Downtown Ibiapina
Entrance to CroataAt my (Julie) graduation from high school, our principal chose a verse for each of us graduates. The verse he chose for me was Jeremiah 29:11 which says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." I have carried this verse with me through all the changes, the moves, everything new that God has brought before us, especially through this missionary journey we've been on. Every time we are waiting for the Lord's plans to be made clear I remember that He "knows the plans" He has for us. Those plans aren't nebulous but certain. As Psalm 33:11 says, "But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." And His plans are for our good, "to prosper us", "to give us a hope and a future." What a blessing it is to be in the hands of the Almighty, Sovereign, All-Knowing, Loving God!
Todd is nearing the end of his language school. We are planning on Todd being done with his classes by the end of the month or sooner, depending on how difficult the cycles are. It's been amazing to see how things are easier for him to understand. But as we've been told by his teacher and by the other missionaries, this is just the foundation for a life-time of practice and perfecting the language. Todd isn't fluent as some might expect after a year of schooling, but everyone here says that it took them a couple years to be able to converse without difficulty in Portuguese. He has received a very good base and is really looking forward to growing in his ability to speak, witness, or do business in Portuguese. He's putting everything he has learned into practice and feels much freer lately to go to hardware stores or the bank or wherever he needs to go by himself.
As we explained in our last post a couple weeks ago, we are researching different towns to live in, in that area of Ceara, not in the town of Guaraciaba that we thought originally we would be living in. We have several towns in the interior that we would like to research and we will be starting with two of the least reached. There are two pastors that would like to send church planting teams to help us in the effort. So wherever the Lord leads us to live, the pastor nearest there will send a team.
Next weekend Todd and Ivan (our field director) will be traveling to visit Ibiapina (a city of 23,100 up in the mountains that has only about 67 known believers) and meeting with the pastor in the town of Sao Benedito to talk about his vision for Ibiapina. Then two weekends later, they will be returning to go to Croata (a city of 17,300 half way up the mountains that has no known believers) and meeting with the Pastor of the Nova Russas church. These statistics are based on the 2000 census, so they want to see also how things have changed. It could be possible that a church has been started by another evangelical group in the area without us knowing about it. We are determined to be like Paul who did not want to go into an area and try to compete or build on another person's work (Romans 15:20-21). So these initial trips will be to determine the current status of those towns. If we believe the Lord would have us look at other towns, then we will continue to do these research trips. So that is what we would ask prayer for. God's good plans to be made known and for us to be patient in making the decision.
We've been told by many people here to take our time with this decision--it's a big decision that can't truly be made under a lot of pressure. It needs to be based on prayer and lots of wisdom. But we've been working toward this end since 2005 and we're excited to get there to start the work. We're also really looking forward to being able to settle into a place that we can call home for a little bit longer. This will be our sixth move since 2006 and we're looking forward to settling down a little, if possible. So please pray for balance--a good desire to work diligently to that end, but not to rush and be impulsive in the decision.
Here is my personal prayer list for the place where the Lord would want us:
- God would be preparing the hearts of the neighbors and people in the area with whom we will be doing business.
- That the people in the town will accept an American family to come live among them.
- That Satan's strongholds would be destroyed in the hearts and minds of the people.
- That the people would be hungry for something to fill the void in their hearts.
- That God would protect them from accepting the heresies of the cults so prevalent.
- That our family would be a good testimony as we live among our neighbors.
- That there would be children that our children can befriend and share Christ with.
- For our family to adjust and truly love living in the simplicity of a little town in a third world country.
- That the Lord would provide a home that we can live in without too much difficulty.
- And can I think humanly, I would like a home with a good breeze :). Where we are living right now has no breeze and the sun beats on the house all day and the heat makes it hard to function!
Thank you so much for being partners with us in encouragement, prayer and giving. We will keep you posted on what the Lord's plan is for us and how He brings it into fruition!
Serving together with you,
Todd and Julie Hendry
