Current News

Summer 2005 Update

Dear friends and family of Lar Batista,

We hope and pray that your summer is a good one, and that you are being able to get a lot accomplished in this wonderful season of the year.

As you know, it is not summer in Brasil; it is winter, and even in that we can see God’s hands blessing us. It would be a lot harder receiving all the teams at our home, if we also were having 112° like we do in our summer months, without air conditioning, so… in all things we give glory to the Lord.

Although this is an update about Lar, this is not one of those sent to us by Pai and Mãe. Instead, I, Grace, am writing to you, sharing about the things I have been seeing and hearing about life at Lar Batista this summer. It has been extremely different for me to be here in the US and not there is Brasil this summer. It is true that I have been able to experience my first summer here and it has been great, but at the same time, a huge part of me would love to be there. There is so much going on there and God is doing great and mighty things in our family and also in the lives of our guests who come on short term missions.

We started the summer by receiving Cheryl Pittman and two college interns, along with a Volleyball team from Northwestern College. Cheryl is a veteran in missions and has been on summer missions for the past 30 years of her life. God brought her to us a few years ago and this summer she is helping coordinate a lot of what is happening with teams and college students at Lar. When we received Cheryl three years ago and she started to work with me there for the summer, I could see God was training her for something, and now that I cannot be there this summer, it all makes sense. God in His wisdom prepared someone to do the job. How can we thank Him enough for that?
The first team that we sent to Lar this summer did a great job. Luke Espelund did a great job leading the team and he told us about how wonderful it was for the team to be there. The outreach involved schools who receive the team to play/coach and spend time with local students. After every game the team signed autographs and took pictures with local teams, having their minutes of fame, which they quickly turned to God, who is the reason why they were there. The team was able to share their testimony and the gospel and by the time they left, they had started friendships that will last forever.

The second team to come to Lar Batista was from Franklin, TN, and it was a very positive team. It was more of a family oriented team and it was interesting to hear how easily children can connect and get along even though they don’t speak the language. Wayne was able to bring the team down, along with Julie Nichols, who had been to Lar about 8 years ago. This team worked on landscaping and also did a great job training our children about evangelism. They brought the famous Evangecubes and any child at Lar can lead someone to the Lord with that. I was told they love to practice that, so pray with us that they would be sharing the Gospel everywhere they go.

Pai’s health

Still while the team was there, Pai had some very scary moments. His health is not doing great and he has had to go back to the doctor several times. A year ago this month he had the surgery on his leg and that is doing really well. The healing process for someone with diabetes is a slow and difficult one; however, God has blessed Pai with the healing of his leg. That is not inspiring any concern, but his foot on the other leg is causing the problem now. Pai has had a callous on his foot for many years and now it is really inflamed and he needed a microsurgery which happened about two weeks ago. The doctors thought, that by the level of infection he would need to have three toes amputated, but by God’s grace, the infection is now controlled and the healing process has begun.

As I typed this letter, I got a phone call from him, saying he had just returned from the doctor who is “really impressed” with his healing. It was just the hook Pai needed to tell him about Who is making the miracle happen on his foot. “The Bible says that the feet of those who proclaim the Good News are beautiful, doctor, and God is going to heal me, and you are being used by Him to heal me... so do your best!”

Additions to the family

This month we were also glad to receive three new children into our family. It is always a blessing for us to receive new kids, and in my view, it is like the Lord is confirming His approval of our ministry, every time He trusts us with yet one more child. These three siblings just got there from extreme poverty and starvation and we are looking forward to blessing them with a home and a family, with hope and future. The funny thing is that last year we received four siblings and the boy was Lucas and his little sister Luana, well just about a year to that date, we received these children and again a Lucas and a Luana, and they are so close in age! It is amazing to think that they were born in so different parts of the country, but both girls will have their next birthday together, at Lar. Please pray with me that these children would come to receive Christ at a very early age. Their names and ages are: Lucas, 8, Luana, 5, Sandy, 3.

We are also glad that Acacia and Eric (from Michigan) are engaged. Eric is in Brasil for the summer and is helping around the home, however he is needed. They are having this opportunity to work together in the ministry there and we pray for God’s guidance and direction as they plan the upcoming events in their lives!

Mãe and the needs of the home

Several of you have asked me if there is such a thing as a wish list for Lar Batista, with items they could use and that either teams could bring down or raise funds and purchase there. Here is Mãe’s response to that question:
“We do need you to keep us in your prayers, Pray for Pai’s health, and mine, for stamina and for the children as we receive and serve the teams the Lord is bringing our way.

In a more practical way, you can send us school supplies, like pencils, pens, colored pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, rulers, scissors, white polo shirts and navy shorts and pants (for uniforms) in all sizes from kindergarten to upper school. These are small items ,but you would be amazed to her how many pencils we go through in a week. This help would be a blessing!

We also need new glasses, plastic cups, medium size pots and pans and that would be better if bought here, just for transportation issues.”

Pai and the heavy duty needs of the home

Pai’s list is a bit more involved than Mãe’s because it concerns the projects ongoing in the home right now. I will share with you some of our needs. The exchange rate has dropped and that has hurt the amount of things that can be done with the money we raise. It really threw our budget and now we have to keep going in order to finish.

“The guest house is already being a blessing, but we still need funds to finish that. Please pray about helping us with this. We still need close to US$30,000 to finish this building. The glass in the guest house windows costs US$1,000, and the electrical meter system is US$2,000. Also, we have just changed the pump on our water well, which cost US$2,500.

These are all very pressing needs and we need your help. We are praying for you, that God would provide you the means as well as the desire to help us.”

We rely on the Lord for meeting our needs. We know that as He did in the past He can and will do now. God has blessed us so much and He has done great things in our midst, please join us as we work to do a ministry worthy of the Lord we serve.

It means a lot to us to know you pray for us. We love you and are praying for you.

If you feel like you can help us with these needs, please call or e-mail me and we will make arrangements for your gifts to get to Lar as soon as possible.

In Christ,