July, August, September 2005 

Dear Friends and Loved one.

        Rebecca Daniel and I are glad to be back in Manaus. We had a wonderful time in the USA this summer with our boys and Oak Trail Baptist Church. We thank the Lord for each and every one of you that we visited while we were there and thank you for your kindness.  Its good to be back home though. 
        Friday evening (August 24th) was our first night of our three night conference.  We are celebrating two years as a church. A big storm blew in just about two hours before service and really dumped some water on the barrio. We are in the middle of dry season, so there was a layer of dry dust everywhere, and the rain turned it all into a muddy mess. We only had twenty five people, but nine of them were visitors. We enjoyed the extra sandwiches and fellowship.
        On Saturday night, the Church from Monte Sinai came and visited us and then brought 55 people with them in a rented bus, and Pastor Nonato preached a very good message on "steadfastness" in spite of a few scary moments we had a peaceful service.
        Sunday night it rained again, very hard.  That brought the already muddy barrio to almost a swamp, and again some of  our people could not come out, and to top it off, the storm knocked out the lights and put us in total darkness. We still managed to have around 40. We had a candle light service while Pastor Luiz, young man who helped us start this work, preached about God's faithfulness in keeping all of His promises; it was an excellent and encouraging message for me and the people.
        Our barrio has degenerated into chaos. One of our neighborhood stores was robbed right after we left Sunday night. The owner was beaten in the head with the butt of one of the robber's gun until they thought he was dead, and then they took everything the family had, including his children's clothes. We have some brushes with the local gangs in the evening services, and we are always on edge. There is no end in sight to all this senseless violence and we are praying for safety in the services. Our people live in constant fear of robberies and beatings, but they have continued faithful in church. We are asking the Lord to bring asphalt and city lights into the barrio. That will make it easier for the Police to come in and out of the barrio. They will not even go in right now for fear of getting ambushed. So until all this happens we will keep our hoe handles close, and pray the Lord deliver us from temptation. Pray with us!
        I think we have finally found a teacher for our school for missionary children, Rebecca is anxious to see her come and relieve her of this responsibility. I have enjoyed preaching in the chapel, and it has helped my English (I think).
        Our Bible institute begins on the twelfth of this month. We should be getting some new students, and look forward to graduating seven in November. I have already started teaching classes at the Alfa Bible institute, and in October with spend two seeks in the interior at another Bible institute in Parintins.  The Lord is preparing a group of you men and women for the future!
        We would like to be able to start building our permanent building in the month of November. Our people are extremely poor, so pray with us that the Lord will supply our needs.
        We thank each and every one of you who have prayed for us and who have been generous to this work. As we see the world unraveling around us, we remember that the Lord is coming again, probably very soon. That we may all be found faithful!

His for Brasil

John, Rebecca, and Daniel Hawkins

Sending Church: Oak Trail Baptist Church * 4501 Peppertree Rd. * Granbury, Texas 76048 * 817-279-6430