February 2, 2005

Friends,

This has been an AWESOME month here is Caraguatatuba, Brazil! God has blessed in many ways and we have been able to be a part of these blessings. Our power has been installed on the lot and now we will be able to put the concrete mixer to work. We have been mixing the mortar and concrete on the ground and for those of you who have never done this, it is a new experience. You get done in one day what would take one hour because of the manner in which you have to work. But God is faithful and to those who wait faithfully He gives much. 

We were looking forward to having the group from The Cornerstone Baptist Church in Winchester, Ky. come to work with us, and we planned two work projects. The projects were to lay blocks to make the fence around the school property ( this was for the men) and make covers for the bus seats (this for the women). But we are entering into the rainy season and guess what, it rained every day that the group was here! But do you think that stopped us? No, we just changed the projects:  the men took the bus project and the women moved on to another. I don't mean that the men sewed covers for the bus seats but we tore out all the seats and also the floor (what there was left of it) of the bus and replaced all of it. The group purchased fiberglass seats for the bus and we put in a new floor to hold the seats. The ladies went on to paint a mission point and paint murals on the walls and Bible verses around the walls. So you see, there is no lack of projects for you to do when you come down. So if you have an interest in working on a mission project or visiting a mission field here in Brazil, Barbara and I would love to have you visit us here in Caraguatatuba.

Remember the man, Daniel, that I spoke about last month?  Well, he has been fired form his job so we are contracting him to help lay the wall on the property now and it is going slow because of the rain. Another reason the wall is progressing so slow is that we have to make our scaffolding. The reason being if you want to rent, it costs an arm and a leg, and we need both of them to do the work here (Ha!). So as a great friend of mine says, improvise, adapt and overcome. Here that is a saying that we put into practice everyday. We don't have all the necessities that we have back in the States, so we improvise, adapt and overcome. We hope to complete this in February and start making the monster gate (three meters tall and six plus meters long) for the front of the property. This gate will be on rollers for the ease of opening and closing it. This project will require much welding, so if you are experienced in this area we welcome your help; come on down. After the wall is built, we will begin on the buildings for the school and the carpentry shop.

Our seminary will start in February and I will be teaching this semester. The classes I will be teaching are Discipleship and Evangelism. I am really excited about the classes and we have 18 to 20 students, most of them from our Church. What a way to be a part of planting missions here in Brazil. Speaking of missions, we are negotiating to buy property for the third mission here and are looking about starting another on down the road about 45 minutes. Continue to pray that God will be the center of all that we do here in Caraguatatuba.

We are still looking for a bus that will help in our Sunday School program. Actually our attendance is down some since it is vacation time and also because of the rain. You see, they have a more valid reason not to come to Church when it rains than we there in the States do. They have to walk, if not all the way to Church, then at least to the bus stop and stand in the rain waiting for the bus. During this vacation season, lots of our members have to work because this is a tourist city and you make your money during the tourist season. So they work long and hard hours during this time. After this season we will be back to normal in the Church and I know that we will be looking for more room for the children in Sunday School. All this said to show the need for the extra bus, because of the travel time and the need for two routes per Church service. 

I have mentioned several projects that will need your help to be completed. We need your prayer that we can continue with God's work here and also your financial help. It is very hard for me to ask for financial help because my father always taught us boys that you have to work for what you want in life. So when it comes time here to do a project I struggle because here I cannot work and if I could I would be taking time from the work God has sent me here to do, spread the Gospel. Then how can I accomplish the tasks at hand? By telling you and others about the needs and letting God work in the hearts of all. So here are the immediate needs here in our work: If we could get $4,000.00 for the down payment for the bus the Church could then pay the monthly payments. For the school: foundations and walls, $6,880; roof and trusses, $4,800.00; floor, $750.00 (1,600 sq. ft. for $12,430.00). For us here on the field this is an insurmountable amount but then we remember that our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills and for Him nothing is impossible !!!! So we wait patiently to see what He will do and through whom He will do it.

As we start this new year here on the field we want to say how much we miss all of you and love you in Christ. But even though we miss you we would not want to be any where else because this is where God has put us and we are happy in His service. How AWESOME is the God we serve?!? As it says in Jeremiah 29:11,12,13 He thinks about us and has everything planned for us and when we pray He harkens, and when we seek Him with our hearts we will find Him.

In His service ( because of you),

Aj and Barbara

Property purchased for vocational school.