RODRIGUES NEWSLETTER

Novo Demini
July 29th, 2008

Dear Friends,

Greetings from our little corner of the world! Hope this letter finds you all well and rejoicing in the Lord! We are so thankful for the privilege God has given us to be a part of what He is doing in the  Church. On the 13th of this month we had the privilege of seeing 8
Yanomami brothers and sisters being baptized, publicly declaring their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior. This last Sunday two Yanomami brothers were ordained as pastors. For quite some time they had already been teaching their own people, but now they were formally recognized. So many missionaries before us gave of their lives but were never able to see the results of all their hard labor. Today we are seeing the fruits of many years of faithful service among these people. To God be all the honor and glory!

On the 30th of May João left Novo Demini headed for Barcelos. He took 4 Indian men along with him and they were gone for 10 "sleeps" as the Indians say. As usual it was quite an adventure! Going down river their boat all but ran out of fuel. God did another one of His miracles and a fisherman along the way sold them enough to make it. They made it back in record time. Last year it took 9 days up the river. This time he was able to make it in 6. At one point they went 60 hours strait without stopping to sleep. He made it back in time for Nathan's 3rd Birthday. You can't imagine my joy in having him back. Praise the Lord there were two other missionary couples here so I and the boys weren't alone. Being apart made me even more aware and grateful for the good husband God has given me. Trying to take care of everything here at home alone, at times, was kind of overwhelming. The first few days João was gone Nathan wasn't feeling to good and just wanted to be held most of the time. PTL it only lasted a few days and that he and Ryan were well for the rest of the time.

In our last newsletter I mentioned a man by the name of Celso, who has cancer. He is still alive, but just slowly wasting away. Please continue to pray as we still aren't sure of his eternal home. Yesterday afternoon we had a strong wind which came up just before a rain.
It took part of the aluminum off of our roof. Joao had to quick cover it with a plastic so the rain wouldn't come in. Praise the Lord there were lots of volunteers to help him.  This morning he is outside seeing how much of the aluminum he will be able to re-use and how he is going to go about getting it fixed. Pray he can fix it soon since we are in the rainy season and it rains almost everyday.
On the 4th of August we will be flying out to Boa Vista and on the 11th plan on traveling by car to Manaus. João was invited to do a three week course which will be given in Manaus. The beginning of September João and two other co-workers will be participating in several days of meetings for Christian Indians from all over Brazil. 5 Christian men from here will be going to Manaus to participate. Our prayer is that it will be a time of encouragement for them to be with other Christian Indians who have also placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior!
A special Thank You for your prayers and financial support of our ministry!

Because of Jesus,

João, Hope, Nathan & Ryan