Dear Friends:
In our last newsletter, we mentioned in a prayer request that I was recovering from Dengue Fever. Now we now that many people read our newsletters right to the very end: I received many emails from you with expressions of concern and the assurance that you were indeed praying.
Thanks for all that great prayer coverage for me! The good news is that those prayers are being answered, and I’m feeling better and stronger every day. But I have learned first-hand that getting Dengue, and now recovering from it, is indeed no fun.
Here in Brazil dengue epidemics come and go in waves. Unfortunately, we’re in the middle of one of those waves right now. The world press is covering the impact that dengue is having in Rio de Janeiro in great detail, but in fact this is something that is affecting the whole country. Even here in Belo Horizonte, I found out!
When the fever and body pains were over, I was left feeling pretty washed out the following week. The blessing in this is that I came down with the fever in the last days of our intensive English for Mission course. We had no teaching responsibilities that next next week, which meant I could be at home and basically prone during this time. In between naps, I caught up on email, did our taxes (!), and helped prepare for the next module we would be teaching at JAMI the following week.
By God’s grace I was strong enough to do my part this last week in the “Missionary Life” module. I sat down in class and rested more than I usually do, but each day I felt stronger and more able. And the course went quite well, with good feedback from our students and some very glowing evaluations from them on Friday afternoon.
I have gotten wonderful care from Ann and Asa, our friends at JAMI, and friends like you around the world. What a blessing it is to be reminded in such a tangible way of the special community of supporters God has given us.
Thanks again for your love and concern. Please continue to pray for our trips this weekend (19-21 April) to lead a church’s mission conference and next weekend (26-28 April) to speak at a church in the morning and evening services on “myths and realities of mission.”
Que Deus os abençoe,
Bruce
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