ALTON and HELEN SMITH
WBF Missionaries to
BRAZIL

Dear Prayer Partners,                                                                                                          January 2010

It is our prayer that 2010 will be a year full of victories and blessings in our Lord for each of you. The last three months have been busy and productive ones. In September we had a month dedicated as friend’s month. We were very pleased with the way our people invited, worked and prayed to make this campaign a success. We had one man (Joel) who trusted Christ as Savior. We have had several of the visitors return and we have several good prospects. October was a month centered on our children with one special day of games; on this day we had a large group of children and many of the mothers that had never visited our church.

            The month of December has been a time of testing and blessings. On December 12, we arrived home from church and were eating and watching T V and were startled to see two armed men enter our living room. They wanted our money and other items of value; wedding rings, watches, Helen's jewelry, our computers, cameras, video projector, video camcorder, and other items. We thought that this time we would be shot because they did threaten our lives several times. Praise God for the comfort and strength that He gives through the Holy Spirit at these times. We knew we were prepared to be with our Lord if that was His will for us. God gave courage to be able to witness to one of the young men about the power of God to change his life. When they had loaded our truck with all they wanted, they insisted that we go with them however I refused to allow them to take Helen for I feared for her life. At this time we were already outside and because they did not want to draw attention to themselves they threatened Helen that if the police appeared they would kill me, she was not to call them. They drove me to a deserted area about thirty minutes from our home. I was convinced they meant to kill me and take the truck also yet God gave grace to give them tracts and tell them how God could change their lives. Pray that through theses tracts they will understand their need for Christ.

            The last week of December Tom and Bernice from Minnetonka Youth Camp brought four young people to visit Brazil that are workers from the camp. These young people had a heart to work, so we put them to work painting the outside of our church building. Frank Brim also asked the youth of his church to help, along with those of our church. We had twenty young people and a couple of adults that worked for two days sanding and painting. Praise the Lord our church looks great. What a tremendous blessing this is to our church.

            Please Pray For:     * Our new converts  * Gloria´s surgery – she still has not been able to get it scheduled.  * God´s power upon us and our ministry

In His Service

Alton and Helen Smith.