January 7, 2004

Dear Fellow-saints,

This will be the last letter before my trip to Brazil to start up this two-year term.  I leave out the last Saturday of this month and arrive in Cuiaba on Sunday morning after Sunday School.  I've had to schedule this trip on the weekend in order for my family to be able to take me to the airport in St. Louis.  I'm praying that the Brazilian government will back off on their retaliation of fingerprinting and photographing all Americans who enter into the country.  If they don't I will probably miss my flight out of Sao Paulo to Cuiaba and be stuck for a day there.

This past month we visited the Faith Baptist Church in Versaille, KY, the South Irvine Baptist Church, South Irvine, KY and the Addyston Baptist Church in Addyston, Ohio, where we had the special treat to be with former missionaries Ed and Connie Kittle who were a great help to us many years ago in Brazil.  Since the 15th of December we have been staying closer to home visiting relatives, family, friends, and churches closer.  I am starting to think about packing my suitcase.  Ursula has already packed one full for me to take to the preacher's wives and children (used clothing).  I have the ticket bought and all documents in order.

News from Brazil continues to be mostly good.  You know as well as I do that not all is always good.  We continue to pray for Pastor Joao Candido who has terminal cancer in the liver.  He is very ill and won't last too long.  We are thankful we have a young preacher, Rubson Rodrigues, who is filling in right now in that church.  Another one of our young families have gone back to Sao Paulo for two weeks to see family after having been separated for four years.  One of our preachers has passed the college entrance exam and will start this month to school so he can be a teacher to help him stay on the field in that new work at Jd. Fortaleza.

Brothers, last month I made an appeal for the general fund.  I continue to do that.  Also, I ask that you pray about helping out in As Needed Fund project.  We have three families who are on new fields where there is not employment to sustain them.  We have to help them monthly.  Also, we are trying to help them go to school to be teachers in the public schools in their community.  Some of you are already helping in this.  We pray that this offering will be sustained so that we can continue to do this project.  We thank so much you that are helping in this.  Ursula and I are planning on two more two year terms in Central Brazil.  During this time we have for a goal seeing the new missions organized into churches and to see the works totally independent of any financial help from outside sources.  We want the work to go forward after we are gone.

Pray for me as I return.  Ursula will stay behind while I spend two months there to get things up and going.  Her doctor hasn't released her yet to go.  I will come back in April to get her.  God bless you all.

In Him,

Harold & Ursula Draper