Dear friends, family and partners,

I wanted to give you another brief update before I head back to Brazil May 24.

My Old Kentucky Home

My time with my mother has been a great blessing. I was able to bring her home from the hospital and from my sister's home back to her home very soon after arriving in the US. She has done remarkably well, considering her previous surgery last year and her medical condition.

We have truly enjoyed our time together and have cherished every moment we've had.

I have also had the opportunity to do some counseling with old friends, some evangelistic witnessing while shopping in town, and have preached and performed a communion service at the PCA missionary church here in Elizabethtown. I took her to her orthopedic surgeon today for a checkup, and he was very pleased with the way that her bones were healing. He also thought that the screws and plate used in the fusion seemed to be holding fine. Please continue to pray for her steady recovery and healing.

On the Home Front...

Before leaving Campinas, we moved out of the "money pit" house we were renting. Without going into detail, we were able to leave the house without breaking our budget and we believe we have left it better than we found it. The real estate company tried to make us pay for some of the structural problems that needed attention, but we praise the Lord for Cirilo, our lawyer, who went to our aid and reminded them that we had many pictures and an independent engineering report to back us up. They retreated from their threats, and we seem to be now free of them.

My wonderful wife took nearly all the brunt of this responsibility, and she was the one making sure all was in order in the old house. She has also been unpacking and diligently trying to keep all of our many teenagers (our 3 plus Cae, Michel-Taylor's boyfriend-and various and sundry friends of Jacob...) all on an even keel and where they are all supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. A big job in and of itself to say the least! Thank you for your prayers for Lynn and the kids in my absence. I'm scheduled to arrive back in Brazil on May 25.

Ministry News

Lynn and I are in process in planning the VBS for the children from the favela near our home for the first week in July with Comunidade Presbiteriana Chacara Primavera. MTW has told us that there will be several individuals from the US that will be coming down to help with this. The week after this, we are planning a conversational English ministry with these folks. In addition, we will have a two month intern, Hunter, arrive in early June to first work at Novo Jerusalem's social outreach program, and then help with our VBS. Our other "son", Cae, will be his translator.

A few days after I arrived in the US, we had our other intern, Heather, who will be here for three months, arrive. She is a rising senior at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA. Our daughter Hilary will be her translator during her time here. Heather will be doing research on her senior project on the economic impact an ESL program might have on a poor community, so she will be working at the other church we are helping, Igeja Presbiteriana Novo Jerusalem. Please pray for our interns to seek the Lord first in all they do, for their transition into Brazilian culture and language, and for the Lord to use them for His glory. Also, pray for the possible other individuals who may be coming to help with VBS and the conversational English ministry.

Thank you all so much for your many prayers, notes, and love extended to us in so many ways. It is our privilege to serve along with you in the harvest field where we have been placed. Know that we appreciate you very much, and love to hear back from you. Thanks to a generous gift from 1st Presbyterian church in Madison, MS, I now have a new laptop computer that will hopefully give us better and more consistent service to keep up with you. We are also in the process of getting a new internet provider that we pray will be more reliable.

In His Service,

David for all

- May 24, 2005