Dear Prayer Partners, November 2017
[Click here for the PDF version of this letter]
It is a joy to be serving the Lord in the country of Portugal and to realize that He is at work even in this mostly unreached nation. Your prayers and support have been instrumental in this work we appreciate all of you. In September, we had a Friend Day at church and had 12 first-time visitors from the community. The gospel message was proclaimed and we pray that the Spirit will use it to convict and to save.
Here is a taste of what is going on as I write these words:
(1) In about a week we will be hosting our very first “Reach Portugal Conference”. This is an event around the topics of Evangelism and Missions, Discipleship and Ministerial Training and Church Planting. People of all ages, from all over Portugal, Spain and the US will be coming for three very intense days of teaching. There will be 5 services and 30 different sessions. The goal is to challenge and equip in our goal of reaching Portugal with the Gospel of Christ. Will you pray for this event?
(2) We have resumed our Adult Literacy Classes at the church. Once again, our local media gave full coverage of this project being held at the Baptist Church. We had 3 students and now we are up to 5. Portugal has an illiteracy rate of 5.2%, the highest in Europe. We are the only place in this 50000-people city offering lessons to teach adults how to read and write. It has been a great outreach ministry and a very good testimony of the church in the community.
(3) I continue to take a couple of courses at the local University. It is a blessing to have access to the University from the inside. This week I met with someone about the possibility of starting a gospel outreach inside the campus. Please pray that the Lord would continue to guide.
(4) We continue to pray and teach regarding the organization of the church here in Castelo Branco. Things are going well and we are hoping to organize our first six-week new members class in January.
This week we had the good news that Aura’s mom’s chemo is going well. It is not without its challenges as she is now having to deal with shingles. Your continued prayers are appreciated. Aura and I will have the opportunity to go to Alaska for Christmas for some very needed time with family.
It took much longer than we had anticipated, but we now have all the paperwork necessary to apply for adoption in Portugal. We will be submitting the paperwork in January and by June we should know if the government approves us as candidates for adoption. Thank you for praying for this.
Thank you for your love and support for the ministry in Portugal.
In His Service, Mark and Aura Pereira