The last 6 months have been exciting and challenging but a real blessing. We are excited to see what the rest of 2008 will bring.

This year we are opening two new schools which are currently under construction. One is located in Anama which is situated on the River Solimoes. The other being located in Lago do Cacau on the River Negro. We will be inaugurating both schools in the autumn.

Plans for the first of six Health and Community centres are well under way. Architect plans have been approved and the building foundations have been mapped out. The centres are by far the most ambitious projects to date, and each will have a sustainable medical centre, each will be a place to teach on special needs, new life skills, Christian education, and also a place where communities and leaders can meet together. The centres will also become a base for mission trips, enabling visiting teams to remain in the jungle with the Ray of Hope volunteers and villagers. We are very excited about these centres and what they will bring to the people of this region.

We are so thankful for the Bibles that were donated via the No Frontiers trust earlier this year. We had the privilege of distributing these Bibles at our Easter Camps in the villages of Pagadao and Manacaparu. Thank you to all those who sponsored the Bibles, we know that these will bless the lives of many children.

A few months ago we received sad news that a father from the village of São Tomé had drowned. He went missing on a Wednesday, and his body was discovered on the following Friday. An autopsy showed he had drowned. It seemed he was heading home through the jungle and tried to swim a small creek. He was a husband and father to eight children. When we arrived in São Tomé four days later, the wife had gone to the main village to sign the death papers leaving her children alone in the village. Gloria felt the Lord speak to her to go and comfort the children so team members Nailza, Juliet and Gloria sat with them under a tree and just spent time hugging, crying and praying with them, assuring them they were loved by Ray of Hope but more importantly by God. That He is their Father and will never leave them. Before leaving the village we gave them a Bible and told the oldest daughter to read it daily to her brothers and sisters. We returned to the village on the Saturday and the oldest daughter said she had been reading to her brothers and sisters and they had found the stories really comforting. Please keep this family in your prayers. It is very difficult for any single parent in the jungle especially a mother with eight children.

Please keep Frank, one of our special needs children, in your prayers. He has been struggling seriously with his health over the past few months. Frank lives in Iranduba and was abandoned by his mother at birth. He suffers from severe Cerebral Palsy and has Quadriplegia and is cared for by his Grandmother. However his Grandmother is growing tired and weary, finding it harder to care for him and is nearing the point of giving up. Please pray for Frank and his Grandmother, he has no other family to care for him.

We were privileged to witness the exciting baptism of Chief Manuel from São Tomé in June. During this time a mission team were visiting the Amazon and spent time with Chief Manual. As he spoke with them he asked to be baptised in front of his entire village, after which he burned all of his ancestral idols. It was an amazing witness of God’s love for this one man, as families gathered to hear his words of how God had saved him.

In July a mission trip of teenagers from the USA came and spent two weeks in the Amazon, ministering and witnessing in different villages. During this time 100 people became Christians excepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. As we love our neighbour and display God’s love through action, we are finding more and more coming to know the love of Jesus. The village of Terra Preta was one of the first villages that Ray of Hope encountered, and now the entire village is Christian. Gabriel, the Chief at Terra Preta, is visiting the Indian Reservations once a month, spreading the good news of Jesus to his fellow Indians. This is a place only native Indians can go and it is amazing to see Gabriel and his village sharing the love of God with those around them.

We are so thankful for your prayers and support. May God continue to bless you in all you do.

With love
The Ray of Hope team

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