We are praising God for all that He is doing in our midst and for the many opportunities that are opening up as we work to build up a group of established, mature, active believers here in Guarulhos, Brazil. It has been some time since our last update, so allow me to share some wonderful blessings with you.
Our Grand Opening services saw over 100 people come through the doors our opening weekend, and since that time we have seen both our Spanish and Brazilian congregations begin to grow slowly but surely. We have now been going for 3 months, and we are averaging a little over 40 people in attendance each Sunday. We have been blessed to baptize 3 people as well (one of whom was our oldest daughter Mia!), with several more wanting to get baptized quickly—they are just trying to get other family members to come to church and watch them be baptized.
On the second Sunday of October, we celebrated Children’s Day here in Brazil, and it was by far the most exciting day of our young church’s short existence. What was most special to me as a pastor was watching these “baby” Christians get very involved in our church’s outreach plan for that day. We had a single mother who made candy bags, came up with a theme, prepared a bunch of decorations, and then spent several hours on Saturday getting everything set up. For most of the day that Saturday, we had a great group of young people that went out door knocking with us to promote the special day. With all of their hard work, and also with some great help from some dear friends from Nevada who were visiting during that week, we had over 40 attend our Spanish service and over 90 come to our Portuguese service that Sunday morning! There were many hands raised for salvation, many positive comments about the church, and a few families that have come back since that day that we are hopeful will begin to attend all weekly services faithfully. God is good! This is just a small bit of what your prayers and giving have produced here on our field. We are very grateful to you for allowing us to continue the work that God has given us to do.
Would you pray with us that God will raise up men in our church? That is one of our greatest needs right now and one that we are working at very diligently. Please pray for Cynthia’s and Mahaela’s health, as they are both dealing with some minor issues. Please continue to pray that God will open doors of opportunity to share the Gospel and subsequently disciple new believers. We are thankful for your faithfulness and constant encouragement. God bless you all.
Declaring His glory,
Wes Palla
Psalm 96:3
