Praise the Lord for another month to serve Him here in Taubaté! March was certainly full of adventure and challenges.
First I’d like to start with our visa situation. I know many of you have been praying for that. We’ve had many reach out to us to enquire how that process is going. When we went to renew them a few weeks ago we did not have all the needed documentation at the time of our consultation. I was able to reschedule our appointment for later in the day. But when I called back again, I was informed that our visas had been automatically renewed until September that day. Our lawyer has advised us to proceed with our renewal process regardless. We now have an appointment set for Friday, April 30th. We expect there to be no issue with our paperwork and are grateful for the Lord putting our lawyer in our path. Thank you for your prayer concerning this.
The other exciting piece of news is that New Life Baptist Church has a new home. We were able to move on March 16th to our new location, which is nearly triple the size of our previous location. We praise the Lord for this. Everything went smoothly with the transition and we are excited to see how God is going to fill this new location up for His honor and glory!
Unfortunately, the COVID situation here has not improved. Three weeks ago our governor put our state in an emergency phase. It was originally for 2 weeks, but conditions actually only worsened during that time and he has added 2 more weeks to his declaration. In talking with many people, I truly believe this will continue on for quite some time yet. Under the current orders, churches are not to meet in person. Please pray for wisdom for Bro. Ed and the church as we continue to seek to please the Lord in all we do and say. We know that Satan will use any form of discouragement or confusion to try and win the day. I am so thankful for the power, comfort, and leading of the Holy Spirit even in these days when it seems we have no other recourse. We praise the Lord that the church has been protected from the virus by and large. Please pray for continued encouragement, growth, and strength for our dear people even in these days.
Jamie started teaching the kid’s class a few weeks ago. It’s very exciting to see her heart for the 4-6 year-olds that God has put in her path. She’s been busy working hard to prepare lessons and it’s been exciting to watch her take on this new challenge. Another great blessing was the opportunity to share the Gospel with 28 English students a few weeks ago. Claudinei, who was one of our Portuguese teachers, invited me to speak online to his students. What a blessing it was to share the Gospel with high-school and college-age students during such a difficult time here.
Thank you once again for your prayer and faithful financial support of our work and family here in Brazil. We pray for each of our churches on a regular basis. Only eternity will tell the difference you all make in someone’s life.
Keith, Jamie, Elaina, & Clayton Putnam
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