Learning New Levels of Trust

Dear Family & Friends,

We are definitely feeling a sensation that we are flying over our nation seeing things from a new viewpoint and as they are connected with one another; rather than viewing all of this from within the forest where we usually reside. We are getting a view of our dear Foursquare family in different geographic regions, ministry venues, cultural backgrounds and age distinctions. Taking it all in is changing us, and our vision of where we are, as a nation and as a church. We are realizing, as never before, how urgent it is to be in intercession for our church and the nations including our own.

We see God moving in each individual church, in a unique way meeting every community of believers and teams of leaders, exactly as they have need and direction, in this difficult and sometimes confusing time in history. God is in control of the events in our tiny corner of the universe, as well as, in the largest nations of the world. We, as believers, are in a tandem relationship with the God of the universe...a yoke. What a ride! We are yoked with God...fathom that!

Mt. 11:28-30; "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls . For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

In these past two months we have had the privilege of being in three of our Foursquare district conferences and it has been such a great encouragement. We have heard the words of our leadership to us; Our President Glenn Burris spoke with gentle perception regarding 'Living Free From Hurt'; why this message now? This is a strategic epoch as never before in which leaders at all levels are finding themselves subject to being wounded; these wounds are not "mortal wounds" and we can be forgiven and forgive one another in a manner that, all involved are able to receive remedial care from the Holy Spirit, and move on to new areas of growth and maturity.

There is a strategic work of the enemy to take advantage of areas of unfinished character formation in all of our lives; and precisely in those areas he attacks us and brings injury before the formation of character is complete. This leaves us injured and if it is not dealt with we will literally grow around these issues without resolving them. This then becomes a debilitating injury, causing us to limp and often not realizing what has been the root cause. I would like to take this opportunity to alert my family and friends that Satan's "state of the art" tactic with leaders today is to take advantage of any lonely, wounded, unhealed areas of our lives and strategically target and hit us there. We in turn receive the "offense" and everything is then "colored and filtered" through the wound, created by the unhealed offense.

Dear ones, I encourage you, as well as, myself to let go of all these offenses; pray for our offenders; allow the Holy Spirit to heal these wounded areas; and stay free by not rehearsing the events in our hearts or minds, re-wounding our souls. Only then can the "Body" recuperate and resume the calling of each one, acting accordingly, out of a healed soul, and freed mind and spirit, until the "Day of Jesus Christ".

We have been clearly blessed these past months being in so many of our churches and conferences. We have had the blessing of meeting with pastors; life long friends, as well as, making new ones, being with our fellow missionaries and, not only giving out to the Body but receiving from the various gifts in the Body.

Every Sunday with the exception of one we have been sharing and ministering in one of our churches the messages that God has put on our hearts for our denomination regarding signs and wonders following the growth of godly character in the saints; and a reminder of the hope that is living in each one of us as we labor daily, in a world full of hopelessness.

Just to keep you up to date we are lingering at right around 70% of our projected and approved budget; so many of you are among that 70% and we are deeply grateful for your open hearts. We are however restrained here in the US until the agreed 100%, with and additional 20%, in the wings for the purpose of any unexpected attrition, is completed; and then and only then will we be released by our sponsoring agent, FMI (Foursquare Missions International)to deploy for Brazil. This is a loving safeguard for us and others who raise their own support, so that we do not leap into the needy field without proper backing and funding from those committed to stand with us in this respect.

God bless you, each and every one. You are all so very precious to us and we rely on your prayer greatly. Thank you for your prayer and generosity in helping to meet the budgeted needs.

His servants with you in our minds and in our hearts,

Dale & Patti Downs

Prayer needs:

1) Anointing and flexibility in the upcoming marriage retreats; one in English and one in Portuguese.

2) Needed transportation at the end of our New England and east coast support raising season; if you will remember our Mitsubishi 1999 died last month and our very, very kind sending pastor, Pastor Cairo Marques has generously loaned us one of his vehicles to utilize while here in the NE. We will need to finalize a mode of "dispensable" transportation to the west coast in order to close up the very last details of our home, storage, visa applications and airline tickets. Therefore will will need also transportation in CA. Please pray with us for a plan to accommodate all of these needs.

3) Continued comfort and reassurance to our children and grandchildren as we prepare to leave them behind for this season. There will be SKYPE but it is not quite the same.