We arrived back into Belo Horizonte in the middle of the morning. The weekend in Montes Claros, a city of 400,000 five hundred miles north of Belo. We started on Friday night with a pastors/leaders conference dealing with practical ways to help believers grow in their spiritual lives, basically dwelling on teaching "how to" and "how not to" areas. The Saturday seminar was well attended due to the diligent work of the pastor and people at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. I spent Sunday with New Canaan Baptist Church and Mt. Carmel. There were twelve saved on Saturday, which is always encouraging. One more more prayer seminar here in Belo and I will leave for home on Wednesday. As usual, I stay homesick. However, it is a joy to be able to touch lives through the prayer seminars. This has been a very fruitful two weeks in Brazil.

`Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, here in Montes Claros, is seven years old. The pastor thanked JGHM for being willing to come to his church and his city. He said that they would never have an opportunity to receive systematic teaching on the Christian life if God had not sent us. He has worked diligently to involve other people from other churches, including pastors. His work has born much fruit. To prepare for the prayer seminar, he called the church to a forty-day prayer effort. To me, this is amazing.
`Mt. Carmel is in a nice building--in the design of a warehouse. Five hundred can gather for worship, but the church has provided space for other things--such as a refreshment/fellowship center, a reception area (tent-like covering with materials table with white canopy). The pastors are warm and gracious. I receive many hugs of appreciation and affection. It is good to be in this city of 400,000.  Montes Claros means "clear mountains" reflecting the mountains that surround the city. The climate is hot. We are in the middle of winter with temperatures in the nineties.

The days have moved rapidly during our time in Brazil. It is obvious that the nation has made much progress since we were here in 1999. Most of our work has been with Baptists, but in every venue there has been a strong representation from other churches. We are now in Montes Claros (Clear Mountain). The host pastor at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church has reported that fifteen churches are participating. Over 200 are registered for the seminar tomorrow. One of the prayer needs that I shared before leaving home was that I would have the physical vigor needed to share effectively. I am amazed of how well I have felt in spite of a demanding schedule. Thanks for your prayers. I trust that what we are doing will not only bring God great glory, but will strengthen believers.

The prayer seminar at Agape Baptist Church, San Benedito Community, Santa Luzia, was a blessing beyond words. The first day where were 120 pariticpants from eight churches. Attendance almost doubled on the second day with well over 200 prsent with even more churches. The interest was amazing. Seldom have I felt that from the first word until the last word everyone was with me. Nine pastors committed themselves to begin a pastors' prayer meeting with all denominations participating. What is the explanation of the strong presence of the Lord? I found out that the seventy-seven year old pastor of Agape, Manuel Desiderio, has an early morning prayer time each day from 2 until 4 a.m. No wonder the atmosphere was saturated with the sweet presence of God.

Yesterday was a great day here in Brazil. No only was there a wonderful service at the Greater Grace Church, the host church, one man from Italy accepted Christ as His personal Savior. I plan to use his picture in the October Reflector. Someone had invited him to the prayer seminar on Saturday. He is working with a Belo Horizonte firm. He took careful notes in his prayer seminar workbook and, in the service yesterday, opened his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. Around ten indicated on Saturday that they were trusting Christ. Of course, seeing people not only strengthened in their Christian lives, but some coming to Christ is encouraging. Today we will begin a seminar at the Agape Baptist Church, which is about an hour drive from where I am staying. We will not finish until 10:30 p.m. Then we have to drive back. The next three nights we will follow the same schedule. These will be long days. Then on Friday, we fly to Montes Claras (500 miles) for our next venue after Belo Horizonte.

The first prayer seminar during our time in Brazil is now history. The attendance was excellent with participants from several churches, although the seminar was scheduled for the Greater Grace Church. The people were ready and teaching them was not difficult. Although I found a few places in the new Portuguese workbook that need some work, it is obvious that the workbook will be a useful tool to many individuals and churches--which is one of our goals. Today is a preaching day for me. The second seminar begins tomorrow. We serve a great and awesome God who does all things well. Our concern, therefore, is that we will work to the level that He will get great glory out of our labors. He is worthy of our best.

After an overnight flight from Atlanta to Sao Paula (nine hours fourteen minutes), I arrived in Brazil yesterday at 7 a.m. Handling the workbook boxes was a challenge from the time they were presented for check-in in Lynchburg on Wednesday. During the past few months, baggage allowances have changed. Beginning with the second bag, there is a charge. Weight (over fifty pounds) is now a factor. Amazingly, a young man had worked with me the day before at the Delta counter and was able to get the excess baggage fee set at $150 for everything. I was thankfully amazed. He noted that my internal travel was not confirmed and worked with Delta to get the flight confirmed from Sao Paula to Belo Horizonte (and the return flight as well on September 3). The boxes went through customs as "nothing to declare." The Portuguese workbooks (a beautiful new translation) are now in the Greater Grace Church ready for distributions at the five prayer seminars.
Today I conduct a leadership conference for pastors/leaders. Knowing that many are praying for this ministry encourges my heart. I will keep you informed.

Much time has been invested in preparing for a series of prayer seminars in Brazil August 20 through September 4. I am quite pleased at the interest that has been shown from our partners (Doorkeepers) who provide the prayer and financial support needed. We have a new Portuguese translation of the workbook. The final editing will be done the first part of the week so the printing process can be completed. This will be the third time that we have worked in Brazil.

Last night, Sue and I visited the Martin family as they received friends at a local funeral home. Afreda Martin, the widow of Ed Martin, died a few days ago in her late 80's. She and Ed founded Hope Aglow Ministries, a jail ministry that has been used of God to touch thousands of prisoners. She was a graduate of Pratical Bible Training School in Bighamton, New York, an institution that has turned out outstanding Christian workers for decades. She remained president of Hope Aglow Ministries until her death. I am reminded once again of the fleeting nature of life. I learned a saying in my youth that says it quite well: "Only one life which will soon be past. Only what is done for Christ will last."  For me, I sense that I must work for the night is coming when man's work is over. I thank God for faithful servants around the world who are in the category of Ed and Alfreda Martin.

Many people look upon holiday weekends as a time to travel. In fact, many have traveled even though the cost of travel has greatly accelerated since the last Independence Day weekend. My favorite spot is home. Thursday-Friday were devoted to yard work, mowing, trimming, and watering (since the Lynchburg area has had little rain the past few months).  Our flowers are doing well. The mornings have been crisp, which makes being outside a delight. Today our grand-son-in-law came to help with a few chores in the office and we have had another person here working on one of the computers. I have read and reentered several programs into the computer and am now ready to end a beautiful Saturday at home. Tomorrow Sue and I plan to atend our own church, Forest Baptist Church. We both enjoyed the day with Kedron Baptist Church, Gladys VA last Sunday for a prayer seminar. We know our pastor, Tyler Scarlett (who is 28 years old) will feed us from the Word of God. We will be strengthened.