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Praises
Thank you for praying for Aura’s mom and her surgery. The surgery went really well and we are encouraged by the doctor’s reports we have been getting. It seems they have been able to get all of the tumor out. They will now have two more sessions of chemo to take care of residual traces and she should be fine after that. We would ask for your continued prayers as she recovers.
Thank you for praying for our furlough and efforts to raise additional ministry funds. We have now raised 45% of the goal we set to raise by March 31st. We have 5 new supporting churches, one new individual supporter and a supporting church has decided to increase their support level. This is amazing (I admit my little faith), as we only started on November 17th. We would ask you to continue praying as we can now see this goal closer to its completion.
Prayer Requests
João Pousinho, a very dear friend from our church plant in Castelo Branco lost his mom a few days ago. Could you pray for encouragement from the Lord for this dear family and that more of their extended family would trust the Lord that gives peace in times like this.
We will continue visiting churches here in the US and raising important ministry funds until the end of March. Pastor Todd Stricklin from our home church in Rhode Island is going to Castelo Branco for two Sundays in February. There he will have at least 6 preaching/teaching opportunities with our people. Also, he will be meeting with two families in close-by towns that have contacted us recently regarding the possibility of starting churches in those places. Please pray for this trip, for its safety and also for it to be used greatly for the glory of God. We are thankful to have a pastor that is willing to personally invest in the mission field.
We are also helping in the promotion and registry stages for our youth Winter Camp. This will be at the end of February and there seems to be a good amount of interest in this activity among young people, their parents and churches all over Portugal. My father-in-law will be taking the trip back to direct the camp and there is a group from his church going as well to help with projects at the camp property. Our church people have also began planning how they can be involved in this ministry. Pray that we can see young people saved and others making personal decisions to serve Christ with their lives.
Travels
Since our last Prayer Letter we have been in churches in NH, PA, IL, IN and MA. We are thankful for the opportunities we are having to mention the nation of Portugal and its many souls in churches where it had never been mentioned before.
Thank you for your love and support for the ministry in Portugal.