Update

Hi from sunny Rio!
God has been doing some amazing things down here, and I am excited to share a couple with you.
During the week of August 18-25 (A’s parents brought a team), the owner of the building (who is a Christian) that the church rents came in to see how the clinic works and was quite impressed with the setup and the care that was being given. As most of you know, a patient can come in, be treated, and get medicine or glasses all within a couple of hours, while still being treated as an individual, by someone who listens to them as a person and not as just one more unit in the mass of people coming through the clinic (which is often the case in public health care here). The church’s lease on the building was to end the Monday after the clinic, and the owner of the building sat down with the church leadership and is going to let them use the building for the next five years RENT FREE. That is a huge blessing to this (or any) church, because it frees up rent money to do other things, to tell more people about Jesus, and even to save it to buy the building eventually.
It’s exciting to see the plans that God has actually unfolding; He is so gracious to let us see a little of the blessings that He has for us!
The clinic we just had was in a new area, and the church is taking a mission trip next month to a neighboring state. They have 136 members and 50 of them are going! Praise God for calling out His own, and for their obedience to go preach the gospel.
This week we have a WMU team (funny; it’s 6 women and 8 men). Part of the group is going to build a playground at CIEM, which is the mission school, for kids of visiting missionaries. The other part is going to help one of the pastors at one of our recent churches, doing evangelism and follow-up. After that, the teams are as follows (until the end of the year):
Sept. 22-29 – medical clinic, Mangueira (one of the discipleship groups from this church has been praying one hour a day for the clinic!)
Sept. 29-Oct. 6 – medical clinic, Vila Kennedy
Oct. 6-13 – a week of rest (and a nice 3-day horseback ride in a neighboring state)
Oct. 13-20 – medical clinic, Parque das Missões
Oct. 20-26 – medical clinic, Pão e Palavra
After that, S and R will head to the US for her surgery, the TN Baptist Convention, and a little rest and time with family. I will be here probably until the middle of December (I don’t have the date nailed down yet) and spend a month in the US with my family for Christmas. I will return in January to finish out my term (which I have extended until the end of 2008) and get ready for next year.
Prayer requests:
* Continue to pray for the people of Brazil, that they would continue to be receptive to Truth and the good news of Jesus.
* Continue to pray for S and her upcoming surgery.
* Continue to pray for my visa, that God would move the hearts and hands of those in authority, and that it would be granted before December. Pray for me in the process, that I would rest in Him and not be anxious about it (I am still nervous about anything having to do with my visa).
* Pray for our teams coming in, that God would prepare their hearts to share the words that He would have them share.
Thanks as always for your prayers!
For He alone is worthy.