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Armour Update -  August 2004

   

Wow! Who would have imagined! It's still hard to believe what God did through the "Light in Action" team from June 22nd to July 22nd!

A few highlights:

In just 30 days, these 10 young people (18-24 years):

• Sang and presented the drama "The Burden" (which gives the Gospel) 37 times to thousands of teens, adults and children
• Traveled almost 8,000 kilometers on extremely good and extremely bad roads, both paved and dirt 
• Traveled through 8 Brazilian states from freezing cold pine forests, to steamy hot Amazon jungle
• Presented (or witnessed) in private and public schools, public squares, a home Bible study, a sports club, a rotary club, evangelical churches, a Catholic church fellowship hall, a remote Indian village, on the beach at a remote tourist river party retreat, a sports equipment factory, a drug rehab facility, a "grocery store" Bible study, on a tourist train through the coastal rainforest, in private homes
• Trashed a $1,400 guitar, had an expensive 35mm camera stolen, ate hundreds of pounds of Brazilian barbeque and food, got body-painted in an Indian village, swam in the Atlantic ocean, swam in a tributary of the Amazon river, saw one of the largest cities in the world, saw exotic animals and places, met a famous soccer player, signed innumerable autographs, got sick, got sunburned, traveled by plane, train, car, microbus and in a baggage trailer, played in the mud, learned phrases in Portuguese, made innumerable faces, laughed thousands of times and cried a few…but didn't fight, saw some genuine miracles happen

We're sorting through several thousand digital photos and 10 hours of video now, to make a DVD of this memorable trip. It truly was a miracle of God's love and grace and we marvel again and again over the doors He opened for His message of love, forgiveness and grace to be shared throughout this giant country. What a privilege, what a thrill. Surely God's holy angels worked overtime in preparing the way for us, protecting us and guiding us as we traveled.

How we praise the Lord for the little stationwagon a dear PrayerWarrior bought for us just before this trip! It already has almost 23,000 km on it, but has served quite well (thank you Dian)! Many thanks too, for the loaner 9-passenger vehicle from Sonia's brother, Dan Templeton. It served us well (thank you Templeton family)!

Thank you too, to the many family and friends that made this trip possible. Some gave financially to help these young people fly down, others prayed for us fervently before, during and after the trip. We are a Body and it's a thrill to unite together with our brothers and sisters to accomplish God's purposes.

I will try to put pictures and update info on our personal website ASAP, but please be patient. I'm looking at the possibility of moving to a larger website (much more storage space) for pictures and video/audio. My current website is much too limited in space. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Please remember, to access our website, the login is: prayerwarrior and the password is: stevesonia

Future plans?

We are open to whatever God has planned for us, and it appears that many opportunities for teaching/preaching His Word are already in place. New Bible studies are forming, new places are opening, there is much to do. A possible trip to the USA in December or next May/June is in the works. With three kids in Bible school in Waukesha, Wisc., we have one eye firmly fixed on that place as well. New relationships are forming, and our "little eaglets" are quickly becoming "adult eagles" and starting to fly afar. The "Beyond the Veil" video tapes continue to go out, and we have added Pastor Dick Sanford's audio Bible studies in Portuguese to our production. I am looking for duplication equipment to meet the growing demand for that 70+ CD series as well. A growing number of radio stations are asking for the CD's, so we pray that God will continue to open this huge door to Brazil's 170+ million people. Many thanks to Sonia's brother, Darrel Templeton and to "International Cooperating Ministries" for their great production of these materials and for their permission to duplicate and distribute them. Pray for this ministry as our co-worker and helper Wladinilson Correa does most of the grunt work. He is now working full time with us and looking to the Lord to provide for his needs.

Again we thank you folks for your prayers and financial help. God is truly multiplying your prayer and gifts and HE WILL NOT FORGET WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! Please remember that.

Much love in Christ,

 Stephen, Sonia, Stefanie, Cynthia and Richard Armour 

 

Phone numbers:

     House:  55 (49) 323-2356

     Office:   55 (49) 329-5598

     Cell:      55 (49) 9911-3694

Brazil mailing address:

     Caixa Postal 203, Chapecó, SC, Brazil  89801-973

Bible school address for kids is: 

     New Tribes Bible Institute, 915 N. Hartwell Ave., Waukesha, WI  53186

Gifts: (Please make all checks payable to: ACI International - see NOTE below)

     PO Box 1769, Ontario, California  91762-0769

(NOTE OF EXPLANATION ON GIFTS TO OUR MINISTRY:  Assisting Christian Individuals International (www.aciinternational.org), is an non-profit, Christian organization that allows us to receive gifts destined for our ministry and give tax-deductible receipts for those gifts. They charge only 5% of the total of all gifts for this purpose, so we receive 95% of everything given. They send us a list of all gift donors at the end of every month, then deposit directly into our US-based bank account. Checks need to be made out to ACII for them to be able to legally give tax-deductible receipts. Please include a note in the envelope with our name on it as the recipients for the gifts.)