Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,

I trust the new year finds you prospering in the Lord and enjoying the privilege of being a part of His great work in this world.  I thank you for your faithful prayers and support.  I appreciate the special Christmas offerings as well.  The Lord continues to use you in reaching out with the gospel message to the people of Belém, Brazil.  We had a good Christmas celebration with time spent reflecting on the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and fellowship with the Mendoza family.  It was a special blessing to be able to meet with the church in Ananindeua on this special day because it fell on a Sunday.  The children enjoyed a two-week break from school, and we made a day trip to the beach.  A good time was had by all.  Unfortunately, we also had an injury over the break.  Sarah tore the meniscus in her right knee and will have it surgically repaired Saturday morning (January 21^st).  I know that we would all appreciate your prayers for a successful operation and good recovery.

Besides the appointments for Sarah’s knee injury, everything is back to normal.  The Spring semester of the Bell Academy is in session and our eager students, with the help of their dauntless teacher, are applying themselves to the task of acquiring wisdom.  Please remember them in prayer.  Elijah is on pace to complete his high school education this Spring and plans are being made for his next steps.  I have continued to stay in touch with Fernando, but we are not meeting at this point.  Please continue to pray for God’s will in this situation.  We are continuing to distribute tracts and business cards that point to our website.  We see some new visitors to the site after each time we go out but have not made much progress beyond the initial visit.  There seems to be an increased openness to talk about the tract, but there are many misunderstandings about Biblical concepts that really need a more thorough explanation. 

Please pray for wisdom as we consider how to improve the website and for people to desire to know what the Bible actually teaches concerning salvation through Christ alone.  Along with wisdom for moving forward in the work here, I would ask that you pray for the Mendoza’s residency renewal process.  Their current residency expires in April and we have begun the process of renewal.  Our attorneys seem confident that the process will be less complicated than the previous one, but other missionaries have had some trouble recently in their application.

May the Lord continue to encourage you in our labors and bless your service for His glory.

For the Glory of God,

Chris Bell