Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,

Thank you for remembering us in your prayers. The past two months have passed quickly. We have seen some progress in the work here and know that your prayers have played a part. 

The weekly Bible study continued. We firmed up our plans for the August outreach that a group from Victory Baptist Church in Wichita Falls came down and helped us execute. Brenda made a quick trip back to the States to pick up 2024-2025 school material. We continued passing out literature and following up on contacts.

I appreciate everyone’s prayers for the August outreach. There were plenty of obstacles in the planning and preparation for the outreach, and the group encountered some traveling issues coming and going as well. The Lord used their trip to bless us. We enjoyed the good fellowship and were encouraged in our work. Our goal was to target 5 high-traffic areas with literature pointing them to our website, where they were invited to sign-up for a Bible study if interested.  While the group was here, we were able to pass out around 19,000 pieces of literature (business card invitations and tracts).  As a direct result of those 19,000 pieces of literature, we had 1,023 views on our website by 638 people.  That number likely is increasing because there is still an increase in website traffic.  Of those 638 people visiting the website, 35 so far have contacted us about the Bible study.  We have had an additional 30 people contact us through WhatsApp wanting to know more about our work.  We have begun meeting with one young man that we met while out passing out literature and have scheduled another Bible study. If you are trying to figure out if these are good results or not, please know that we are greatly encouraged. One of the fields on the form requesting information about our Bible study was the person’s CEP (this is the equivalent of a ZIP code). From this information we learned that people interested in studying the Bible are not in a concentrated area but rather are dispersed throughout the city. Some of the contacts reported CEPs relating to small towns up to 3-4 hours away.  We were hoping initially to use the information to organize group Bible studies.  It seems more likely that perhaps we will have open doors to several different areas.

As we move forward with the contacts that have been made, the need for prayer is great. We need wisdom, and we are relying on God to give spiritual understanding to those that study the Bible with us.  We know that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to those that believe.  I am looking forward to what God will do as we continue to reach people with the Gospel.

For the Glory of God,

Chris Bell

Brenda’s Bailiwick

Greetings and Salutations! (And if you’ve never read Charlotte’s Web, I recommend it.) It has been a busy, blessed, blur of a summer. E, our acquaintance who is a Jehovah’s Witness, did make it over for coffee and cake in July. It was dishearteningly clear that she and the friend she brought saw it as part of their weekly outreach; nevertheless, I appreciate your prayers for her, and I am leaving the metaphorical door open. Also during July, which is a vacation month here, I reached out to 2 of our former neighbors (for whom you have prayed in the past) but did not receive any response.

 The final week of July, I was privileged to be in Garland, Tx, picking up the Bell Academy curriculum for 2024-25 and spending precious time with family. It was a great blessing to visit with the Dendlers and the McElhannons, as well as Elijah, who drove down from Oklahoma so I could see him, and his girlfriend, who extended her stay in Dallas for the same reason. Have I mentioned that I am supremely blessed in the family department? Although it was hard to leave them all, especially as the McElhannons are facing significant health challenges, I was thankful to get home to Chris, Sarah, and Caleb. Please continue to pray for my family.

One week after my return, we welcomed 7 members of Victory Baptist Church into our home for the literature distribution campaign. Impressively, they were still smiling despite arriving in Belém nearly 2 days later than planned after a canceled flight and hours of uncertainty. What a pleasure to host, feed (with lots of help!), serve, and beat them at History Trivia—er, fellowship with them. Chris has given you the data on the outreach; we are excited about the possibilities and praying fervently for “fruit that remains.” Another, nonquantifiable result that I am excited about is the fact that for 8 days, all of our children saw that God’s gift of grace is worth being inconvenienced, mildly embarrassed, or outright rejected over. In reality, of course, it is worth everything—but in a culture where sharing the Gospel is increasingly viewed (even by Christians) as at best gauche and at worst injurious, I pray that our kids will embrace it as their high responsibility and holy privilege.

One week after that, we started school! Sarah is now in 11^th, and Caleb in 9^th—let that sink in until next time…

Thanks for reading, and for praying!

In Christ, Brenda

Prayer Requests:– Preparation of hearts in Belém to receive the Gospel – Following up with Contacts– Language Acquisition – Outreach Efforts – Bell Academy