Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support for the work in Belém.  I am thankful to be part of the Lord’s great work, and I look forward to seeing the impact that has been made for His glory.

We continue to press on in the work here, but do not have much change to report.  The WhatsApp group that I began last month is not gaining much momentum, though I have had some positive feedback.  I believe that to get the involvement that I am hoping for, I will need to have a higher level of initial commitment.  I am continuing with my plan in hopes that the Lord will work in the hearts of the people involved and give them a greater desire to know His Word and that they might be saved.  We are still passing out hundreds of tracts and cards a week and have had new visitors to the website.  We always see people reading the tracts when we retrace our steps.  Some have contacted us on WhatsApp as well, but they have not moved beyond the initial interest.  Aaron is working on formatting three new Chick tracts to be printed.  It is not uncommon to have people ask if we have any other tracts because they enjoy the comic-book format.  We have made some initial steps towards the English outreach I asked you all to pray about but have not scheduled anything definite yet.  Please continue to pray for wisdom in this area.  I also would appreciate your continued prayers for the Mendoza’s visa renewal.  We have been contacted by the Ministry of Justice twice asking us to revise and make corrections to our request.  Our lawyer has addressed the issues and does not foresee any serious complications, but we know that unforeseen issues can arise.

The Bell Family Academy will end the school year in a couple of weeks.  It appears everyone will be promoted or will graduate.  The students count down the days at this point. Our furlough plans are also moving forward.  Please pray for all of the details to come together. As you probably imagine, there is a lot to plan for when you are away from home for several months.  Thank you again for praying.  May God richly bless each of you.

For the Glory of God,

Chris Bell

Brenda’s Bailiwick

Greetings! As Thursday is to my week, so May is to my year: What!?! Already???

On the sunny side, our school year will be over in two weeks, God willing. We are faint but pursuing! I cheer you on, homeschooling moms.

Caleb, who was ill in the last Bailiwick, is currently the sole “defier” of the latest bug to make the family rounds! Your prayers must have been especially effective; thank you. The rest of us are almost well. Elijah and Sarah are both slated to see the orthopedic doctor soon. Sarah seems to have had a setback in her post-op recovery and Elijah recently tweaked his knee at jiu-jitsu.

The ladies’ who are Jehovah’s Witnesses did come as scheduled, which I appreciated. They were very gracious; I listened to them for about 10 minutes and then they listened to me for more than double that! They asked about returning, and I explained that while there is absolutely no chance that I will convert, I love to discuss the Bible, from the Bible, and would be glad to do so with them. They have now been here three times, and each time they have listened courteously. Our landlady just returned from a months-long absence, and because I don’t want her to misunderstand if she sees these ladies coming and going, I plan to invite her for coffee and explain what’s up. I am hoping that it might even spark further conversation with her. I’d appreciate your prayers over the whole endeavor; I imagine that soon they will either stop coming or begin to ask questions of their own. I have the WhatsApp of the “lead” lady and have sent her an outline of the Biblical case for the deity of Christ, which she promised to consider carefully.

It was a great blessing to have Chris’s parents, Mike and Nancy, with us for a bit more than a week. As always, they were wonderful guests, and it was a pleasure to watch the Bell children soak up the time. We are so thankful for their visit.

On May the 6^th, I will be teaching at a ladies’ meeting involving about 8 churches. Being asked to teach is always a daunting honor. Please pray that I can be faithful to the Lord and encouraging to the ladies.

Thanks for reading and for praying!

In Christ,Brenda

Prayer Requests:

– Preparation of hearts in Belém to receive the Gospel – Building relationships with neighbors

– Language Acquisition – Outreach Efforts – Bell Academy—Mendoza’s Visa Renewal