Dear Friends and Family –
About a month ago, we began to announce our aspirations to go to Japan with the Evangelical Covenant Church late next year to serve the Portuguese, Latino and international communities there. We asked for people to join this journey and/or pray with us and you responded yes! Thank you!! Here is our first update:
Praises:
– The word is starting to get out. People are visiting our website and sharing the news with others.
– Sophia turned four months old on Tuesday and had her 4-month shots today. She took them like a champ and is sleeping soundly. Johnna is back to work and her mom is taking care of Sophia full-time in our home. It is an incredible situation, giving us great peace and gratitude.
– Fabio’s parents are planning to come at Christmas to meet Sophia for the first time. We are so excited!
– Amazingly, Johnna’s account from when she was a missionary in Belgium still had funds in it. So, before we even started raising support, we already had a balance of $750. Since then, a few people have joined on as financial partners through monthly giving and one-time gifts.
– We have recommenced our Friday small group meetings (they used to be weekly and are now monthly) and Fabio is preaching in Portuguese at a local Brazilian church every Tuesday. Pastor Paulo and others have been extremely supportive.
Prayers:
– We had a great conversation with Andrea Johnson in Japan and are discerning about where we will live in Japan. We’d like to be near Portuguese and Spanish speakers with access to an international community.
– We’ll be participating in an international missionary course called Perspectives beginning in January. Pray for someone to watch Sophia and that we will begin to equip ourselves for this upcoming transition.
– Our goals for support:
- We currently have 108 people who have committed to praying for us. Our goal is 200.
- We currently have 1 person giving monthly support. Our goal is 100 people at $50/month.
- We currently have 0 churches partnering with us, though we are in conversation with many. Our goal is 10 churches giving $1200/year.
***If you haven’t had a chance to check out our 10-minute video, please do. It explains our project and has videos of Sophia, our work in Spain, Belgium, Japan and the U.S.
http://blogs.covchurch.org/fjmuniz/
Thank you again for your support and friendship! We are praying for you, too. Here we go…
Fábio, Johnna and Sophia
