Just before lowering the casket into the grave, a pastor made an "alter call" and a young lady gave her life to the Lord then and there.
As you might already know, my grandfather, who originally came down to Brazil as a missionary when Mom was only 2 months old, joined his wife and son with the Lord on Aug 30th. Though we miss him, we are thankful for the example of Christ he lived, and that he is enjoying complete health in the presence of his closest friend, Jesus. We could feel the Lord’s presence at his funeral, and one lady even gave her life to the Lord in the cemetery at his burial when a pastor made an “alter call” just before the casket was lowered into the grave. You can find out more about Grandpa’s life at www.projectamazon.org.
Another amazing, on-going story is of an evangelistic group we’ve started. I won’t go into the interesting, God-made way of how it started, but let’s just say we’re having difficulty planning events with these guys because they can’t go to certain parts of our city (including my house) because other gangs will kill them. So Marcio, a little brother of Paulo, one of the guys in our evangelistic group, was involved in a gang fight and got shot in the stomach. I went with Paulo to visit him in the hospital and Paulo asked me to pray for him. So I did, that he would get better quickly and that he would get involved with the right crowd that would help him grow in the Lord. As soon as I finished, Marcio asked me to pray with him to accept the Lord and that he didn’t want to live this kind of life anymore! So I had him repeat the sinner’s prayer with me…and I prayed it loud enough so that the rest of the people in the room, about 5 other guys on cots and a family member with them, could hear the prayer and repeat it if they wanted to :) So please keep Paulo, Marcio, and the entire evangelistic group in your prayers.
David, one of the 2 SP interns, and me working the cement for the floor of a new PAZ church in the village of Curicaca
In other news, the Samaritan’s Purse water filter interns are here and under my responsibility. The two guys, David and Andy, are really cool Canadian guys who will be helping me start up the water filter program in two other cities, Parintins and Monte Alegre. We’ll be traveling a lot to different communities, training pastors and local church workers, installing filters, and doing supervision. So please keep not only us in your prayers, but also the cell groups and my disciples as I’m away, that they will continue to grow in the Lord and bringing others to Him as well.
Thanks for all your love and support…you are just as much a part of the work here as I am.
In Him,
Paul
We will definitely keep the evangelistic group in our prayers! It’s great to see the pic and progress of the church in Curicaca. We helped build the foundation on our missions trip down there earlier this year. I recognize the little girl in the corner of the pic and loved her brother….nicknamed him mukaku (monkey). Would love to know how the church is growing in Curicaca and any specific prayer needs!
It made me laugh when you said you prayed loud enough for all to hear in the hospital room, since your voice carries so well. The perfect person for the job! I am so excited to hear about the evangelistic group growing, YEAY GOD!
Hey, I was wondering if you were gonna give another update sometime soon. :)