A Salvation At Vacation Bible School

February 22, 2018 | Skip and Betty Harkins

Do you know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and young men fall.
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

Here we are in the second month of the year. So many things happening and so many things to do. Our God is a loving God and faithfully and lovingly cares for us so we can only Praise him and his great love and care for us. Never cease to Praise Him for His mighty love for us. He is so worthy of our praise.

The end of last year we had Jess and Mary for Thanksgiving. Then at Christmas time we had our granddaughter Rebeca and family with us. Such a blessing to have family around.

On January 8-12th we had Bible School with an average attendance of 55 or so per day. We reached the kids in our neighborhood mostly. Our largest classes were the 4-6 year-olds and the 10-16 year-olds. Our theme was knowing Jesus (the I Am’s). One little boy in my class (4-6) asked Jesus to come into his heart. His older brother made a profession last year but shows no fruit as yet. His family comes to meetings but as yet have not made a move to let Jesus into their lives.

This year we had our yearly check-ups. Mine all came out fairly well, but along with high blood sugar and blood pressure it was discovered that I have gall stones. I have not had colic from the stones but the Dr. wants to monitor carefully.

However, in January Skip had a very bad bladder infection. The Dr. saw the blood work off his regular time and he quickly sent me a prescription to get filled and start right away. He later told me it was very dangerous and could turn into generalized infection. But he is doing better now. The Dr. wants a biopsy on the prostate to see what is going on and to help with the treatment. He has a biopsy marked for the 2nd of March.

Our attendance has been lower than usual as some of our people are working hours that hinders them coming to services. The end of last year, Alexander made a profession cause he said he could not go on living the way he was. Then he got a new job and can’t come cause of the hours. Pray for him as he needs to be discipled. Our people are getting discouraged and need a shot in the arm. We need a revival around here.

The construction of the church is at a standstill for lack of funds. We have the material for electric work but are waiting on the electrician to come and install the wires, etc. There is still lots to do– install the windows, the doors, the walls need to be finished with cement and paint–and the floor needs to be installed with ceramic tile as they use down here–handicap bathroom plus all the little things needing to be finished. We have lots of work to do if the Lord tarries.

Our ladies group, Women in Action, got off to a good start as we planned our calendar for this year. We plan to start off with the study of the book of Philippians and other books this year. We plan a ladies’ retreat again this year at the end of October.

We did not have Carnival Camp as there was not too much interest. However, the Church did have a picnic which was well attended. We did not go this year as Skip did not want to go out.

He is getting so good with his English. Every day gets better. His Portuguese gets better now also. Today when the girl came in to help him with his fono he looks at her and says “Good morning! How are you ” in Portuguese. So we are slowly getting somewhere. He is sad at times because most of his good friends have gone on to glory. That is to be expected at our age, I guess.

Well, this brings you up to date on our end of the world. We love to hear from you too.

PRAISE: THAT SKIP IS MUCH BETTER
THAT BETTYS EXAMS CAME OUT GOOD
FOR JOHN THAT WAS SAVED DURING BIBLE SCHOOL
OUR SAFTY
OUR NEEDS ARE MET DAILY
FOR YOU OUR FAITHFUL PRAYER WARRIORS AND FINANCIAL HELPERS. WE REMEMBER YOU ALL IN PRAYER DAILY.GOD BLESS YOU!

PRAY: FOR SKIP AND THAT THE BIOPSY WILL COME OUT WELL ON MARCH 2
WISDOM FOR DR. HUMBERTO AS HE TREATS SKIP
JOHNS’ FOLKS AND THEIR SALVATION
OUR PEOPLE TO BE ENCOURAGED AND REVIVED AND IN THE WORD
FOR THE COUNTRY OF BRAZIL–POLITICAL CHAOS- AND MORAL CHAOS AS WELL AS A YELLOW FEVER OUTBREAK WHERE A GOOD NUMBER OF PEOPLE HAVE DIED. Skip and I have had the shot but we are still leery of mosquitoes. But we are thankful we do not have many here where we are.

We want to say a special thanks to all of you who have sent cards of encouragement and birthday cards. THANK you for your financial help also.
GOD RICHLY BLESS EACH OF YOU AND MAY HE BE NEAR TO YOU EVERYDAY. WE ARE BLESSED TO HAVE SUCH A LOVING GOD.

TILL NEXT TIME
IN HIM
SKIP AND BETTY