March 4, 2004

Dear Supporters,

Time goes by so fast.  Time is precious.  Life will soon be past and only what is done for God will last.  We spend so much time worrying about material things.  The things of this world consume our lives.  These things will all be left behind.  The people that we lead to Christ and our service to God are what last for eternity.  Things are doing great here.  We see God working through all the difficult times and the good times.

The Garca church is doing well.  Many new people are coming to church.  God has opened the door of two farms where many people live so we can bring them to church.  The farms are about ten miles away.  There are several families that come.  Brazil has a large percentage of youth.  Therefore, our churches have a large number of youth above fifteen.  We pray that with so many young people that we can build strong churches.  The younger we learn the better.  It is hard to teach older people to change their ways.  I guess that is why the Bible says we need to have a child-like mind.  The mission point is doing well, too.  Some are going through some changes.

ALVINLANDIA:  This church had an old wooden building and they have started a new concrete building.  Also, there will be a new team going to that mission.  There will be two couples.  Herminio and Cleuza and their son-in-law Cezar and Patricia.  At the moment they are having services in a school building.

ALVARO DE CARVALHO:  Has a new preacher.  Eliezer is one of our seminary students.  He also lives and works here at the Alpha and Omega home.  Pray for him as he takes care of this mission.

LUPERCIO AND SANTA TEREZA:  Silvio and his wife Eliete are taking care of these two places.  They have three daughters.  We are really happy with this work because Silvio moved to the city of Lupercio.  That really makes the difference.  He has a man who is a faithful worker in the church.  This man came to know Christ through the Alpha and Omega home.  He is part of the city council of his town.  He came here to bring two kids to the home.  He was impressed with what went on here.  He was told that God made the difference.  Well, to make a long story short, he got saved and is a right-hand-man to the pastor.  Santa Tereza is a city real close and Silvio also works at that mission point.

JULIO MISQUITO:  John Paiva takes this mission point.  They have done lots of work on the building on their own.  This mission will soon be organized.  John is getting married soon and then plans to move there, then the mission will be organized.

The Central Baptist Church in Garca is helping support a missionary that works in the state of Minas Gerais.  He is out of a sister church in Sao Paulo.

The home is doing well.  Lots of new kids and lots of new problems.  But, as time goes by, we start seeing changes happening in the lives of the children.  Praise God for His infinite mercy.  Many times we take that for granted!

We have three kids that have been with us for about five years.  Some of you that have been here will probably remember who they are.  Erica 13 years old, Emerson 11 years old, and Evelyn 9 years old.  Erica has always wanted to know who her father is.  None of the birth certificates have a father's name.  A few days ago Erica's mother came to see them.  She told her mother she wanted to know who her father was and she had the right to know.  The mother started crying.  She said she didn't want to say, but Erica insisted.  The mother sadly told her that her grandfather was her own father.  Erica's eyes became eyes of disappointment.  The mother is always being put into mental hospitals.  I guess that answers why.  What is against God's principles just doesn't have good results.  Emerson has some retardation, which makes us believe that he also may be the grandfather's.  Pray for Erica and her mother and sister.

We thank all of you that pray for us daily and give to this ministry.  We are praying that God will increase our monthly support.  To keep things going it takes quite a bit of money.  Pray and see what God would have you to do.  May God richly bless each of you.

Love,

Odali, Kathy, Tito, Jonas and Gabriel Barros