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Here in the Northwest of Brazil, we live in a tropical rainforest climate. That means we have two seasons- Rainy and dry. The rainy season is from November to April. Though not in November, that has not stopped some significant storms with high winds and torrential downpours. Sixteen days ago, we had high winds that came through, ripping the cover off our property's 3,000-liter water box and carrying it nearly 200 feet away! You can't replace those lids, so we had to replace the whole unit. Then, last week, during the night, another storm came through with winds so strong that it knocked down 120 feet of fencing here on the property. When I went outside, I saw a mangled mess of steel fencing and nine 5-inch thick concrete posts all toppled over onto the playground (if they had fallen the other way, they would have gone into the pool!). I am pricing out some structural steel poles that I plan to install before our annual camp, which is in February.
Despite some of these setbacks, we have had several blessings take place!
- We had an outreach event here on the property during one of Brazil's national holidays- "Dia das criancas" (children's day). Just over 190 people were here on the property as we had a time of games, food, and a strong gospel message. Many good contacts were made with families we had never met before.
- Sunday school has continued to open up opportunities in the lives of these children. I would ask you to pray for two young people, Eliel and Pedro, whom I have been sharing the gospel with over the last few weeks. We have had some in-depth conversations about salvation. Pray that their eyes would be opened to the light of the gospel. This is the same Eliel who is meeting each week with us for piano lessons.
- In the area of music, along with piano, Joshua has begun violin lessons, and Caleb will be starting guitar lessons. I encouraged the young people in Sunday school about the opportunity to learn an instrument and challenged them to try. Last week a young girl named Adele started piano lessons with us! This will give us more opportunities to influence and help her. Like many of the young people here, she has a very bleak future. She goes back and forth, living between three different houses week to week between various family members, so she has very little stability.
- Just this past Sunday, three souls were baptized! One of them is a single mom whose name is Karina. She has three daughters and lives across the street from us. The Brewers have been very involved in her life over the years and have helped her through many difficult times, like when her husband left her this past year.
- Two churches have contacted us about planning a trip here next year! Of course, with the camp property, we have plenty of room and would like to invite others to consider coming and seeing everything first-hand!
I would ask you to pray for a young man named Juan. You may remember his name from a previous letter, as he was the young man I had been meeting with and who had begun the Bible Institute. I am asking you to pray because he had to leave Itapuã for a job. The economic conditions here in our town are harsh. There are jobs, but they are limited and unsuitable for building a stable life. It is one of the challenges we face here with the church members. One of our prayers since we arrived was that God would give us faithful, solid families so the church could be fully self-supported.
I have made a general update video, which I will include here, and if you are reading our physical letter, you can find it on our website- Schmidts2brazil.com/updates.
I want to express my gratitude for your consistent support, prayers, and belief in what we are doing! We will continue sowing here for you while you sow there for us!
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