Dear Prayer Partners,
“…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31.
As we begin a new year, our prayer for you is that the Lord will renew your strength as you seek to serve Him, run His race and walk in a way that honors Him!
We thank the Lord for the wonderful visit with our family during our vacation. We gathered in Dallas with family and friends to honor my parents and thank the Lord for the blessing they have been in our lives. It was a very special time! From there, we flew to Milan to spend the remaining weeks with Jason, Allyson and Jake. Jana and Joel were there too. What a special blessing to meet their friends and neighbors we have been praying for and to enjoy great times with our family! We saw almost more sights than we could fully take in! We are still trying to sort through the hundreds of pictures we took, but we hope to post some pictures from our vacation on our website within the next two weeks. Please check the Family Photo Album soon! I think you will agree that those two little grandsons are pretty fine!
We left Italy with a renewed commitment to pray for Italy. It is a country that has such a rich “religious” heritage, yet one that seems to be spiritually hardened. If you would like to join in prayer for Italy, please check Jason’s website www.thegreenwichfamily.com and see how you can pray more specifically.
PRAISES:
- Bairro Ipiranga – We are thrilled that Ana Paula has chosen to follow the Lord in baptism. She accepted Christ when the youth choir from New Orleans was here last June. She will be baptized this Sunday, January 29th.
- Brejaru – Praise the Lord for the great attendance both at the Saturday afternoon worship services and the Thursday morning Bible study. We are beginning to see a ‘faithful few” developing. Those are faithfully bringing their friends and neighbors. We are also thankful that the community center now has a floor. We hope to be able to begin using the two rooms by March, even though they won’t be completely finished.
- São Sebastiao – We are so thankful that, even though our landlord has decided to sell the house we have been renting, the Lord has provided another excellent room for us to rent. Everyone is working together to get the new place ready for our move – painting, dividing the space, and planning a big evangelistic impact for the community to let them know we have not closed down – but we are simply moving to a new location.
REQUESTS:
- Brejaru – Please pray for the women who have been faithfully attending weekly Bible study and worship services and who have not yet followed the Lord in baptism. They say that they just want to be sure they are really ready to follow the Lord wholeheartedly before they are baptized. There are so many needs in this neighborhood. The houses where we meet are literally falling apart. There are holes in the sagging floors, the roofs are barely hanging, and the land is extremely low, causing frequent flooding and all kinds of health hazards. There is also a constant water shortage in spite of the flooding! Our hearts break for them and we feel so small and helpless. It is hard to even know how to ask you to pray for them. But just cry out to the Lord to look upon these, His children, with mercy and give them joy in the midst of their circumstances. He knows who they are, where they live, and what they need!
- São Sebastião – On February 11th we will be having a big community event at the new building to make our presence known in the new location. Please pray that, with this move, we will be able to reach many new people for Christ and that the church will continue to grow both in number and spiritually. Pray also for development of local leadership.
- Estiva – Pray for the boys who are returning to the Center after a month at home. They are returning to a lot of changes in staff. Please pray that the necessary adjustments will be made and that the boys will continue making progress toward complete recovery. Pray also as we seek the Lord’s direction for the work in the community of Estiva.
- Bairro Ipiranga – Please pray for a smooth transition in leadership. Pray for Ana Paula who will be baptized January 29th. She is 15 years old, is the only Christian in her family and asks people to pray that she will be used by God to lead her family to the Lord.
We count it a privilege to have you join us in prayer for these needs that are so dear to our hearts!
We appreciate the Christmas cards we received from many of you! The fact that we received several that were sent to our old post office address reminded us to ask that you change our address in your address book. We no longer have the post office box 12561. Actually we have not had the post office box for a year, but my friends at the post office have been nice enough to send me a notice to pick up mail sent to that address! We are now receiving all our mail at our street address which is listed at the bottom of our newsletters. Please just take a moment to change your records and keep those cards and letters coming!
Love,
Ron and Alana
