We heard back from several after sending our first e-mail letter out using the new set up. Seems it came through with huge gaps of space and printed out over ten pages. We are sorry about that and appreciate your patience as we try and find a good option for sending our e-mail prayer letter out. The only e-mail access we have right now is through an internet café in town, but the connection is very unreliable and is painfully slow. It is so slow that we are unable to load web pages. We have around 400 people on our e-mail prayer letter list, and with the slow speed, it would be about 2 hours to send those e-mails out. We want to keep updates, prayer requests and blessings headed your way, but with how things are right now, we will not be able to send e-mails out as often. The tech guy at ABWE is working to find another way we can send our bulk e-mail out. Please pray with us to find a good alternative soon and that we would find ways to get updated info into your hands in the meantime. Thank you for understanding.

I will be leaving on Wednesday headed two hundred miles upriver to Benjamin Constant, where I grew up. I am the speaker for their youth retreat that starts a week from Saturday. The theme is "Your Present Determines Your Future". I plan to speak on the lives of Saul, David, Absalon, Esther, and Lot. I also will be speaking about moral purity. Pray that the teens will come away challenged to make positive changes in their lives. I will also be taking an on-line course to renew my aviation mechanic Inspector's license. I'll be away from home for 10 days and would appreciate your prayers for Athena and the kids in my absence.

I spent this past weekend in Amaturá. Please pray for this congregation. They are still without a pastor but are hanging in there. The young man that Pastor Jacó and I were going to start training for future ministry has decided he is not really sure if he wants to invest his time preparing for ministry. Claudemir and his family went with me to Amaturá. Claudemir taught the youth group on Saturday evening and preached Sunday night. He and his family used to live in Amaturá and were part of the church leadership. I taught the combined youth and adult Sunday School class and then had the privilige of baptizing 7 people in the river while it was raining. It is truly a blessing to see this core group of believers continuing to meet each week even without a pastor. Sadly, there were some difficult situations to work through there as well, intensifying the need for someone to work there full time. Pray with me as I consider making trips to Amaturá twice a month, I feel that God is wanting me to do that and want to be sensitive to His leading.

Monday afternoon, Pastor Henrique from Betânia stopped in. He was deeply troubled as another "church" group has been visiting Betânia. He is concerned for his flock and worried what the influence of this religious group will be. This church teaches that the more money one gives to them, the more blessings God will give that person. If you are not receiving blessings, then you are not giving enough money to that church. This same church was invited in to 'heal' a man that had been sick for several years. This church claims that if someone isn't healed, then the person and his/her family didn't have enough faith. Another pastor here in town has talked to Pastor Henrique about going up to Betânia. He told Pastor Henrique that he knew Pastor Jacó and I and was trying to use that as a way to give him an inroad. I do not know this man and made sure Pastor Henrique knew that I was not endorsing this man's ministry. Pastor Henrique asked me if I would come and teach on a Sunday morning about what different religions believe. In talking with him, we decided that it would be good to teach about what to do if someone comes teaching false doctrine. I want to also encourage them to be able to defend what they believe by reading God's word and studying it faithfully. Please pray for this church as this is just one of many struggles they are confronting.

We would appreciate your prayers as well as we decide how God wants us to invest our time. There are so many needs in Amaturá, Betânia, and Santo Antônio as well as other communities that have expressed a desire to have missionaries come in to lead regular Bible studies.

Thank you for making it possible for us to minister here in the Amazon. We appreciate your prayers and notes of encouragment.

In Christ,
Lloyd, Athena, Julia, Jessica, Jacob and Lucas Peace