Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,

Thank you for your interest in the Lord’s work here in Belém.  It is a privilege to serve the Lord here.  We have seen some encouraging developments this past month.  I hope you will be encouraged with us and will pray for the Lord to continue working in the lives of the people God has brought into our lives.  

The man that I study the Bible with at our house followed through with the important decision to marry his girlfriend of several years.  At first he downplayed the significance of it, but by the time the wedding day arrived it was clear that both of them were not taking their decision lightly.  The wedding was at the cartório (think of a courthouse wedding).  Brenda and I were honored by them asking us to be the official witnesses.  After the ceremony we hosted both of their families for a celebratory meal. 

This past Friday I began a Bible study with a young man.  He has recently moved from Manaus, where he made a profession of trusting Christ as his Savior.  We were given his contact to try and help him grow in the Lord.  He is eager to learn and seems to have a good understanding of the principles that are covered in Basic Bible Truths.  Please pray for his spiritual growth.

A couple of weeks ago I ran into one of the men from our English Bible study while I was distributing gospel literature.  He recognized me first and was excited to see me.  He had been unable to attend the English Bible study because of his schedule, and I had determined he was not interested in meeting at a separate time.  As we were talking, he mentioned he would like to get together.  We exchanged numbers and later that day he sent me a message with times he had available.  I invited him and his wife to come for our Friday dinner, and it went well.  I am hoping that he will be open to meeting another time regularly to study the Bible.

The Bell Family Academy is closing out the school year this week.  It looks like we will have our second graduate.  Sarah will graduate at the top of her class:) She is planning on moving back to the states to study special education.  We are planning to come back with her and stay for a few months to help get everything squared away.  Please pray for our trip, God’s direction for where Sarah will study, and for the work here while we are away.  We will be travelling the first of July. The Mendoza family will be back shortly after we leave, so there should not be too much disruption to the weekly Bible studies.

Thanks again for praying.  May God guide and direct your lives as you walk in His ways.

For the Glory of God,

Chris Bell

Brenda’s Bailiwick

Avian Highway Update: this morning my Bible-reading in our backyard was enlivened by 2 raucous parrots who pulled over to a nearby rooftop for a chat, and either agreed completely or were utterly at odds. Considering that they mate for life, let’s hope it was the former…

In Other News: Apparently, I blinked and missed half of a month.  If I sneeze, I might miss half a year! May 20th finds the Bell Academy in its final week of school, the Bell Daughter in the last days of her high school career, and the Bell Family in our first days of realizing we will be leaving for the US in 6 weeks!  Not to worry, we are of course approaching it all with holy placidity…more or less (although I am considering giving up blinking).

Before I realized the time-warping power of blinking, Elijah completed his junior year.  He is taking 2 online classes this summer, continuing to work part-time, and looking forward to church camp next week.  Thank you for continuing to pray for him even though he is no longer “on the field.”  (My father’s indoctrination compels me to remark that the field is the world; Thanks, Daddy.)

As Chris mentioned, we were honored to participate in Michel’s wedding two weeks ago.  A deluge of quasi-Biblical proportions prevented us from having dinner in the backyard as planned, but the groom’s sister, who catered it, was more than equal to the task and all went well.   They came back for dinner last Friday, rounding out an unusually large group for our backyard barbecue—the current Saturday Bible student and his mom, Stella and her mom, and the former Saturday participant whom Chris mentioned, along with his wife.  Thank you for your prayers for them!

In closing (really), minor discomfort led me to discover last week that I have four mildly bulging spinal disks.  The doctor thinks that the symptoms can be ameliorated if not eliminated by physical therapy, and I bring this up because I have already contacted Protasio, who saw Sarah through 2 rounds of knee rehab, and for whom y’all have already prayed.  I’ve witnessed to her a bit in the past.  Would you please pray that I will both have and wisely use additional opportunities?

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