Santa Maria, BRAZIL

I arrived back in Santa Maria during the second week of November. We felt bad the 20 months when international travel was restricted and the door to Brazil closed. Each weekend, I recorded two messages during these months, one in the Gospel and the other in ministry. I sent them by What's app, initially to believers in the area we usually labor, but with time these were passed on to contacts right throughout Brazil. Only in eternity will we know the full results, but we know of those who have been saved and of saints who had deeply appreciated spiritual food when meetings were impossible. Sadly, over six hundred thousand Brazilians lost their lives due to COVID-19, and many whom we knew were included in the list. Some were believers, and many were contacts who attended meetings over the past 30 years. During the months of lockdown, the zoom facility was used for the preaching of the Gospel and the ministry of God ́s word. A weekly Gospel Meeting continues to be hosted by the Porto Alegre assembly, and typically over 100 connections come online. God has blessed this exercise, and some have been baptized and brought into fellowship who heard the Gospel in this way. Truly God has worked, and to Him be all the glory.

Since arriving here, we are thankful for those who carried on the work in our absence in Santa Maria. Some outsiders are attending the weekly Gospel meetings, and with them in mind, we have held a mid-week Gospel meeting in the hall. Not all the believers can attend, but we are thankful that these outsiders continue to attend, and we feel some are learning their need for salvation. Pray that soon we may hear of them trusting Christ.

Over the past three weeks, my wife Christine was able to join me here. She returns to Ireland this coming weekend, as her next monthly treatment for cancer is marked for this day week. We are thankful that she keeps fairly well, although the 40-degree temperatures that we have been facing over the past month, has left her tired. However, the Brazilian believers have appreciated her visit and together we have been to visit around quite a lot. Due to her illness, a permanent return to live here is impossible, even though this would be both our desire. Please pray for Christine as she flies back to Ireland and her ongoing health problems. I value prayer as well, for me as I remain here for another few months, especially that I will be preserved from the virus.

Due to the current wave of the new variant, series of meetings are almost impossible.

Spring 2022

Written by John and Christine McCann - Brazil

mccannjohnjr@yahoo.com.br