Dear Friends,
Greetings from Brazil! I realize that you haven’t heard from us in awhile again. We had a wonderful trip to the U.S. to spend time with family and get some much-needed rest! Everything was wonderful and was used by God to refresh us for the next big push back here in Brazil. Since we have returned it has been non-stop action. I think we have done a year’s worth of ministry in the last month. Thanks to those of you who faithfully pray for us! God has continued to sustain us day by day.
Paul has been involved in many meetings concerning changes in our Free Lutheran church body in Brazil. We have been going through much transition in many places. Although this is stressful and stretching we realize that God is in control and that He promises to work all things together for good. Pastor Jaime who was pastor of the São Braz church and president of our Brazilian Free Lutheran church, is no longer exercising any ministerial function due to moral failure. We pray that the Lord will continue to draw him to Himself and that Jaime will experience the grace and forgiveness of God. The church is now looking for a new pastor and the laymen are working together to continue the ministries in that place. On a national level we also lost our Vice-president, Pastor Iran, who accepted a call to teach in a different seminary. So the second vice-president, Silvio Paes, is now acting as president until the next Annual Conference in January. During this last month the director of the Miriam Infant Home also resigned, so there is a “changing of the guard” there as well. As the second semester of the seminary school year is beginning in Campo Mourão we ask for your prayers for the seminarians who will be graduating in November. We also ask for prayer for the teachers as they minister to the students and make plans to re-instate a two-year Bible School program for next year. The teachers are spread thin and are in need of our prayers day by day.
In July we traveled to Campo Mourão to help with a winter Bible Camp for youth. We took a busload of 44 people from Curitiba to participate there. While at camp one of the boys we brought from Campo Largo (who is not yet a Christian) was bitten by a poisonous snake. We got hjm to the hospital in time to be medicated and cared for, but he ended up spending half of his camp time in the hospital. This led to an opportunity for Paul to share the Gospel with Reginaldo’s family upon return home. While in Campo Paul had the privilege of marrying a couple we have known for years at a lovely outdoor wedding. The following week we had another outdoor wedding, but this time at the ARCA in Bateias. The parents of the bride are long-time friends of ours who were converted in our early days of ministry and who have been faithful supporters of the ARCA ministry, serving on the board for years. The groom has been an ARCA camp counselor for as long as we can remember, so it was appropriate to have the wedding at the ARCA.
Earlier that same week a group of five young people from the U.S. arrived to spend three weeks with us. We have enjoyed them immensely, and their time with us is quickly coming to an end tomorrow as they head back to the U.S. The FLY group participated in our regular ministry opportunities, sharing their testimonies and bringing special musical presentations (5 services each week). They also made friends with many youth in Bateias and enjoyed teaching the Brazilians how to play Ultimate Frisbee. During the day the group helped build a house for a needy family and give a hand with some projects at the ARCA. One weekend we had a mini-retreat at the ARCA, teaching on sexual purity and God’s plan for relationships. Of course I kept busy in the kitchen trying to keep every one happy and satisfied. Last week we traveled with the group to visit Campo Mourão and Iguaçu Falls, where we are at the writing of this letter. Here they have helped painting windows at the church building site and have also participated in the special services we had at the two churches in town. Paul preached three times here. The people have really enjoyed seeing us again and being encouraged by the messages and friendship. Last night we participated in a 2-hour Christian radio program in Argentina that members of the church here finance and prepare every Monday evening. The team enjoyed being in three different countries yesterday – Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay.
The last few weeks have also been marked by much prayer and concern for special people in our lives who have been undergoing physical problems. Evaldo, one of our ARCA employees, suffered a heart attack one day and was thought to have died by the time he reached our little health clinic in Bateias. A member of our church “just happened” to be with Evaldo when he suffered the heart attack and immediately got him to the clinic. A doctor “just happened” to be at the door of the clinic and administered medicine under his tongue (even though she felt he was already gone). A special ambulance equipped with machines and a doctor “just happened” to be in Bateias at the time and quickly took him to the hospital. A praying wife and congregation joined in fervent prayer for a beloved man and the doctors have no way of humanly explaining the miracle that happened when they tested Evaldo and found no damage to his heart. He is home again praising God for more days to live for His glory. Our caretaker’s wife also suffered a near heart attack the next week but seems to be doing better at present. And then there is our dear Marcia. We have asked you to pray for Marcia on many occasions. She is the single mother who lives in the little house behind ours with her two little girls. Everyone at the ARCA has adopted this mom and girls as our own. Over a year ago Marcia had her first surgery to remove the growth of pig worms in her head. At the time she also had meningitis. During the past year she has done very well until about a month ago when the headaches returned. She has been such a sick gal, suffering with terrible headaches and nausea with almost constant vomiting. We have been back and forth to the emergency ward many times and she was hospitalized for over a week. Surgery was performed to put in a permanent drainage tube from her head to some other place in her body to relieve the pressure on the brain. The care here is a far cry from care in the good old USA. Anyway, the whole ordeal has been very stressful. After her surgery Marcia was still not doing well and the doctor ordered a CAT scan, but through socialized medicine the exam would have to wait for another month. Evaldo, happy to be cured from his close call with death, took it upon himself to raise the necessary funds to pay for Marcia’s CAT scan. In 24 hours the people of Bateias came together with a love offering for Marcia. It is beautiful to see people who have so little for themselves offering to share with someone in need like Marcia. She is back home now but is still not feeling well. Will you join us in prayer for this dear friend and her two little girls?
This is just an overview, but I think you get the idea that life with Paul and Becky in Brazil is full of action and opportunity. We try to use the opportunities God gives us to witness wherever we go. May others come to know Jesus through our love and preaching. We share in church, of course, but there are also numerous opportunities to share in the hospitals and the other places God leads us. Thanks for reading this epistle and for joining us though your gifts and prayers!
We serve a wonderful God who deserves our very best efforts in communicating to a lost world the riches of His love and grace! May He be blessing you today and providing for your needs in a special way. Isn’t it amazing that He can take care of all of us and all of our little and big needs all at the same time? Wow! Praise be to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond that which we could ask or think!
Love in Him,
Paul and Becky
