Season of Encouragement!

This past weekend we did a seminar about an hour from here, and we came away from it so encouraged! One reason is that even though we had never been to this church before, we had ministered to quite a few of the people over the past 2 years or so at some of this denomination's national conventions, and so we were SOOO encouraged to hear some testimonies of how the Lord has used our ministry in their lives! We don't always have the privilege of seeing fruit, so this was really encouraging. Like this lady, who was literally trembling with emotion when she came to give me a TIGHT hug! She said that the baby she was holding would not exist if it weren't for a conversation we had nearly two years ago at a convention we spoke at! 

Another reason is that, as our ministry via facebook has grown, we are becoming more known by people that have never been to any of our seminars. Because of that, some people came this weekend that were not from the church, and that was pretty cool too!

One young lady and her brother rode a little motorcycle five hours to get there for the afternoon session! Another family drove five hours from the other direction, and there were others from an hour or two away that attended as well. It was a real privilege to meet some of these people and hear their stories. Many have made drastic changes in their families and in their lifestyles as a result of our online ministry.

The church had a little park outside, and before we left that night I was there watching the kids play. This little cute 6 year old girl came up to me and said, "Tia (Auntie), I want to tell you something." So I told her to go ahead. Then she said, "I just love to watch your videos!" What a little sweetheart! Later I saw her mom, and told her mom what the girl had said. She said that yes, she gets excited when a new video comes out and always wants to watch it with her mom! They also are not from that church, but came because of the videos!

Besides just being “cool”, this was encouraging because we see how the ministry we have pioneered here can continue to be impactful via internet, even when we are no longer here! We are getting close to having the online course ready, and people keep asking for it. We also see that the timing is right. When we came here six years ago, few people were online and we didn't know anyone with a smartphone, but how things have changed in such a short time! Now even people we know that live very basic lifestyles and don't even have furniture in their houses are sure to have wifi and a smartphone for every family member! We can say a lot about the wiles of this reality, but one good aspect is that we will be able to continue reaching Brazilian families in their very own homes, even while we are on the other side of the world!

Hallelujah and may ALL the glory be HIS!

PRAYER REQUESTS

> Please continue to pray for the course material to become ready soon!

> Please continue to pray for us to best use our time during our last year here.

> Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for Japan, and that God would open up the way before us.