The good news from our island church is that they are starting to meet with masks and social distancing. They have been reaching out to people in the community. Pray for their continued efforts to reach those who do not know Christ and are with little hope during this crisis. Life has not been easy for this small band of believers. The police continue to come out to the island forcing businesses to stay closed and make sure the beaches remain empty of people. They are giving out fines for those on the boat without masks or are not residents of the island. Just to go into town on a boat is a complicated process. Life is hard during these times.
The daily news broadcast here and there are filled with only death and problems with COVID-19. Brazil’s health care system was poor before the pandemic and now has collapsed. Access to doctors, nurses, and medications is difficult at best, so people are dying, and mass graves are being utilized for burying the dead before the sun goes down the next day.
Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ as they try and bring light to this dark world of the Amazon River.
Move Move Move
When we arrived in March, we had no idea where we would end up. First, we were given shelter by friends on their basement couch. Then God opens the door from a supporter to offer us a partially furnished house to live in for a few months. This was clearly the hand of God moving us forward. That door has now closed and God opens another home for us to live. This time a fully furnished house out in the country. It is such a blessing as we wait on God during this crisis. At the same time, we needed to empty our storage container that has been sitting in the Basore Rd. Church parking lot for years.
It has been such a blessing to us over the years. Home ministry after home ministry we have had a place to shove all our stuff and twenty years of our lives into a 40-foot seagoing container. Now the parking lot is getting a new facelift and the container needed to move on to another owner.
God blessed us with a buyer who was a construction company and needed a storage container and had all the equipment on hand to stop by and take it away. So off it went, to store someone else’s stuff.
Please pray for our resettlement as we move our possessions around looking for the next door for God to open for us.
LinkedIn Help
Wayne has set up a profile on LinkedIn and he needs a little help. He is looking to populate it with connections and recommendations to fill his profile. If you have a LinkedIn profile please look Wayne Patton up and send a connection request.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-e-patton/
Prayer Request
- Our teammates in Brazil ask that people pray for their health and safety as they start gathering for church.
- They request that you pray for their outreach as they strive to share the Gospel during these difficult times.
- Special prayers for some of the individuals they have been ministering to like; Jair, Grace and Joseph.
- Pray that they will see God’s providence to provide for all their needs even-though the police have shut down all the businesses.
- Pray for our resettlement needs.
- Pray for the Lord to show us the next open door as we walk through this transition.
- We need continued support through the end of the year.
Praise God!
- We are here in the States while the situation in Brazil continues to deteriorate.
- God has provided cars for us both loaners and now donated vehicles.
- God has provided a furnished house in the country for us to live within our budget constraints.
- People have been generous with their giving providing financial help to purchase clothing, household goods, and other needed items.
- First Grace in Dayton is permitting us to use a Sunday school room to work out of during the day.
- God has provided a bed for us to sleep on comfortably. It is the little things that are making a difference to us during these times.