January 2026
Dear friends,
Wishing you a happy and blessed New Year!
We have a lot to be grateful for in 2025. We look back and see God’s provision and blessing over us and our ministries. Thank you for your part in sustaining and uplifting us throughout 2025.
We spent a couple of weeks in Serra da Torre over Christmas and New Year. We appreciate staying there for the cooler nights and beautiful surroundings. Highlights include 2 vibrant services with a Christmas children’s choir, christingles and a puppet show, picking and cooking cashew fruit, a 7k dawn walk, the children’s ride on an oxen-pulled cart, getting chicks, visits and chats with neighbours.
We are taking a quieter couple of weeks now, during the kids’ summer holidays, before flying to Peru on 23rd Jan for Latin Link’s International Assembly and not long after to the UK for a 4 month Sending Country Assignment.
Looking back at this year I see two themes: shelter and gratitude.
Shelter:
Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches – Matthew 13:31-32
After celebrating the opening of the church in Serra da Torre community in August our heart has been on stewardship of this beautiful space entrusted to us. Weekly children’s chess club and bible study has been a lovely way of inviting Serra da Torre’s children in. Rita and Moses get the chance to be our helpers and practice serving in mission too. We soon hope to start sewing classes for widows and single mums. The church already provides water to neighbouring families and the building of a bigger cistern next year will increase that capacity. It is a base from which pastoral and family visits can be made.
During a time of retreat God put the parable of the mustard seed on my heart. Matthew 13 tells us how the kingdom of God is like that seed – small beginnings, unremarkable, often growing unperceived- until all different kinds of birds, representing the nations, find shelter in its branches. Betel Church Serra da Torre is becoming a place of rest and shelter for many. It opens exciting possibilities for hosting spiritual retreats, youth camps, and receiving students on placement. We will be hosting a church youth camp over carnaval in February. Like us, our pastor and his wife and other church leaders like to stay over one night a week to rest from ministry demands. Pray that Betel Church continues to be a shelter and home to Serra da Torre and pastors and leaders in need of rest.
Gratitude:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen – Ephesians 3:20-21
Below are 6 of the many things we have to be grateful for from the latter part of 2026:
Tim writes…
It was a pleasure to study Zephaniah in November, a book which to my shame I had never studied in depth before.
The mini-geneaology in Zephaniah 1.1 suggests Zephaniah was a prophet descended from both Jewish royalty, and an African migrant to Judah. He had the courage to proclaim God’s word in an age of severe persecution, idolatry and violence, when there had been no true prophet for decades. Even though prejudice against his African lineage and appearance might have made it more difficult to be heard, (see Song of Songs 1.6 for an example of contemporary prejudice), he didn’t try to pass, or hide his ancestry, and his prophecies show an interest in Cush (modern-day Sudan). He shows that Cush was within the scope of God’s judgement (2.11) and his blessings (3.10).
We can only speculate what influence Zephaniah’s African roots, and his obvious pride and interest in those roots, might have had on his preaching. But there are some interesting features of his preaching that we should note. It might be that his status as an insider-outsider helped him maintain distance from and cast a critical eye over the behaviour of entitled elites. In chapter 1 he suggests that traders will be the first to experience God’s judgement, and in chapter 3 he singles out government officials and rulers, and religious leaders (professional prophets, and priests)…. to keep reading press here.
Prayer points:
-On 23rd Jan we all fly to Lima. Pray for safe and easy journeys, rest and happy reunions with friends from across Latin America and Europe, and grace-filled discussions at the Latin Link International Assembly in Peru, and the Brazil Team conference which follows it, 29th Jan – 5th Feb. Tim will be stepping down from his role on the International Core Team.
–Pray for a restful but productive couple of weeks before we travel. There are always a lot of forms to fill out and emails to send in advance of these conferences!
–Keep praying for Rita’s tummy aches. One of the factors contributing to her health problems is related to very poor hygiene at her school and parasites (only one girl’s toilet, no soap or loo roll, poor food prep hygiene). Pray for us as we consider schooling options for the coming year.
-The church building will be hosting 2 church youth camps over Carnaval week (mid February). Pray that many from Serra da Torre community would attend and be impacted, as well as from other Betel churches in our region.
Wishing you joy and every blessing for this new year.
In Christ,
Hannah and Tim
If you would like to partner with us, or consider increasing your existing support in-line with inflation, we appreciate your gifts which sustain us in our lives and the Lord’s work here in Brazil and in South Sudan.
To give: https://latinlink.org.uk/fundraiser-profile/tim-and-hannah-flatman/
We love hearing from you! Here’s how to get in touch:
Email: tflatman@gmail.com / hmflatman@gmail.com