Baptism & Brazil update

There were three baptisms yesterday, praise the Lord! Brother Norman Troyer and his wife Maria from the church in northern MO were re-baptized, and a young brother, Lloyd Brubacker, was baptized as well. Brother Teyo from NC was on hand to take some unique and beautiful photos; we'll edit this post later and add a few more, Lord willing.

In the first picture you see Norman and Maria in the water and Lloyd standing on the bank to the right.

Here is one of Lloyd

And a video!!

Brothers Brian and David made it safely to Brazil to visit brethren there. David made it back last week, however Brian is still there, meeting people, street preaching, and so on. He has had some profitable visits, praise the Lord. In another week or so he'll go to Venezuela; Brother David and Brother Ismael from Columbia will meet him there to visit with all the brethren there.

Update ... a lot to say here.

Much time has gone by since we have updated our little blog. The summer season brings a lot of busy times and things like this blog are easy to neglect. It was not until our recent trip to Michigan to visit brethren there that I was reminded to update this thing ... a brother there looks forward to updates so I thought maybe others did too.

The last post was the baptism in Mexico. Since that time there have been two more baptisms - Sister Jasmine here in the states (She lives in OK) and Brother Josia in the DR. Here are pictures of that:

Brother David was blessed and encouraged to be able to visit Brother Bert in the Philippines a month or so ago. Brother Oliver is still working in Saudi but hopes to go home soon. Here is a picture of Bert & David:

Brothers Brian & David have been trying to get their visas to Brazil to visit the brethren there ... it's been a long, stressful process which included a few trips to Chicago, a strike, computer issues, and so on. The Lord's will was to have them go, for which we are thankful and relieved that the waiting is over and travel plans do not have to be rearranged. A group of us just got back from visiting the brethren in Michigan [what a blessing!] and on our way home we stopped in Chicago to pick up both visas. While there, the brothers did some preaching downtown. They had several really good talks and we all believe it was well worth arriving home later to stay downtown a bit longer. Here are a few of the signs they held:

After Brazil, Brian is going to go visit the brethren in Venezuela. David plans to meet him there a few weeks later and I believe Brother Ismael from Columbia is meeting them there as well.

The brothers have been very encouraged at all that has been going on at the universities so far this school year. Several students from last year in each place we visit have come back to talk to us again. There seem to be a few that are very serious.

One final thing: there have been 3 babies born in the last few months here in SW MO and one in Northern MO. Marcus & Monica had their eighth child (a girl), Jason & Robyn had their 5th (a girl) and Jeff & Dana had their 7th (a boy), & Duane and Carol had their 7th [I think? I'm still getting to know them all!] (a girl). All are healthy and well, praise the Lord.

That's all for now.