Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We are excited to report that we are almost to the half way mark with 43% of our support coming in! We spent a significant amount of time in the Northeast the last 2 months and are now back in the Midwest for a little while. We always look forward to opportunities to go out visiting and soul winning with the churches we are in, and God gave us that opportunity over the last couple of months. We were able to invite many people to church and witness to several. Though none of those that we talked to were willing to trust Christ, we take comfort in the thought that the Word of God will not return void. We must plant the seed and water, but it is God who brings the increase.
There was at least one seed that brought increase in resent days. Over the last 2 years, Lily and I have been praying that her brother would be saved. I had the opportunity to witness to him several months ago, but he was not ready to accept Christ. Just a few weeks ago we got a message from Lily’s dad that her brother had accepted Christ at teen camp. We were so excited to hear that he was now our brother, not only in birth, but also in Christ. It has been great to hear about the changes in his life. I am glad that God is working on people even when we cannot see it.
We have great news! The church where we will be helping my parents in Brazil is starting the process of getting a new building. They building they currently meet in is a rental and is quickly becoming too small. There are not enough Sunday school rooms and the auditorium is limiting what they can do. On top of that, rent in Brazil increases every year and in the 3 years that the church has been using this location, rent has gone up by over R$1000 (Brazilian Reais) which is several hundred US dollars. God has opened up a 3 story building that is only a 10 minute walk from the current location. It is only around 60% the cost of other buildings in the area. We need to raise $35,000 US for the down payment and a total of $180,000 US for the whole cost of the building. There is information on our website (down below) about the project if you are interested in knowing more or participating. We are trusting that God will supply the down payment by October and the full sum by the end of the year. Please pray to that end. We will be sending an email with details about the project and updates about our progress along the way.
We are looking forward to our trip to Brazil in November, especially with the prospect of being able to see the new building! The buying process will take several months and we will need to clean and paint once we finally do get the building. We have been making preparations and gathering things that we need to take on our trip. Pray that we are able to get all of our needed items before we go. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. May the Lord bless you.
David and Lily Johnson
Missionaries to Brazil
Psalm 139:14