One week to go

One week to go...one week and she goes. Abbie leaves for the US on Thursday of next week. After spending a night at Heathrow (in a hotel) she'll get a direct flight to Dallas, where Jeff will be there to meet her (or he'll never hear the end of it). Because of the consular duties (mainly), I'll be staying here another month before going and seeing the family for about three weeks.

Braewyn's 1-month old picture (one of them).

Joy's baby is due around September 16, so we'll have two new granddaughters to get to know.


Da Costa Sunday....

I guess you could call last Sunday "Da Costa Day". José Carlos, our Sunday School teacher is in Brazil for a few weeks, so Orlando da Costa is filling in for him in the Sunday School. His brother, Aurélio, and family are here for their annual summer holiday. They lived in Morocco for a number of years, but now live in Mauritania, where they seek to be a witness for Christ in a very difficult cultural situation. They hadn't been gone very long this time and there was a coup d'etat. They ask for prayers for the country, as their religious rights and freedoms are very directly affected by the particular faction who is in power. This past Sunday, I asked Aurelio to preach, so we had back-to-back "Da Costas" (curiosity: "costas" in Portuguese can mean "coasts" or "back"). Their parents were from Madeira, but both of them were born in Zaire and came to know the Lord in South Africa. Their mother accepted the Lord just hours before slipping into her final coma and dying of cancer back about 15 years ago or so. Their father died without ever accepting the gospel.

Orlando teaching Sunday School


Aurelio preaching---he asked for an extra week to prepare to preach in Portuguese,
since they mainly speak French, Arabic and English in Mauritania.

Other visitors

Back at the end of June and early July, we had Pastor Alan Pallister, his wife, Celeste, and their sons, Andrew and Ricardo spend a couple of weeks here. Bro. Pallister is pastor at the Baptist Church of Caldas da Raínha, about an hour north of Lisbon, and he is also on the teaching staff of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Queluz, in the outskirts of Lisbon. It's a blessing to us to have this kind of fellowship.



Jackie

We got word from Jackie this week that the doctors have scheduled her for an "urgent" procedure two weeks from now. She needs "balloon inserts" (her words) to open up the veins (arteries?), as they cannot give her any more medication. She is nearly at the maximum insulin dosage, and her diabetes problems still persist. Her eyesight is still greatly affected. Your prayers are always appreciated.