Dear Praying Family and Friends,

“As each one has received a special gift employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak as it were the utterances of God; whoever serves let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:10-11. It is God who gives us our spiritual gifts and it is He who supplies what we need in the time that we need it. Therefore remember, it is God who should receive all the honor and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Praise: We both passed our written tests and now we have our licenses to drive the small boat. Thank-you for praying for us! Please pray that we would be safe on the river as we drive back and forth to Manaus and to other places.

Praise: Dawn’s father is still in a nursing home but he is getting stronger. He is not only working on strengthening his legs but now he is working on his arms also. He wants to eventually get strong enough that he can return to his property and trailer. Please keep praying for him that he will make right decisions concerning his health and other areas of his life. Also, pray that dad would be a bold witness for Christ as he shares with others about his experiences.

Please pray for those that will be participating in Carnival this year. Carnival is going to be here February 18-21, 2012. Carnival is an annual party that is held forty days before Easter. On certain days of Lent, Roman Catholics and some other denominations traditionally abstain from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term carnival meaning “to remove meat.” Celebrations are a farewell to bad things in a season of religious discipline to practice repentance and prepare for Christ’s death and resurrection. Sexual immorality, alcohol consumption and many other “sins of the flesh” accompany these celebrations and partying. Rhythm, participation and festive costumes vary from one region of Brazil to another. Examples include organized parades led by samba schools, public parades and minor parades. Carnival is heavily influenced by the African-Brazilian culture and it is mixed with cultural depictions of local folklore. Carnival is the most famous holiday in Brazil: the country stops completely for almost a week and festivities are intense day and night. The consumption of beer alone accounts for 80% of annual consumption and tourism receives 70% of annual visitors. The government distributes condoms and launches awareness campaigns during this time to help curb the spread of AIDS. Pray for Christian churches as they prepare to have special evangelical events during this time of Carnival.

On March 6^th we will have company on the floating house. A young man named JM is going to be staying with us. His parents are giving him this trip for his fourteenth birthday. JM’s siblings and parents are also missionaries in southern Brazil. We are looking forward to fishing for Peacock Bass and spending time with him. JM will be with us for about two weeks. Please pray that JM will enjoy his trip and his time on the floating house.

[Disclosure statement: For security purposes/reasons, some names of cities and our people group will be in the form of an acronym or be abbreviated with quotation marks.]

In January, we had to have a carpenter come to the floating house to fix a log that had come loose under the foundation of the house. There is a lot of river traffic where we are parked in “CDV” and because of it there are lots of waves. As boats drive by the house, they create waves which makes the floating house rock back and forth. This is hard on the logs under the house because they are almost constantly moving up and down with the water. As the logs move up, the nails that hold them to the foundation are forced up also. The logs settle back down but the nails stay up or they break off. Needless to say, the logs become loose under the house and they have to be refastened. (*See picture #1) Notice the size of the nail that is used. The nails are made of ¾ inch rebar that are 3 feet long.

This month, Don and Pastor Brelaz took another trip out to the small city (called “NC”) where we will be moving the floating house sometime this month. Dawn stayed home because she was sick. They talked again to the mayor of the city to make sure that we have a place to park the floating house. The mayor found us a place to park in front of his house (*See picture #2). On this trip, they found out that the “M people” are living on a reservation next to the city. This should be a great location for us to engage them (*See picture #3). We were not able to move the floating house at the end of January like we thought because we found out that the rivers that we have to travel on were not full enough of water yet for us to get the floating house through them. Please pray for us as we move the floating house to “NC”. It should take about 30 hours to get to our destination. Pray that we would not have any complications or problems.

This month, we had the opportunity to work with Pastor Brelaz in Manaus. Because of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, thousands of immigrants from there have made their way to Brazil. Many of them are now in Manaus. Our church is helping 60 of them. The church is feeding them, housing them and finding jobs for them. Last week, we held a class in Manaus to teach the Haitians how to make different breads. While we were there, we made pizza (dough and all) and French bread (*See pictures #4&5). Please pray for these immigrants as they learn to speak Portuguese. Their heart languages are French, Creole and Spanish. Pray also for Pastor Brelaz and the church as they minister to the Haitians.

Please continue to pray for Pastor Brelaz and the homeless in Manaus. Work with the homeless will continue every Wednesday night in the streets of Manaus. Pray that God would continue to use Pastor Brelaz as he ministers to those living on the street. Also, he has many different projects that he feels God is leading him to do in 2012. A full-time pastor and his family just moved out to the treatment center during the first week of January. Now this year, homeless men will be taken off the streets of Manaus and they will be given a new hope. Pray that many lives will be transformed as they learn a new trade and they hear the gospel of Christ. Pray also for the full-time pastor and his family as they minister to those at the treatment center.

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering: We would like to thank everyone who gave sacrificially this year to the Lottie Moon Offering. We were blessed to hear that many churches reached their goals and some even surpassed them. It is through you’re giving that you partner with us to be on mission with God in Brazil. We are so grateful that we don’t have to raise our own support to be on the mission field where God has called us to be! Thank-you for partnering with us in northern Brazil.

Prayer requests:

• Please praise the Lord with us as we have conformation of our first team that is coming from the States. They will be with us April 27-May 5, 2012. This team will be a medical/dental team. They will help open doors with the “M people” village that is next to the small city where we will be living.
• Please pray that we would be bold witnesses for Christ.
• Please pray for our company leadership and their families.
• Please praise the Lord with us. We will be celebrating our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary on Wednesday, February 22, 2012. God has truly blessed us in our union together and we give Him all the honor and glory for our family!!
• Please pray for our parents and other family members.
• Please pray that we would be obedient to do God’s will and not our own. We are anxious to be about the ministry God has called us to on the river.
• Please be praying for our people group (the “M people”) that we will be working with along the river. Pray that we would make good connections with them.

God has truly blessed us to have you all as part of our team!! We want to thank you for all your prayers and encouraging emails. We love you all.

For the glory and honor of Jesus Christ,

Don and Dawn Friesen

Dear Praying Family and Friends,

Happy New Year! “For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16. In this verse, Paul is eager to share how he is not ashamed of the gospel. He knows that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to those who believe that Jesus died for their sins. As we start this new year, may we as Christians share the gospel of Christ with those we meet.

Praise: Dawn’s father is getting stronger with each passing day! He is still in the Nursing Home but he is now walking to and from the dining room with the help of a walker. It has been nothing less than a miracle to see dad’s progress. Recently, he was been taken off comfort care and now he is working hard at regaining his strength so he can return home. Thanks for praying for dad and his health. Please continue to pray for him as he makes important decisions about his health and future.

[Disclosure statement: For security purposes/reasons, some names of cities and our people group will be in the form of an acronym or be abbreviated with quotation marks.]

Praise: We have been busy since our arrival back to Brazil from our trip to the States. On January 6^th, we had some training that taught us some different ways to learn a third language. This will be important as we engage our people group because they will speak a tribal language. We will need to learn their tribal language in order to share the gospel with them. This past week, we made several trips to Manaus. We are waiting for our permanent visas. As a foreigner, we are required to stop at the Federal Police once every three months until we get our permanent visas. We also went to the Coast Guard to pick up our papers for the small boat and get our physicals and eye exams so we can take our tests to get our pilot licenses. Please pray for us as we travel back to Manaus and take our tests on Tuesday, January 17, 2012.

For your information: On Saturday, we took a trip to the next place where we will be moving the floating house. It will not be in the city of “ATDL” like we originally thought. Due to many different factors, we have decided to move closer to a smaller city. This city has a population of 4,000 people and its location is strategically better for us to engage the “M people.” While we were on the trip, we made some important contacts and we received some great information! It looks like we will be ready to move at the end of January. The rivers will be high enough by this time to move the house without complications. We will make one or two more trips back out to our next ministry location to secure a place to park the house and to secure electricity. Please pray for God to open up the right place for us to park the floating house. Pray for this place to be strategically located so we can make friends with the “M people.”

Please continue to pray for Pastor Brelaz and the homeless in Manaus. Work with the homeless will continue every Wednesday night in the streets of Manaus. Pray that God would continue to use Pastor Brelaz as he ministers to those living on the street. Also, he has many different projects that he feels God is leading him to do in 2012. Check out the photos and history of the homeless ministry and treatment center at www.casareviveramazonas.com (just click on the left hand side of the webpage). A full-time pastor and his family just moved out to the treatment center during the first week of January. Now this year, homeless men will be taken off the streets of Manaus and they will be given a new hope. Pray that many lives will be transformed as they learn a new trade and they hear the gospel of Christ.

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering: We would like to thank everyone who gave sacrificially this year to the Lottie Moon Offering. We were blessed when we were in the States last month to have been in many different churches that were taking part in it! It is through you’re giving that you partner with us to be on mission with God in Brazil. We are so grateful that we don’t have to raise our own support to be on the mission field where God has called us to be!

Prayer requests:

1.)    As we enter  2012, we are putting together some teams from the states to help us. So far, it looks like we have two teams coming for sure and two teams that are praying about the possibility of coming. Please pray that God would work in the hearts of the people that He would want to minister with us. Some of these teams will help us open doors to villages where the “M people” live.

2.)    Please pray that we would be bold witnesses for Christ in the city of “CDV” and to all the Brazilians here.

3.)    Please pray for our company leadership and their families.

4.)    Please praise the Lord with us. Annie and Jay will celebrate their third wedding anniversary on Tuesday, January 17, 2012. God has truly blessed them in their marriage together!

5.)    Please pray for Kandi as she starts back to college on January 23, 2012. This will be her last year of college. She will graduate in December of this year. We are proud of her and her accomplishments!

6.)    Please pray for our parents and other family members.

7.)    Please pray that we would be obedient to do God’s will and not our own. We are anxious to be about the ministry God has called us to on the river.

8.)    Please be praying for our people group (the “M people”) that we will be working with along the river. Pray that we would make good connections with them.

9.)    Please pray for our next move of the floating house. Pray that this trip would be without complications. This trip is expected to take two to three days.

God has truly blessed us to have you all as part of our team!! We want to thank you for all your prayers and encouraging emails. We love you all. May God richly bless you in 2012!!

**If you send us an email message, please put a title in the subject line otherwise we will not open it. We do not open any email that we are unsure of because it might contain a virus. Thanks!

For the glory and honor of Jesus Christ,

Don and Dawn Friesen

Dear Praying Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! “But thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are perishing.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-15. Thanks be to God for sending His one and only Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for our sins. This is the true reason for Christmas! It is because of God’s love for us that we can be the sweet aroma of Him to others in every tribe and culture. The Christmas season is a great time to be sharing the story of Christ with those who don’t know Him.

[Disclosure statement: For security purposes/reasons, some names of cities and our people group will be in the form of an acronym or be abbreviated.]

Praise: We are in the States right now because Dawn’s father is not doing well. We arrived in Texas on November 26, 2011 and we traveled to New Mexico to see dad. He stayed in the hospital for a week and then they moved him to a nursing home. We were able to be with him for two weeks; we prayed with him, laughed with him, talked with him and even cried with him. It was such a blessing for us to have had this precious time with him! Dad was taken to the hospital by ambulance because he was complaining about his back hurting and he was weak. When they examined him, they found out that one of his kidneys had completely shut down and his other one was only functioning about ¼ percent. The doctors took him into surgery to try and put a stint in it but when they opened dad up, they found a cancerous tumor and they could not put the stint in. After doing some ex-rays, they also discovered that dad had another cancerous mass in his back that had wrapped around his spine and had caused a fracture. Dad has also suffered with Prostate Cancer for the past five years. In the past few weeks, dad has been having good days and bad days.

Yearly update on our children: Our oldest daughter Annie is in her second year of teaching. She teaches 6^th and 7^th grade Science at a Middle School near Shawnee, Oklahoma. She was just awarded “Teacher of the Year” for her school. Now her name will be submitted to district and if she wins that she will go on to nationals. Her husband Jay is in his third year of being a Police Officer in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Annie and Jay will be celebrating their third wedding anniversary in January. Kandi, our youngest daughter will be starting her last year in college at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma where she is studying Anthropology. She will graduate next December. We are truly blessed and we are so proud of our three children!!

A God story: There is a man (B) and his wife (S) that we meet while going to seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. We kept in contact with them over the years through emails and phone calls. Before we left for Brazil, we were traveling with Dawn’s dad. He was going to stay a few days in South Dakota so he could visit his mother. Also, we were saying our good-byes to our family and friends. As we called our friends (B&S) from seminary, we told them that we had picked up Dawn’s father who lived in New Mexico. Our friend asked, “Where in New Mexico does your dad live?” “He lives in a small community called Mimbres.” “You have to be kidding,” came his reply. “I just got a call back from a church there and I am going in view of being called their pastor.” It was through this God ordained miracle that we have seen many God sized blessings! Our seminary friend (B) has been the pastor of this church now for almost two years. When we came back to the States last year for Dawn’s grandmother’s funeral, we needed help getting dad from New Mexico to Albuquerque so we could meet up with him there. We called our friends (B&S) and asked them if they could help us. Without hesitation, S got in her car and drove dad to meet us. It was then that dad started asking questions. The biggest question that he had was, “Why would complete strangers come over to my house and want to help me?” We were able to share with dad that the body of Christ helps others who are in need. This kind gesture opened the door for God to start working in dad’s life. In our travels, we saw the Holy Spirit working in dad’s life. As we presented mission presentations in different churches, we invited dad to come with us. He walked into every church with us and he listened to us share about Brazil. Before this, dad never stepped foot in church. Sometimes while in church, he even put money in the offering plate. Before this, dad always said, “The church doesn’t need my money.” After grandma’s funeral last year, dad broke down and he spent most of the night in the bathroom at a hotel praying to God. Before that, dad never prayed to God. It was such a blessing for Dawn because she had never heard her dad pray before! Dad accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior and he was baptized!! He started attending Pastor B’s church every Sunday. By the way, the church is literally in dad’s backyard! Dad became friends with many of the members of the church and now they are visiting dad at the nursing home. Once again, the church has gathered around dad in his time of need. We are so grateful to B and S for their godly example to dad and for their love and care that they continue to show dad.

For your information: If you have any questions that we have not answered about the floating house, please send us an email and we will do our best to answer your question(s).

Please continue to pray for Pastor Brelaz and the homeless in Manaus. Work with the homeless will continue every Wednesday night in the streets of Manaus. Pray that God would continue to use Pastor Brelaz as he ministers to those living on the street. Also, he has many different projects that he feels God is leading him to do in 2012. Check out the photos and history of the homeless ministry and treatment center at www.casareviveramazonas.com just click on the left hand side of the webpage.

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering: It is once again time for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in the states. This offering is taken once a year in December by Southern Baptist Churches and the money that is collected goes strictly to overseas missions. “Every penny given to Lottie Moon is used to support Southern Baptist missionaries as they share the Gospel overseas. The offering represents 57 percent of the International Mission Board’s total income.” www.imb.org.  We, as Southern Baptist missionaries, are supported by this offering and money that is given to the Cooperative Program. It is because of these two blessings, we don’t have to raise our own financial support to be here in Brazil where God has called us to be. We appreciate all of the support of our family and friends and we thank you for your generosity in giving. As we think back over 2011, we are truly blessed to have a salary, the floating house and our new small boat as our vehicle on the river.

Check out this website: Here is a way for our prayer partners to see what is happening with missionaries and mission projects in northern Brazil. Go to www.salt-mission.com and check it out!

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for Dawn’s dad. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give him peace and comfort. We are so thankful that he knows the Lord and that we will be reunited with him in heaven!
• Continue to pray for the men at the marina. We will miss our friend, Carlos there. Also, don’t forget to pray for Afonso (the man who was the original builder of the floating house) and his family.
• We are gearing up for 2012 and with that in mind we are putting together some teams from the states to help us. So far, it looks like we have two teams coming for sure and two teams that are praying about the possibility of coming. Please pray that God would work in the hearts of the people that He would want to minister with us. Some of these teams will help us open doors to villages where the “M people” live.
• Please pray that we would be bold witnesses for Christ in CDV and to all the Brazilians here.
• Please pray for our parents and other family members.
• Please pray that we would be obedient to do God’s will and not our own. We are anxious to be about the ministry God has called us to on the river.
• Please be praying for our people group (the M people) that we will be working with along the river. Pray that we would make good connections with them.
• Pray for us as we make trips back and forth to our next ministry location. We have made two trips to the city of “ATDL” already. There is a pastor there that will help us secure a location to park the floating house and to secure water and electricity for us. We will be moving to this location in January or February 2012. Once at this location, we will be close to the villages where the “M people” live. There are three different “M villages” that don’t have any evangelical work in them. So, we would like to find a place to park the floating house that would make it strategic for us to be close to all three villages. That way, we can use our small boat to travel back and forth to all of them.
• Pray for us as we travel back to Brazil on December 28, 2011. We will be spending Christmas with our two daughters and son-in-law in Oklahoma.

God has truly blessed us to have you all as part of our team!! We want to thank you for all your prayers and encouraging emails. We love you all. May God richly bless you in 2012!!

**If you send us an email message, please put a title in the subject line otherwise we will not open it. We do not open any email that we are unsure of because it might contain a virus. Thanks!

For the glory and honor of Jesus Christ,

Don and Dawn Friesen

“O give us help against the adversary for deliverance by man is in vain. Through God we shall do valiantly and it is He who will tread down our adversaries.” Psalm 60:11-12. These verses were written by King David. Just as he was asking God to help him in battle, we are asking God to help us as we get ready to do battle in the ministry God has called us to on the river. Please pray that God would give us help against the adversary and that only He would be triumphant.

We are blessed by your prayers and support. We are one step closer to being done with the construction of the floating house. This past month we have been working on enclosing the overhangs of the roof with PVC (See photo at bottom of this paragraph). This next month, we will work on finishing the patio/porch and we will paint the outside walk around. Our plan is to move the floating house for the first time in the first two weeks of September.

On Tuesday of this week, we will make another trip to the small city that we are planning on moving the floating house at the beginning of September. Please pray that we will find the perfect place to park the floating house. We will try to park it off to the side of the city. We will need to talk to the owner of the land in order to get permission to park it and to the electric company so we can get electricity on the floating house.

Please be praying for our people group that we will be working with along the river. By January or February of 2012, we should be working with the M people group. We have been doing some research and here is some information about them. *We are not going to disclose their real people group name so we are going to call them the M people. They are an unreached, unengaged people group which means there are less than 2% evangelical among them. There is no church planting strategy currently being implemented among them. Their population according to the 2006 census was 9,299 and their primary language is a tribal language. They live on the lower Wood River and on the Amazon River to the east and south of Manaus in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. They are primarily fishermen of the rivers and their villages are usually very small. Even today, they are considered monolingual and isolated.

For your information: We are getting some interesting questions from people regarding the floating house so we are going to try and answer one question per month. The question for this month is, “How is the floating house tied down?” The answer; we bought two large ropes each 80 feet long. One rope is tied to each side of the floating house and they are then tied to a tree on the shore of the river (See photo at bottom of this paragraph). This helps keep the house from moving when it is hit with waves. Also, right now because the water of the river is dropping fast at the marina, we have to move the floating house back out into the water every two to three days. The house gets stuck on shore and rocks if it is not continually moved back out into the river.

Pastor Brelaz thanks you for your prayers for the treatment center and for the homeless ministry in Manaus. Check out the photos and history at www.casareviveramazonas.com just click on the left hand side of the webpage. Praise to the Lord that lives are being transformed by the Gospel through the homeless ministry every Wednesday night!

Praises:

• Our friend, Maggie, made it back to the states without any trouble! She even arrived a little early. We enjoyed our time with her this summer!!
• Our mission meeting in the state of Sao Paulo last month went great! We had a great time reuniting with other missionaries and their families.

Prayer requests:

• Continue to pray for Afonso (the man who was the original builder of the floating house) and his family.
• Please pray that we would be “bold witnesses for Christ” to the men at the marina where the floating house is currently parked and to all the Brazilians here.
• Please pray for our parents and other family members. Kandi, our youngest daughter will return to the states on August 22, 2011. Pray that she would have an uneventful journey back and that she would be ready for her senior year of college to start on August 25, 2011. We enjoyed her being with us for the summer and we are going to miss her!
• Please pray that we would be obedient to do God’s will and not our own. We are anxious to be about the ministry God has called us to on the river. Pray that we would make good connections with the M people group that we will be working alongside.
• Pray that we would be able to complete the construction of the floating house within the next three weeks. We want to have the house completely done by the time we move it to our first city location.

God has truly blessed us to have you all as part of our team!! We want to thank you for all your prayers and encouraging emails. We love you all.

For the glory and honor of Jesus Christ,

Don and Dawn Friesen

“With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26b. This Bible verse is up on our hallway wall of the floating house. It has been a blessing and a comfort to us as we saw God work throughout the construction of the house. There were obstacles that stood in our way but we stood firm because we knew that God would make the house a reality. Furthermore, We stand firm in our calling to work with Brazilians who live along the rivers here. It was God who made it possible!!!

Thank you for praying for our family. This has been a busy month for our family. Annie and Jay spent two weeks with us. During their stay, we ate piranha, we fished almost every day, Jay and Don went alligator hunting, we spent time in two different villages and we went to the zoo. They also helped us sand and varnish the outside of the floating house. We had a great time together and we were very blessed to have them in Manaus with us!!

Thanks for your prayers and support. We are still working on the construction of the floating house. It is not quite finished yet. For the past two weeks, we have been working on making the wooden windows for the patio/porch area. For the last few days, we varnished them and the trim for all the windows on the outside of the floating house. The next step will be sanding the patio/porch floor and the wooden inside wall. Then we will be able to varnish them. The other two things that still need to be completed are putting up the PVC overhangs on the roof outside and painting the outside walk-around.

Since our last update, we have made two different trips to the small city in which we will move the floating house probably in September. This city has a population of about 10,000+ people. Please pray that we will find the right spot to park the floating house in front of the city. Pray that we will find a ‘person of peace’ that will help us make connections in the city. The water in the rivers here are dropping every day now. Thus, we need to make our first move to this city before the water level gets too low.

Thank you for praying for Pastor Brelaz and the treatment center. We are still helping with the homeless ministry on Wednesday nights. We are seeing many homeless people come and listen to the Gospel and receive sandwiches and a drink at the end of the night. Check out the photos and history at www.casareviveramazonas.com just click on the left hand side of the webpage.

Prayer requests:

• Continue to pray for Afonso (the man who was the original builder of the floating house) and his family.
• Please pray that we would be “bold witnesses for Christ” to the men at the marina where the floating house is parked and to all the Brazilians here.
• Please pray for our parents and other family members. Praise the Lord, Dawn’s father was baptized a few Sundays ago. Please pray that he would grow in his faith.
• Please pray that we would be obedient to do God’s will and not our own. We are anxious to be about the ministry God has called us to on the river. Pray that we would make good connections with the people group that we will be working alongside.
• Please pray for our friend Maggie who has been staying with us for the past two months. She flies back to the states on Monday, July 18, 2011. Pray that she would have good flights and that her luggage would make it back with her.

Pray for us as we fly to Sao Paulo for a mission meeting July 23-29, 2011. Please pray that we would enjoy the time we get to spend with other missionaries who serve Christ all over Brazil. Thank you for interceding for us. God has truly blessed us to have you all as part of our team!! We want to thank you for all your prayers, support and encouraging emails. We love you all.

For the glory and honor of Jesus Christ,

Don and Dawn Friesen

The minstry…and the need…in Joplin continues.  In an upcoming post, we will share the opportunities our third team had while working, helping the people of Joplin.

Dear Praying Family and Friends,

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped; therefore my heart exults and with my song I shall thank Him.” Psalm 28:7. The Lord has been our source of strength and our shield in these past five months of the construction of the floating house. We give Him all honor, glory and thanks for His faithfulness.

Thank you for lifting us up to the Lord in prayer. Finally, we achieved our goal! We moved on to the floating house on May 26, 2011. As of this letter, we have slept in our new home for 8 nights. We praise the Lord for His goodness and for His provisions!! The floating house is already a huge blessing and we are enjoying the fruits of so many answered prayers!!

Thank you for praying. Kandi, our youngest daughter, had a difficult time with her flights to Brazil. Because of bad weather and tornadoes in Oklahoma and Texas, she was delayed two full days and all of her flights had to be rescheduled. Instead of 8 hours of flying and 8 hours of layovers she had 20 hours of flying and 28 hours of layovers! Thus, we are thankful that she is finally here in Manaus with us! She will be here until August 23, 2011. Kandi’s friend, Maggie also had to reschedule some of her flights but she made it here too. Maggie will be here with us until the end of July.

Our move to the floating house: After Kandi and Maggie arrived here on Thursday, May 26^th, we took them to the mission apartment so they could take showers because we didn’t have the water completely hooked up yet on the floating house. Then, we loaded our truck with some essentials from the apartment and we headed to the marina where the floating house is parked. Don finished hooking up the water, Dawn started putting things in order on the floating house and Kandi and Maggie explored the new house and went fishing. Friday and Saturday were spent moving appliances and the rest of our things to the floating house.

Trip to our first destination point: Sunday, May 30^th we took an eight day trip to three different villages. Our main purpose for this trip was to see the area where we will be moving the floating house for the first time in August or September. We made some valuable contacts and we scouted out some areas that will work for us to park the floating house.

Please pray for our daughter Annie and her husband Jay. They are coming for a two week visit. They leave today from Oklahoma City and they should arrive in Manaus tomorrow at 12:45pm. We are excited that they are coming! We are looking forward to all our family being together!! This will be Jay’s first time in Brazil.

Please continue to pray for Pastor Brelaz and the treatment center. God is moving among the homeless in Manaus. Pastor Brelaz is seeing lives changed as they are taken off the street and moved to the treatment center. R and L continue to share their personal testimonies of salvation in churches and to their friends who are homeless on the street. The website for the treatment center/homeless ministry now has photos on it. Check it out at www.casareviveramazonas.com just click on photos on the left hand side of the webpage.

Please pray that the homeless adults and children in Manaus would understand that God loves them and that they would give their lives to Jesus Christ. Pray that God would change their lives and that He would give them the power to break their addictions.

Prayer requests:

• Continue to pray for Afonso (the man who was building the floating house) and his family.
• Please pray that we would be “bold witnesses for Christ” to the men at the marina where the floating house is parked and to all the Brazilians here.
• Please pray for our parents and other family members.
• Please pray that we would be obedient to do God’s will and not our own.

God has truly blessed us to have you all as part of our team!! We want to thank you for all your prayers, support and encouraging emails. We love you all.

For the glory and honor of Jesus Christ,
Don and Dawn Friesen

In all this was a very good ministry trip. Much remains to be done in Joplin. Much remains to be said. For now, here are some pictures of the south campus, the storm destruction, and ministry…

Here are some pics from today…

Dear Praying Family and Friends,

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7. We know that prayer is the foundation for all that we do in our ministry here. You, as our prayer partners have stood in the gap for us and we are appreciative of your faithfulness in praying for us and the completion of the floating house. Through the frustrations and trials of building the floating house, we have felt your prayers and encouragement. We are so grateful to have you on our team!

We just got back from Brasilia yesterday. We were there for eight days of training on how to use chronological Bible storying with oral learners. We were able to use what we learned during our morning sessions as we went out into two different communities in the afternoons to share the Bible stories. We were blessed to see so many receptive hearts as we put what we learned into practice. Please pray for those that heard the Bible stories and also for the Pastor who will begin a new work in this area.

Praise!! We are finally ready to move onto the floating house! We will make the move on Monday. The floating house is not completely finished yet but the livable space is ready to be occupied. This past month, we got the trim done around all the doors and windows and we varnished the floors. Now, we only have the patio/porch to finish and the outside of the house. We will sand and varnish the patio/porch wooden walls and floor and make wooden windows for it also. On the outside of the house, we still need to sand and varnish the walls and paint the walk around. Thank you for all the prayers in regards to the floating house over the last five months. We are excited to finally see it come to a completion and we are looking forward to living on it and to begin our ministry with river communities.

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for our daughter Kandi and her girlfriend Maggie as they make their way here to Manaus on Monday. They will arrive on Tuesday.
• Pray for our oldest daughter Annie and her husband Jay who will be coming to Manaus on June 12^th. They will stay for two weeks.
• Continue to pray for Afonso (the man who was building the floating house) and his family. Pray that we can still have a relationship with him and his family.
• Please pray that we would be “bold witnesses for Christ” to the men at the marina where the floating house is being built and to all the Brazilians here.
• Please pray for our parents and other family members.

We are grateful for your prayers.

Blessings,
Dawn & Don