We've been at Fazenda Tchincombe (Tchincombe Farm) for over two months now!! It has been so busy, we actually wrote a newsletter a month ago and never got it sent out. We've been getting settled into our house, getting to know people on the farm, and traveling a lot for ministry, team meetings, and town trips.

It has been a long time since anyone lived in the house we are now renting on the farm! Before we arrived, the roof and ceiling were replaced, so most of what we've been doing is cleaning, painting, organizing, and taking our house back from critters. We also have a cat! Yay.

In October, we had our first guests in our house with our team meeting at the beginning of the month! Three families joined us and Rachel for a long weekend of worship, sharing about ministry, and lots of food! It was a blast to have everyone in our homes.

During that time, one family on our team, the Whitneys, joined us for our first trip to a village near the farm! The three of us had taken short day trips to introduce ourselves to the Sobas (the leaders) of two villages, Nkolonjo and Makova, but this was our first trip camping out in a place that we will continue to return to regularly for the next few years.

A few weeks ago, we started a Bible study on the farm for anyone who is interested in ministry. There is a church on the farm, and there are so many here people who love the Lord and are looking for opportunities to share Jesus with people who don't know him. Our first meeting, more than thirty people attended who want to travel and minister with us. This is a huge deal, to have so many people with hearts on fire for the Lord, to share His love with people who don't know Him. Our ministry is hugely focused on raising up local leaders to take over for us, so it is an incredible blessing to already have so many people interested. Keep them in your prayers as they step into new things alongside us!!

Toward the end of October, Branden went on a trip to the southeast corner of Angola. He joined a small medical team on a MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) flight to two locations that are extremely difficult to reach by vehicle. While the medical team cared for patients that have essentially no access to medical care, Branden and our teammate Veríssimo prayed and shared the gospel with the people waiting there. One day they drove to a nearby village that has a church building, but no one there has access to a Bible. They were so welcoming and excited to have people coming to share with them. By the end or our trip to that village we had almost 40 people gathered to spend time with us; as we left they said we are very welcome to return in the future and share more with them about the Gospel! We hope to make a longer trip out to their village again in the future, and also go farther into the surrounding area where they told us that there were many more people even farther away than their area.

During the time Branden was traveling, Rachel and I (Lauren) took a three-day trip to each of the locations we are currently working in. It was really fun to get to take our first trips with some of the people who are ready to do ministry with us, to get to know them, as well as to begin building relationships with the people in these villages!

On our earlier trip to Nkolonjo with the Whitneys, there was a coming of age party taking place for a young girl, so almost no one came by our camp as the whole village was in attendance. One couple, however, stopped by to ask us if we could give them a ride back to the farm so they could visit the clinic. We ended up taking the husband, wife, and two of their kids back with us, then Branden turned around and drove them an hour and a half back home. So when Rachel and I returned to the area, we visited them to see how they were doing. They were so excited that we checked up on them, and they came to hear the Word of God every night that we were there. We also prayed for two of the family members who had been having nightmares and weren't sleeping. The day after we prayed for them, both women said they slept great! (One of the women, Fernanda, is in the photo below.) It may seem like a small thing, but peace and even sleep are things that the Lord promises to us. It is always so exciting to share His promises with people, and to see Him fulfill His loving Word! We are really excited about the things God is going to do in this family, and it all started with a ride to the clinic.

Here's a short video of part of our drive from the farm to town! The trip takes about two hours on roads like this, and then another hour or so on a paved road. Everything was dry when we took this video, but the rains have just started!

We're so thankful for all your love and prayers! Send us an email, a Facebook message, a Whatsapp, a text! We miss you all and would love to hear from you! 

All our love,

the Benders