April 2, 2005

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

It is after midnight and I can't sleep due to eating too much good food at a Brazilian family's table tonight.  This is my last night here in Cuiaba for 60 days if all goes as planned.  I am to catch a plane at 5 pm to start the journey to Bardwell, Kentucky.  There I will meet Ursula and prepare for our trip to Germany.  We are scheduled to leave St. Louis on April 11th and arrive on the 12th in Amsterdam, Holland, where her brother, Heinz, will meet us.  We are excited.  It will be the first time in 44 years she has seen her people and the first time ever for me.  Pray for us as we make this trip.  We thank all of you who have prayed and given to make it possible.

This past two months have perhaps been the busiest I've ever spent in Brazil.  So many unexpected things have happened.  Some good and some not so good.  A storm almost destroyed the worker's house in Novo Diamantino.  We got it all fixed up again.  We finished the Sunday School rooms there also.  The work there is going very well.  At the Primavera work the worker was asked to resign last week due to lack of interest.  A new worker is already on the job and we are expecting great things there in the future.  The Boa Esperanca church has called a pastor and he has indicated that he will come.  Our new worker arrived and is doing well at the Altos do Coxipo church.  Sister Teresa, who has cancer in her jaw bone, continues to recover, and the Chacara dos Pinheiros church is reaching many people with the word.  Our mission at Jardim Fortaleza is getting stronger all the time.  The worker is having difficulty finding employment and is selling fried snacks in front of his house to supplement the family income until the Lord opens the door to a meaningful employment.  The Igreja Baptist da Fe in Varzea Grande is doing well under the direction of their able pastor Jairo.  Both of their missions are doing well.

I ask that you folks pray with us about the mission at the 7th of May community in Varzea Grande.  The work is going well and the building is completed.  A lot of vandalism is taking place there.  We need desperately to build a worker's house there.  Our dear friends in West Virginia gave to make possible the church building.  We ask that some of you give that we may move our worker, Brother Ernesto, onto the field there.  With the weak dollar, I estimate that it could take as much as $7,000 to build a decent two bedroom dwelling there.  We are praying that the Lord will lay it on someone's heart to help us.  I feel sometimes that I'm getting old and slow but the work here just keeps growing all the time.  I realize it is the Lord working in spite of our weaknesses.  Praise His name! 

Next month at this time I expect to be in Germany somewhere with Ursula's relatives.  I don't know if I will be able to write a Mission Sheet letter.  To my memory, I've only missed writing one in 28 years.  When we return from that trip we will tell you all about it in the next letter.  God bless all of you.

Yours in Him,

Harold and Ursula Draper

Ursula Draper with young married couples at the Jardim Fortaleza work.