Dear Prayer Partners,
Saturday, August 17th, after almost 3 hours of public examination, the pastors invited to be in the ordination council recommended that Igreja Baptista Esperança Viva (Living Hope Baptist Church) would ordain Bro. Lenildo Monteiro for the ministry of the Gospel. The church voted the next day to do so and it is a privilege to have a new pastor to do the Lord’s work in the country of Portugal. Thank you for all your prayers. Pr. Lenildo will now have the task of leading this church in Southern Portugal while we are in the US and Canada. For many people this was their first time witnessing an ordination process and there were many comments as to how it helped them to see how well prepared Pr. Lenildo is for the work ahead.
Earlier in the month we held in Albufeira our annual Missions Conference. Missionary David Loop did a fantastic job preaching all the conference messages. The Faith Promise goal was met and this church will support church planting in Portu-gal and a missionary family outside of Portugal. It has been a blessing to see the new converts learn about giving and mission-ary involvement.
Our Bible Institute in Albufeira is scheduled to start during the month of September. Missionary Mark Hale, who works an hour away, will be teaching one of the classes. I will also try to teach, via internet streaming, from the US. There are a number of people interested in taking these classes and we really believe in this tool for preparing leaders for the churches we want to see planted in Portugal.
If you remember from a previous letter, we were having some problems as to the handling of possible support coming from Canada. We are not in a position to give many details, but it seems that this problem will be resolved and we will be able to process funds coming from Canada for our ministry in Portugal. Please continue to have us in prayer as we leave next week to start raising support in churches in the US and in Canada.
Please continue to pray for the church plant in Northern Lisbon. We had a chance to witness again with the lady named Lisete, but she still is not saved. Bro. Tito Pereira, whom the Lord is using in a tremendous way over there, is finishing his studies and we are hoping to have him ordained upon our return to Portugal next year. Bro. Tito is taking care of all the day-to-day ministry over there, along with the evangelism and visitation. Even though there are four other Portuguese church-es helping him with some missionary support, we believe he still needs some more support. Please pray that some other churches in Portugal would start their support soon.
Thank you for all your prayers and support.
In His Service,
Mark and Aura Pereira