Ministry News - June 2015

We returned last Wednesday from our last ministry trip to São Paulo, where Seminar 2 went very well with about 200 in attendance. We were happy to be back at that church after over 2 years, and hear from some who participated in Seminar 1 back then. If you did not see it on facebook, we would ask that you please read this blog post, as we hope it will encourage you to pray for us! We always face spiritual battles when we go out to minister, and your prayer covering is SO important!


Seminar 2:

Some other recent ministry opportunities: 

•  Fabio and the boys went on another father/son camping trip. Fabio has helped to plan several of these to encourage interaction and relationship between fathers and sons, where we see so much trouble. Many have been impacted by these trips, and at this last one, they began an “adoption” program for the boys that do not have fathers to take them, for other men from the church to father them for the weekend. Here is the video of their weekend. (Only the first 10 seconds are in Portuguese, then the rest is language-neutral.)
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•  Fabio ministered to the youth at our church one weekend, and Elizabeth to the young adults.
• Fabio ministered at another local church for their men's retreat one weekend, and Elizabeth at their women's retreat the following weekend. Each weekend there were 150+ people in attendance and we saw the Lord opening people's eyes through the ministry of His Word.

• Elizabeth was able to speak about motherhood to a group of needy, unchurched mothers for Mother's Day. This was a meaningful time of not only speaking of motherhood, but of their need for the Gospel. Pray that these seeds will bear fruit!
• We ministered Seminar Two for the first time in a city a couple of hours from here, a couple weeks before our trip to São Paulo. The people were very receptive and we felt God's grace upon the weekend. 

PLEASE PRAY:
One project that we feel is so very important is the publication of the children's book we have put together to warn children about sexual predators. We believe the devil is doing everything he can to impede the publication, because it will be a powerful tool in freeing many children from such bondage! Please pray with us that his work would be bound and that we would be able to publish it very soon.


SPECIAL NEWS
The material that we have put together for our parenting seminars over the past few years have gone ahead of us to Haiti! A girl from our church has taken several mission trips there, and seeing the great need for family ministry, she asked if she could use our material to give Bible studies for the families there. Praise the Lord for the expansion of His work in this way!

TRIP TO USA 2016
We are still prayerfully planning a trip to the USA in 2016 for about six months. If you know of a house where we could stay (does not have to be large), or a large, affordable vehicle, please let us know. If you feel the Lord lead you to contribute to our travel expenses, please let us know. And most importantly, please be praying for these matters: travel safety and provision, a house to stay in and a vehicle to drive.




OUR CHILDREN
The kids are very excited to be wrapping up our school year now and having a bit more free time. They are doing well in karate and in their Portuguese classes. We have adopted an outside cat that is a lot of fun, and inside, we HAD three hamsters, until this week when Israel's had six babies!
They are very much looking forward to a trip to the States next year!

SUMMARY OF PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Praise with us for the open doors we have had for ministry this year!
  
• Pray as we are work hard on adapting our material to be used in small group settings. 
• Publication of children's book on sexual predators
  
• Trip to the USA 2016
  
• For our family, marriage, and children