June 20, 2003

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The Lord has given us lately a good time of spiritual rest in the ministry.  We are busy enjoying the more pleasant side of church ministry, as we have had a rest from problems within the church family.  The spirit of the congregation is the best it’s been in a very long time.  We have thirty-nine attending regularly, twenty of which are baptized members.  Twenty-eight of the group have made professions of faith.  The remaining eleven are small children with the exception of a fourteen year old by the name of Jonathan.  Please pray for his salvation.

Since our last news letter, we’ve baptized three young ladies:  Edileia (16 yrs. old), Camila (12 yrs. old), and Michele (22 yrs. old).  Edileia has been with us for a few years now, and finally her Catholic parents gave her permission to be baptized.  Camila made a profession of faith a couple of years ago, but just recently decided to be baptized.  Her mother and sister are already baptized members.  Michele, a single mom of two beautiful little girls, is one of the newest converts.

Just before Easter a young university student that John had met about a year ago received Christ as his Savior.  Diego has shown excellent signs of a dedicated Christian, and is hungry for the Word.  However, he hasn’t been able to be in the services much for most of his free days are spent about six driving hours away taking care of his dad and helping with the family business.  His dad, Décio, had quadruple bypass surgery soon after Easter.  He is doing well, though the recovery has been slow.  Please pray for Diego and his testimony before his lost family and friends.

We wish we could report that the construction on the church has resumed, but as of the writing of this letter our loan hasn’t come through.  We’ve received some good offerings towards the down payment, which is a big help, and we are very thankful.  We pray that July will be the month. 

The family is doing well.  We’ve all passed through the first rounds of colds for the fall/winter season.  Today the girls should finish up with their home schooling for the year.  Joneia is finishing up 3^rd grade and Leila is finishing 1^st grade. 

Our list of prayer requests is the following:

1.  Our new members:  Edileia, Camila, and Michele.

2.  Jonathan’s salvation.

3.  Diego (new convert).

4.  Construction loan (consortium) to be rewarded very soon.

Thank you once again for all the prayers for us and our ministry.  We are grateful to the Lord for your involvement in our work.

Keep looking up!

John & Neila and girls