If you have ever gone through those times where you feel like you’re working your tail off but have little to show for it or when you seem stuck in a fog and aren’t getting things accomplished at the rate that you wanted to, but then your results are better than anticipated, then you know exactly how I have felt here recently. The days I’ve been expecting a big turnout have fallen flat, and the days that I’ve been certain we will have a down day have ended up being some of our highest. God is so good to give us encouragement when we are not expecting things to turn out that well. Oh . . . and Mia and I both celebrated our birthdays at the end of November.
In the past few weeks, we have not had any special events here at the church, but our attendances have been high on both Sundays and Wednesdays. We recently baptized two young ladies and have seen some new adults begin attending as well. After the services one night, one of those new men remarked to a lady in our church that the preaching had “fed his soul” and that he had forgotten what that felt like. He had been out of church for several years, but he saw us out soul winning in his neighborhood one day and decided to visit the church with me the following day. His name is Milton. One of our faithful men in church brought a visitor out of that same neighborhood on the same day; that is the third adult visitor he has gotten to come to church in the last month. Praise the Lord for growing Christians!
This past week I was privileged to help preach in an evangelistic conference in the northeast of Brazil; this is the second one of these we have held in the last few months. The results were better than we hoped for, with a packed house every night of the conference, people saved each night, and nearly 100 adult visitors over the three evening services. Amen! I’m rejoicing for the members of that church who labored to make it a success. I believe that we are seeing a great door opening to challenge more Brazilian churches to be soul-winning churches. Please pray with us that God will bless future conferences we want to have. We have already gotten another invite to hold a conference in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, sometime next year.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and for your giving. You are a constant encouragement and a vital part of this ministry. Please pray that the work continues to grow, that more will be saved, and that we can see them baptized and discipled quickly. In the coming year, we want to see more families added to the church here, we want to start holding evening Bible Time at a local orphanage, and we want to hold an evangelistic conference once a quarter to encourage more churches to get active in evangelizing the lost in their city.
Have a Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year. We love and appreciate you.
Declaring His glory,
Wes Palla
