Faith

God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Does he speak and then not act?

Does he promise and not fulfill?

Numbers 23:19

Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your hearts to him,

for God is our refuge.

Selah

Psalm 62:8

from our newsletter

God Is Good!!
We are so excited to tell you that Amanda has the papers that we need in order to apply for our visas.
A pastor who is in Brazil on a mission trip will be coming back on May the 4th. He will overnight the papers to us. The day after we receive them, probably the 7th, we will be in Chicago applying for the visas and celebrating!!!

We are currently staying with the Smiths. When we leave here we will be going to stay with Jody’s mom for a couple of weeks.
We praise God for His people, and for the offers we had of places to stay. Believe it or not, we had more offers than we needed! We pray God will richly bless all those who were willing.

Retreat!
As in relax and reflect, not as in run away! On April 20th and 21st, Don and Jody had the privilege of going to the SBC pastors/ wives retreat. (Missionary couples were included.) We went to Nashville, Indiana for a wonderful time.
House
We have a buyer for the house!! Once we close, we will be completely debt free and ready to go, with no strings attached!!! We’re so glad we stepped out in faith and were able to see God work!!
Don’s Ordination
Don has been studying for his ordination council. On May 5th, he will go before the council. On May 6th, you are all invited to his ordination at Emmanuel Baptist Church, in North Salem. For the sake of space, please email or call us if you would like directions.

Contact Information
While we are in the States, we can be reached at 765-242-2137 (Jody), or 765-242-2364 (Don).
All correspondences, including support, should go to PO Box 506, Frankfort, IN 46041. Support checks should be made out to LOVEM Ministries, with Casa1631 Brazil Missions in the memo line. This is the permanent address for support. Once we get settled in Brazil, we will let you know of our Brazilian address. Our email is fields.jody@gmail.com or daddydonf@yahoo.com. Our blog is www.casa1631.blogspot.com.

Prayer Requests
Please pray for our spiritual preparation during the visa processing time.

Pray for us to continue to draw closer as a family.

Pray for us to find the right Portuguese teacher, and the right house to live in.

Pray for God to prepare Obidos for the harvest!

Pray for quick visa processing and safe travel. All right, pray for the visas to be processed in God’s perfect timing!


We Are Saved By Hope
(From Living Under Hope By Toby Mac and Michael Tait)

We are saved by hope. Romans 8:24
“In January 1922 Ida Well-Barnett (1862-1931) took up the cause of twelve black prisoners sentenced to death in Little Rock Arkansas…In our darkest time we need to look to our hope. The men on death row who were interviewed by Ida Well-Barnett set their hope on heaven, but Ida convinced them that they could still hope for something closer to home and not leave their families fatherless yet…Paul and Silas, who also hoped in heaven, set their eyes to continue the work they had been called to do in Philippi despite their circumstances…Too often we overlook the simple power of hope. We struggle to have faith for God to act on our behalf, or struggle to love in situation that seem unsolvable, but we fail to realize that before we can do either, we must first have the hope that things can change for the better. Hope is the raising of a head sunk in despair to look upward for an answer…It is the first posturing of the spirit to have faith or be able to love. Hope gives faith its substance and tangibility; hopelessness drains our strength to do anything…What do you place your hope in today? Are you generally hopeful about your future, or do you feel that only bad and more bad is headed your way? If we don’t have hope, do we really know God?…Is there a situation in you community of which you know about that seems hopeless, yet you still feel compassion for it?…You might be just the very light someone needs to pull thorough…How are you helping your church spread God’s hope to others? Are you more concerned with convincing others that God is real than letting them experience Him thorough your own attitude and optimism? Or are you self-consciously trying to get others to accept you rather than reaching out with the acceptance of Jesus that live in you heart?”

We are learning many lessons while we wait!!!

Praise and prayer request

Praise God again for his people. Don, Jody, Jacob, Curt and Treyton are currently staying with the Smiths, and Maggie and Emily are still with the Marcum's. What a blessing these people have been to us!
Don and Jody are about to leave to go to a pastor/wife retreat in Nashville, Indiana, with Pastor Rick and Carol Williams, from Emmanuel Baptist Church. We qualify to go as missionaries, and also, Don is about to be ordained.
His ordination will be May 6, during the 10:30 service, at Emmanuel Baptist Church, in North Salem. We invite all of you to come. We will get directions at later.
Please pray for us as we make some decisions about visas applications! We'll keep you updated. Still no paper from Brazil.

Magnify

Hey everyone this is Maggie. Just wanted to share something.

I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in the LORD;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
O magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
Psalm 34:1-3

Point a telescope at any star in the night sky. It's amazing how the instrument will magnify the star for you, even though that distant ball of gas is actually millions of times larger than the image your eye sees. Believers are like a telescope for Christ. He is far more radiant than we could ever communicate, but the purpose of our life is to magnify Him.--Charles Stanley

Waiting...

Waiting...we should get better at it the more we do it, but I'm not sure it happens that way! We are waiting on our letter from Brazil so we can apply for the visas. That's it. We have received Don's retirement money and as soon as we are told the pay-off amount for the 2nd mortgage, we will be debt free, other than the 1st mortgage on the house. We will be able to lower the price, and list it with a realtor. We have money to make the mortgage payments and take care of utilities for about 1 1/2 years. All we need are the visas to be able to go!!!

Sunday we will start over at the Smith's house! We can't thank the Marcums enough for their hospitality. I'm sure it hasn't been easy, being invaded like this, but they have never made us feel anything but welcome. As a matter of fact, they've invited Maggie and Emily to stay here as we go to the Smith's, so that they (the girls) can have a little quiet time!

Please pray for us to use this time wisely, and for God to prepare our hearts for what we are about to do. Even though we see his hand, and know he is in control, it is stressful, when a whole family is waiting, giving things away, moving around, etc. Praise God for his new mercies every day.

God is good!!

Well, we're about to wrap up our first week here at the Marcum's. I want you to know that God is in it. There have been just the 2 of them here for years, and now the 7 of us invade the house, and it has been great. We feel so at home and welcome here, and they tell us that they hardly know we are here! That's a miracle, because I've never thought of us as a quiet family. Bob said that the best part of the day is in the evening when we all sit around the dinner table together! What a blessing they have been to us.

We are still waiting on the papers from Brazil in order to be able to go and apply for the visas. Pray for them to arrive soon, please, and for our house to sell. Even though we will go even if it doesn't, it would be awesome if it would sell before we go!!!