Archive for the 'Pre-Field Updates' Category

Hi everyone! I hope all is going well. I was hoping to send out a video update instead of a written one this month… but as you can see that got postponed…. Anyway, March was a great month. We traveled to a church in Indianapolis, along with two churches in Iowa. We had unique opportunities in all of these churches to encourage and be encouraged. We are really enjoying pre-field ministry. Here are some of the highlights of March:

• Our oldest son, Nathaniel, decided on his own that he wanted to trust in Jesus as his savior and become His follower! Sufficed to say, mom and dad were pretty excited. We celebrated by going out for ice cream. Seeing that trusting in Jesus brought ice cream, our middle son, Jackson, promptly wanted to get “saved” as well… we are still working through that one :) .
• We saw many people make decisions at First Baptist Church of Beech Grove after the morning message…it was exciting, humbling, and we’re thankful!
• Every Tuesday night I lead a bible study at a dormitory at a local community college. Last week a young man named Jason placed his trust in Jesus!
• Two weeks ago I started an evangelistic bible study with a young engaged couple. I am really excited to see where this leads. The guy is a believer but his fiancée is not, although she is very interested in spiritual things.
• Owen had unexpected outpatient surgery on Monday. God was very good and everything turned out great! You know its a successful surgery when the doctor says, “That was fun!”.
• I (Teresa) had the privilege to attend a pastor’s wives retreat. God knew just what I needed- to be challenged and encouraged in the midst of our unpredictable life!
• Thank you for your prayers for Jackson. God is definitely answering them as we see him adjusting more smoothly.

Prayer requests

• We are flying out to California next month to meet with 8 different churches. Pray that God raises up some of these churches to partner with us.
• Continue to ask God to strengthen our faith as we try and follow (er.. keep up with) Him.
• Please pray for evangelistic opportunities for Teresa. She is able to keep up with her mentoring relationships, but it is getting more difficult find opportunities to get out and ‘rub shoulders’ with unbelievers.

Greetings from the Bairs! More specifically, greetings from Teresa. I thought I would write our update this month. Its hard to believe its March already, especially when I look outside and see all the snow in our front yard. It makes me even more excited to get to Brazil!

February was a great month. We were able to minister(and be ministered to) at 2 churches. We started at Oak Grove Bible church near Vinton, Ia. We had a great time staying in the pastor’s home, Lucas preached Sunday morning, and we presented our ministry in Sunday school. It was a great weekend where we met some wonderful people.

The next week we traveled down to Atlanta, Ga to participate in Lebanon Baptist Church’s missionary conference. This was our first ever missions conference as missionaries! We left so challenged from the speaker and testimonies, but we also left so encouraged! We couldn’t have asked for a better first missions conference experience (not to mention the weather was amazing!).

God has been so good-we have raised 54% of our support!! It has been so neat to see him raising up individuals who want to partner with us, we count it such a privilege! Also, we have a praise about our house. God provided someone to buy it and they are going to rent it to us!! We are so thrilled that we can stay in our house until we move to Brazil. That was such an extra special blessing from the Lord!

Here’s a few ways you can pray for us this month, from my point of view…

• Pray for our boys, especially Jackson. Traveling to different church environments is such a stretch for them, they are lacking consistency in their lives right now. Jackson asked me the other day, “Why do we have to go on so many trips?”. Pray that we will be patient with them and that God will show us ways we can make all of this easier for them.
• Pray for a man named Carlos. He and his family, who are not believers, moved to our area from Porto Alegre, Brazil. We are hoping to invite them over soon and begin to build a relationship with them.
• Keep praying for Kyle that Lucas mentioned last month. Also pray for Ryan, a guy that Lucas cleans carpets with. He had an opportunity to share the gospel with him on Monday and would like to follow up on it soon. He seemed very sensitive to what Lucas was saying.
• Pray for evangelistic opportunities for me. Lucas mentioned Jess last month, keep praying that it will work out for me to get together with her. Due to our crazy schedule and her study schedule, it hasn’t worked out yet.

Thank you so much for praying, it means more to us that you can know!

Enduring the snow,
The Bairs