‘Go and make disciples’
Dear friends,
We’re so grateful for your prayers for us as we continue to reach out and ‘make disciples’ here in Rio. We are so thankful also for God’s provision and for your generosity. I recently asked for help to support Gustavo and Thayanne as they give themselves to evangelism and other areas of church life. Praise God they now have enough to continue working full-time until at least the end of 2021!
Here’s some other news and what you can pray for…
We’re so grateful for your prayers for us as we continue to reach out and ‘make disciples’ here in Rio. We are so thankful also for God’s provision and for your generosity. I recently asked for help to support Gustavo and Thayanne as they give themselves to evangelism and other areas of church life. Praise God they now have enough to continue working full-time until at least the end of 2021!
Here’s some other news and what you can pray for…
Gláucia
In early August we had the joy of baptising Gláucia, a lady who lives in Praia da Rosa favela. We met her through giving out food parcels during the first Covid lockdown and Gustavo and Thayanne had been discipling her for several months. We have also been able to pay for her to do a course to get work as a carer and a few weeks into the course she has already got a job! She’s so happy to have been baptised and that God is providing for her financially too!
Please pray for:
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God’s protection and strength for her as she walks with Him.Her friends and family (Henrique, Marlon, Bianca, Noah) to be saved and added too.
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Growth in her gifts – she is very keen to serve and has brought several people to our meetings already. Pray for this to continue and for her to be a key member of the team!
Easy English Alpha
We were thrilled to be able to run ‘Easy English Alpha’ via Zoom back in June. It fitted into the end of the ‘Pulse English’ semester perfectly and we invited our intermediate to advanced students to take part. Praise God for:
Caroline, Julie and Lisa, three of our teachers who did a brilliant job running the 7-session course with one group each.
The seeds that were sown: 25 people took part in at least one session, including 3 Mexicans (students of my friend Lalo in Colima, Mexico)!
The short videos I was able to record, that we can use for future courses as well. They’re available here: (764) Easy English Alpha – YouTube
Caroline, Julie and Lisa, three of our teachers who did a brilliant job running the 7-session course with one group each.
The seeds that were sown: 25 people took part in at least one session, including 3 Mexicans (students of my friend Lalo in Colima, Mexico)!
The short videos I was able to record, that we can use for future courses as well. They’re available here: (764) Easy English Alpha – YouTube
Pray for:
A young lady called Márcia and others who responded very positively. Pray for salvation and that they would join a local church.
Wisdom in how to follow people up from this first course and the next one in November.
Wisdom in how to follow people up from this first course and the next one in November.
Growth of ‘Pulse English’ School
Since the local newspaper did a story on us earlier this year, our student numbers have shot up. We now have 120 regular attendees across 10 groups (8 via Zoom and 2 face-to-face). Praise God for:
My wife Fernanda, who is playing a vital role with reception and admin and is getting to know some of the students from our face-to-face beginners group (see photo above). One of them, Lorena, visited our Sunday meeting with her Mum and daughter recently.
Our brilliant team of teachers, including newcomers Richard and Anna, who are getting on really well already!
My wife Fernanda, who is playing a vital role with reception and admin and is getting to know some of the students from our face-to-face beginners group (see photo above). One of them, Lorena, visited our Sunday meeting with her Mum and daughter recently.
Our brilliant team of teachers, including newcomers Richard and Anna, who are getting on really well already!
Focus on Community
The busyness of Pulse and our outreach in Praia da Rosa favela, coupled with the continued effects of the pandemic, have made it difficult to practise being a church community all together, especially with some church members temporarily living away from Rio or avoiding physical meetings. So it was such a joy when we recently gathered most of our members together via Zoom for the first time in several months!
Pray for:
Joel and Tash – arriving next week – to settle in well and have a fantastic 6 months here.
More admin help – I need someone to help with contacting students, updating lists, etc. as this has become a very time-consuming job!
Opportunities to share the gospel and that God would draw the right students towards our church community over the next few months.
More admin help – I need someone to help with contacting students, updating lists, etc. as this has become a very time-consuming job!
Opportunities to share the gospel and that God would draw the right students towards our church community over the next few months.
Please pray for:
- A growing sense of community and unity as we seek to have more socials and gatherings as a whole church.
- Children’s workers and people to serve in other areas. William (in photo above) was a Pulse student who joined the church and now leads worship. Pray for more like him!
- Isaura, Anderson, Joana and others who should be doing a new church membership course in the next few weeks.
- Wisdom about next steps – a big part of our church vision is multiplication. Please pray for wisdom about when, where and how to do this. We want a deep sense of community, but we want to see this multiplied elsewhere too!
From March to June this year we ran a training course called ‘Preparados Para Servir’, (‘Equipped to Serve’). The teaching from John Evans and others was fantastic (and we will use the recordings for future training!). We won’t be continuing the course this semester, but pray for our developing friendship with Jonas and others from Minas Gerais state who also took part.
Finally…
Please pray for our health. I’ve had what seems to be allergy-related coughing over recent months (I had a Covid test twice and it was negative on both occasions!). Benjamin has been sick a few times also and Fernanda regularly suffers with migraines. Pray for wisdom and protection for us as a family.
Thank you so much for reading this and we hope to hear from you soon.
Much love,
Michael and Fernanda
Much love,
Michael and Fernanda
