Plodding on in Brazil

Hey all Hope your well. Thought I would update you on how things are going here, today we had our youth advent ‘O Caminho’, which I felt went well despite numbers being down. We worship together, prayed for one another and I spoke from John 10. We looked at destructives paths and things that rob us, destroy and kill us spiritually. Then we reflected on Jesus as the good Sheppard and how he came to give life to the full. I challenged them to lay their lives down to seek that fullness of life that Jesus offers and not to be robbed of that and not just by those destructive paths and things that kill us spiritually, but also not to be apathetic in their relationship with God but to go for it with him. I guess my desire for this group is that they would really grasp who Jesus is and would be radically transformed by him and would want to reach other for him. When Jesus enters our lives things don’t need to be the same ever again; our lives have meaning and pursuing Jesus can be a real adventure to say the least. But you also come to realise that that passion for Jesus is God given and something that he only gives, I keep praying that as I push them towards Jesus that he would indeed transform them.

In other news Marcus Throup and his wife Tamara go back to England soon. I think this will affect the church somewhat, especially as the other pastor is feeling down and that is making life a little difficult in the church for everyone, but saying that the congregation as a whole are looking to do more in the local community and this week we will be starting an English course for the community, it’s practically free and we will incorporate the bible into it. It’s a great opportunity as good English courses here in Brazil are expensive and not many have the money to do one. A lot of people in the local community have been blown away by it and seem really grateful for it, praise the Lord. Do pray that the Lord will use this course to save people and bring them into the life of the church and pray that the church will be ready to receive people.