BRAZIL Rio Grande Do Sul

It will be 3 weeks tomorrow since we arrived back home from our short trip to Northern Ireland, and it has been good to get settled back into the work again. We have enjoyed being back with the believers here in Sapiranga for the regular assembly meetings and while we are conscious of great weakness, we have been glad to see quite good numbers in the Sunday School and Gospel meeting. Since returning I have managed to visit a quite a few other assemblies to give a little help in their weekly meetings.

Since our return we have been very conscious of the void left by Tom and Dorothy Matthews now that they have moved back to Northern Ireland. After 55 years of faithful service, they are going to be missed in the work in our area. Our brother Harry Wilson is just back home after 3 weeks in hospital but, at 93 years of age, it becomes increasingly difficult for him to overcome these setbacks. How we long to see others raised up to give their whole lives to the work here as these faithful brethren have done.

This week I am helping Lindsay Carswell in Gospel meetings in the Hall in Novo Hamburgo, about 25 minutes from here. Our brother Joel Matos who had been sharing in the meetings, was unable to help this week as his daughter had tested positive for Covid so the brethren asked me to stand in for him. While last night was a little smaller, most nights we normally have a good number of unsaved present, so we are looking to the Lord for His blessing.

Next week, in the will of the Lord, I hope to be with the assembly in Alvorada for 5 nights of ministry. The assembly there has been encouraged recently with a number being baptized and added to the fellowship, so we trust the meetings will be a help to all.

Then, on the following week, from Wednesday to Friday we have the annual year-end Bible readings in Porto Alegre. This year we hope to have 5 Bible readings covering Paul’s first Epistle to the Thessalonians, with different brethren responsible for the opening up of each chapter. This will be the first time to be able to have these meetings since the pandemic so we trust we will have a profitable time around the Word of God.