Natal Update

Well, we finally talked to the church in Austin. You know, the one that owns the building and oversees the work in Natal? John called them, basically to rule out Natal as a possibility. We figured since we met with them in early June and hadn't heard anything since then, that we could assume they weren't really interested in us. On the contrary, our contact guy said they are very interested. The mission committee told the church in Natal about our tentative plans to move there and work with them, and now we are all waiting to hear if they want us. Boy, I sure am glad we don't have any serious self-esteem issues. That's enough to send a person right over the edge.

Right now there are two families leading that congregation, one of which is a Brazilian family from Porto Alegre - friends of ours. We went last year to visit them in Natal. During that visit they asked us to move there and help them with the church. They were the only leaders at the time. The American missionaries had gone home. Now there is another Brazilian family who moved there from Fortaleza to help. We don't know them.

Our idea is not to go down there and become part of the leadership of the church. On the contrary, we would prefer to be under the leadership as very involved members. We would like to open a Bible school where we could hopefully convert new Christians to become part of the church. Again, we pray and wait.