Baptisms To End Our Term!
It was May and the clock was counting down till we would have to depart the country. The men I work with were excited about the planned baptisms at two points of light. By the end of the month we saw ten people in two town step forward to declare their faith in Christ through baptism.  In both locations the same story was unfolding. These are the first baptisms in these locations and the concept of baptism is new to many of these new believers. As we sat the on river side watching the ceremony we had a good thirty onlookers some of which were trying to decide if they wanted to make the same commitment. It was the same for the communion service. As we took communion with many unbelievers among us observing and questioning us as to what it was all about. What a witnessing tool for our new believers. This now leaves us with two new bodies of Christ established in Peri-meri and Capitão Poço. These are fledging home churches that need our prayers. They are excited about their faith and wiling to share it with others. Please pray for these newly forged churches that the Holy Spirit is building. They need to be trained as leaders and grow in numbers. In Peri-meri we need to find a new leader to work with them. Luiz and Katacha have taking it as far as they can and are targeting other cities to evangelize. In Capitão Poço we are training Calinu as a lay leader. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give him a heart for ministry and a live that will glorify God. All of these nonbelievers come from a tough background and understand God's Grace in a special way. Pray for them! | Back in the USA!
The family is touring the USA. We are on home ministries visiting churches and supporters until the first week of January. This will be a coast to coast tour for us, because we have been away for almost four years.  For our two youngest boys the trip is packed with new experiences. Josiah is finding out what all sorts of American foods taste like and sounds like. Josiah was surprised to find that the cereal here can go “snap, crackle and pop”. The most simple terms seem to confuse Josiah, like the word potluck. Our home church put on a potluck the first Sunday we were back. Josiah had lots of question about this event, like would there be enough food to eat? There have been a number of questions around food advertisements. They see a restaurant ads and ask “What is that Dad?”. July as been a busy month as we have traveled to three different weekly conferences. To keep up this pace it has been necessary to stop in and get a quick bite to eat at fast food restaurants. Only our experiences have been lacking the fast part. Our family of six stands in front of the counter starring at the menu trying to decide what to eat and what it is! Yes the menus have changed since we have been out of the country. So keep an eye out for the Patton family van. We will soon be in your area. If you would like to give us a call our cell phone is 513-304-2400. Pray for us as we travel and become reacquainted with this great land of America. |
