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Greetings Folks:
Some one once told me of a road that was so curvy that twice he met up with his own tail lights. I don’t know
where to begin this letter, so I’m just going to jump in the middle and talk till I come full circle. I’ll stop
when I see my tail lights.
We stopped the 2 clubs we were doing for the year-end break and decided not to resume them for lack of interest.
Our efforts were redirected to a club at church which has produced better attendance and participation - both
for children and members.
Four of the five candidates for baptism have finished the study. I’m concerned for one lady as I’m not sure exactly
how much she understands. It’s also hard to decide if the two of my boys who requested baptism are ready. As
their father I see their defects. I can’t require perfection or none of us would be baptized, but there should
be evidence of fruit of the Spirit and growth. We also need to find an adequate location to do the baptism.
Speaking of the boys, we had them tested again this year. They did well, though maybe not as well as the last
time. Greyson was hampered having just learned to read. It is a struggle for him, unlike his brothers who are
excellent readers. His forte is math and he does long division for fun. Not bad for a first grader.
In spite of his math skills, my fair-haired child is a bit … well… spacey. The other day I told him it would be
funny when he didn’t get a joke if he said, "You’ll have to excuse me. I’m blond!" He looked kind of
blank for a second then his eyes lit up and he stated proudly pointing to his head, "Oh, it’s because of my
hair!"
All three of them have been very active helping with a big project for the church. Music is a real problem here.
No one knows how to play an instrument (or sing!) and hymnbooks - which are bought by the members, not the church
- can no longer be found. I decided to write a computer program to project the words on the wall while playing
the music from midi files. The program is working, but I was only able to find a few of the hymns. The boys enjoy
the job of scanning and correcting the words and then the music and then separating it into four parts. I do the
final editing and add it to the data base. All told it’s about 4 hours of work for each of the 577 hymns. I hope
they finish before they go to college.
Last of the happy news: since we last wrote, Michele and I completed 20 years of marriage. To celebrate I sent
the boys to the island and woke Michele up at the crack of dawn to drag her off to spend two days at the coast.
And this time I spent more than $3 dollars per person on the hotel. I told her if she made it to 30 years I’d
take her for 3 days.
The Island caretaker leaves in a couple of days. I’m not only sad, but disappointed. The wife spent 8 months
in a pout until she got what she wanted. Both talked a lot about "I want…" but never about "God
wants". They leave a large hole, especially as my plans for the future of the Island depend on Brazilian
leadership. Even if someone showed up today, I doubt there would be time to train him. Equally discouraging was
the mid-year retreat. A number of people said they were coming but didn’t sign up. I expected a small group as
it’s a cool, windy time of year. It’s less enjoyable for swimming and some fear the boat ride. However only 3
visitors showed up and no one from our churches. Even the preachers didn’t come. One of the speakers is the president
of the camp council and responsible for activities during the retreat. Apparently a small group didn’t warrant
their time. That left me to run the camp, run the retreat, lead the singing and preach.
This leads to another need. We really need some help. Each believer has gifts and abilities and mine don’t lend
themselves to running camp programs. Further, the logistics of keeping the physical plant running and keeping
up with campers at the same time is almost impossible as both are 18 hour a day jobs. I would really like to have
someone close by and permanent that could - or would - handle that aspect. Ask God to send someone . . . better
yet, ask God if you are that someone.
I was going to tell you about our car but I can see the tail lights so I’d better wind it up. Just let me close
with a request for prayer for a health issue in our family.
Yours in Him,
The Athas in Brazil,
Byron, Michele, William, Dalton, and Greyson
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