It was easy to teach a class on how to start telling the stories of the Bible. Now the ministry has moved on into deeper relationships and the development of leadership. The task at hand is to work with the leaders God has placed in our hands and get them to start telling the stories of God.  We are set for this Friday to head out into the home of some contacts we have been praying for. Please pray that our fledgling leaders will have the courage to tell the stories they have to be practicing and that it will be a good experience for them. Most of all pray that the Holy Spirit opens the door that we can book a follow-up visit. Keep us in your prayers.

The boat is down because one of the fuel injector modules has broken on the outboard motor. It is a long story but this is something that is not a surprise. We have had a part on order for over a month, but there are no parts in the country, and it is a big country. The kids club depends upon this boat moving teams around. My prayer request is that you lift my team unto the Lord so that they seek His solution to this problem.  There is a strong desire to keep the kids club going even through these difficulties. Pray, we can see the Lord’s hand move in this situation.

The picture is of our new Kids Club team for 2018. My leader for this kids club is Jeremias who is also the boat pilot moving all the teams around on the weekends. A few weeks ago he was discussing with the problem with me of getting the new volunteers to learn the Bible Stories from the heart. In the past I would have taken things into my own hands and step in and train these young folks, but not this time. My goal is to build leaders, so I need to figure out how to work with Jeremias so he can train the new volunteers. Pray for me as I try and develop new methods to work with my leadership.

Our kid’s club is back up and running full speed. As in the States, things slow down over the summer months. Vacation is over, and the kids are coming back to our Saturday morning kids program. This is exciting as the people Wayne has trained over the past few years are moving full steam ahead without him. We still provide funding for transportation of teams that operate the kids club. Wayne still has a hand in some aspects of the ministry but this is small. Pray for our the kids club on Saturday mornings.

In the small group that meets Wednesday night, we love to tell the stories of the Bible. It is a fun time, and it the involves the entire group. There is no sermon, but the Bible Story we tell is the focus of the church service.  There is singing and praying, but we talk about the story and have a game the revolves around one aspect of the story.

The game this week was a charade, where we used terms from the story. A box was passed around with slips of paper. Each person acted out the word that came from the story. It was a good time with the story being reinforced. Pray for our Wednesday night group.

This is a picture of the men that make up the leadership of our church plant. This group of men meets Monday night for Bible Study on the topic of church leadership. We have also dedicated as a group to use Friday night as our outreach night. The men will break up into teams and make visits to houses telling the Stories of Jesus.

Last night we started developing a names list of people to begin praying about. I need you to pray for these men as they step into a new ministry role, reaching the lost for Christ. Pray that the Holy Spirit will prompt them as to who to put on their list to pray about.

For me, it is quite sad that Ellen did not return to Brazil as expected. Ellen was attending a conference in Dayton, Ohio where she was a keynote speaker in a workshop presentation. Everything went very well. She had over twenty people attend her workshop. Along with the workshop, she is working on a Bible Storytelling Certification Program. She has been working on this for the past year.

It was near the end of her time there when she slipped on a freshly cleaned floor at the hotel where the conference was held. It was a hard and painful fall. The emergency room visit at the hospital evaluated her situation and decided that there were no broken bones. They also recommended that she see her physician if the pain continued.  Tuesday she consulted with a doctor whom she knows.  The news was not good. She does have a bruised bone along with a few joints that are no longer aligned. This means some meds to reduce the inflammation and physical therapy to re-align her body. Pray as we walk this new challenge.

The summer break is over for the kids here. July is vacation month, and August traditional brings the start of the new school year.  Our first kid’s club was small but full of spirit. We have only one new kid; the rest are the same kids that have been with us sometime.
The leadership has changed since Wayne has been in the states. Three teams work together. Jeremias and Gena are from the Monkey Island church, and Pastor Luiz is from the city working with a Baptist church. Pray for these teams and the leadership of this ministry outreach.