AFLC World Missions: Ambassadors for Christ’s Sake-Part 2

Here is part 2 of the latest news from Paul and Becky Abel.

Our summer camp season was wonderful! Following a month of heavy rains God blessed us with a week of sunny weather for the children to enjoy camp at the ARCA. Once again we had a great group of counselors investing in young lives. "Bible Explorers - Discovering Treasures in the Word of God" was our theme for the week. It was fun to have Matthew home for camps this year. A couple of weeks later we had our annual youth camp with youth from churches all around our state and even a group from Vitoria, 1000 miles away. The rain didn't stay away this time, but we were thankful for the great attitude of the campers and the wonderful way God used the theme "Come and Live" to draw people to Himself.

We have had some projects completed at the ARCA in 2013. We are happy to have new metal frame bunk beds in all the rooms. We also purchased the house where Carlos and Yara used to live to remodel for families and speakers to use. Paul supervised the building of three concrete stairways for easier access that came in really handy for our Passion Play this year. God blessed us with perfect weather for the 3 nights of the outdoor presentations. We had about 1300 people in attendance. Getting ready for the play we had several fund raisers which are great for building community.

Another big event that Becky was in the forefront of planning was the Annual Women's Congress. This year we had 160 participants, and we had it at a big conference center right on the beach. Fun!

In the midst of all the busyness of the big events we had a BIG SCARE when Yara had a terrible motorcycle accident on March 5. She was thrown from her bike and suffered an accident that only 80% of victims survive. She has successfully made it through two high risk pelvic surgeries and is held together by external metal rods. She also broke both wrists (another surgery) and four ribs and has a terrible wound on her right thigh which is healing up nicely now. Yara has been flat on her back needing constant care for these past seven weeks. About ten days ago we found out that she had the beginnings of pneumonia, too. We've done lots of running and lots of praying. It's been neat to see people come together to help in so many different ways. She still needs our prayers so we ask you to join us in remembering her before the throne of grace. Wednesday I will be taking her in for more x-rays and a visit with the surgeons to see how she is progressing.

We had some great family times during this year as well. You may remember that we were all together for Andrew and Alexi's wedding. We see the girls at least once a week and enjoy having the grandkids here whenever it works out. They love coming to the farm and riding horse.

Although we haven't had much time to prepare yet, we are planning to come to the U.S. on furlough this summer, arriving the beginning of June and returning to Brazil October 3. As soon as our schedule is in place I'll send it out. We hope to see as many of you as possible. Once again we thank you so much for standing with us in prayer and financial support. Together we are making a difference in the world as we allow God to use us for His glory.