January 19, 2012

Today, we are completing two weeks in Casa Nova, Bahia. You have been praying about this move for months and the Lord gave us a safe, quick, and uneventful trip. The small moving truck made two 1800 kilometer trips to take all our belongings to the rental. Now, we are busy painting and repairing the house and getting settled.

It has been a bit of a culture shock to go from a city of almost 3 million to a little, interior town of about 15,000. Our options have suddenly been considerably limited. One very important one is internet access. Options we thought would be available, are not. Others are too costly. We are still looking. In the meantime, we have been able to tap into someone within wireless distance that gets on from time to time. Would you pray for resolution to this need?

The church here has several small evangelism outreaches going on and at the moment, does not have the leadership to fill each of those. We have been asked to oversee a Bible study preaching point in a city about three hours away. We stay overnight in the rented facilities, make visits on Sunday mornings and have a meeting Sunday afternoon. There are about 13 adults and 8 kids attending regularly. We agreed to fill in until the new Seminary year begins in March, when students will be available to assume the work. We are training a young couple from the church, as they are able to help us. Please pray for our safety on narrow, isolated roads. As the Montanans must vigilantly watch for deer, we must watch for stray donkeys and cows.

Our farewell at Light of the World Baptist took place on January 1. The next week, the church was welcoming the new administrative pastor. This past week, 10 new members were added. We are so pleased to see God’s preparation in moving us on at just the right time.

We have visited one of the preaching points in the interior. We hope to take a month or two just to observe the church members and their activities and begin to pray for laborers to join us in evangelizing beyond the asphalt.

God is at work around the world. It’s encouraging to observe His work in the Casa Nova region. Thank you for your continued prayers.

One of our dear prayer supporters wrote before we traveled that they were “helping us through prayer”. I thought that such a perfect way of expressing what we believe so many of you do for us. We especially sensed God's protection as we traveled a total of 625 miles to Casa Nova, Bahia in search of a house to rent.

It was hot, right around 100 degrees. Now, I know for many of you, that doesn’t seem so bad but when it involves walking around on sidewalks or waiting in a small piece of shade, it feels more like 120. We were grateful to have air conditioning in the hotel room at night. Things get fairly quiet around the little town from noon until 3:00pm. We can understand why.

There are very few houses available to rent in Casa Nova. There are many for sale but we’re not in a position to buy a home presently. We had followed out all leads, talked to many on the street, and were beginning to wonder if we would need to stay over the week-end to find something. Through it all, we trusted the Lord for a house, according to His plan. Finally, Thursday evening, we were able to see the inside of an available home to make rental arrangements with the owner. The house needs some painting and small repairs but the owner has agreed to let us discount the rent for any supplies we might purchase. The three- bedroom home will be more than adequate for our needs for the coming year. It is located just two blocks from the church where we will minister.

One bedroom will have to serve for Bruce’s tool shop. Another will serve to receive any Seminary students or out-of-town guests that might come to help us with our plans to evangelize in the interior towns. There is adequate space in the house for a small office area, too.



So, now we have about six weeks to get all our belongings sorted and packed up, do some shuffling of furniture from the present church location to the proper owners and gathering some of our belongings that are in different locations so that all will be in one place for the moving company. I think this is called forced downsizing and a good experience every few years to remind us that our belongings are not eternal, but people’s souls are. I don't think we'll call this truck to move our things, though!

Thank you again for accompanying us on our trip through your thoughts and prayers, it was great to have you along!