What’s Up With the Harkins?

As for God His way is perfect
the word of the Lord is flawless,
He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him
For who is God besides the Lord?
and who is the Rock except our God?

We hope you are enjoying your summer. We are in our winter and it is not too cold here but down in the southern states they have had snow and temperatures below zero. Skip has a hard time with the cold, so much so that he does not want to go out at night anymore if it very cold. He has surprised some folk with his Portuguese lately. They ask a question and he answers in Portuguese. In English, he continues to amaze us with all the new phrases he comes out with. His arm is still the same and He still walks with a cane. He continues with his exercises every day and even does most of them with little help. He scares us with what he tries to do for himself and he might lose his balance but he does hold his own most of the time. The other day he told the therapist that one day he would be teaching again.

He gave us a scare last week as he was complaining of his right side (side that is paralyzed) feeling numb. We called the Dr. and he said to measure his blood pressure which was ok. He ordered we give him another dose of the medicine for that. He came by the next day and checked him over and said he is alright. He hasn’t complained anymore so that is good.

We had a blessing in early June when his brothers and sister were able to Skype with us. Skip thoroughly enjoyed it and it was good to get caught up on all the family news. We have had some visits from old friends and he enjoys talking to them as best he can. So much fun catching up on their news also.

We had our annual church picnic with two other local churches in the area on Good Friday and we took Skip out for the day. He enjoyed the day and especially visiting with all the friends. Was a refreshing day with good food, good preaching and just good fellowship.

We have had some work days on the church construction. They have built a wall around the parsonage, built the handicapped bathroom and some work on the sewer cesspool and other odds and ends. We ladies see to it that the food is prepared for them and it is fun being together for the day.

We are getting things ready for our Missions Conference in September and the ladies retreat in October. Lots needs to be put together yet.

One of the young ladies from the church, Skips therapist in fact, went on a mission trip this month with a Missions group from New Tribes Mission up in Northern Brazil. I think it is called Wings of Mercy in English. They went way up on the Amazon and spent a week. They had Drs., nurses, therapists and preachers and missionaries there and they did evangelism in the community. She came back enthused about missions and we hope she may be our next missionary. Her sister went last year and was such a blessing for her also. She would have loved to go again this year but she has been diagnosed with Lupus and her Dr. would not let her go. She is somewhat better but has nephritis now also. She is still in treatment.

The ladies are finishing the study on prayer this year. Don’t know what we will be studying next, yet. I am contemplating doing a study of a book of the Bible this time. We do visitation every other week as well as our studies every other week, too. We are anxious for the retreat as it is always a blessing to be together for a couple days. We do not have a speaker as yet. Have two in mind but don’t know which will accept.

I have been asked to be on the Board of the Church and also continue on the Missions committee. I am also still helping with the music as best I can. Still teaching the beginner through Primary SS class and do enjoy that so much. I still do some translating for Sunday School material but not as much as I would like to be doing.

Our daughter is back living with us as our son-in-law Paulo went back to his old job in the states. There is no work here as Brazil is in a financial crisis and lots of people are out of work. Until he gets settled Naomi will be with us for a while. So glad to have her back. She is helping with the music in a new work in a neighboring town.

Thank you so much for being patient with me for being so slow with this update. Hope to do better this time. I wrote the first draft of this letter and then the computer swallowed it!!! I could not get it back! So here it is finally, ha!

Thank you for your prayers, cards of encouragement and financial help.
We thank God for you and appreciate you so much. You are in our prayers also.

Praise:
for Skip holding his own
for Betty’s health

Pray:
for growth in the church
for upcoming events-Missions and ladies retreat for Jaque who has been diagnosed with Lupus
Salvation for those who come and do not know the Lord
for our visitation program with the ladies
for our construction-needed funds to finish
for our pastor and family as they have to deal with a difficult problem with one of the children who comes to church. The father and mother have asked them to counsel the boy. pray for their salvation through this as they are very strict Catholics. We marvel that they came here for help.
Especially pray for the country of Brazil. We are in a financial crisis, a political crisis and moral crisis. Pray that we can have revival in the fundamental churches throughout Brazil as a result.

Thank you so much for praying

In Him for Brazil

Betty and Skip Harkins