Greetings from São Paulo, Brazil!
Over the past few months, we have been staying busy in the work here. As I mentioned in our last prayer letter, our family went to the Deaflympics 2022 in the city of Caxias do Sul. Silent Word Ministries out of Trenton, GA purchased and provided us with thousands of tracts to take and distribute. We were able to hand out many Gospel tracts, talk with a good number of people, and several deaf people made professions of faith.
On May 30, Amilton, one of our faithful deaf men, died unexpectedly at the age of fifty-one. He had just celebrated his fifteenth “spiritual birthday” the day before. Back in November of 2021, Amilton invited a deaf couple to church named Gilson and Marileide. This couple had visited numerous other churches, but when they visited our church, the Gospel was clearly presented to them, and they trusted Christ as their Savior. We praise God that Amilton invited these people to church before he went to Heaven. One person can make a difference!
We have been invited to go to a church two hours northwest of us next month in the city of Boituva. Dan will be preaching, and we will be presenting our ministry among the deaf. The pastor seems to be interested in starting a deaf ministry in the church, so we are excited about this opportunity.
September 25th has been designated as “Blue Sunday.” This is a special day in Brazil that celebrates and brings awareness to the deaf and their culture. Each year, we invite Deaf from all over São Paulo to our church, and Dan will preach a simple, evangelistic message, followed by a small party to show our love for the Deaf. Please pray for Deaf to be saved on this special day.
Our two remaining children at home are doing well. Matthew began his senior year of high school, and Chrissy started seventh grade. Becky not only stays busy with our own children, but also with the children at church. She is often requested to attend doctor’s appointments to interpret for our deaf ladies, and that can take up several hours in a day as we trek all around São Paulo. Thank you for praying for our family!
One important prayer request we have is that God would send us someone to come and work with us. We would love to have a Brazilian man to come and eventually take over as pastor. Dan has begun to work with one of our men who has preached a couple of times, but he hasn’t had any “formal” Bible training. Dan plans to spend more time training this man, but someone to work alongside of us with experience would be a huge blessing.
Also, please pray for our colleagues, Jon and Hannah Speights. They have two children with some serious health issues, but it seems as if numerous medical exams have been unable to find the root causes. Your prayers for this family would be greatly appreciated.
Once again, THANK YOU for allowing us to represent you as we labor among the Deaf in São Paulo. We are extremely grateful for your prayer and financial support.
That all may “hear,”
Dan & Becky Bennett