study on Methods of Bible Study. In a leadership meeting last week, some of the leaders expressed the desire to do the study without us needing to be there. That has been the goal. Pray for them to be able to fulfill that desire. At the same time, once the apartment is built there, we hope to spend a little more time there at the church. The growth lately has been really neat to see. New families, lots of kids, even one kid who has convinced his parents to come, and his mom has come four weeks in a row, and his dad a couple of times. 

Roberta is a joy to have in the church. She helps with the older college and career group. She has been inviting people to church, and several are attending with her now. She also started a small group in her house with some of the newer young ladies. One of those we are trying to help with her small business so that she can stay in town. Pray for us to be able to offer wise help. 

In March, I found out about a part of our mission that does business for mission. I have always been interested in the subject and saw how we have so many small business owners in our church, and thought it would be really interesting. Upon contacting them, I found out that when they come, they recommend a follow-up program to be run by someone in the location for 16 weeks. I also found out that the person needed to do a course… and that the course started only a couple of days later…. So I am doing an entrepreneur course designed to help Christian small business owners. I am about halfway done now. Pray that it will be a blessing to those in our church as well as an outreach to those outside of the church. 

I am also doing a leadership cohort through ABWE this year. So I ended up having a study year. Fortunately, it is not heavy lifting classes and only requires a few hours a week. Thank you so much for your prayers for us as we spread the good news here in Brasil. We appreciate you all! 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and our Evelyn who has pretty much finished 10th grade and is looking to start her last year of homeschool before going to the states for her senior year, and Anna Claire our crochet master who is spitting out projects one after another.