We have had an encouraging start to the year, and we are excited about what the Lord will do here in the northeast of Brazil this year. Our project list only seems to grow larger, and the laborers are certainly few. But God is doing something special in our midst, and it is a privilege to share with you what the Lord is doing.
We commenced holding a Sunday school hour at the start of the year immediately following our Sunday morning prayer service. I wasn’t really sure how many folks would show up and if there would be an impact on the service attendance or not. Praise the Lord, there have been only good things resulting from this additional service time. Our prayer-service attendance has nearly doubled over last year, and there is palpable excitement about both the prayer time and the Sunday school material being taught.
Another big milestone (and, at the same time, hurdle) is the planting of a new church about 25 minutes away from our first church location. The ministry here has been given a piece of property, and the owner, a brother in Christ who is originally from this area, expressed his desire to give that property to a church so that another church could be planted in that area. It is an area that is exploding in growth. Over the past 12 months, over 1,000 housing units have begun being built within about a one-mile radius of the church site. What an opportunity! I have taken our church men over to see the property, and our three-year-old church is willing to do whatever possible to plant another church there. This involves some contractual steps and then city permits to begin a building project. Lord willing, within the next six months, we will start raising funds for the building program. We need your prayers and God’s direction and blessing.
Recently, we were soul winning in a new area, and I had the privilege to share the Gospel with a man named Willians. He patiently listened for about 20 minutes as I shared with him what Christ had done to pay our sin debt, and then he called on Christ to be His personal Saviour. After we finished praying, I thanked him for his time, and he blurted out, “Now you have to come back. I need to hear more. I’m gonna need more of this.” I’m more than happy to comply!
Thank you so much for praying for us. There is a lot to do, and I don’t think I am always very efficient with my time. Pray for these big projects with the church plant and the growth of our current church. Pray for some social media campaigns that we will be using to try to reach areas of our city we haven’t gotten to, and please also pray for our Evangelistic Conference that will begin next week. Pray for souls to be saved and lives changed. We love and appreciate you.
Declaring His glory,
Wesley Palla
Psalm 96:3
