May ’13 Prayer Letter

  Dear Prayer Partners,

The new convert’s class started in Albufeira with 11 people in attendance. We are hoping to get at least two more in this 12 week class. All that attended had a good spirit and committed to read and study their Bibles, prayer, church attendance and personal evangelism. Lenildo and I will be taking turns between the adult SS class and this class. It is obvious that the enemy of our souls is not happy with this Biblical teaching effort. Some of the new believers in this class are struggling with different situations, please pray for them. I was able to talk with two couples that, because of the teaching got under conviction about the fact that they were not married. Please pray as they now pursue the necessary legal arrangements.

As a result of your prayers, the Lord provided, through a generous offering from England, the necessary funds for the shipping of the church furniture for the new church plant. Recently we were there, and with the help of other missionaries, distributed a few thousand invitations for the opening of the church services. Soon after, Bro. Tito got a phone call from a lady interested in attending the services. We do not know much about her, please be praying for her and for the many souls in that region that need to be saved. There will be a special service on Saturday, June 8th with believers from Albufeira and other parts of the country. From June 9th, there will be regular Sunday church services at the new church plant. The Lord has been providing for the needs of this evangelistic effort and we would invite you to continue to pray for the necessary funds to continue this work.

Bro. Lenildo (Lenny) is now only two courses away from completing his Bible Institute training. Please pray that these last two courses go well, so that we can recommend him for ordination this August. He is a good man that wants to serve the Lord with his life. Our Bible Institute will resume its regular classes in September. We are praying from more students to commit themselves to Christian service. Please pray with us that the Lord would call more workers for the harvest here in Portugal.

The deputation planning is going well. Lord willing, we leave in the end of August to be in the US and in Canada. So far we have meetings booked in Alabama, Rhode Island, Michigan, Connecticut, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, in the US, and Ontario and  Manitoba, in Canada. If you know of any churches that would like to have us in, please send that information, or feel free to share our information with them. We had to stop booking meetings in Canada, until we can resolve the handling of support funds coming from that country (where I was born). Because of Canadian law, churches there cannot support any missionaries that do not have a written arrangement with either a Canadian church or a Mission Agency for the handling of the funds. We are praying that somehow we can get this resolved. If not, we will not be able to book any more meetings in Canada. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

  In His Service, Mark & Aura Pereira