February 8, 2008

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

We greet you once again from Brazil. We made a trip two weeks ago to Diamantino. As we stated in our last letter, our worker there was sick and needed surgery. He was on the waiting list with the Socialized Medicine system but two days after we wrote you about it he had to have emergency surgery, which we are having to help him pay. He was near kidney failure and couldn't wait. We now owe about $1,500. Some of this we have paid out of the "As Needed" Funds and are asking the doctor to let us pay the rest in payments. He is recovering well and is almost back to normal. We are thankful for this. The work there is going very well. I preached there on a Sunday night to a full house. A large corporation is building a packing house complex there that is supposed to hire over 3000 employees. It will give a much needed boost to the economy there.

I preached for two weeks at the Boa Esperanca church this past month while the pastor and family went to visit their families in a distant State. That church is such a blessing. They are on fire for the Lord. We also preached on a Saturday night at the Jardim Fortaleza work. They are doing well. We are praying that the Lord will give Pastor Wagner and his wife Eurides permanent employment. They have worked hard to prepare themselves to be teachers and are now awaiting jobs to open up in the school system here. Pray for them. Your As Needed Funds have helped them a great deal and they still need some help until these jobs open up. Our worker at the Primavera work was accused falsely of stealing a bicycle. He has proved his innocence but is very discouraged right now. His name is Osmar. Pray for him. As you can see Satan is always attacking the servants of God. You can note in many of the Psalms that David appealed to the Lord to protect him from his enemies. Our adversary certainly is the same that he related to.

We just finished participating in a retreat on a cattle ranch owned by a man who we baptized many years ago. He has gone astray but respects us and let us use his property for our retreat. He even gave us a large steer to butcher . We had a great time and heard some inspiring messages from God's word. This Sunday night I am scheduled to preach at the Faith Baptist Church in Varzea Grande. They had broken felloowship with us but have changed pastors and express a desire to come back into our fellowship.

Ursula is not doing too well. I believe it is the middle-ear problem again. She is on medication and hopefully in a few days she will be better. Right now she is in the bed a lot. The medicine makes her sleepy and groggy.

We thank all of you for your faithful support. May the Lord bless each of you . Let us all pray for America. She is in a mess. God is on the throne and can sustain her. His will be done.

Yours in Him,

Harold & Ursula Draper