The summer is ending and now the “cold” is moving in! We praise the Lord for a wonderful first quarter here in Taubaté. It has certainly been a busy time with many wonderful blessings along the way.
Primarily, I want to let you know that our visas have been approved for 2 more years. Praise the Lord for this! We’re thrilled that everything went as smoothly as could be expected when dealing with government bureaucracy. Thank you for your prayers with us about that.
With our visa situation secured, we are now able to focus on the next steps of our mission here. We have been here in Taubaté working on our Portuguese and cultural adaptation. However, these are simply means to an end. We’re so thankful for the Lord allowing us to partner with Bro. Ed Johnson and New Life Baptist Church. We’ve been actively researching, visiting, and learning about cities and communities around us in seeking the Lord’s direction for a new church plant. Two cities have come to the forefront while we’ve prayed, counseled, and visited. São Jose dos Campos and Pindamonhangaba (or Pinda for short) are both neighboring cities here in the Valley of the Paraíba River. Would you continue in prayer with us as we seek the Lord’s leading on this front?
With a church plant in mind there are several aspects that we have already been praying about:
1. An open door of ministry with prepared hearts in Pinda or São Jose
2. Someone or a family to assist us with the church plant
3. The Lord’s timing to begin the work
In prayer and counseling, we feel that the Fall of 2022 will be our formal launch date for the church. This will give us time to move out to our target city, begin soul winning, discipling, and reaching people. Perhaps the biggest question mark that we have – we know God’s got the best plan in His perfect timing – is someone or a family to help us as we begin. Please pray that the Lord will work in hearts and open doors of opportunity in this area. God’s desire is to see souls saved. We’ve already started making contacts in both cities and in reality, both cities need strong Gospel-preaching, fundamental Baptist churches. As we wait on Him and do our part, we are confident that the Lord will show us the right people, place, and time.
With all of this in mind, we will be taking a short furlough at the end of this year from November 2021 until mid-January 2022. This will allow us to report to some of our supporting churches. We will be based out of the Chicago area. If you would like to have us come to report on our future plans, please feel free to reach out via the contact info listed in the letter footer. We are excited about all that the Lord has already done for us on this exciting term – and it has flown by!
It is exciting to continue to watch Alessandra grow in grace. We only have a few weeks of discipleship left. One of my goals before we leave is to complete discipleship with Valdecir and Augusto, her son, as well. Please continue in prayer with us about this.
We are still dealing with COVID here. Thankfully, God has protected the majority of the church from getting sick. We’ve had several families get it, but to this point, no one has been seriously ill. Our governor has *graciously* allowed us to reopen most everything with restrictions in place. Please continue to pray that our area will stay open and continue to come through this crisis.
We are all healthy and well and enjoyed some time with Jamie’s mom and sister a few weeks ago. A special thanks to Victory Baptist Church and Pastor Aulgur for your love, encouragement, and kindness to us.
Thank you again for your faithful example and support during these exciting times striving together for the Gospel! We love you and pray for you often!
Keith, Jamie, Lainey, and Clayton Putnam
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