Dear Pastors and Supporters

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Colossians 1:13-14. Praise the Lord! As you receive this letter, the world has celebrated Easter for different reasons. We thank the Lord for His power to resurrect from the tomb. If it was not for His resurrection, our faith would be in vain. There is nothing impossible for the Lord, as He performs the miracle of transforming believers out of darkness and freeing us from the bondage of sin.

I had a great opportunity recently to talk with a 32 year old young man, Julio, through video chat. He admits that he is not a Christian but he is willing to listen to God’s Word. The seed is slowly being planted. Please continue to pray for Julio, that the Lord will work in his heart in a great way. In addition, please pray that the Lord will give us another opportunity to meet him to talk about the wonderful Gospel and love of God through Jesus Christ.

Pandemic updates: Our country went back into Emergency Phase on March 15. This is a “new” phase that requires us to be in quarantine again. We have been in the Red Phase for several weeks prior to March 15. The Emergency Phase was supposed to be lifted March 31, but they extended it to April 11. Now we cannot have our church services in person. It is very discouraging for most people here. Before March 15, Sao Paulo announced that everyone must be home by eight o’clock and not allowed to leave the house until five o’clock in the morning. People still are out roaming during the night. The police are not doing what they are supposed to do. There are some cities that will fine people who go out of their house. Please pray for the country and our church. It is a trying time of faith for our church people. It is difficult to encourage them without meeting them in person. Most are illiterate and greatly depend on sign language. Video chats are not always reliable due to the poor internet connection in some areas.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1. As I mentioned above that most of our church people are illiterate, they will watch any videos that use sign language, which is their first language. These videos include ones from different religions and false believers which Satan uses to confuse our people. Please pray with us to have strength and wisdom to reach our people in church and out of church. We need to seek the Lord in prayer and wisdom as we call them through video calls and encourage them through God’s Word that they will not just watch any videos that have the name “church service” or “bible study”.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest...let us hold fast our profession. Hebrews 4:14. We took the opportunity to go to a South American field conference which Baptist International Mission Inc, hosted. We received a blessing through fellowship that week which restored our spiritual strength to strive in faith. We met the two brothers, that we mentioned in our last letter, at the conference and we practiced signs with them. At the end of the conference, we had the opportunity to sing “People Need the Lord” with a drama. Without realizing it, the Lord was working in the hearts of some of the people at the conference. A week after the conference, one of the brothers, Stephen Barrett, contacted us to say that he surrendered to be a missionary to the deaf in Brazil!!! He will work with Baptist International Mission Inc. and will begin his deputation at the beginning of this summer. This really answered our prayers, as we had prayed for the Lord to send forth more laborers. Still, we need more laborers, especially a team. But how exciting!!!

We received thoughtful messages from some of you through email, letters, text, and messenger, and it was very encouraging to us in the Lord. Thank you for your faithful prayers and loving giving. Keep holding the ropes of faith! May we hold fast our profession. Amen.

Embracing Christ fully, Michael, Ruth, Giovanna, Roniya