January 3, 2003

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Happy New Year to all of you. Our prayers are that God may bless each one of you more and that our lives may be used more and more for His glory.

Things are doing great here. At the close of this year the church has been challenged to work together as a body, like God's Word says. We have challenged each member to get involved. Each part of the body must be put to work. Every member is going to have to find some way to serve inside the church. We don't want dead members. Most every one agreed. Only a few didn't like the idea. We have already started seeing the results. We have a Brother and his wife, Sillio and Eliete, from our church that will be going to live in the city of Lupercio, where have a mission point. This is great. This city is needing a full time pastor. Pray for them as they start their new life there.

Christmas was great here at the home. We had a big supper on Christmas Eve. The kids always look forward to the supper that night. Days before, they start talking about the supper. If you heard them talking you would think they were starving. I guess they can't get over the amount of food on the table at once and all the fruit on the table. All you can eat! 

God blessed us with tile to put on the Kitchen floor and walls. A factory donated to us enough to do most of the work. Well, as we got to work we realized that the measurements were wrong and we didn't have enough. We called the factory to buy enough to finish the floor in the kitchen. When we called, the lady said they were closed now but she could donate some tile for the floor, but it was black. Praise God! Who cares if it is black. We have put together a design for the floor using the light color with the black. It looks great!!! So, the Lord willing, we will have a new dining room real soon.

The kids are out of school now. We try to keep them busy and out of trouble. That can be hard when you have 2 or 3 kids, so you can imagine what it is like when you have 100. They have been to the farm, fishing and having several soccer competitions. Some will be going to camp in just a few days.

Many of you have asked about the container that was sent almost 2 years ago. Well, we have done all that we could. It is in the Lord's hands. Because the papers were not stamped by the Brasilian Consulate in the States, the Federal Government has put a fine of $104,000 thousand Reais (35 thousand dollars) on the container. If we had that much money we would just buy everything. We do not always understand. But we know and believe that all things work together for good for them that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. He certainly never fails. The end of times is certainly getting closer. Satan is working hard to get more people in his hands. We are working to bring more to hear God's Word. They must hear to be saved. We serve a risen Savior! What are we doing to announce His love to the world?

Your servants for the King,

Odali and Kathy Barros