“Pleased to meet you!”, I said
last night, as I shook hands with the couple in our
church foyer. They are Mario & Dulcineia. He is one of
Mirian’s teachers in her interior design course. She
works for Motorola in their Campinas plant in an
administrative capacity. Both of them seemed genuinely
happy to be at our church where they heard a wonderful
cantata by our choir which proclaimed the resurrected
Christ – Mirian sang a beautiful solo. The message by
our pastor also touched their hearts. Please keep Mario
and Dulcineia in your prayers. They need Jesus! Pray for
Mirian to be a faithful witness to Mario and other
teachers and classmates.
Mirian has taken on some new challenges over the
past months. Besides studying, she has increased her
involvement at the Boldrini Children’s Cancer Hospital,
where she used her music talent to bless those who
attended the weekly chapel services. Now, she has
stepped into a chaplaincy role, visiting patients and
their family members in their rooms two afternoons a
week. She has the opportunity to bring words of comfort
and encouragement as well as just be available to those
who are struggling and suffering.
Chaplaincy work takes a special gifting that Mirian
seems to possess. She is able to connect almost
immediately with those with whom she comes into contact,
establishing a sense of warmth and assurance. She has
received training and encouragement through the
chaplaincy team at the hospital. One of the dynamics
that she must face is that the chaplaincy team is not
Christian, per se. Persons of any and all religious
faiths may (and do) participate, lending an even greater
relevancy to what Mirian is doing. Praise the Lord that
the lady who has trained her is a strong believer.
Eric has been rebounding at
school, turning in better grades and generally behaving
with greater restraint. He has inherited all of his
passion and love for communication from his father, and
expends this during classroom hours, much to the chagrin
of his teachers and desperation of his folks. But, hey,
he’s 13!
Eric has taken up electric guitar lessons after a brief
hiatus (for scholastic reasons). His percussion teacher
at school understands that Eric has talent in the
musical field. Obviously, his mother has much to do with
this trait. He also enjoys sports in general, but has
not found a particular one which has captured his fancy,
yet.
Join us as we praise God for his continued growth
and development, and PRAY with us for his success
throughout the teenage years.
I, Rick, have been busy preaching, teaching, training
and evangelizing in a variety of contexts, but that is
the subject of another letter. For now, here are some
added reasons to praise and to pray:
- You may have noticed that
there are no pictures in this month’s letter. That
is because our relatively new (1.5 years) digital
camera no longer works. Please pray that we
will have the means to replace this soon, as it is
wonderful tool for better communication.
- On Saturday, May 27th, I will
be showing the Jesus film and preaching open-air in
conjunction with a local church. The youth group
from our church will be evangelizing the surrounding
neighborhood during the afternoon. Please pray
for protection, discernment and good soil in
which to sow the seed of the Gospel.
- In June, we will be visiting
some of our friends and supporters as well as
spending a few days at our mission headquarters.
Pray for a safe journey and renewed friendships
and contacts.
- Our support level
continues to hover around 85%. That translates
into over $800/mo of need which must be met soon. We
continue to live off of savings, but this, too, is
coming to an end. Please PRAY that the Lord
would raise up new support.
- In July, upon returning from
the US, I will once again travel to Mozambique,
Africa. I will offer greater details in future
letters. Please be in prayer already for this
trip and all that it represents.
We are reminded that it is because
of your love and faithfulness that we are able to carry
on the work of the ministry to which we have been
called. Thank You!!
Love, in Christ, Rick Sturz