Dear Pastors, Supporters, and Praying Friends,

Greetings in the name of our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ. We finally moved into the house that we had been waiting to get into the past few months. The Lord was so good to the owners, and they were such a blessing to us. We are still working on settling down and adjusting into the house, unpacking, fixing/organizing, and cleaning. Praise the Lord for His continued strength and help.

In March, our church celebrated its 20th anniversary for the deaf work that has already been established. To promote this event, we had a goal to go to all the locations that provided services for the deaf and give them a flyer inviting them to the conference. While visiting the deaf school, I was able to meet two deaf men from Afghanistan and connect with them through texting and video messaging. I was so thrilled to meet these two deaf men from the Middle East because my original plan and passion was to go to Middle East to reach deaf for Christ, but the Lord did not open that door for me. While He closed that door, the Lord opened the window in Brazil! Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom to continue to talk with these two deaf Afghans through texting and video, that they may have hope and come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

During the conference, the people received a wonderful spiritual blessing through the messages the Lord had laid on the heart of Brother Scott. The message and fellowship encouraged us. I asked some people in church who attended the special conference if they understood the message. They told me that the message was VERY clear and visual. They said they will never forget the message. Praise the Lord for the salvation of one deaf man and many decisions made for Christ. We are grateful for our co-worker from another city, brother Carl Johnson, who came to the conference. He is the one who started the deaf ministry where we live now. He helped with translating into Portuguese and Brazilian sign language for all our services. During the services we had 3 languages being used!

In April, we hosted a young hearing woman named Savannah. Her parents are missionaries in Peru, the Lindsay family. Savanah knows Peruvian sign language and a few American signs. It was so much fun, and she was a great help to us! She lived with us for a month, and while she was with us, we had 6 languages spoken in our home. She went to the school where our daughters attend and helped at the school, and she was a great blessing to Ms. Bethany Thompson, one of the teachers. She has now returned to the US to attend a Bible College. Please pray for her as she grows in the Lord and finds what the Lord wants her to do with her life. She was such a blessing to us.

For the next few months, please pray for us as we continue our visitation and discipleship. Please continue to pray for me to have wisdom and guidance from the Lord in counseling and discipleship. Every Saturday the church is having a service for youth and will be dividing up the groups by age. We decided to have deaf discipleship at the same time as the youth service, because we will provide dinner after the services.

“Little is Much when God is in it.” This was written by Kittie L. Suffield using Matthew 14:17 “…We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.” Our numbers may be small, but the work starts in discipleship and building foundations. Through discipleship, we will be able to know how strong their faith in Jesus Christ is. We are speaking the truth in love and providing hope for times such as this.

In Christ Alone,

Michael, Ruth, Giovanna, and Roniya