Prayer Letter — January / February 2026

Looking back at 2025, I can't say anything other than God's been good. To be here on the field and to step into a place that God has prepared for us is overwhelming (in a good way). Deputation is often viewed as an obstacle to overcome. It's much more than that, it's a time of training and exercising your faith and trust in God. Portugal is yet another place to put our trust and reliance on God as we step into a new year.

I'm not going to say it's all been easy since arriving to Portugal. There have been areas that I've had to give to God and pray that He works it out. I can say this with certainty though, God has been SO good. We have seen God work while we have been on the field in many answered prayers. God has taken care of things we didn't even know we needed. We look at even the small victories and just praise the Lord for being so kind to us.

We have been praying for our visa appointments. A couple weeks ago, I found out that AIMA (the company that takes care of visas) are on strike. It was said that they would be closed till February 2026. Our long term visa expires in January and I didn't know what to do other than bug AIMA till I got ahold of someone that could help me. And so I did, I called and I emailed almost every day until I got someone to respond to me. We prayed God would give us an appointment wherever and whenever his will would be. I got a call from AIMA asking me few questions and they said they would email me some information. Shortly after, we received an email with appointments in a city 40 minutes from us with all of our appointments on the same day just 30 minutes apart! This is a very rare thing to happen but we know it was all God! God answered our prayers above and beyond what we could have asked for.

Our home church back in the states held a missions retreat in Italy during Thanksgiving. What a blessing to be sent out of a church that loves and cares for its missionaries, to set a week of encouragement and faithful challenges to us on the field!

We had a grief conference the beginning of December with Evangelist Rick Carter Jr. and we had one visitor attended along with our congregation. Our church was faithful to pass out 5,000 flyers for this conference. We have several church members dealing with loss that were able to be helped through this. It was also a blessing to have my parents over for the holidays our first year on the field. We had a good time and our boys loved playing with grandma and grandpa.

At the end of the year we had a Christmas party with the church. We had such a good time of fellowship and food, like all good baptists do. We have started monthly outreach in letter boxing, where we go out and put church tracts in the mail boxes of those in our communities. It's been a blessing and we have seen them look up the QR code that has a link to the Gospel film. We have had several people watch the video, planting that seed for the need of salvation in their hearts and lives.

We have a Missions Conference the end of January and will have missionary Kent Gossmeyer to England here. Starting into the new year, we want to follow God's plan for missions. Brother Gossmeyer will be preaching 3 nights for us. He has been faithful to God on the field for 23 years. I'm looking forward to that time with him and his wife. I am excited to be faithful to God to support missionaries as so many churches in the states are faithful. Missions doesn't change from the states to the field, We carry the same great commission.

We have had some visitors come to church over the last couple of weeks. The Lord has also allowed Kiska and I to build a relationship with our neighbors where we live. We have invited them over for dinner, likewise they have invited us over. They have introduced us to their friends here and been able to meet more people in our area because of the friendship we have been building. Please pray that we are able to continue to share the gospel with them.

We have started language class and let me say this. "O português é muito difícil. Por favor, orem para que aprendamos a falar corretamente e na hora certa". Portuguese is very difficult. Please pray as we learn to speak properly and in a timely manner. The Lord has allowed us to find a language school and given us a baby sitter that we are able to leave the boys with, allowing Kiska to attend language school with me.

Looking into the new year, our theme for the church is "To know Him". I want to focus on spiritual growth with the Lord. I've learned no matter where you are spiritually God always has something for you to learn from him. I want to be better for him this year than I was last year. This can only be done with spending more time knowing him. Moving to Portugal has shown me how much more I must depend and trust him in ALL things. Please pray for those here in Portugal that we grow closer to the Lord and be able to more effectively reach others that need him.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Feliz ano novo! - The Carters to Portugal