May-June
2005

Prayer Corner...

1. Expansion and leadership of men’s and women’s discipleship groups

2. Musical and sound equipment for the church

3. New Saturday/ Sunday kids club led by one of our members

4. The start-up of Railson’s “tent-making” internet business, Master Informática

5. More conversions and baptisms

6. Suitable housing for our family while we await the sale of our home in Porto de Moz

7. Expansion of home fellowship groups (We expanded from one to three this month!)

8. Our family health

Almeirim Ladies on Fire for God

There’s nothing like a group of ladies freshly baptized in the Holy Spirit! Every Saturday, the ladies’ Bible study cell meets in our home office to talk, pray, and let God do neat stuff -- like what He did on one afternoon in April when the ladies were uniquely touched by the Spirit’s presence for the first time.  Recently, each of the ladies committed to fast and pray regularly for three non-believers during 30 days. After the first week, Eva (wearing blue blouse in photo) mentioned that she had a problem. She had carefully picked three people to pray for, but now she was down to one. “Two of them gave their lives to Jesus, so now what should I do?” she asked quite honestly. “Get yourself two more! And start praying for ours, too!” We all laughed and praised God for these two victories, and look forward to more in the near future.

Several of the ladies participate in a Sunday evening teaching on worship, taken from a translated outline of E. B. Gentile’s book, Worship God!. Their depth of interest and level of comprehension are remarkable considering the short time they have had with the Lord. In the future, those in the session will serve with the church’s worship team. (We still await the Lord’s timing for sending us a worship leader, instruments, and sound equipment, but you’d be amazed at what we can do with just our voices and a tambourine in the interim!) Please pray for the spiritual growth and protection of this precious group of sisters and for the new cell which was spawned by the ladies’ enthusiasm. This cell consists of the husbands and will be led by Railson beginning in May.

Resurrection Day Celebration

Easter is a tremendous time of celebration, and just as you might expect, it’s the kids who take the celebrating most seriously in Brazil, too! We were blessed by a good turn out of kids, parents, and visitors at our traditional Easter morning potluck breakfast. After a time of worship, kids and adults alike dove into the food and fun. There were relays, videos, and, of course an Easter egg hunt. Each child left with a finished craft project and small Easter basket full of sweets, thanks to donations from our supporters. Since most of the children come from low-income families, this was the only Easter token they had the chance of receiving, and as such, the parents were especially grateful.

Our Number One Ministry Objective:
Family

Tim 4 1/2 yrs                           Sarah 2 yrs

Blessings,
Heidi and Railson