Dear partners in the ministry,
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15
We are living in challenging days. In all my life, never have I seen anything like the effects of and reactions to COVID-19. Like most of the world, we have been in quarantine, unable to hold regular church services in our usual location. Our last Sunday service was March 15, and since then we have been using “Facebook Live” as a means of ministering to our deaf church family and friends via the internet. When churches in São Paulo were required to close their doors, most churches with a Deaf ministry in Brazil also stopped having an interpreter for the Deaf. For that reason, our services for the deaf in Brazilian sign language (LIBRAS) went farther and wider than we ever could have imagined. Between the two of us, my wife and I had more than 150 new contacts/friend requests on Facebook, and more people have been tuning in to our live services.
Sometime last year, Joanne, a young deaf woman, visited our church. Several months ago she contacted Anna, one of our church members, and asked for a Bible. Anna told my wife, and so Becky got a Bible and wrote a little note in the front of the Bible. The Bible was sent to a small city in the northern state of Piauí, some 1,870 miles from where we live. Well, in early March we heard that Joanne was going to commit suicide. Anna and Becky began to frantically try to get in contact with Joanne. After several hours of not getting an answer to the messages that were sent, Joanne finally responded, praise the Lord! Anna and Becky set up a time to have a videocall with Joanne, and after two hours of talking/signing, Joanne was gloriously saved on March 4, 2020!
Joanne has two roommates, a guy and another girl. Joanne began to tell her roommates about what happened to her, so more videocalls were scheduled. On March 9, our co-worker, Michael Douglas, and Anna led Aldair to the Lord, and on March 11, they introduced Adelane to the Savior. To God be the glory!
Sônia, another one of our deaf ladies, had been witnessing to her friends, a deaf couple. Another videocall was set up, and on March 28, Sérgio and Tatiane accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Praise God!
We will continue livestreaming our services as we are still unsure about when we will be able to return to regular services. Please be praying for us in the months ahead as the cold weather sets in. At this time, both the flu and COVID19 are going around, so we ask prayer for our health and the health of our church family.
Finally, we are coming to the end of our fourth term here in Brazil. Lord willing, we will be leaving on July 28, 2020 for furlough. If you would like for us to drop in and give a report, please contact me as soon as possible.
Again, thank you for faithfully standing with us financially, and kneeling for us prayerfully.
That all may “hear,”
Dan and Becky Bennett