Dear friends,
The last two months have been very busy, but we have been able to get several important things done. During the first half of January, we had the opportunity to be a part of our home church’s missions conference. It was great to be a part of the ministry there again for the week. During the time that we were home, I was also able to get my recertification as an EMT. I am praying that God would use that skill in some way in Brazil. I was also able to apply for our Brazilian marriage certificate and have an appointment with the Brazilian consulate in Chicago to finish the process. This will be a very important part of getting a visa for Lily since we are applying through our marriage (this is because I am a Brazilian citizen). I will be working on Lily’s visa over the next several weeks.
God opened the door for me to be able to translate for a funeral in Wisconsin in late January, when a pastor that we had been with several months prior called and informed me that he was preaching at a funeral for a man whose wife was Brazilian. He invited me to translate for the funeral and I was able to accept. I left early Wednesday morning to be a part of the funeral, where there were around 10 Brazilians in attendance. The family was very encouraged that I had taken time to travel there and we were able to give them a clear presentation of the Gospel in Portuguese. I was then able to preach at that pastor’s church before heading back home late that night. Pray that God would work on the hearts of the family and that they would be saved.
We bought tickets for Brazil! We were able to get tickets to fly out of JFK in New York City on June 27! We are so excited to get to Brazil in less than 4 months. It ended up being less than half the price to fly from NYC than Chicago (which is much closer to home). Pray that God would provide the rest of our support before then. We are almost at 80% now and have a pretty full schedule up to June. We are also planning to take our dog and have to get a few things done with him before that is possible, so pray that that would all work out. We also need to schedule our container so that we can take our things and several large items for the church. As we get closer to leaving, it is a little overwhelming what we need to get done before then, but we know that where God leads, He provides and makes a way.
As for the church building in Brazil, my parents have started the process of purchasing the building and have a lawyer looking over the contract. He will be checking to make sure that there are no problems or discrepancies in the contract. They have already had to make a correction, but this is part of the process there. The buying process could take up to 6 months, so pray that God would speed the process and that there would not be any problems. They got a building inspection done and got back a very good report. They still need about $8,000 to have the complete payment, so pray that the rest will come in soon. Thank you so much for all of your faithful prayers and support. God bless.
David and Lily Johnson
Missionaries to Brazil
Psalm 139:14