Praise the Lord, we have had a great couple of months here in Brazil! We started the month of February with family camp with my uncle Ed Johnson’s church in Taubaté, which is about 2 hours away. It is always refreshing to leave the city and have such good fellowship with other churches. The preaching was great and our church members had a great time. I also had the opportunity to preach for one of the services.
Just a week after camp ended, a new single lady missionary and good friend, Beca Pape, arrived on the field. We had the opportunity to pick her up at the airport and welcome her to Brazil. The next day we drove her the 4 hours to Ribeirão Preto, where she will be working with my uncle Carl Johnson and Pastor Rom Ribeiro for the next few years before heading up to the Amazon. It is always so encouraging to see new missionaries arrive on the field. We so desperately need more laborers in the Lord’s harvest.
In March we got to attend my cousin Carol’s wedding there in Ribeirão Preto. It was exciting to see another couple following God’s plan for marriage. At the end of March, we went our mission board’s annual South America Field Conference. This was my first time being there since it expanded to the whole of South America, so I had a wonderful time getting to know some of the missionaries in the other countries. We had Bro. Chris Philips and his wife from Selah Ministries International as our speaker for the conference as well as Ed Alexander helping with the teens. Is was such a blessing and encouragement to hear the much needed teachings in both joint and split sessions. We are so thankful that they were willing to make the trip and spend a week with our missionary family.
We also had the privilege to take our teens to a teen encounter the last two days in March. This was the 9th anual teen encounter in the city of Limeira, about 2 hours north of us. It was great to see them interact with other church-going teens and participate in the activities. This was the first year Gustavo, one of our young teens, was old enough to go to camp, so it was great to see him slowly come out of his shell and interact with the other teenagers. The preaching/ split sessions about laying aside weight and sin were also very direct and needed. Lily and I also had an amazing time getting to know some of the pastors and workers from the different churches represented.
We have also been continuing the work on the church building and are nearing the end. We have moved the church kitchen to its final location and are starting work on our recording studio. We also were able to clear up the main space on the second floor to use for events. In the auditorium, we have finished the mic setup and properly installed the projector. We are waiting for the delivery of some new chairs that we ordered several months ago, so pray that they would deliver soon. We would really love to have them by our ladies meeting on the 27th of April. On the 3rd floor, the only things left to finish are the bathrooms. Thank you again to all who have given so we could replace the sound equipment.
Praise the Lord, we were able to start a weekly teen activity on Saturday evenings. We start our time practicing how to lead someone to the Lord and then go out for distribution and soul winning. This is followed by a Bible study and activity time. During this time, Lily had the opportunity to witness to her first two people in Portuguese! She has been doing great at learning Portuguese and interacting with the church members and other people. Pray that she becomes fully fluent very quickly and that God would continue to use the teen program.Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support. We appreciate all of you so much and are so glad that we get to partner with each and every one of you.
God bless.
David and Lily Johnson
Missionaries to Brazil
São Caetano do Sul – SP
Psalm 139:14