Things are "winding up" now instead of down!!

Things are "winding up" now instead of down!! Today we are going to show our presentation at Sunday School at Saylorville Baptist where their missionary conference is being held. Jerrod is busy right at this moment setting everything up and making sure it is in working order since our last meeting was at Winifred Baptist in Winifred, Kansas in June. Looks like it is still fine, although a lot has happened in our lives since then. It almost brings tears to our eyes as we see John standing at the front of our church telling about all that the Lord has done, and also to see shots of him preaching, teaching, working with the children...etc. It is a little hard to watch, but once again, we can do nothing but bow our heads in prayer and thank God for His goodness. John's life has been spared, and tonight he will have yet another opportunity to minister to people. Thank you, prayer team, for your faithful prayers for John. As we have said so many times before, He has answered and continues to hear and answer your petitions. Please pray for us as we minister for His glory especially in the upcoming few days. Tomorrow is a busy day for John. He starts out the day with an interview on one of our local Christian radio stations (KWKY) at 8:00 a.m. At noon, he has a doctor's appointment down at the hospital, (regular check-up) and at night we head to one of our local restaurants where a special room is reserved for other missionaries along with John to give their testimonies. It is a time of outreach to the unsaved and also a time of getting to know the missionaries better. Wednesday night is the night that we would especially like you to pray, since John will be speaking "officially" for the first time at closing meeting of the conference. We are asking that souls will be saved and that lives would be surrendered to the call of missions. Please pray with us.

We heard from Pastor Lindoan that there will soon be a baptismal at the fishing village church of 13 people! We are so thankful for this, and please continue to pray for this work. He is also in the process of making up a web-site so that we can refer you to it and even though you won't understand the portuguese language, you can look at the pictures and probably figure out a little of what is going on.

The family is doing fine. Josh went this past week to visit the Iowa School of the Blind. Many of you know that most of his eyesight was lost because of his surgeries in 2002, and we were recently informed by a sister in Christ that they would be able to aid Josh in learning a "trade," get a job, and will also help out with his college education. He is excited about this, and it looks as if this is the way the Lord is leading Him. The desire of his heart is still to be a missionary to Brazil, and we are praying that this "dream" of his will eventually become a reality. We ask that you continue to pray for Josh. His appetite seems a little better, and his spirits are also "higher" than before.

The other kids are doing well. Yesterday (Saturday) we took the time to try to organize some of our "stuff." Yes, that is right--it has already built up in these short six months that we have been here in the States. We are thankful that we have gotten some of the things in place and we once again praise our Heavenly Father for His goodness in providing this wonderful home. We also had our first "family outing" the other night. We all went to Walmart together!! John seemed to enjoy himself, and of course we did as well.

Must close for now...the Lord bless each one.
Sincerely in Christ,
John and Bev Leonard