Looking For the Blessed Hope

BLESSED ARE THEY WHOSE WAYS ARE BLAMELESS, WHO WALK ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF THE LORD.  BLESSED ARE THEY WHO KEEP HIS STATUES AND SEEK HIM WITH ALL THEIR HEARTS.  Psalm 119:1,2

Praise the Lord for His goodness to us. It seems as though we get on a merry-go-round sometimes and time just keeps rolling along.  Too many are the responsibilities of caregiving and keeping up with everything, but somehow, we manage. I am sorry to be so long for this update.

Ever since October Skips legs have been giving out on him. At Easter this year I took a trip to visit a school for training missionaries to work with Indians. It is a New Tribes Mission School. Naomi was here and stayed with Skip.
When I returned, he was exclusively using a wheelchair as his legs would not support him. So now we have things fairly fixed for wheelchair use in the house and out. We can’t take him to church anymore because it is too difficult to get him in and out of cars. He listens to his favorite ministers online. Most of our churches have online services now so that helps as he misses being in services. We have professional people helping with therapy and speech lessons twice a week. I do his exercises every day. I can help get him in the wheelchair where he scoots into it but then I can’t get him back on the couch or bed since they are higher than the chair so he can’t scoot back up there, and he is too heavy for me to handle. We take him outside so he can get sunshine and fresh air. He is handling the cold much better this year.

We had our yearly medical checkups in June, and we are doing well, the Dr says. Just keep up the meds and vitamins. I need to control diabetes and blood pressure.

The church here is going well. We have had different activities in evangelism this year. One activity was a dinner offered to our neighbors. We were to invite one or two persons not saved to join us. We had a good number of our neighbors hear the good news. The seed was planted. We trust they will come for more.

There are two people preparing to be baptized and three who want to study the Bible more deeply. I was overjoyed this week to hear a testimony of the pastor’s wife about her 6yr old.  She teaches Sunday School and they have studied about salvation this month. One of their projects was to make a wordless book and challenged the kids to tell others about Jesus through this book. Pastor’s wife goes to the supermarket with daughter. The daughter has been making friends with the girl at the supermarket that weighs the vegetables. While mom shops the daughter tells the wordless book to this girl that weighs vegetables. I believe this girl was moved because paster’s daughter told her mother that she told the Wordless Book to this girl, and she cried. We pray for this girl.

Our ladies’ group is studying about contentment this year. I see many improvements in some of their lives in that respect. We are starting a class in learning how to crochet, knit, sew whatever one wants as we have teachers who know how. So, we are going to invite other ladies with the aim of evangelizing them.

Soon we will start practicing our cantata for Christmas. We trust it will include most of the church. Just have to find a time to practice with everyone.

Praises:
… for good health reports
… for Naomi being able to be here to help
… for Jess and Helen and family arriving on August 4 for a quick visit
… for people to be baptized soon
… for Ester witnessing with the wordless book
… for new pre-adolescents coming to Sunday School
Pray for:
… Skip’s health needs
… for Naomi as she takes a quick trip to the U.S. while Jess is here
… for spiritual growth among our people
… for salvation for those we are talking to about spiritual welfare: Cida, Lydia, Carla, Carlos’ mom and dad, Beth and husband, Laura and husband

Thanks for your prayers and faithfulness in help. May God bless you all as we look for that blessed hope.
Yours for Brazil,
Skip and Betty Harkins