Brothers & Sisters in Christ/Family & Friends,
Greetings in the name of Jesus our Lord.
As I previously said to you, the last year or 2 have been a time of making adjustments and changes to put things in an order that makes sense for ministry. For about 4 years, we spent every week in “Detention Homes” ministering to the young boys there. In the system there in the Belem area (in northern Brazil), we visited 2 of the 3 “homes” weekly. There, they had the young men divided into 3 groups. One group was adolescents from ages 12 – 14. The next group was from 15 – 17. And the oldest group was 18 – 19. These are approximate ages. They lived in different facilities on the same road. It was good to do the ministry each week to the 2 younger groups, but when the young people left there, we did not have facilities or a place that we could continue to minister to them, and the prospect of those possibilities growing was not happening.
So what we were doing only seemed like a ministry maintenance with no ability to expand and grow. So eventually we closed down the whole thing until we could come to understand what was going on that there was very little opportunity for growth. This led to many of the changes that are happening now. In my own experience in missions, I recognized that the level of blessing over us as part of the Foursquare Church was less than it was in previous mission work I had done. It is as if while the rocket was on the launch pad, that everything appeared to be on target. But after the launch, the trajectory was gradually getting farther and farther off course; that is, that we were getting farther off target from the Lord’s will; and as a result, His blessing on our ministry was diminishing. So for the present time, we are not doing ministry in Brazil. Actually, I am working in the US. We are also moving in different directions as far as the church we are a part of now.
So I see this time as a time of reestablishing foundations and seeking to align with a church that will be a better match for us in doing ministry, who can facilitate us in fulfilling our callings in Brazil. I will continue to send these missions updates, so please continue to pray for us for better alignment with the Lord’s will. I believe that being closely aligned with His will, that He will cause His plans and purposes to be realized.
Be blessed. We love you in Jesus.
Joseph (with Cristina & Hadassa)
Please note that we are still not receiving any financial support from any source at this time. The best way you can help us is to pray for us. On our website, there is a book that you can buy if you like and if you want to communicate with us, you can respond to this email or add a comment on the update on our website:www.agapeofabba.com
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