November 2004

Friends,

Well, what do you want first, the Good news or the Better news? We are accustomed to hearing the phrase 'the good or the bad news' so I thought that I would change your thinking, because in God's work we only have the Good or the Better news.

Our Good news is this: Our Church is continually increasing with slow steady growth. Our last 2 Sundays have been fantastic, we had 186 in Sunday School and 134 on Sunday night. This past Sunday we had 193 in Sunday School and 143 Sunday night. It is just a blessing to talk about increase because it simply means we are growing. This Sunday night we had two people accept Christ and Sunday morning we baptized six people. This is indeed good news. But as in all cases growth is painful. For instance in our Sunday School we are ready to split three classes again because they have more than 30 students. This is AWESOME!!! But the down side of this is where to put the new classes. We have a meeting hall where our Seminary is meeting and where we have our eating meetings, and we are looking at temporary walls in this area. The only problem we are having with this idea is the financing for the material to build the temporary walls. Our Church is made up of the common people and their salary is small and they are giving to the limit. So where and how will God supply this need? I don't know but I do know that He will supply. So we will step out on faith and begin and wait for the Lord to supply the needed financing. You can be a part of this Faith Walking by constantly taking us and our work to the Lord in prayer and by being open to what he tells you to do.

So what is the better news you ask? Well the better news is this, The property that we bought for the Vocational School is almost paid for. Last month we lacked $10,000.00 and Gardenside Baptist Church in Lexington Ky sent us $2,000.00 to put on that purchase cost. So now we only owe $8,000.00. We have begun work on the property, the first thing you do here in Brazil is build your wall around your property to protect your material. So we have the wall around the property half built. What I mean is that it is around the whole property but it is only half as tall is it need to be.When we bought the property there were blocks on the property and we have used them to get the wall started. Now we are going to make the blocks for the rest of the construction.

The first problem with this is that there needs to be 3-phase electricity on the property to work the machine. As a matter of fact all the machines we will be using on the property (i.e., the carpentry shop, body shop), will need this 3 phase energy. So we are working to get this installed. We contacted the electricity company and were told that we needed an electric engineer to be able to set the pole, so we contacted one and paid around 150 dollars for him to sign his name. Now we are in contact with the people that sell the poles and that will be about 450 dollars. The problem with that is that his truck has blown a motor and it will be about another week before he can get back to work. Oh well, I will just be able to devote more time to the visitation and the work at the Church. And through all this we are learning patience.

We are waiting for the first of the month to be able to see what we will be able to accomplish this month as we work from month to month with the offerings that we receive . So then are you asking yourself how will I be able to help in this work? Financially, probably, or maybe you could come down and help make the blocks that will complete the fence and start the construction on the buildings.As always we encourage everyone to see what is going on on the mission field COME ON DOWN.

Just to let you all know just how much we appreciate you and your constant prayers and your financial support we want to say THANK YOU one more time. Because you care about lost souls and what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did on the cross you are sending people like Barbara and I to spread the word around the world, we are able to minister because of "U". Thanks!!!!

In His service,

Aj and Barbara

A.J. and Pastor Epetacio presenting the gospel in a public school.