Thank you for praying and giving! In July, we celebrated our Brazilian Harvest Festival. We thank the Lord for a good attendance in both churches despite the bitterly cold weather.
It has been seven years since our three older boys had been back to the States. I arranged for my wife to take five of the kids to the States to see their grandparents and family and attend their first Youth Conference.
Amy enjoyed the privilege of organizing a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for her parents. Her brother was able to bring two of his daughters, and it was as if these cousins were meeting for the first time! The last time they had seen each other was 13 years prior as babies and toddlers.
Amy had the joy of leading two of her nieces to the Lord one evening; the girls were tearful and thanked her. One uncle listened to the plan of salvation, and David led his second cousin to the Lord at a family reunion. We also thank the Lord for the neighbor who was open to the Gospel, allowing Amy to lead her to the Saviour. Esther led another neighbor to the Lord while knocking on doors during soul-winning visitation. Daniel and Chloe befriended my in-laws’ neighbor, who gladly accepted their invitation to church and came on her own!
We thank the Lord for the stopover that Amy and the kids were able to make at her sister’s in Pennsylvania, where the older boys were reacquainted with their cousins. Amy has seen her sister a total of four times since we left for Brazil in 2006. It had been seven years since the cousins had seen each other. The kids sang in three languages on Wednesday evening at church, as the oldest cousin accompanied them beautifully on the piano. Amy and her sister Elizabeth tearfully prayed together during the prayer meeting. It was a very special two-day reunion!
My wife asked which one of the kids would like to stay and help Daddy with the churches. Caleb (7) and Micah (9) volunteered! The boys enjoyed their time with Daddy all to themselves and took on some new jobs! We thank the Lord that He kept us safe and that we could keep up with all of the demands of the ministry while the rest of the family was away for a few weeks.
In August, we celebrated Brazilian Father’s Day with a lunch after the service. Thank the Lord for the dads who are bringing their children to church.
We appreciate your prayers for our family. Please pray for strength and health. Please pray for the church to be faithful, as they are inundated with false teaching on the TV and on every corner. Please pray for helpers in the ministry. Please pray for the Lord to provide a vehicle adequate for our family and ministry. May the Lord bless you and your ministry. Thank you again for your faithfulness.
In His service,
The Vallejo Family