Dear Praying and Supporting Friends,
We would like to apologize for the lateness of this letter. We had our prayer letter all written and then we lost access to our e-mail. Long story short, our new e-mail address is [email protected]. If you have written us and we have not responded we apologize. If you could change our e-mail we would really appreciate it.
Ministry News
In January Bryan became the president of our Brazilian mission board, MBIB. This board was formed around 35 years ago expressly to send nationals to the mission field. We are now representing 13 missionaries that serve in Brazil or on foreign fields. We are very excited to have this opportunity to minister to our Brazilian nationals. We ask you to be in serious prayer for our missionaries at this time. We have many Brazilian missionaries who have already been told that their support will not be deposited this next month due to the virus restrictions. This will be a very hard time for our Brazilian missionaries. We have a national missionary in Portugal right now, as well as in Venezuela. Pastor Aginaldo in Venezuela is particularly vulnerable because he feeds many people in his city. Without his support, not only will his own family suffer, but many of the people in his church and city will suffer as well. He is no longer able to travel to Brazil to get the food supplies he needs so be in special prayer for them.
In March, one week before lockdown, we were blessed to host our annual ladies meeting. Our attendance was not as high as in years past, but we still had six churches represented. God really moved in the lives of the ladies who attended. We praise the Lord for his perfect timing as well. Had we waited one more week we would have had to cancel.
Church has become interesting in this trying time. We were given notice that there would be a R$10,000 fine for any church that held services during Covid lockdown. We have been doing what we can via the internet, as we know many of you have. Praise the Lord no one in our church has been infected. We have no idea, like most of the world, when this ban will be lifted.
In April, we celebrated 15 years of service on the mission field of Brazil. We thank God for his help, and strength to keep us here and serving. God is good.
Family News
We did mention in our last prayer letter that our sons are getting married this year. As the borders began to close we started to pray and got some advice. At the last minute we really felt impressed of God to try and move our flight up. It was a very surreal experience to pack up and fly out in a matter of 48 hours. Three airlines combined their passenger list to even make our flight possible. As we entered the airport the borders of Brazil closed outside of the airport, still the only border open. We were the last flight out to O hare for the foreseeable future. Praise the Lord we were able to make it to America before all flights were grounded and borders closed.
The weddings are still scheduled, but the first wedding will be a very small private wedding, due to group regulations, with a Facebook Live feed for all the people who are not allowed in the wedding. While we are all disappointed at the turn of events we are proud of how Lee and Elizabeth are handling all their disappointments, and focusing on the marriage. They won’t get to have a normal wedding but they will still get to be together under God. We will see what the summer brings to know what will happen to our second wedding this summer.
Special Prayer Requests
We are praying that God will keep each and everyone of you safe through this interesting time in history.
1. Pray for our nationals, who will soon be in serious trouble if they cannot get back to work.
2. Pray for our national missionaries as they are already living on less than $300 US, which is far too little, and now face no support coming in at all.
In His Service,
Bryan and Rebekah Johnson
São Caetano do Sul, Brazil
