Dear friends, family, and partners,

We pray that this note finds you well and growing in grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. We wanted to inform you of our latest news so that you would know how we are doing, and so that you can pray more specifically for us.

After recent trips for a speaking opportunity and mission conference in South Carolina and Mississippi respectively, we find ourselves on unfamiliar ground; that being fully supported both prayerfully and financially. The Lord has both amazed and humbled us as He has raised the support in His way and in His time. All we can do is stand in awe at His power and majesty as He has displayed it over the last two years. What an awesome God is He that we serve!

So at this point you are probably saying, "Great news! So when do you leave? Immediately?" Without reservation, I can give you a resounding, but sheepishly given answer: No, not yet. I wish it were different, but this is how everything is coming into place at this time.

In our last newsletter, we asked you to pray about our getting our visas in a timely fashion. The Lord is answering this prayer, but in a time frame that is not what we would have chosen. We are still waiting upon an official letter of invitation from the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, which is a necessary document that is needed before a visa can be issued. Our friends in Rio Verde, André and Kristy Jennings, are diligently and patiently waiting on the local presbytery to finish getting all the necessary signatures and seals of approval before sending us this crucial document. At best, it will come in another week or so, at worst, it will be sometime right before the Christmas holiday.

Because of this, we have prayerfully decided to postpone our departure until after the first of the year. We are doing this so that we can spend another Christmas with the children's grandmothers (our mothers) before we leave for our year of language study in Campinas and our subsequent term of service in the Lord's harvest fields of Brazil.

This leads us to ask of you for a specific prayer item. Our hosts, Jim and Wynne Brantner, have, for the last year, graciously opened their missionary apartment to us as our home. We had anticipated leaving for the field by the end of this month, and we had communicated this to them. They, in turn, had anticipated having the apartment available for Christmas. So, they invited some of Wynne's relatives to come for the holidays. In order for them to have the space they need, we will pack for storage and shipping before Christmas. We are very thankful that one of our supporters at our home church has offered for us to stay in her home during that time. Please pray that we can work out all of the details.

Therefore, we would ask that you would pray that:

1) We would be able to have some semblance of stability as we homeschool in the midst of packing up to move (pray particularly for Lynn's sanity during all this).
2) We would not get caught up in the changes and uncertainty and forget why we are celebrating our Lord's birth nor lose focus of the ministry ahead that He has graciously given us.
3) The Lord would give us peace as we work out the details in moving out/moving in/moving out for good in the weeks ahead.

We honestly cherish you and submit that your prayers for us over the last few years have sustained and strengthened us beyond anything we could imagine. Please, as you run the race, keep your eyes focused on the Author and Perfecter of our faith who is standing at the finish line, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In His Service,
David, Lynn, Hilary, Jacob, and Taylor

P.S. We also hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

- Wednesday, November 21, 2001 2:04:53 PM (EST)