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March '01, #8

A Warm Winter Weather Welcome to you all, #8 March 2001

I’m taking advantage of a couple of days off from school to get less behind. I don’t even dream about getting caught up anymore until I get "caught up" by Christ when He comes for his bride. We were teaching about this in church one night as we studied through I Thess. when an older new convert said, "I often said to people ‘There’s nothing certain in life but death.’ Now I see that for the Christian, even that’s not certain." What a blessing - and a challenge - to see new converts who have a desire to learn. I haven’t given them a list of does and don’ts but it’s a blessing to see them shed the world as they "put on" the Word.
We have 5 in our baptism class. Each has a difficult situation to deal with and needs your prayers. We are meeting in our new building on Wednesday nights. Our neighbor kept raising the price because she really doesn’t want to sell. While we’re waiting her out, we purchased a parsonage across the street. Until we get our classes ready it will serve as classroom space, too.
A number of members are involved in doing discipleship classes with new converts. Not all the students stick with it but some are growing and going. We also had pretty good involvement in giving several thousand calendars, brochures and tracts. Now we’re known to some as the church of the calendar, but at least we are known.
We’re hoping to start building soon. Time has been the biggest problem, not only for me, but for some of the best workers who have been in personal expansion in the last few months. Preliminary drawings have been made and since the last process was never closed, we hope to amend this to our previous work. Pictures of the properties and drawings are posted on our web site: users.baydenet.com.br/bwaii. (There’s no www at the beginning.)
Normally rains interfere with building this time of year but the yearly rain hasn’t come. Several interior areas are already very short on water and if it doesn’t rain this year things will get desperate. Please pray for rain.
I’ve experimented with several ideas in our Friday night Bible study with little success. Even some of the more faithful didn’t seem to know why they had come and resisted all efforts at getting them involved. A few weeks ago I divided them into 3 groups of around 10 and gave them 20 minutes to study through the verses. Then we go verse by verse getting thoughts, opinions and questions. Sometimes they come up with things I’d never thought of before. Sometimes they also come up with questions I’d never thought of before. It’s the most interest and involvement we’ve had yet.
The boys continue to grow (you can see them on the site as well), and are a blessing and a challenge. Though I cannot be sure of how much he really understands, William has made a profession of faith and asks at every communion when he can be baptized and participate. Dalton continues to be… well… Dalton. We are finally making some headway against some bumps on his skin that wouldn’t go away. (Rumors that it was meanness bubbling to the surface are unconfirmed). Little Greyson is just a bundle of joy. If we’d had him first we might have had 10 kids… or at least 3. He’s walking quite well and loves his Papa. He just had his first birthday. He calls the dog "Out" and will even try to push it out the door.
One last request. In an act of desperation (or revenge) I have been selected to be the Northeast Region’s Treasurer. I also will be responsible for the school / mission complex starting in June. Fortunately that will be after school is out. Pray me in these new responsibilities that I will perform my duties well and that the time will not be a hindrance to other ministries. Everyone is too busy to do it, but it must be done. Now it’s my turn.

Thank you for you prayers,

Byron Atha family in Brazil
bwaii@baydenet.com.br
users.baydenet.com.br/bwaii


	A Warm Winter Weather Welcome to you all, #8 March 2001 I’m taking advantage of a couple of days off from school to get less behind. I don’t even dream about getting caught up anymore until I get "caught up" by Christ when He comes for his bride. We were teaching about this in church one night as we studied through I Thess. when an older new convert said, "I often said to people ‘There’s nothing certain in life but death.’ Now I see that for the Christian, even that’s not certain." What a blessing - and a challenge - to see new converts who have a desire to learn. I haven’t given them a list of does and don’ts but it’s a blessing to see them shed the world as they "put on" the Word. We have 5 in our baptism class. Each has a difficult situation to deal with and needs your prayers. We are meeting in our new building on Wednesday nights. Our neighbor kept raising the price because she really doesn’t want to sell. While we’re waiting her out, we purchased a parsonage across the street. Until we get our classes ready it will serve as classroom space, too. A number of members are involved in doing discipleship classes with new converts. Not all the students stick with it but some are growing and going. We also had pretty good involvement in giving several thousand calendars, brochures and tracts. Now we’re known to some as the church of the calendar, but at least we are known. We’re hoping to start building soon. Time has been the biggest problem, not only for me, but for some of the best workers who have been in personal expansion in the last few months. Preliminary drawings have been made and since the last process was never closed, we hope to amend this to our previous work. Pictures of the properties and drawings are posted on our web site: users.baydenet.com.br/bwaii. (There’s no www at the beginning.) Normally rains interfere with building this time of year but the yearly rain hasn’t come. Several interior areas are already very short on water and if it doesn’t rain this year things will get desperate. Please pray for rain. I’ve experimented with several ideas in our Friday night Bible study with little success. Even some of the more faithful didn’t seem to know why they had come and resisted all efforts at getting them involved. A few weeks ago I divided them into 3 groups of around 10 and gave them 20 minutes to study through the verses. Then we go verse by verse getting thoughts, opinions and questions. Sometimes they come up with things I’d never thought of before. Sometimes they also come up with questions I’d never thought of before. It’s the most interest and involvement we’ve had yet. The boys continue to grow (you can see them on the site as well), and are a blessing and a challenge. Though I cannot be sure of how much he really understands, William has made a profession of faith and asks at every communion when he can be baptized and participate. Dalton continues to be… well… Dalton. We are finally making some headway against some bumps on his skin that wouldn’t go away. (Rumors that it was meanness bubbling to the surface are unconfirmed). Little Greyson is just a bundle of joy. If we’d had him first we might have had 10 kids… or at least 3. He’s walking quite well and loves his Papa. He just had his first birthday. He calls the dog "Out" and will even try to push it out the door. One last request. In an act of desperation (or revenge) I have been selected to be the Northeast Region’s Treasurer. I also will be responsible for the school / mission complex starting in June. Fortunately that will be after school is out. Pray me in these new responsibilities that I will perform my duties well and that the time will not be a hindrance to other ministries. Everyone is too busy to do it, but it must be done. Now it’s my turn. Thank you for you prayers, Byron Atha family in Brazil bwaii@baydenet.com.br users.baydenet.com.br/bwaii