March 2002
Dear Friends in Christ,
The start of a new year is always so
exciting! We started ours off
with a river boat trip. On January 1st our family along with 3
of our Institute students made a trip up the Rio Negro.
Our purpose for this trip was to train Sunday School teachers in the
churches that have been established along the River.
It took us five days to reach Santa Isabel.
When we arrived we broke up into two teams.
Jomar and Regiane went on to São Gabriel to teach in two churches
located there. Gluaciliene , my
wife and I made up the other team. For
two weeks three hours a day, we were able to teach the church in Paracatuba and
two churches in Santa Isabel an intensive course in Child Evangelism. We prepared for this trip 5 months in advance because we
wanted to leave them with a flannelgraph board, stories, songs, games etc.
On our way back down we stopped in Barcelos and had two classes a day.
One in the afternoon and the other at night.
Two children came to know Christ as their Savior and one couple felt the
call of God in their lives to come to our Bible Institute. What a wonderful time we had!
These students will never forget this trip. Their eyes were open and saw
a need for our interior churches.
We arrived back in Manaus on January 30th.
We had only five days to get ready for youth camp.
Back on the boat we went to help get things ready at the island for camp.
There was a great spirit among the campers this year.
We had 80 young people plus all the helpers.
What a blessing it was to see two come to know the Lord and three
re-dedications.
This month we also started back up with
construction at the Church. The men
are plastering all the walls. We
hope to finish the baptistry and put the glass in the windows.
The next major project is the floor.
We still only have a rough cement floor.
We are borrowing water from the neighbors because the city has not put in
water lines. A lot of people just
have wells. Next month we hope we
can dig one and buy a pump. The
electric company has still not come and hooked us up to meters.
Everyone just puts wire up to the main poles.
We literally have hundreds of wires that criss-cross each other and some
of them are on our church property. Our
road is almost impossible to come down now because of the heavy rains.
There is no asphalt only mud.
All these inconveniences are just part of the mission field.
Our hearts are always thrilled every time we go to church because we have
at least 25 kids that come running to the car to see if they can help carry
something and to give us a hug.
Pray for the parents of these children that they will come to know
Christ. We have one couple that has joined us from another church.
Our church sits on a great hill and you can literally see thousands of
homes. Pray that we will be able to
reach them with the gospel.
March brings us to another semester of our
Bible Institute. We have 42 plus
students. We have a waiting list
now. Pray with us as we teach
and train future Brazilian Pastors and Missionaries!
Pray for our Pastors also as they donate their time helping us in the
teaching.
In His Service,
Tim and Betty Hawkins
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March 28, 2001
Dear Friends and Supporters,
"...For your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Praise the Lord for his continuing blessings
on our labors in the wok here in Brazil. Thank you also for your continuing prayers and
financial support which makes this ministry possible.
Church: We are continuing the planting of the new church in "Novo Aleixo". Bible club
is averaging around 30 children on Saturday afternoon. More adults have been visiting with their
children but so far we haven't been able to get them to come regularly. Our building is covered
and we have gotten the walls up. We put windows in in the month of November so we can lock
it up now. We will be working on it slowly for the next several years as the Lord provides the
finances through our people and answer to prayer. Continue to pray with us as we work in this
new area of Manaus.
Institute: Institute started on the 13th. of March with 41 students. Three were not able
to return from last year but the Lord blessed us with 9 new students. Two of our new students
are from the state to the north of Amazonas from one of the Indian tribes in the area. Hopefully
there will be 8 students graduating in May. Most are already working in churches. Several of
the Pastors in Manaus are helping us in the teaching and putting the students to work in the
churches.
River Ministry: We were finally able to get our boat done in November of last year. On
January 5th. we cast off for a 27 day journey up the Rio Negro. We visited all the churches
along the river and preached in several communities along the way. It. is encouraging to see the
churches continuing on in the Lord's work and being witnesses in their areas and also beginning
to support missions in other parts of Brazil. We will be making another trip this summer for
several weeks to help start another Indian Bible Institute on the Amaral river.
Camp: On February 24, 80 campers embarked on a boat and traveled the 4 hours to the
"Island" for 4 days of camp. Our theme was "growing in the knowledge of Christ"
with lessons, messages and round table discussions all centering on knowing Christ better and living a true
testimony for Christ. We all had a great time!
Family: We are happy to announce that we are proud grandparents. Evan Patrick
Weaver came into this world on February 28th., weighing 81b. 9 ounces. We
arrived in the States two days after Evan was born so we could help Melissa and our beautiful grandbaby. He
had an infection in his lungs and had to stay in the hospital for three more days. He is doing just
fine now. We are going back to Brazil next week and I know it is going to be hard to leave our
grandbaby. We left Jonathan and Anna in Brazil. They will be very glad to have mom and dad
back! Betty will be returning to the states again with our son Jonathan in June to help him get
settled in the states. Please pray for him. I am sure he will be feel a great culture shock and will
need your prayers.
In His Service,
Tim & Betty Hawkins
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