Excerpts from our September prayer letter

This past year, we’ve been trying to obtain a Portuguese medical document for Sarah. As with most documents, these are obtained through prayer, patience, and being sent in circles to a dozen different offices. About 3 weeks ago, we went to the medical center (again) to meet with a doctor who could maybe help us. He spent 10 grouchy minutes telling us why he couldn’t help us, and then sent us away without the document (again). But, while we waited for the appointment, one of our deaf friends walked in . . . with another deaf lady named who also lives in our town. We enjoyed chatting with her for several minutes and it was evident that day that God sent us there, not to obtain our document, but to make another contact in town. Amazingly, the week after, as soon as we walked up to the counter at the same clinic, they handed us the document with no problems. After a year of trying, God provided what we needed just before the baby arrives.

While we continue to build relationships with lost people, we are thankful that God has also allowed us to meet brothers and sisters in Christ right here in our own town. This past Friday night in our home, 17 believers joined hands, bowed their heads, and prayed for God´s guidance in beginning a church in Montijo. By the time everybody left the dinner and Bible study, it was after 1:00 in the morning. As Sarah and I put away the leftovers and tidied up a bit, we were deeply grateful for what had happened and hopeful for the future. Since June, we have been meeting each month with this group of believers which now includes us, three families that live here in town, another missionary couple, and a pastor from a church in a city 30 minutes from here. In our previous updates, we asked you to pray that God would help us start a Bible study in our town. God answered that prayer, but in a different way than we first envisioned. There is much potential with this group, but we also need much wisdom for how to proceed from here. The first week of October, I am meeting with some of the men of this group to pray about and discuss the next steps we should take. Please pray that God would show us what to do.

In other news… We will be starting Level 2 of Portuguese Sign Language classes on Oct. 1st. Sarah is now 8 months along in her pregnancy, and we look forward to our daughter being born by the end of October. We continue to strengthen our relationships with people we mentioned in past prayer letters.  All of this is possible in large part because of your prayers and partnership. Thank you!

1927-2011

This past April, I was reading a book at the park when an elderly gentleman sat down on the bench next to me. He was very distinguished looking, dressed in a navy suit, white shirt, and navy tie. Since he was sitting alone, I decided to strike up a conversation. Soon I discovered his name was José and that he had lived in Montijo all 84 years of his life. I asked Senhor José about what kind of work he had done, what the town was like back when he was young, and his thoughts about society today.

He was a wonderful conversationalist. I discovered that even though he had worked in a hospital most of his life, his real love was poetry. He said with a flourish, “I am a poet at heart… To me anything can become poetry.” He told me how he had written poetry for special occasions in the town, and how he had even written a song for one of the town festivals. At one point, he became so enthused about his work that he excused himself, walked across the street to his house, and returned minutes later with a copy of one of his books of poetry that he had written.

“Here, I would like to give you my book.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. That is very kind of you.” I replied.

“Do you have a pen?” He asked, “So I can sign it for you.”

I handed him a blue pen, and on the front page he wrote,

“For my friend David Both (sp). With a warm embrace from your friend.” April 20, 2011

I was touched by this act of kindness and was hopeful that I could talk with him again.

I saw Senhor José again a couple of weeks later. This time, he wasn’t feeling very well. Dressed in the same suit, he still looked distinguished, but he seemed confused and disoriented as we chatted. Soon, he said he needed to leave. He got up, shook my hand, and walked across the street to his house.

For the next couple of months, I returned to the park and always looked for Senhor José but with no success. I wondered how he was doing and prayed that I would have an opportunity to see him again.

Finally, one day about a month ago, as I was walking out of the library, I saw a glass case holding an exhibition of books. I recognized one of them as the book Senhor José had given me. For a moment, I was excited as I thought, “How neat! The library put his books of poetry on display.” Then, my heart sank. At the bottom of the the case, his full name was written out and below that was:

1927-2011

I lingered for a moment, read the obituary which spoke highly of his contributions to the community, and then slowly walked out of the library and down the street to my car.

This bothered me on so many levels.

“Where was he now?” Even though he was a “good” man, it was doubtful that he had trusted Christ alone as Savior.

“What should I have done differently?”

“I should have been more forceful about sharing the gospel with him.” 

All of these thoughts raced through my head and a deep sense of sadness moved my heart. From this experience, I concluded two things:

1. Every single person I meet will someday have a birth date and a date of death under his or her name. While I have always known this theoretically, my moments with Senhor José made me understand on a whole new level that the task I have is an urgent one.

2. I don’t ever want to have a friend or acquaintance that dies without me at least having tried to tell them about Jesus. Never again do I want to have that feeling. Never.

Getting ready for our little girl

Sarah at seven months

It’s hard to wait for our little girl to arrive. We hope she will be here in another 5-6 weeks. In the meantime, we’ve worked on getting her room ready.

David assembling a shelf for baby's room

Sarah hemming the curtains

The room is ready!

August News

Sunset at camp

Last month, I helped at a camp put on by two other Baptist churches here in Portugal. There were seventeen kids present that were mostly middle school to high school age. It was a wonderful week of great fun with activities such as kayaking, scavenger huts, games, sailing, and swimming. Each night, I had the opportunity to preach. On Tuesday, I spoke from John 14, and, afterward, five kids made a profession of faith. What a joyous evening! To me the highlight of the whole time was to find out that one

A view of the campsite

more girl placed her trust in Christ as Savior on the last day of camp. Two of her friends, who had been saved at camp the year before, talked with her in her tent and led her to the Lord. It is exciting to see people saved, but it gets even better when you see those people sharing their faith with their friends and spreading the gospel themselves. One other blessing of the week was getting to work together with other missionaries. It is neat to have everybody use their talents and gifts in different ways to make possible a week of camp like that. Seeing those six kids trust Christ made me hunger even more intensely to see more people here do the same.

August Pictures

 

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Pray for future plans

Here are some ways you can pray for us:

1. Pray that we continue to meet new people. Currently, we have a significant relationship with about 40 different people here in Montijo. We would like to know at least 100 people by the end of this year. Specifically, pray that we will meet people in whose lives God is already working. Just like Philip met the Ethiopian in the desert, we pray that we would meet people that God is preparing to receive the good news of the gospel.

2. Pray for the Bible study that we hope to start in September. We are planning to do a five week Bible study here in the town where we live. We are looking for a good place to have this study and we are praying that God would open the hearts of people. Recently, we met two couples who are saved and live here. One attends a church about 30 minutes away and the other is currently not in church. Both have expressed interest in being a part of a Bible study. We are praying and hoping that this Bible study will someday develop into a church.

3. We’re excited about the good spiritual conversations we have had with many different people lately. Pray that we would have the wisdom to know when and how to go further and when we need to be patient and allow the Holy Spirit to work in peoples’ hearts. Thank you for your interest in what God is doing here!

End of May Update

Sarah’s Conversation

“What’s that one story in the Bible where God destroys a lot of people? I think there was a boat in it.” One of my classmates asked me this question after school one day. She and another classmate are from an Asian country that is largely unreached by the Gospel. Yet, she had read some of the Bible and had questions. Using the story of Noah, I explained how the people had disobeyed God and then refused to enter the ark and be rescued from the flood. She asked how it was fair for God to punish them. I told her how long God had warned the people through Noah, and how generous it was for Him to offer to save them in the first place. I had shared the Gospel with this classmate once before, so I connected the story of Noah to how God offers us salvation today. The expression on her face turned sincerely sad. Beckoning with her hand to the other classmate, she said, “But that means that WE will not go to heaven, because we do not believe!” The truth of that statement brought tears to my eyes. I emphasized the importance of accepting salvation from God. The girls asked to talk with me more about this when they returned from spring break. We recently purchased some Bibles in the native language of these students. Please pray for both of us to clearly present the truth, and that these two girls and our other classmates will accept Christ as their Savior.

David’s Encounters:

Every time we meet somebody new is a cause for excitement. Most of the times, meeting people happens on purpose, but sometimes God provides unexpected opportunities. Maybe you are wondering, “So how is it that you meet people?”

Example 1: On April 25th, Portugal celebrated “Liberty Day.” In 1974, the Portuguese overthrew their government which was a dictatorship and instituted a democracy. During the week, I went to one of the parks here in town, sat down on a bench, and began talking with some of the old men who congregate there. I asked about their experiences during that momentous occasion, and I listened as they told stories of how life was back in the “good old days.” Since then, I have been back several times to talk with Daniel, Cristiano, and José (all men in their seventies or eighties).

Example 2: I recently volunteered to help at a youth center where kids come after school to get help with their homework. Three days a week, I go for a couple hours and help kids with whatever they’re working on that day. This has been a tremendous way to meet many children as well as to get to know the other workers.

Example 3: Last week when we went to sign language class, we had a substitute teacher. The teachers and students travel up to an hour from any direction to get to our class. As we were talking, we discovered that this teacher lives within walking distance of us! After class that night, we gave her a ride home and promised to meet with her again soon. She is now the third deaf person that we have met that lives in our neighborhood. Praise God!

We are thankful for all the people God has put in our lives this month, but there is one more person we are especially looking forward to meeting: We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting a baby in October. Sarah is doing pretty well, and we are anxiously awaiting the day when we will meet this little one.

May Pictures

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Sunday evening walk

Last night around 9:00, Sarah and I went for a walk in our town, Montijo. As we wandered around, we caught three vivid glimpses into the lives of people here. First, we walked past a large restaurant/conference room. Looking through the large windows, we could see inside where there were about 50 people having a party. It was a rather enthusiastic gathering. Even from outside, we could hear them laughing, cheering, telling jokes, and making toasts to one another.

As we walked a little further, we came to the town square. Surprisingly, the doors of the Catholic church were open and inside it was filled with people. In fact, there were so many people that many were standing outside on the steps leading into the building. Out of curiosity, Sarah and I walked up the stairs and stood and watched for several minutes. Here it was 9:30 at night and the church was packed. Though the influence of the Catholic church has diminished, this was evidence that it still remains strong.

Finally, as we were heading home, we passed by a cafe. Inside there were about 15 men drinking beer while sitting watching a soccer game. Benfica, the most popular soccer team in Portugal, was playing. Since many of the games are on cable TV, people gather at cafes and bars to cheer their team on.As we finished our walk, it occurred to me that we had just seen three different portraits of typical Portuguese living: spending time with friends and family, religion, and soccer. What a reminder to pray that God would do His work in this city. How we pray that people would be saved and that God would be glorified here.

2011 Pictures

 

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