Fall 2016 Downs' Update

  

Dear Family and Friends, 

We want to thank each of you for your kindness to us in the midst of this transition.  We give thanks to all who have housed, fed, prayed for, sheltered & shuttled us around, since our arrival.   

So many of you have encouraged us, and God has used you to confirm our way, and His direction for us.  Several trusted voices have  spoken into our lives, and so we map out the direction that God has confirmed to our hearts,  thus far.   

We are pursuing a “Life Coaching” certification, through “Creative Results Management”, a course in Seattle, WA, beginning on Feb. 27-Mar. 3rd.    This course, together with our training from, “Caring for the Heart” by John Regier, will aid us to continue accompanying and encouraging, younger men and women in ministry.    

We give special thanks to the District leadership of The Southern California District, The Northeast Atlantic District and our own Foursquare Missions International for their investment in this Coaching Course for us.  We will yet need to raise funds for airfare, food and lodging, in order to take advantage of  this opportunity.   

We owe such a debt of gratitude to Foursquare Missions International, as they have facilitated  our administrative details during these past five and 1/2 years, and have received us home with so much love and care.  Thanks to each and every one of you at FMI!  

Most importantly, we want to thank those of you who supported us financially and through prayer during these five years, and have remained steadily generous during this time of transition. 

If you sense the Lord’s direction to continue your support throughout the finalization of our training in March 2017, this would not only be deeply appreciated, but it can be done through FMI (Foursquare Missions International), as many of you have already been doing.  

Praise & Thanks:

1) God’s provision of a 2011 Nissan Altima for our transportation needs.

2) Our children who are housing us, for the present.  

3)  The Coaching Course opportunity: 2/27-3/3, 2017.

Prayer Needs: 

1. Sufficient funds for airfare, food and lodging for the duration of the course in Seattle.
2. Recognizing God’s new open door for ministry 
3. Re-settling details for life in the USA 

Thank you, dear friends and family, for your love, prayers, and support, both moral and financial.   

Much love and deep appreciation,

Dale & Patti Downs  

FMI Pastoral Care Missionaries to Brazil (in transition back to the USA and ministry here). 

I was rudely awakened, very early, this morning by the unrelenting roar of a motorcycle that, for all intents and purposes was about to explode, and perhaps kill the rider and those nearby.  I have only heard this sound here in Brazil, and each time I hear it I pray that this person will not kill themselves nor those in his path.   This sound is exceedingly amplified as it travels up the eleven stories to our apartment which makes it an even more frightening experience.  I actually awakened myself praying out loud..."Lord, don't let that man kill himself or anyone in his path!  In Jesus Name!"  I got up and at that very moment had such a burden of prayer; I resolved to, "get to prayer" about the many things weighing on my heart.  I am so thankful for the "blessing" of prayer.  How much God knows our need to come to Him, as well as, His need for us to be instruments in His hand through intercessory prayer.

Without going into the particular church situation that was heavy on my heart, with you, it will suffice to say that I simply went to prayer about it.  I realized that one of the main reasons I am here is to pray about, not just things like this, but this very situation.  I also realized how terribly remiss I have been in, "pressing into heaven", as we say, for the redemption of it.  [Might as well settle in, this is going to be longer than I thought].

I seriously confessed this to the Lord and asked Him for His help in being faithful to intercede on the things He speaks to me.  When I realized that, there also are many things that I should have said to you, and for fear of rejection I have held my peace; or more accurately said...been disobedient.  Today is a day of freedom for me, after all, what in the world do I have to lose being obedient to God?  Perhaps living in another country allows me to see, with a greater clarity, certain influences on my own culture and country.  My soul, my brothers and sisters, is rent here today, over what I see and hear in my own dear family, the family of God.

Where are the voices assigned to speak into our darkness and address our compromise and our blindness.  Why are they silent OR better said, silenced.  Silenced,  by our own hardness of heart and our own sophistication of mind.  Some have allowed themselves to be cowered into a corner of silence by the choices all around us, of indulgence; others have been educated "out of their minds" and into silence. These are all imprisoned; a state that is never to be our state of mind or soul!

Recently I heard a message that riveted me to the wall on the term "tolerance".  The question that came forth in this sermon, was, "How much sin will you tolerate in your life?"  Folks, we don't even see sin anymore!  We don't even realize how far we have wandered from God's design and standard for us.
We no longer acknowledge that, our lives are supposed to look, feel, smell, be and effect the world, from a totally "other reality".  The Kingdom of God.

We have left the youth of the world, and often our own offspring, to the mercies of the "gods of this age".  Let's think for a moment.  Do you imagine that these Super-hero films are just some "old-time" folklore that is being carried on in a new generation?  Do you realize the depth of darkness that we openly invite into our lives and into our very homes, when we blindly indulge in the "fare" that the pagan world has to offer?  WAKE UP my brothers and sisters!  Let's all look into the mirror of God's Word and shout at ourselves; WAKE UP!  WAKE UP NOW!  Friends it is late, and we are sleeping, and at the very least, totally groggy.  What are we thinking?  Are we thinking?  Are we listening? To what are we listening?  What has happened to our spiritual receptors?

I am asking myself these very questions!  When I hear messages on my need to "Reclaim My Voice", I am afraid my first question is, "How did I lose my voice to begin with?" This we must know, so that it never happens again!  Too many years have passed by as we have watched the enemy devour lives and souls, and even the lives and souls of our children, while we enjoyed our stupor of worldly-headiness.  WAKE  UP, dear ones.  WAKE UP, my soul!  We must WAKE UP!

The world is searching and grasping for THE Messiah.  Tragically, they are willing to accept anyone, fictitious or infamous substitute; we see presentation after presentation of these messianic-heros who have no moral conviction, to speak of; and we are willing to allow our little ones to be indoctrinated with their evil, dark and twisted sense of right.  Do our little ones even know Who the True Messiah is?  And that He has come to dispel darkness, to do away with the "real evil one" who has come to steal, kill and destroy us, and our families?

Our influence is a very powerful thing.  Some of us have greater, more widespread influence than others. I Cor. 8:9-13;  What does having "liberty" really mean to us?  Liberty to do, or say, or watch, or listen to, or believe...whatever?  Is this liberty?  I believe true liberty is to be free of the grasping claws of Satan, on our hearts and minds!  This is only through Christ, Who is alive and resides in us!

I will close with this scripture which hit me right between the eyes today and cut to my heart regarding my fear to reach out to you whom I love and exhort all of us, including myself to rise up to a new level of awareness in the Spirit, Today, while it is still called Today.

2 Cor. 7:8-10 (Not that I should dare to put myself in Paul's company; except through Grace.)

Listen carefully: Pay especially close attention to vs. 10

"8 For even though I did grieve you with my letter, I do not regret [it now], though I did regret it; for I see that that letter did pain you, though only for a little while;
9 Yet I am glad now, not because you were pained, but because you were pained into repentance [and so turned back to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us or harm for what we did.
10 For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].

Amplified Bible (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

My challenge to all of us is, that we no longer drink from the fountain of "(the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) *[it] is deadly [breeding and ending in death]."

*[it] my addition for clarification only.

The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not "lack" Ps. 23

Dear Friends and family,

It has been such a very long time since I have updated my blog.  I think to begin with I really didn't understand how to utilize one; but I am increasingly convinced that God wants me to be much more open with the lessons He is teaching me throughout this daily walk with Him.

Today a very dear friend of many years told me a kind of joke, that to tell the truth we both thought was more truth that joke.  She is Brazilian, so all of this conversation took place in Portuguese but perhaps this will still "come through" in English.

She was quoting part of the 23rd Psalm to me..."The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want"...now in Portuguese the word for "not want" is more the idea of "I shall not lack"...then she added, I shall not lack strength, daily provision, healing....trials, sicknesses, distresses, weakness...but He will grant me all of the provision that I need for healing, strength, encouragement and direction.  

Now the point of this is that we wouldn't really recognize any of the good things that God provides as our  Shepherd if we didn't first experience the negative parts of needing this provision.  In other words, if I [lack] opportunities for healing, (sicknesses or injuries) I will not recognize that the Good Shepherd provides healing.  If I lack opportunities for provision (daily bread, housing, clothing) I will not recognize that the Good Shepherd provides for these daily needs.

How often recently I have heard teachings that refute the concept that as a Christian I will have any difficulty, distress, disease or need.  If this is so, why would I need to call on the Shepherd?

Since we have been here in Brazil we have had to face so many challenges that it would be impossible to relate them all.  As a result we have had to fortify ourselves with far more prayer than in recent years.  We have had to constantly and consistently pray about EVERY detail, every day.  There was NO way to just breeze our way through things...we had to "put up a spiritual fight" on every issue of life and ministry from the largest to the tiniest, in order to move forward daily.  If we entered into a day hurriedly and thought that, "Oh, we will get to prayer later," we would just experience closed doors at every turn.  Slam, slam, slam...until we realized that prayer "now" and not later was what had to happen; and this prayer was not just repetitious prayer...we had to re-learn how to discerned what to pray, how to battle, how to remain firm, how to stay under the burden until a breakthrough had come.

Oh we have not finished this "course on prayer", dear ones, it has just begun.  I pray that God will reawaken our discernment to literally arm ourselves daily ahead of time; not be lazy or presumptuous, and recognize that this will never be any easier; the battle will only intensify as the boundaries of Satan's illegal occupancy are challenged.  Let us awaken one another from our slumber and challenge the condition of our cities, families, churches and personal lives.  

I Peter 5:6-8  


⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
 ⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Be encouraged and strengthened,

Patti :)

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.

Dearest Friends and Family,

We just finished a really rewarding week-end doing a Marriage Retreat for two combined churches in the Gardiner, Maine area. The second church was one in Hallowell, ME. It was very special and we witnessed God do a lot of work in not only the participants but also in our lives. We ministered in the Faith Baptist Church of Hallowell, Maine on Sunday morning; this historic Maine church is pastored by LIFE Pacific graduates. We had a great time with Pastors Michael & Kelleen Longfellow and so enjoyed the fellowship and sharing we experienced.

The Gardiner, Maine, Foursquare Church joined together with the Faith Baptist Church for this retreat and each church had 9 couples. Teri Orwiler is the pastor of this church and also a very dear long-time friend. Kelleen happens to be Teri's daughter and that is how the connection of the two churches was facilitated.

The retreat was held in a the gorgeous "Sugar Loaf Lodge & Inn" a mountain ski lodge retreat center. The leaves were just breath-taking and the work of the Holy Spirit was even more impressive. :)

We are in the middle of the Northeast District of Foursquare Churches and next Sunday we will be with The Capital Church, of Pembroke, NH with Pastors Peter & Lisa Bonanno. We are really excited to see them and be with their congregation. The week-end of Oct. 17th we will be speaking in the Brockton, MA Portuguese Speaking Foursquare Church with Pastors Valdir & Sueli Facioni. We are equally excited about returning to this church to share and fellowship with them.

For those of you who are wondering about our deployment time we are waiting on God just as fast as we can! We are still in support raising mode and as soon as we reach our monthly budget and our start-up costs we will deploy. We are around 65% there.:) Please pray with us, for those who God touches and assigns to us; that resources will be released to them, so that they are able to participate.

In the meantime just so you will be clear on what we are doing; we are traveling around the US visiting our Churches and inviting them to participate in supporting our return to Brazil to help form "Pastoral Care" ministry for the pastors and their families. Our means of support during this period is not the "missions support" we are raising; but simply free will love offerings that are shared with us from each church where we minister. God has totally carried us along and these offerings have been meeting our travel needs abundantly. We also have very dear friends and colleagues who have freely opened their homes to house us and shared their hearts and housing; this is an incredibly huge gift!

Our house is being sold in a short-sale and is presently in escrow; please pray with us that the offer will be accepted by the bank and this burden will be alleviated from us. We are praying and ask that you will join with us for a speedy deployment; hopefully before the end of the year we will reach the 100% level and be on our way. Every day seems more "urgent" when you reach this age and time of life; and you feel that you "must be about Your Father's business" although we know we are doing His business even while we are in this "holding" pattern.

God bless you all and may His joy and hope fill you up and bubble over wherever you are!

Our love,
Dale & Patti Downs

Dear Family & Friends,

We have had a very refreshing, blessed and exciting month in the Northeast! We arrived simultaneously with the home-going of our dear friend and sister in Christ, Pastor Sonja Lartey. We were able to be present for the evening visitation/wake in Jamaica Plains, MA. It was an honor to know and have had time with her during her “earth-side” journey.

The following Sunday we were in the Hyde Park Foursquare Church where the Lartey’s have pastored for over a decade of ministry. We went that morning to be a comfort and support to our dear friends and colleagues in ministry and in reality they were full of hope and spilling out all over those who came. We were exceedingly blessed from the moment we walked through the door until leaving after a wonderful time of fellowship following the morning service.

The next Sunday we had the joy of being with Teri Orwiler in the Gardiner, Maine Foursquare Church. We started our visit on Saturday evening at a church softball game and were hosted by Pastor Teri in her home. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and communion together with this dear friend and sister in Christ. The Sunday morning service was a joyous celebration of the presence of the Lord in their midst; worship, ministry and words of encouragement from the Holy Spirit to our hearts.

The following Monday evening we had a time of fellowship with Pastor Eduardo & Livania Marques. After supper together at their home Dale and Pastor Eduardo headed off to the late night Monday evening prayer time the men of the church have together. It actually begins at 10:30 PM and ends around midnight or later; these dear brothers who work long and hard hours in Boston are only able to get off work (many restaurant workers) around 10 PM or later. God gave Dale a rich word of encouragement for them through the life of the 3 Hebrew children and Daniel as they struggle themselves in a “foreign” land not of their birth.

This past Sunday morning we were with Pastor Joel & Marlene Menezes a downtown Boston Hotel location. It is a new and growing work and is effectively reaching the Brazilians of their area. The majority of all these dear pastors and their wives work tirelessly at full-time jobs and still lovingly care for the sheep God has placed in their care with great love and compassion.

Sunday night was aptly described by Pastor Cairo Marques as one of those "sweet & bitter" occasions at the same time. His son, Roberto, and family; Marcia, Leonardo and Marianna are departing their ten year church plant in Brockton to take an existing Portuguese-speaking Foursquare Church in San Diego, CA. The Brockton, MA Portuguese-speaking church had its inception during our years of pastoring in Brockton. Pastor Roberto and Dale simultaneously felt led to launch this church in our exiting facilities. We were both blessed! Later they found their own facility in downtown Brockton and have grown beyond belief. We were able to be there Sunday night to help in the sending forth of the family to their new assignment from the Holy Spirit. The Brockton Portuguese-speaking Church literally gave birth that night. It is Pastor Roberto & Marcia's goal and mission to plant five new churches in the coming five years. I can't tell you what a great blessing it was to be a part of those who prayed and sent them forth. They will be missed but God has plans for this great work and they will be good.

This week we have been in the state of Maine hosted by dear friends of many years in a lakeside setting. What a refreshing and reinvigorating experience; we have canoed and kayaked, and had time to pray and meditate together. We are preparing for a week-end in our Foxboro, MA church with Pastors Mike & Mary Bave on Sunday morning and Pastors Eduardo & Livania in the Weymouth Foursquare (Portuguese-speaking) Church.

Thank you so much for your prayers and faithful support as we continue to connect with our churches and ministry colleagues to share our ministry plans of returning to Brazil for the purpose of giving pastoral care to many of our former students who are now pastors and leaders in that great work.

We give thanks to God for each one of you;
We regularly pray for many of you.
Our love,
Dale & Patti Downs

Prayer Needs:

1) Strength and health to carry out the will of God for our golden years.
2) Insight and wisdom as we visit with pastors and friends; it is our desire to be an encouragement to them in their place of service.
3) Churches and colleagues with willing hearts to be a part of our support team.
4) Holy Spirit preparation of hearts and churches in Brazil to receive and participate in the care of pastors and leaders through prayer and people resourcing.
5) Continued navigation of our personal needs: the selling of our home in Indio, CA and the closing out of all other financial obligations.

Blessings dear friends and family! D & P

The Lady in "Waiting"

We are in the midst of a very blessed and unusual time of "waiting". We left CA, house, belongings, what was left after liquidating and giving away all but some remaining boxes of our earthly belongings, on the 27th of June. We set out for the east by way of Aurora, CO and stopped at our Daughter and son-in-law's house, Debbie & Damian and the grandchildren, Naomi & Declan! It was our delight to have some hours with them and to eat a lovingly prepared "42nd Wedding Anniversary" breakfast at their table.

Next, we headed to Decatur, IL, where we spent a few quick days with many dear life-long friends there and had some dental work done. Our dentist and his wife have lovingly hosted us many times as we have crossed this nation in these past 15 years. They are dear lifelong friends. :)

Now we headed into our 2nd all night drive to Bridgewater, MA where we are graciously and lovingly hosted by dear friends and fellow believers. They are "washing our feet" and we pray that we are "washing" theirs also. Our first Sunday here we had the joy of ministering in the Bedford, NH Foursquare Church, where dear friends pastor a wonderful church full of the grace of the Lord. It was an unforgettable experience!

I spoke to a group of Portuguese speaking women on the following Saturday night, and since there was one English speaking lady present, I did my own interpreting; something, I realized, I would not like to have to do on a regular basis. :) This session was followed by a "Prayer Vigil" until 1: am with their entire congregation. They are Pastors Eduardo & Livania Marques whom we have known nearly 30 years. We remember when they started dating in Brazil when we were there previously as missionary representatives. :)

Our second Sunday we enjoyed a service in Norwell, MA with dear friends who pastor there and it was a great blessing to see how God is using and blessing them in that community. Then a time of fellowship and lunch afterward with some dear friends from our past history in New England. What a blessing to see what God is doing in the lives of those who faithfully grow and nurture others on their way through life!

What does this all feel like? I haven't talked a lot on this blog about my feelings; it has been more informative and not so much a look into the personal journey I am on. Recently I felt led to formulate a teaching around the fruit-bearing in our lives and how it is nurtured and cultivated. May I encourage any of you who read this, by sharing that the most difficult times of our lives can become, if recognized and turned over to God, the most meaningful times of our lives.

This time of uprooting and accepting the challenge to return to Brazil has been, it seems, far more difficult and character-building than was the first time with 4 children in hand and all the luggage involved in moving your whole family. There is the aspect of leaving that family behind, in a manner of speaking; a scriptural concept, I might add, even though not an easy one. There are more in the family now, counting in-laws and grandchildren. And we have wonderful enriching relationships with our adult children as they continue to navigate their way through life; all of them in some form of military life. They are growing at different rates and in different ways in their spiritual lives as we accompany them in prayer. We entrust them to God and know that in His time we will have together "family" times, yet in our future.

We will be in New England for the months of July and August. If our FMI approved budget is not yet met we will spend the remaining time with our children in Virginia and Colorado making ourselves available to serve and share in the churches in those respective areas, until we reach the goal that has been set. In a recent meeting with a member of our FMI deployment team, we were encouraged as to the fact that, this process usually takes at least two years and that we are currently ahead of the norm, which we owe to many of you who have stepped forward during your own financially difficult times and stood with us.

One marvelous answer to prayer has been the on-going help, on the other end, in Brazil, of a dear life-long couple, fellow missionaries, of over 40 years, who have stepped forward to handle the preparation of the FMI owned apartment we will use while there. They have lovingly repaired, refurbished and cleaned the apartment in anticipation of our arrival. We will of course reimburse them financially out of our start-up funds but we can never repay the labor and time that these dear people have sacrificed to "prepare a place" for us. :)

As we have traveled throughout the US and visited our Foursquare churches we have been blessed to see how God is moving and directing so many pastors and churches in the same direction. There seems to be a universal "prompting" from the Spirit of God to prepare "the Bride" for her "Groom". We see many making their way back to God, and currently growing believers taking more seriously the day and time in which we find ourselves. Even though we grieve over the defiant and rebellious ways we see the world citizens resisting the message of their need, and the only answer, we continue to faithfully spread the table and invite the guests!

Please remember us as we prayerfully visit churches and invite them to stand with us in what, we believe, the Lord of the Church is calling us to do in this new epoch of our life and ministry. We are open to do anything He wants and this, so far, is all He has indicated to us. So we move forward in faith and obedience. It is our desire to be a great blessing to our state-side churches even though our target ultimately, will be to bless our Brazilian pastoral families with spiritual and emotional care, as well as, support as they wage the battle in these final days of history.

I do not doubt for one minute that we are in the final days of history as we know it and I want to be found faithful regardless of the cost, until the end....or the beginning...depending how you look at it. :) God bless you all,

Patti (for Dale & Patti)

Prayer Needs:

The sale of our home
Continued health and strength
Acute spiritual hearing
Continued provision as we raise the needed support
The Brazilian Church and leaders: Marriages and family
Our children and grandchildren

Thanks so much for prayer...without it nothing happens. :)