2007 at a glance

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people… to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness. Zechariah’s song, Luke 1:68, 74

Joy for the journey

The Lord’s breakthrough in the back roads of Israel “enables us to serve him without fear.” We’re taking that into 2008.

We revel in God's goodness as we look back at 2007:

• after a profitable study term, we returned to Brazil in June;
• Alan started his 2nd year at Northwestern, debt-free;
• a great group from Bethany Baptist Church of Peoria came to help with Promifé evangelism in July;
• besides the usual translation projects, Lalia enjoyed proofreading the OT for a new Portuguese Bible translation;
• Curt readied the final Portuguese text of George Barna’s Think Like Jesus;
• Greek teaching allows Curt to sharpen biblical language skills;
• we are mentoring Minneapolis friend Karen Sipes, who arrived in October for a year of work with children at risk;
• we had warm fellowship with Nils Friberg during his 2-month teaching ministry in Brazil;
• many faithful supporters continue to pray and give on a regular basis;
  
• God is giving us a stronger desire to seek him daily.

Looking ahead to 2008, pray with us for the following concerns:

• Lalia’s ministry to women, both one-on-one and in small group Bible studies;
• Curt’s pastoral role as field leader (also administrative duties);
• Alan’s direction for the future, as well as personal and spiritual growth;
• Relationships transformed by God’s power;
• The weakening US dollar steadily erodes our buying power;
  
• Greater dependence on God for all our needs.