| Dear Praying and Supporting Friends, We usually begin with the ministry news but so much has been happening in our family we thought we would address that first. The New year has brought us many changes. We had some of my family here for the holidays and on January first we also had a group of friends over for some games and fun. While they were here with us Rebekah began to bleed. After they left it became worse. She ended up hemorrhaging. This led to an extremely long month with doctor visits and a lot of bed rest. The last week of January she began to bleed again. We have now had over 20 tests done with her blood along with 4 different ultra sounds. She has also had all the feminine tests done as well. We are still waiting to see the doctor for the final decision on what is happening. We do know that all her hormones are out of balance, including her thyroid. Thank you to each and every one of you who has lifted Rebekah’s name up in prayer. Your prayers have truly made a difference. This has presented many challenges . Rebekah was only able to attend two services the entire month of January. This is a problem because she is the pianist, nursery\junior church worker, and Sunday school teacher. Because of her illness our people realized it was time to step up to the challenge. We now have Noemia who is training to teach the children’s Sunday School. They also have been incredibly kind in bringing us lunch and dinner so Rebekah will not have to cook. They are also coming and helping her clean on occasion. Our church has been such a blessing. Ministry News December was a good month. We were able to have our first Christmas concert. It was very simple but gave our people the opportunity to participate. It was the birth of our church choir. This has become a real blessing for our people. We also had a Christmas Banquet in our home which was a nice time of fellowship. Due to the gifts of many people in the states we were able to lay tile down in the auditorium. The church looks so much better now. Thank you to all who gave for this project. January was our missions emphasis month. With my wife out of commission we did not get to do all we wanted but had a wonderful month nevertheless. We had Missionary Isaias and his wife Raquel with us once again. We have supported them since the first service of our church. They are on their way to the Amazon. We were also able to take on Missionary Aginaldo with Rocha Eterna (Rock of Ages prison ministry). He has been a faithful missionary for a number of years. Feburary has brought some interesting changes. Parque Bristol is a neighborhood about 20-25 minutes from our church. The First Baptist church of Parque Bristol was started by a missionary over 30 years ago. Due to age and health he had to return to the states. For the last two years they have been without a pastor. I was asked to candidate at the church to become their pastor while continuing to Pastor the Igreja Batista Visao Mundial. We are on a trial run right now to see if the people there want Old time religion and us as well as to see if we can work the schedule of two churches. If we all agree I will continue pastoring both churches from here on out. We did not seek the position and with the advice we were given we feel we are doing exactly what God wants us to do. Please pray for God to guide us every step of the way. In His Service Bryan & Rebekah |
