June 28, 2002

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

This month has gone by so fast. We are in our so-called winter season here but you wouldn't know it. The dry dusty conditions have made it difficult for many. Ursula is having some serious trouble with her neck, but it appears it is not from her surgery. Her arthritis seems to be the major culprit. Michelle is very busy finishing up her first semester in her last year of High School at the Brazilian school. We are proud of the way she has caught on and made it up to ow.

Our co-worker, Pastor Joao Candido is making a recovery after being given up as a terminal case. We are so thankful. We are now gearing up to start up the construction project in Primavera do Leste. We are having a lot of trouble with vandalism and theft at our two new works here in town. We are building up the walll and are putting
4 strands of barbed wire around one of them and we have built a small dwelling behind the other one to have someone live there to watch after the property. It seems we never get finished with one thing until the next one starts up. But we like to stay busy. I am now planning to take a couple of weeks off from building before starting up again.

We will be baptizing 4 tomorrow night into the membership of the Altos do Coxipo Baptist Church. We excluded 8 last week. It is sometimes necessary to do this when people fall into blatant sin or abandon the church. We don't like to have to do this and only do it after all else fails.

We want to express our appreciation to all of you who support our work. In 3 more days we will complete 25 years as Missionaries to Brazil. The Lord has used us for which we are thankful. We are so undeserving and He is so gracious.

We will sign off until next month.

In His Grace,

The Harold Draper Family