Dear Brethren,
The month of April turned out to be a mighty special month for our family. Our youngest, Katherine, received Christ as her Savior! The one who led her to the Lord was her sister, Leila! Katherine was Leila's first soul that she led to the Lord. Wow. What a great blessing to know that all your children are born again believers!
Since our last letter one more church has begun financially communicating with us in the work. Praise the lord. We still have a ways to go before our support is at what it needs to be. Over the past three years the exchange has dropped about 30%, and I've been informed that the inflation has been about 20%. That means that our buying power is 50% of what it was three years ago. Because of that, we've had to hold off on a lot of construction and other ministerial spending, as well as tighten the belt in our personal finances. Please pray with us that the extra support would come in by September when we step back onto Brazilian soil.
Our schedule has been quite busy since the beginning of the year. March was the most hectic, with three mission conferences and ministering in every regular service. Our girls have been really good through it all. It , isn't easy for youngsters to keep up such a pace AND do home schooling. Come to think of it, the hero through all this must be teacher mom! By God's grace she is able to maintain sanity and order, and also joyfully minister in the churches.
This month of May is a month of preparation for us. We leave Washington state at the end of the month, and have a lot of packing and organizing to do. We are preparing for a twelve week road trip that will take us from Washington to southern California, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, to Washington D.C., Missouri, Oklahoma, and finally to Texas! We will then make our final preparations to return to Brazil about September 5th.
The news from the field is that things are going fairly well. The Catos are being faithful in taking care of the ministry and our home there. Bro. Dave writes that Cladimir, who's attendance had dropped off, is now being more faithful again. Douglas, one of the Bible Institute students, has begun a Bible study with five fellow soldiers in the army barracks there in Caxias do SuI. We praise the lord that God worked it out that Douglas could be in the army and still continue attending church and studying in the Bible Institute.
Please pray for the following:
1) A 15% increase in our support level.
2) Traveling mercies for our family.
3) The church in Caxias do SuI.
Thank you all again for your prayers. May the Lord bless you in all your endeavors.
Until He comes,
John & Neila
Joneia, Leila, & Katherine
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