September 2, 2005

Dear friends,

As I am writing this letter we have been watching glimpses of the international news and our hearts go out to the families in the hurricane areas of the U.S. What a tragedy! We would like to help in some way but time and distance prevents our active participation. But there is one way that we can participate and that is through PRAYER and we and our Church people are certainly doing just that.

Isn't it wonderful to have the privilege to talk to our Heavenly Father whenever we want to? It seems as though we forget to use this privilege until something drastic happens. What we need is MORE PRAYER.

Here in Caraguatatuba it has been a very active month with construction on the Vocational School. This upcoming month I am going to concentrate on the gate project. I have a gate that I am remodeling and as you know, the price of metal is equal to or exceeds that of wood. When the gate is completed and installed it will secure the property. This gate is 5 meters long and 3 meters tall and will move on a track and will serve as the only entrance to the property. We are also planning to install an electric fence on top of the walls around the property for more security when we get the tools and put them on the property. So as you can see the progress on the School is going but still slowly. Everything about this project depends on the offerings that we receive per month. So "THANKS" in advance for your help on this project.

Building a shed over the block making machine.

The main Church is exploding, and we have had to do some wonderful things: Our Sunday School program is growing out of its limits. This past week we had 247 in attendance. This is greatly straining our resources. What I mean is this, our auditorium will hold 250 to 300 children and adults, but our capacity for Sunday School rooms is about half of that number. So one way that we are solving this problem is this: our pastor and family lived in an apartment attached to the Church, so this week we moved him and his wife to an apartment away from the Church. We are now painting and getting the apartment ready to be used for Sunday School rooms. We have shared with you the need to split some of the existing classes and this will help in this area. One class that is in desperate need has 39 students that are ages 9 and 10 years old with only 2 teachers. But we are not complaining, we are just sharing with you our needs and explaining why and giving thanks to our Lord for this kind of problem. Our needs at this present time with this growth is for you to pray for us and if God is blessing you financially pass on some of that blessing to us for us to buy benches or chairs for these children to have a place to sit when they are being taught God's Word. We need more teachers and we need more teaching aids. Barbara is now teaching here at the main Church as well as at the mission point.

Our new mission in Salisopolis is showing signs of growth as well. We had 13 people in attendance last week in the night service. This is a great victory!! Remember that this town is very traditional and habits are hard to overcome. One thing that is helping is that we have a pastor in place there. Our Church supports them full time and they are busy at the Father's work. "Thank you" to those that are contributing to their support through our local Church.

You know, sometimes we receive blessings unexpectedly. Well, this week we received one of those blessings. Last week we started a new preaching point in a believer's home and 30 people were present. This week there were 19 present and 5 of those accepted Christ as their Savior. This is an AWESOME blessing!!!!

Here again we are in somewhat of a problem: we have more new converts that need discipleship than we are able to nurture and grow. We are going to try group discipleship because our workers are few. Here is but one more thing for you to join us in prayer about.

They say that growth hurts but I will be the last one to complain. But with these new works and the expansion in our Sunday School program we have a desperate need for those chairs or benches. Last month Barbara and I bought 50 new chairs, but this month the need more than tripled. Here in Caraguatatuba lumber is extremely expensive so building benches or buying chairs amounts to about the same price. Our Church is trying, but our resources are limited as our people are middle class or below so their salaries are meager -- but their hearts are BIG.

When I was a new convert and a missionary would visit our Church and he would tell of the work and the needs, I would think, "Oh boy, another special offering". I can say that I know that God has a sense of humor because He now has me out here and I am telling you about our needs and asking for your offerings. How AWESOME is the God we serve!! It is amazing how He uses people even though He does not need us.

It is also amazing who He chooses. Have you thought about how you could serve in a mission work? Maybe He does not want you to go, but He definitely want you to send. But if He wants you to go, are you ready and willing? Come down and visit and see what God wants in your life.

In His service,

Aj and Barbara