It was good to sing in Portuguese again this morning. Alfredo Silva preached for his first time today, on the Samaritan woman in John 4; took 20 minutes and did a good job. He's been a Christian for many years, but only now has he got to the point of preaching. Otavio Carvalho and I have been working more with the men here at SJCampos as of late, so we're seeing more of them teach and preach. Wilson Cardoso has been teaching the Bible class this quarter on Episodes from Exodus from material Otavio worked up from a book I lent him. Appears our attendance was normal.

25 Christians
12 children
03 visitors
40 TOTAL

Otavio and Valeria are in Paris, where she went for a meeting with her job. They will be back in two weeks. Several others were out for one reason or another, some from spiritual weakness.

I came home and crashed this afternoon; we've not had much time to rest since we got home. Slept for and hour and a half.

Then up again to the new congregation in Taubate in Clayton and Valeria Silva's home. Jorge and Paula were there as usual, and Clayton's cousin Flavio was visiting with his wife and son. So we had 15 present, including children. I adapted a sermon I used in the U.S. on our being the people of one book, using John 20:30-31 as base text, with three points:

We Are People of One Book

1. Because it is God's explanation (revelation, interpretation) of the events of redemption (Eph. 3:3-4).

2. Because it is God's application of divine principles to daily life (1 Cor. 4:6).

3. Because it is God's reminder to follow Jesus (2 Pet. 1:12; 3.1-2).

Flavio is an inactive Christian, so I chatted with him and encouraged him to return to Christ. His wife has not been baptized.

On the way home, we stopped at Taubate Shopping and got a quick bite at McDonald's. Our worship period (we don't have Bible class yet) lasts about an hour and a half, so by the time we visit and get away it's usually 8 p.m. (We have to leave our house by 5 p.m. to get there, so we eat afterwards.)

After we got home I called Carlos, a friend in another state who had called during my afternoon nap. He had a problem he needed some help on, so we spent an hour and a half on the phone working on that and other subjects. With that, it's 11 p.m., so I'm heading for bed.