August 1, 2006

Dear friends and family,

This month has been very busy with our mother Church. Our ladies have had an all night prayer meeting and inspired the men to do the same. Our Church is in a growth-outreach-expansion period. And the devil is also at work. Some problems are avoidable, but I think these problems may be a sign of effective Christian growth.

One of the major prayer emphases has been our intentions to open another work outside of our town. We are looking at a town about 2 1/2 hours from our town. It is a small community or about 8,500 to 9,000 people. It has no Baptist works in the area. The name of the town is Natividade da Serra. Join with us in praying for this area. One of our members has moved there with his family and are suffering because of no place to worship. They have called and practically begged us to come there to start a work. The pastor and his wife and Barb and I have gone to visit the family and to see the town.

We were impressed with the town. It is a very clean town and it is quaint and small. True, there is no Baptist Church there. While there we looked for a place to start a work. What we found was wonderful: there was a house with a large building attached to the side. This would serve as a home for the pastor of the Church and as the Church. This is good because the pastor could watch over the Church building with ease. We talked with the owner and she agreed to hold the property until the 3rd of this month for us to make a decision. Another reason this was so good was that the town is little and there are very few places to rent. The owner is asking $300 for the rent of both buildings. So Sunday we put this proposal before the Church and it was voted unanimously to undertake this new Mission. I have to tell you that this is another big leap of faith for our little Church as we have the Mission in Salesopolis. Pray that the Lord will continue to bless our Church as they step farther and farther out of their comfort zone and prove that our God is an AWESOME God.

Sunday we had a record day at Church. We had 205 in Sunday School and then we came to our house and had baptism in the pool. We baptized seven people and there were two that did not come to be baptized as it was one of the coldest days of the month. After such a great day, Sunday night we voted to send one of our Seminary students and his wife to be the pastor and wife of the newest Mission out of New Life Baptist Church here in Caraguatatuba, Brazil. God is so AWESOME. This new work will be a challenge for our Church financially. Here again, HELP. We need your prayers for the new work and the couple that will be leading there.This stepping out on faith reminds me of a message I have heard in the States: "Get out of the boat". Well we are getting out of the boat and relying on God. We know that He will give us the means to accomplish all things that we undertake in His name. Pray with and for us.

In the other area of our ministry, the Vocational School, we now are training three young men and all three are excited about their new opportunity that this will bring to their lives.

Work on the School property is slow due to the lack of finances. Here you pastors may lead your Churches into the battle for the "victory" and take the pattern of the Church at Philippi---increase your financial help here for our mission projects.

This month our pastor, myself, and six of our men at Church attended a Mission Conference. We received a lot of information that we will be using to help our Church be more mission-minded and to better understand missions, 'The Great Commission'.

As always, we encourage you to give generously to Missions. However we realize that giving begins at home. After you take care of the home missionaries, remember us here on the foreign field. Pray for us here in Caraguatatuba, Brazil as we undertake to do more and more for the Lord.

Come and see us.

In His service,

Aj and Barbara