An Announcement . . .

about a major addition to the Jon and Denielle Johnson family will be coming soon . . .

But in the absence of such juicier news and the accompanying photos, here are a few updates on our lives at the moment:

Heavenly Father, please tell us what we want: Day 162, The Housing Saga.

So I don't know if it is day 162 or 62, all I know is that we have been praying about what we should do for our living situation since it became apparent that we would need to make a change back during the first months of the year. Here is the latest for those who are curious and praying.


Another house has opened up here in Estância Velha that we are interested in. The owner is asking for less than what we are paying now but still more than what we´d like to pay. We are praying that we can negotiate with him without the Realtor office so that we can save more money and he can still get what he wants.
If that doesn´t work . . . we do have an option that is available for the moment in Campo Bom, a good apartment, with two bedrooms and a garage. The draw back: it has nothing in it, not even light fixtures. Stay tuned.

Mom and Grandma
Vilmar, one of our coworkers likes to say that I have the best mother-in-law in the world,  she lives 10,000 kilometers away. While both phrases of that sentence are true, the are not interrelated. Mom Ortler has been with us for the last two weeks and has been a blessing beyond measure. I came home from a meeting the other day and she was washing the grates on the windows. When I came into the house, Denielle said, "I don´t know what to do with myself, Mom is doing all the work." Thanks for coming Mom! Thanks Dad and family for sharing her with us. ElliAnna is under the illusion that Grandma came here only to play with her. Someday soon, that illusion will go away.

Marisol
A neighborhood on the border between Campo Bom and Novo Hamburgo is going to be a bigger part of our lives over the next year. We have enjoyed having a nominal part in the ministries happening in Marisol throughout the last eight months. We are excited to be able to spend more time there in the next year after our church asked us to consider taking a more active roll in the ministries to that community. Some of the things that are happening or are being planned include: an Adult evangelistic Bible Study, Youth Group meetings, an evangelistic English course, Kids Clubs, Sunday School, and discipleship meetings. As Paul said in Colossians, "Continue in prayer . . ."

Retreats
This weekend, depending on Baby´s schedule, we will participate in a church retreat with our church body from Campo Bom. It starts on Saturday afternoon and goes until Monday afternoon. Monday is a state wide holiday. We are hoping for 30-40 people. Some of the youth kids plan to come, even without their parents. Pray for us.