Meet Soraia Graça Darling!

It's another girl!  Soraia Graça Darling was born 7:45pm on June 8, 2013. Mom and baby are doing great, but we have quite the birth story for you! The following is the story as told by Caryne:

I never thought something like this would happen to me :). Here's the whole story. Friday night I started to feel like I was at the beginning stages of labor, but also had plenty time. We went to bed, but I woke up around 4:30. So, I just got up and finished getting ready. The contractions came and went, some stronger than others, but not giving me a clear yes or no, I didn't want to spend much time labor-ing at the hospital. We sent the girls off, so I could try to relax. Jeff and I took a walk outside, and we walked up the five flights of steps back to our apartment hoping to speed things up. (Haha, it worked!) The contractions were stronger, but still 8 minutes apart, so we kept waiting. Until one strong one broke my water! Then we were off, in the car, let's go! I still thought I might have some time. But in the car, just minutes from he hospital I said to Jeff, "when we get there, you need to tell them the baby's coming, I need to push!". Thankfully, here in Portugal, when you check in for labor and delivery, you go to the ER first, so that's where we walked in. Jeff checked me in, but while he was doing that, I realized there was no way I would make it to the third floor to deliver. He said, "I'm going to go park the car", I remember saying, "can you stay? I need you to stay!" Then, my grand finale, I had a contraction and pushed her out onto the floor of the ER waiting room! And yes, I was still fully dressed, she was stuck next to my knee inside my pants (sorry if that's too much information :) They laid me down on the floor and pulled her out. I saw someone holding her by her feet in front of me while they checked her out, and me to see if everything was ok. All in front of the people waiting in the ER... :) After that everything was normal, she's a great, healthy, perfect baby girl. But we had lots of extra visitors! The cop who helped me in the ER, and parked our car for us, came up to check on us, to make sure everything was ok. And a couple of the ER nurses came to visit us too. We are so blessed!

Thank you for celebrating with us, and for your prayers and encouragement!

He is Exalted!

Conversions

In the past three weeks three people have accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior through the ministry of our church.  Praise the Lord!  We are so excited to see how the Lord is using this community of believers here in northern Portugal!

Church Plant

Our church is currently going through the process of establishing a new church in a town called Trofa.  We appreciate your prayers for our leadership as all the details are worked out.  The priority has always been that through everything the Lord will be glorified, and the Gospel will advance.  Please pray that in this time of transition, that priority will remain steadfast.

Caryne and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding
anniversary on June 7.

Caryne's Pregnancy

Our fourth child has not arrived yet, but we are getting close!  Caryne and the baby are doing well.  Please pray for strength and good health for them both.  Please also pray for Anadia, Cora, and Isabel, as once their new sibling arrives they will have to spend a few days with Pastor Antonio's family.  We are so thankful for such a loving and helpful church family!

Bible Study/Youth

Please also continue praying for the youth of our church.  They face very difficult challenges ahead, as Portugal remains in financial crisis.  Our prayer is that they will place their relationship with the Lord above anything else in their lives, as only in Him is there peace and clarity.  We continue to have weekly Bible studies with some of the young men, and we will also begin to have more frequent weekend get-togethers to study God's word.  Thank you for your continual prayers for the young people.

We praise the Lord for your partnership!