Friends,

After the last letter and the events that had occurred I wondered if there would be anything that could compare with the news of last month. But after the baptisms, the ordinations, and the visitors from the States God has taken those things and used them to build on and we have accomplished much work on the two Mission Churches (The new one in Olaria and the other in Morro de Algodao).

First I'll tell you about the first service we had in the new Church at Olaria. Our planned date for the opening, fast approaching, found us working right up until the last minute before the service. Well you know how things go, this was no different, and two hours before service was to begin we had not put the chairs or benches in the building. You might ask, 'Why?'. Well it was because we were still cleaning and washing the floors and sweeping out the water. During the day we had planned to do some visitation in the neighborhood. However, with all the little things to complete I was unable to accomplish this. So at 4:00 with dirty clothes and several of the other workers and I left to visit in the neighborhood around the Mission building. You know how you begin thinking, when you are doing something for the Lord, about how many people you wish would come. Well I was no different that day; I would pray while doing the work and asking the Lord to "send them, Lord". I even put a number on my request: I asked God to please send at least 50-60 people. Well once again at the end of the night I had to say in shame, "Oh ye of little faith". God sent the sixty that I had asked for and He added seventy more to that number. We had one of our missionaries to bring the message and the house was packed to overflowing and they were sitting in the aisles and sticking their heads in the windows to hear the Word. God blessed the preached Word and fourteen people accepted Christ as their personal savior-----How AWESOME is the God we serve!!!!!!

Barbara was not here with me during this time as she stayed in the States with her mom after the passing of her father. So after all these wonderful things happening here in Brazil I returned to the States because we had a trip planned to the States for the month of March for health reasons for Barbara. So I had come to the States for the funeral and then returned to Brazil for the arrival of the group from the States and the ordinations and the opening of the new Mission Point then back to the States so that I could be there with Barbara for her tests. So you see that all this had to be done against a deadline and God made it all happen in the right time. Barbara's tests are all done and the results were GOOD. Thank all of you for praying for her and me during this time of testing and the time of grief for her father. We will be using the rest of the time here to visit with friends and family and to spread the news about our work to as many as we can manage to see. If we did not get to see you please send us an e-mail and we will begin to plan now for our next visit to the States and come see you.

The work on the Vocational School has been put on the back burner for a while because of two things. The first was that we were concentrating on the Mission Point and the second is the lack of funds. We are holding an offering from on of our supporting Churches to begin the foundation of the dormitory for the students. And we are planning to begin that building on our return the 25th of this month. We are anxious to get started as we have 4 students waiting to come to school but we have no place to house them. It will take $25,000.00 to build this dormitory and only you can furnish this needed money. I ask that you pray with me about this needed financing, if God lays on your heart to help with this project please mark your donation "Aj-dormitory".

We have another pressing need and that is a minibus or a van (one that carries around 15 people). This need is for the visitation program, the transporting of the students and many other projects that we are doing. Also for this need we have had $5,000.00 given by a Church there in the States but it will take $15,000.00 more to make that purchase. While I have been in the States this time I have had more liberty to tell about our needs here in Caraguatatuba. One of my friends said to me, "If we don't know about your financial needs we cannot help you with them and we lose the blessing that God has for us". So I am apologizing to you here and now for not doing better in this area and will be more forthcoming with our financial needs in the future.

Again "Thanks" for all the prayers during this time in our lives when only prayer could help. Continue to pray for the grieving process for Barbara and her family, our work here in Caraguatatuba Brazil, and our travel here in the States. When we get back to Brazil we will turn your bed down again and wait to hear from you as to when you are coming to see the AWESOME work God is doing here in Brazil.

In His service,

Aj and Barbara