Steve and Elba Dolan in the Amazon

Amazon January Update

2012-01-19T14:15:00.000-05:00

Happy NewYear. We hope that this year is startingout very well for you and that this coming year will be filled with joy andhappiness.

We had anice Christmas service and there were over 300 people in attendance. Wehad a wonderful time of worship, a presentation from some of the kids in thechurch, in which Camilly and Alyssa were participants (click here to see video), and a great Christmas message. Thensome of the members of the church performed a Christmas play about the birth ofJesus. The actors did a great job and the play really held the attentionof all the people at the church. Once againthis year the men of the church purchased a cow and with the help of themembers of the church we had the opportunity to serve dinner to everyone thatwas at the church service. There was so much food and no one went homehungry.

We alsohad a Christmas party with the leaders of the church at our house. We had a really nice time offellowship. This is a really good group of people who love the Lord andlove to have fun with one another. It is nice to get together to share ameal, laugh, and fellowship. We are thankful that the Lord has placed somany people into our lives. We also had a Christmas celebration with ourhome group. Everyone brought some food and pop and we ate together. If you are ever in the neighborhood, please stop by, our home group meets everyThursday nights and we think that you will like all the people thatattend.

Theother day, Elba started the home group and I had not arrived. When Iarrived, Elba was doing and ice breaker game and everyone was talking aboutfruit and why they liked the fruit. The question came to me and I saidthat I like mangoes because they are sweet andreally good. Everyone started laughing and I just scratched my headtrying to figure out why they were laughing. I later found out that thequestion was “what fruit best describes you as a person and why?” Unfortunately,my answer went like “I like mango because I amvery sweet and really hot”. Portuguese! Unfortunately, this isprobably not going in God’s file that says “A fool for Christ”, I think it willjust remain under “fool”.

Camillyand Alyssa enjoyed their Christmas immensely. They received some clotheswhich is always a big hit for them, however, the surprise came when they openedone of their presents and found roller skates. They were overjoyed and soexcited. Camilly said that she was dreaming about getting a pair ofroller skates. We were so happy that they liked them and that we couldhelp be a part of fulfilling just one of the many dreams that they have.

Prayer request: Elba has been in a lot of pain and wediscovered that she has a cyst on her uterus. Unfortunately, the doctorbelieves that surgery is needed so that it can be removed. We are unsureif we are going to have the surgery done in Altamira, which will be moreinvasive, or go to Belém, where they have better medical services and thesurgery would be less invasive. Please join us to pray that Elba will behealed and no surgery would have to be performed. We are praying that Godwill heal her completely, but we have not seen a healing occur yet.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for spiritual,physical, and emotional health. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camillyand Alyssa

Love andblessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon December Update

2011-12-13T12:25:00.002-05:00

At the church the other week the Holy Spirit showed up in power and a lot of people got healed. Personally, I did not sense the Holy Spirit at work but just because I did not sense it does not mean He was not at work. We had several testimonies of people that experienced healing from pain that they had been experiencing. One of those was Neuracy who is pictured below crying with joy. She was experiencing great pain in her neck and shoulders and God presence showed up and completely healed. She was filled with so much joy and happiness. There were also people that accepted the Lord as their personal Savior and that is the greatest healing as they come into a relationship with Jesus and accept Him into their lives.

The men at our church have been getting together once a month to help poor families in need. Last month, they started to help build a better house to live in for one family. Presently, the family lives in a rotting wood house. They started laying the foundation for a brick house. It will be a much stronger and reliable house for them to live. I really appreciate these guys donating their time to help spread the Kingdom of God through acts of service.

Camilly had the opportunity to be a part of a wedding. She was so happy and looked really beautiful. She got to play the part of a bride by tossing the bouquet of flowers. She had a lot of fun.

On any given day if you come and visit our house this may be what you see, Elba looking through Camilly’s hair killing lice. Lice are a big problem here and we have tried so many things to kill the lice and it usually kills them all. Then Camilly goes back to school and gets it again. It is one of the daily battles and Camilly hates it….so do we!

We wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

If you are thinking of giving financially to a tax deductible charitable organization, please consider us as we are still in need of your financial support. Please help us by sending a check to the below address or giving on-line. It is a great investment in the Kingdom of God.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon October update

2011-10-19T07:55:00.013-04:00

We pray that you are blessed with this month's update.

God continues to draw His chosen people; in September we baptized 16 new believers. The church gathered together beside the Xingu River to eat, swim, and celebrate these new believers’ declarations of faith. What a happy day! One of our new brothers in Christ is Luiz, who is 60+ years old and was baptized that day. His wife had been praying for years that he would accept the Lord and start a relationship with God. At church, he is always seeking prayers and wanting more of God. His baptism reminds me of the passage from John 3:4-5 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered,“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

I love the fact that God receives us anywhere, anytime, and at any age!

Camilly has made friends with one of the girls at the church. Mayara is 10 years old and is very sweet. Her family has been going through some hardship because her brother Mateus was suspected to have leukemia. Since this is something more serious, her mother and brother had to go to Belém (800 km away) to get a diagnosis. To date, they have been in Belém for more than two months trying to get medical help and answers. This may sound absurd to us North Americans, but it is commonplace here in Altamira. Mayara wrote Camilly a very sweet letter the other day. She essentially said that she considers Camilly to be her best friend and that she loves her very much. She went on to say that their friendship has helped her overcome the feelings of sadness for her mother and brother. She misses them very much. Please keep Mateus and his family in your prayers.

On a personal note, thank you so much for your prayers for our time in Curitiba. The meetings went really well and it was great to see everyone and get reunited as friends. After the meetings, we had a family vacation and it was great! Upon arrival we had no idea what to expect from the hotel, transportation around the city and the weather. The Lord literally made the whole vacation perfect. It was amazing time together as a family and great time to just hang out and relax. Thanks again for your prayers and thank you Lord for such a great vacation. Below is a picture of us at the zoo, the girls playing in a hot tub, and a peacock at the zoo.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon September update

2011-09-12T08:55:00.008-04:00

Several months ago we wrote about one of our church plants in Palmas. Palmas is over 1100 kilometers north of Altamira. This new church is being pastored by Fernando and Marcia, who have been doing a great job drawing people to the Lord. When Fernando is not pastoring the church, he works fulltime as a janitorial supervisor at the regional hospital. One day, there was a patient who came into the hospital screaming and in complete agony with stomach pain. The doctors and nurses tried everything they could to calm him down and take away the pain but nothing was working. One of the cleaning people who worked with Fernando asked him to go and pray for the guy. Fernando was apprehensive and nervous but he sensed God telling him to go and pray. He entered the room where the man was screaming in pain. He placed his hand on his stomach and asked the Holy Spirit to come and heal this man. Immediately, the pain went away, and this man was free of pain! Everyone in the hospital was shocked and confused about how he got healed. Fernando, being a humble man, just left. When the man was being checked out of the hospital he wanted to meet the man that healed him and thank him. Fernando said “It was not me that healed you but Jesus. Give Him the praise and the glory!” Later, his coworkers asked him to lead a bible study and prayer time at the hospital, and he accepted. God is GOOD!!!! Please keep Fernando and Marcia in your prayers.

CDR was blessed with another generous donation from NCP leasing. NCP leasing has helped out our computer school tremendously by donating another 10 computers, 2 laptops and 10 monitors to upgrade the ones that they donated 5 years ago. Their previous donation was instrumental in starting our computer program. We are so blessed to have prayer and giving partners working with us to empower the Brazilians through education. Here is a picture of students learning basic computer skills on the computers.

I celebrated my 44^th birthday on the 22^nd of August. It was a memorable birthday in the fact that I was able to celebrate it with my family, my twin sister Lynn, her husband Scott, my Mom, plus Elba’s family and a lot of friends. We had a regional dish called “chicken in Tucupi sauce” It’s my favorite local dish, with a unique taste that makes your mouth tingle. Then came the unexpected bombshell! Lynn and I had just blown out the candle when “Wham and poof” we got smashed with eggs and flour! It was a mess. Smashing eggs and throwing flour on the birthday recipient is an optional custom here in Brazil. With Elba’s encouragement, my friends chose to exercise that option. This is the first time that they have ever done this to me.

Elba, the girls and I are going to go to Curitiba from September 25^th to October 10^th. Elba and I are going to participate in a three day meeting with Brazilian and US church leaders. After the meeting we are planning to take a short vacation with the girls. Please pray that we will have a safe trip and great time during our time of travel, meetings and vacation. Plus, continue to keep us in your prayers for spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

It was during the night that we went into our laundry room to find these little green lights shining on the wall. When we turned on the lights, we realized that it was a bug and it’s eyes were causing the green lights. Brazil, has some very unique bugs.

Amazon Update

2011-08-20T20:29:00.013-04:00

First, let me thank you for your prayers for Elba. Elba went to Chicago to speak at the National Woman’s Conference for Vineyard Churches. It was a tough trip for her because it was so far from us, and because this was the first time she had ever shared at the national level. Thanks to your intercession, the Holy Spirit guided her through her message and many people have said that it was powerful! They said that Elba “ROCKED”; another person said “OUCH” because they were convicted deeply by God. We were so happy to hear that everything went well, and we are also very happy that she is now home with us again.

Elba brought a present back with her: my mom, my sister and my brother-in-law. Elba’s parents are also visiting, so we have a full house. We are very excited to spend time with our family!

The girls are being spoiled by their grandparents and loving every minute of it. Camilly got a new ballerina outfit and Alyssa got a new princess outfit, plus whole lot more. We are very happy that our family got the opportunity to come and visit.

This month we had our bi-annual regional “InterVinha” in Altamira at the Mirante church, a gathering of leaders from all the Vineyard churches in the region. We had four speakers come and share about various topics such as home groups, missions and worship. The theme of the conference was how to be a relevant church to the community. Sometimes it is very easy to just focus on the church and the body of Christ, but we need to remember to continue to press out into the lives of those around us that do not know Jesus. I was able to capture this panoramic photo of the Holy Spirit ministering to His people.

Please continue to also keep us in your prayers for spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon Update

2011-07-18T15:59:00.009-04:00

CDR, our community center, went across town to serve the people of the Colina neighborhood. Over 1000 people were served in a local school. The students and staff of CDR provided many services to the community such as doctor consultations, fluoride treatments, diabetes and high blood pressure testing, legal counseling, haircuts, a free meal, and a church service in the evening. It was a true blessing for those who served, and the people of the Colina were very grateful. Later that evening, we had a church service with the opportunity to pray for many people. The whole day was a success and a great way to express God’s love for His people.

The churches in the city came together for a March for Jesus. We walked along the streets praising the Lord, praying for City officials and for the sick at the hospitals. There were a lot of people, and it was a great demonstration of God’s community in Altamira. Elba preached and prayed on a large truck with speakers, and Camilly, Alyssa and I passed out water to those participating in the march. In the end, we pray that the love of Jesus was breaking down barriers for people who do not know Him, and between Christian denominations so that we can become more like the body of Christ.

Alyssa celebrated her 4^th birthday on July 4^th. It was a really fun day for her as she spent the day with her friends. She got a new princess dress and she ate a lot of cake. We also played games such as Cornhole. Yes, can you believe it? Elba has been asking me for months to make a Cornhole set (Clyde Bergquist actually made it) and it has been a real hit with the Brazilians! Who would have ever thought that Cornhole would be able break down cross cultural barriers?

Please continue to also keep us in your prayers for spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon Update

2011-06-18T07:07:00.014-04:00

We’ve had a very special month at church. The Spirit of the Lord was moving within people to make decisions for Christ. It’s always wonderful to see people start this journey with Jesus and allow Him to work in their lives. One of the people that accepted Christ is a city council person. He is very good man and has helped the poor in our area tremendously. The doctors told him that he did not have much time to live because he has had three strokes, uses only 60% of lung capacity (heavy smoker), and has prostate cancer. The day he was leaving to go on the trip to see some doctors, he was so scared because he thought for sure that he was going to die. We sat down with him and listened to all of the struggles that he was going through. Then we shared the Gospel with him and he accepted Christ. After we prayed for him, Jesus renewed his faith and he was not scared. He went that day to see the doctors and they ran another battery of test for his prostate and lungs. The numbers for his prostate came back very low and he had improvement in his lungs. Praise the Lord for continuing to use our church to draw people close to Him and for his healing power.

Clyde and Kelsie Bergquist, who are missionaries planting churches in both Uruará and Maribel, found this little boy in desperate need of a wheelchair. Praise the Lord there was one available and we were able to bless this boy. Wheelchairs are cost prohibited and we were happy to be able to give a helping hand to this family. We understand this to be a very difficult situation for the family because the mom is very young and rebellious and doesn't take care of her son very well. The Bergquists believe that God is calling them to embrace this family and show the love of Jesus and His great mercy. In addition, since the Bergquist are just starting to plant seeds in Uruará, the wheelchair went a long way to promote goodwill with the people. Please pray for the Bergquists that the Lord will continue to move in power with their new church planting efforts in Uruará and Maribel, as well as this boy and his family.

Guess who lost their first tooth? Camilly came up to Elba and I and said that her tooth was getting loose. She continued to play with it the rest of the day and it became even looser. She was getting excited because she was moving into the next phase of her becoming a big girl. She wanted to pull the tooth. We got some string and tied it around the tooth. I then tied it to the bathroom door and then slammed the door as hard as possible….Just kidding….We then gave her the string and within 1 minute she pulled the tooth. She is so brave. She was so excited and almost immediately put the tooth underneath her pillow in hope that the tooth fairy would bring her a designer purse. Designer purse!!! What happened to the quarter that I received when I was a boy? In the end, she woke up to R$1.00 and complained that she did not receive her purse. Well, she still has 20 more teeth, maybe in the end she will be able to afford that purse. ;-)

Please continue to also keep us in your prayers for spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon May update

2011-05-10T10:02:00.011-04:00

We had a really nice Easter Sunday. In the morning, some of the church members came to church to worship the Lord and break bread together. This breakfast broke a 21 day fast by many members of the church. Later that evening we had another church service and it was a great day to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. Also, we had an Easter egg hunt, well let me rephrase that, a candy hunt in our yard with the girls and their neighborhood friends. They loved it.

Elba and I went to the capital of our State, Belém, to participate in a 3 day national leadership retreat. It was a great time to reconnect to all of our friends, and make intentional time to spend with God. Yes, even though we are missionaries and pastors, the busyness of life has its ways to draw us away from God and our relationship with Him. We learned different ways to pray and draw close to God through silence and solitude. One of the techniques that I thought was really helpful was called imaginative reading. Essentially you choose a bible verse, read it, and then imagine yourself as an on-looker or part of the action. It was really helpful to meditate in this fashion plus hear all the different perspectives of everyone from the group when we shared our experience.

Elba took the plane to Belém which took a little over 1 hour to arrive. I drove our truck and it took us 2 days with a combined total of 17 hours of driving. The road conditions are rough as you can see in the pictures below. Also below is a picture of the group at the meeting. Rick Bergen put this shot together by combining several photos.

During our trip in Belém, Camilly had a bad accident. She was playing hide and seek and during the excitement of the game she went to close a glass door and she put her hand right through it. OUCH! She was rushed to the hospital and received lots of stitches on her arm and thumb. By the grace of God, no veins or tendons were severed. THANK YOU JESUS! This happened a day before her birthday. Camilly turned 6 years old and she had a great time at her birthday despite the injury.

Please continue to also keep us in your prayers for spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

April Update

2011-04-20T13:53:00.010-04:00

This month we had 40+ men participate in a conference called “Men’s Revival”. The teachings were about the role of men in the Kingdom of God, their home, and the community. One of the big problems with men in this community is that they have become lackadaisical in their roles as men. Typically, the women make all the decisions, care for the children, and work to financially sustain the house. (Personally, I thought this was the role of the women and I loved it! LOL.) The men’s attitude is “Heck, if she can do it, let her do it. Then I do not have to bear any of the responsibility.” The messages at the conference were tough about how we as men need to get back into the game of life and back to the plan that God has for us. The conference, as of almost two weeks later, seems to be sticking with the guys because we have heard positive comments from their wives and friends.

Another very exciting event this month was that 5 people were baptized into Christ. Some of the congregation came out along the Xingu River to watch their brothers and sisters in Christ make their public declaration to Christ. They worshiped along the river edge while they were being baptized. Afterwards, we all went to our house and had a big barbecue. It was a good day.

Jim, Sharon, Patty and our family went to the trash dump and to local houses to give away clothes, shoes, and toys to the adults and kids. The adults and kids work at the trash dump collecting aluminum cans, 2-liter plastic bottles, and anything else of value. We took Camilly and Alyssa because it is very important to us to show them that they are so blessed to have what they have and to demonstrate the blessings of giving. I think it worked because the other day, Camilly asked if we could bake a cake and bring it to the people at the trash dump. We plan to make another visit.

Please keep our church in your prayers. The church leaders and members decided that they would like to buy 2 evaporative A/C coolers for the church. The cost is R$20,000 for the both of them. The church is selling raffle tickets for R$1.00 and the grand prize is a Honda Biz. The church would also like to lay tile which will cost another R$20,000. Please pray that the church will make all the money necessary for these two projects.

Please continue to also keep us in your prayers for spiritual, physical, and emotional health. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

March Update

2011-03-17T22:22:00.004-04:00

As a leader of the National movement in Brazil, Elba is responsible to go and visit churches in the Northern part of Brazil. Last month Elba and I left on 24 hour boat trip to visit a church in Macapá. The main purpose of the trip was to encourage the church and appoint one of their leaders to be the new pastor because the church had been going through many organizational changes. Elba appointed Jeude as the new pastor. Jeude is a single woman and loves the Lord. Outside of Jeude’s responsibilities at the church, she is a fulltime teacher. Our visit was very encouraging and we have great hope that the Lord is going to build up His people through this church. We believe that with the new leadership that the church is going to take off. Please keep Jeude and the Macapá church in your prayers.

Fernando and Marcia used to be leaders at the Mirante church. They worked with us for many years and then decided to move to another city called Palmas over 620 miles away. Before they left we encouraged them to continue in the work of the Lord and to start a home church. A year later they now have a thriving little home church. We sent Nira (Elba’s twin sister) to go and encourage the church and to baptize some of their new believers. Personally, I love this church plant because it has had very little influence from foreign missionaries and was planted by the local church. This is great because it fulfills one of our biggest objectives as a mission which is to start a National church planting movement. Please keep Fernando and Marcia, and their home church in your prayers.

Guess who is going to school? Yes, Camilly and Alyssa are both going to the same school. They go to school in the morning which is always tough to get them motivated. But once they get there they really enjoy their time. Camilly is still scared that we are going to forget her and not pick her up. So, each morning, I have to give her pinky promises that I will pick her up. Once I give her my pinky promise her anxiety calms down. Please keep us as a family in your prayers. OK? Pinky promise?

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

February update

2011-03-01T05:14:00.008-05:00

A couple of months ago, we wrote that we had 5 couples going through our pre-marital program at the church. In February, 3 of those couples came and placed their marriage before the Lord. It was a great wedding and a great testimony of the lives being changed because of Christ. Since it is acceptable to live together outside of marriage there is no real pressure to get married, but these couples wanted God’s blessing. They wanted Jesus to be the center of their relationship to bound them together tighter. We are proud of these couples for going against the norm by making a public declaration of their love to the community and to the Lord.

One of the big pushes at the Mirante Church is to be a part of a home group. Home group are good because it allows our Christian walk to be more intimate with other Christians. It allows us to share with one another our struggles and successes. Plus, we can share God’s word and allow questions and answers in a safe environment. Since the Mirante is somewhat of a large church, home groups promote community within the body of Christ. To some degree, the home group is another church service because we come together to worship the Lord, share the Word of God, pray, break bread and have community.

Here is Alyssa lying down with her new puppy. Actually, we got 2 Doberman pinchers puppies from a guy in the neighborhood. We took them to the vet to get their initial shots and soon after they got really sick. Our neighbor, who loves puppies, stayed up with them the whole night tending to their needs. We tried everything, but to no avail, and they both died. We suspect that they were overdosed with the vaccine. Elba and I were faced with having to break the bad news to Alyssa and Camilly. Even though we only had them for a week we were unsure how attached the girls were to the puppies. It was at bedtime that one of the puppies passed away and we were putting the girls down to sleep. We sat with both of the girls and gently told them about the loss of the dog. After a moment’s pause, Alyssa looked up at us and said “where is my chocolate milk?” Elba and I both looked at each other and smiled and said “we’ll get that for you right away.” Thankfully, it was not as traumatic as we thought it would be.

Here is a little snake that we caught in our backyard. Apollo, Alyssa and Camilly all touched it. It was the first time they ever felt a snake. For Camilly, she hopes it will be the last.

On our way back from Belém this truck crashed spilling all of its contents. Unfortunately, the contents that the truck spilled were hundreds of car batteries. It was a mess and very potentially lethal situation. The roads that we have to travel are dangerous. Please continue to pray for our protection, good health, and God’s success over our lives.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

January update

2011-01-19T19:49:00.010-05:00

We hope that you had a great CHRISTmas and a happy new year. Ours was very good. Elba parents and brother came into town and we had a nice time visiting and getting caught up on life. We pray that you enjoy our latest blog.

Sex trafficking has been a hot topic in the United States and it is starting to really gain ground here in Brazil. According to Wikipedia, Brazil is considered to have the worst child sex trafficking record. Unfortunately, human trafficking is one of the most flourishing and profitable criminal industries of the world. We sponsored and held meetings at the church in an effort to increase awareness and to help protect children in Brazil. About 500 kids participated and we talked to them about sex trafficking and offered assistance to any child that was presently being abused. We also had the chance to pray for them. We pray that the children left more aware of the dangers of sex trafficking and that a little information will go a long way to removing this abuse in Brazil and off this planet. Below are pictures of our early morning session.

These couples, not all future spouses or husbands present, are in the process of getting married. They have been coming over during the weekends and we have been teaching them Godly principles of marriage such as intimacy, goals versus desires, purity, and finances. Even though these couples live together and have children, it is really important to reinforce these principles to help them start their lives as married couples successfully. In this part of Brazil, it is very common to live together and start a family without being legally married. Even though they are not legally married, they refer to each other as husband and wife which is always awkward for me when I ask “Are you really married?” It is awkward because I would never ask that question to someone in the US. Nevertheless, we are very proud of these couples for putting their marriage before the Lord and being a great example to the community. Please keep these couples in your prayers.

Camilly and Alyssa are doing well. They love playing on the trampoline. Camilly is getting to be a good jumper. Can you believe it, she is already doing front flips. Alyssa is not far behind her, however, she would much rather ride Dad like a horse. We always have a great time jumping together, but my knees are starting to pay for it.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year

2010-12-21T13:08:00.014-05:00

We hope that you had a great Thanksgiving. Can you believe it, just a couple more days and it will be CHRISTmas. WOW, how time flies. From our family to yours, have a Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year. We hope you enjoy our latest blog.

Upon returning back from the States, Elba had it on her heart to do some women pastoral care. She arranged for the women leaders to meet at a retreat center outside of Altamira. The time was filled with some teachings, but more importantly, time to rest and just have fun. It also gave the women time to talk and share their hearts with other women leaders about their struggles, challenges and successes. These meetings are very important because it allows the leaders to stop and reflect on what God is doing and has been doing in their lives, create a stronger bond between the leaders, and get re-energized to engage back into the endless work at hand. Unfortunately, not all of the woman leaders were able to attend, but we hope that at the next retreat they will be able to participate. Elba and I were pleased to be able to help financially to make this happen and invest more in their lives.

All the Altamira base missionaries families as well as some Brazilians friends got together and we celebrated Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and a lot of food. We did not have the traditional turkey but we had plenty of chicken which was an excellent substitution. We also had stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, salad, and some deserts. I am hungry just thinking about it.

Whenever Alyssa likes something, she really likes it. Case in point is her ballerina outfit. She loves it and essentially wears it almost every day even if it is dirty, wet, and very smelly. Personally, I do not mind if she wears dirty clothes or smells a little bad, but Elba and the Brazilian culture will have nothing to do with that. LOL. Camilly went back to school in the mornings and was having a hard time going to school. There were lots of crocodile tears and excuses not to go to school. Once she gets to school she is usually fine. It is just the process of getting her to school. She has this fear that we are going to leave her and not comeback. Please keep her in your prayers.

We found this tarantula in the girl’s room. It was as big as an orange. Praise God Elba saw it and we were able to kill it. We have not found any tarantulas in the girl’s room before so this was just a little too close for comfort. You can be for sure that I am a little more vigilant to check their room before bedtime.

We pray that you have a Merry CHRISTmas and a happy new year. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for good health, safety, and the Lord’s continued favor on the church and the ministries.

We are still in need of your financial support. Please help us by sending a check to the below address or giving on-line. It is a great investment in the Kingdom of God.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

Investing

2010-12-14T06:21:00.006-05:00

We want to thank you for your continued prayers in our lives. We hope and pray that you have been blessed throughout the year receiving our emails and seeing the wonderful things that the Lord has and continues to do here in Brazil. We are writing because we need your help financially.

As you may or may not know, we are not salaried employees and we do not take any money from the church or CDR. We depend on donations to live and minister to the Brazilian people. The fact of the matter is that the cost of living has risen, the value of the dollar has dropped, and our responsibilities in ministry have multiplied. It takes your financial support for us to be here to help make an impact in Brazil and the lives of people like Cleiton and Cristiane.

Before coming to Christ, Cleiton and Cristiane were living together out of wedlock. Their lives were filled with partying, dismay and turbulence. But they encountered Jesus through the Mirante church and He has stormed into their lives and they have not looked back as they continue to grow spiritually. Cleiton and Cristiane have become an instrumental part of the leadership team at the church. They are both leading the youth group and Cleiton is co-leading the worship team. Cleiton is also a gifted preacher and has been teaching the Word of God at conferences and the church. The Lord has been transforming their lives in front of our eyes and now their future is filled with the hope of the Lord and His blessings. This is just one example of the many lives that have changed because of Christ working through the Mirante Church.

CDR, our community center has been reaching out to the community to help the underprivileged with affordable education in English and computers. This semester alone, we have around 300 students participating in our programs which is 100 more students than we had last year. We have also been providing wheelchairs to children that cannot afford one and providing hope for a better future for them and their families.

Will you help monthly? If you cannot help monthly, would you please give your best one time financial gift? We are convinced that this is a good investment in the Kingdom of God.

You can send your tax deductible gift to:

The Xingu Mission

PO Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio 43234

Or online at:

http://www.xingu.org/14d_dolan_donation.html

Thank you much for your consideration. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

November Amazon Update

2010-11-23T13:08:00.014-05:00

We made it back to Brazil. We pray you enjoy the below email.

Thank you so much for your prayers of safety and travel mercies. We arrived back in Brazil on the 29^th of October and once we hit the ground it felt like we were off to the races and things have only slowed down a bit. We are not complaining. It feels good to get back and get our feet wet again in the ministries. Elba preached two days after we got back and several people gave their lives to the Lord. While we were gone in the States, the leaders of the church did a great job nurturing the congregation. We are so proud of them and we praise God for continually raising up leaders to move the work forward. Our mission statement is being fulfilled “Training leaders and planting churches”.

Some members of the church came to our house and we had a barbeque as a welcome home party. It was really fun to get to see everyone and just hang out. It was really nice to see some old faces from the church as well as some new. I took some pictures of the party but I have no idea where they went. Maybe up in that cloud with all the other lost and deleted files.

Thanks for all your prayers for Elba. She is feeling much better now. We are still unsure as to what was causing the fever but by the grace of God it seems to be gone. The girls have been doing well with the transition. Camilly jumped right back in with her friends and is speaking Portuguese fluently. Alyssa on the other hand is essentially only speaking English. However, she is slowly moving into Portuguese. It is really funny to watch the Brazilians trying to figure out what she wants or what she is saying. Before leaving the States, some of my parent’s neighbor got together and bumped up Halloween a couple of days early for the girls to participate. They had a great time dressing up as little princesses. I asked Alyssa if she liked Halloween and she said “I love it!” This was their first time experiencing Halloween and so much candy.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for good health, safety, and the Lord’s continued favor on the church and the ministries.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

October Amazon Update

2010-10-21T07:01:00.019-04:00

Our time is soon ending in the US and we have had such a great time seeing family and friends. We really appreciate all of your prayers and support in our lives. We pray you enjoy the below newsletter.

Thank you so much for your prayers for us during our time in the states. The Holy Spirit night at the Vineyard Church of Columbus went very well and we saw the Lord touching and healing many people. In addition, Elba was invited to share at the annual Vineyard Mission conference held in Colorado Springs. As the National Coordinator for the Brazilian church movement she was asked to speak about missions and the church, specifically about self-governance and self-financing. Elba articulated the missions and churches point of view eloquently about our philosophy of church planting. The feedback that she received was really positive and hopefully helpful for all the church planting teams present. Since we were in Colorado Springs, we had the opportunity to see a black bear. I am not sure if opportunity is the best word, we were pretty scared.

The Mirante church and Santa Ana congregation had a baptism along the Xingu River. It was really exciting to see all of them making a public declaration of their faith. I always get emotional watching baptisms because it reminds me of the huge impact that Jesus has had on my life and the wonderful journey upon which these new believers are starting to embark. Keith and Marsha Wilson have been doing a great job leading the Santa Ana congregation and discipling these new believers.

On a personal note, I had been training for a marathon for the last several months and by the grace of God ran the whole distance. It was really difficult but extremely gratifying. The girls ran the last 100 yards with me. Incredibly, even with all the training I still managed to gain 15 pounds. UGH!! The girls have been enjoying their time back in the States. They had great time while we visited the Rocky Mountain National Park. They loved feeding the chipmunks and birds.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for good health and safety. Especially, please pray for Elba as she has had been experiencing a low grade fever almost every day for about a month. We went to the emergency room and they did not find anything with the battery of tests that were performed. She is on another round of antibiotics and we pray that this will eliminate the fever. Please pray for her and please pray that our trip back to Brazil will be safe, without incident, and that we integrate back in with ease.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon update

2010-09-16T07:48:00.009-04:00

At this point, we have thoroughly enjoyed our time back in the States. It has been a good time to get caught up with family and friends, plus share the vision of the mission with others. Elba has had the wonderful opportunity to preach at several Vineyard churches and a Southern Baptist church; all the services went well. The Southern Baptist church was really special because Elba was the first woman pastor to preach at their church. The Holy Spirit was moving and she did really well and was embraced by the congregation. It has been exciting to see how the Lord has used Elba to be the first for a lot of things in the church.

One of the refreshing things about being in the States is not worrying about the work that continues in Brazil. The church, and our non-profit organization, CDR are doing well. The leaders at the church have really stepped up to fill the void in our absence. At CDR, we had the Secretary of Communication of Pará come and recognize our school for its efforts and inaugurate our internet café. The internet café has 11 computers and it is free to use for anyone in the community. This is important because even though we live in a third world area, first world technology is creeping into the lives of the people and it is good to be able to understand and embrace the technology. We feel very blessed to be able to be part of offering this type of service to the community.

Thanks for your prayers for Alyssa, she is doing much better. She has had no more fevers and her cough is at a minimal. We have had some nice times together as a family back in the States. We went to the Columbus zoo and that was really exciting for the girls. They loved the monkeys, gorillas and riding on the ponies. Elba and the girls also experienced their first baseball game. They did not like the game but enjoyed the atmosphere, food and the people.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for good health and safety. In addition, please pray for Elba as she will be one of the main speakers at the National Missions conference in October, and will also be leading the Holy Spirit empowerment night at Vineyard Columbus on September 24^th. Also, please pray that we will be able to raise more financial support to continue the work in Brazil.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon update

2010-08-25T20:08:00.008-04:00

In July we had a large 3 night conference at our church. There were about 700+ people in attendance. The conference was really good. There was a great time of worship and the spirit of the Lord was among the people. The youth performed dances and plays demonstrating the love of Christ. Chris Weins from Canada preached that night and made the following comment about one of the things that happened that evening “After this we broke into three categories of ministry time. Interesting ~ the largest group was the one for deliverance. One girl I witnessed fell on the floor and began to shriek, it made my skin crawl. I asked a few people to help move her to the side and then the real power showed up. Elba, the pastor of the church walked over and said to the demon, shut up and listen to me, in Jesus name get out! As simple as that, it was gone and the girl was calm, too cool huh? I love the authority we have over the enemy in the name of Jesus.”

A couple of days before we left to come back to the States the guys at the church got together to build a one room schoolhouse on stilts in a remote area of the Xingu. About 25 students that live in the surrounding area will utilize the school during the week and then in the future we are going to be holding church services during the weekend. It was a lot of work with cutting wood and lifting these massively heavy pieces into place, but in two day we were able to get the roof completed. The walls and the floors will be completed at a later date.

On a personal note, Elba celebrated her birthday on July 18^th with her twin sister Nira. The church planned a surprise party for them and they were surprised. It was a lot of fun for them. The girls love their time back in the States. We had an overnight in Miami and when we got to the hotel Camilly was just amazed at how soft all the couches were and how pretty everything looked. She looked up at Elba and said “Mom, this is amazing, can we live here in the hotel?” It was pretty funny. Below are pictures of the girls at Chucky Cheese and playing in the swimming pool at Grandma’s house with their cousin Trey. Also, please pray for a complete healing for Alyssa, she has been having some fevers and a bad cough.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

July Update

2010-07-19T15:01:00.014-04:00

This month we had our sending church, the Vineyard Church of Columbus, come and visit. We, meaning Elba, the girls and I, went on the river for about 8 days with the team. We visited several communities along the river. Each place that we visited was very good and the presence of God was real with salvations and healings. One in particular was a new community along the Majari River. We considered this visit to be the hand of God because normally the residents there are very weary and suspicious of newcomers. However, the community leaders greeted us with open arms, and they sang a song in honor of the team’s arrival. We had the privilege to share God with them and pray for people. Please pray for more continued favor for this new work and the church in Porto De Moz that will be overseeing this community. Alyssa tried to make friends with a monkey during the trip, however, the monkey ended up biting her hand and not letting go until she shook him off. OUCH! We gave her some antibiotics and everything healed well.

Another trimester ended and we another graduation for our English students. They completed the entire English course and their English has improved immensely since they started at CDR. The students put together this video for CDR and we were really touched by their comments. We are so happy that we could make such an impact in their lives. Please check out their video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpw_32EGorU . In addition, we had a lot of people graduate from our basic computer classes. As part of the class, the students are asked to participate in a community project. This semester’s project was to clean and paint the local small park that is next to CDR. The Mayor’s office got behind the work and provided us with the paint, and some personnel. It was a lot of work but by the grace of God and a lot of elbow grease we were able to get this accomplished in one day.

Alyssa celebrated her 3^rd birthday on July 4^th. She was one happy girl. She received a lot of lipstick, bubbles, bowl, pants and shoes. She loved it.

On a personal note, we were so sad to have Brazil lose. It knocked the steam out of all of us. We had a lot of people over at the house for the game and despite the loss we still had a nice time with everyone present. Below is a picture of the girls in their Brazil attire. Plus, our missionary friend Clyde Bergquist made an awesome dish called peacock bass parmesan. Then he wrote Brazil on top with olives and corn. It was enjoyed by all and he did a great job decorating the dish. Also, Marsha Wilson made the below cake to celebrate the 4^th of July and Canada day. We have some seriously talented missionaries!!!

The churches got together and we had a “March for Jesus” parade throughout Altamira. The streets were filled with countless people celebrating and praising Jesus. He is good and His love endures forever.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

June update

2010-06-24T10:16:00.008-04:00

We had the great privilege to purchase 7 more wheelchairs for children throughout Altamira that were in need. The World Health Organization states that over 25 million people around the world are immobile and without money to buy a wheelchair. Wheelchairs are very expensive; in fact, the cost of one here in

Brazil

is about 4 months salary which is so much money for families of disabled children. They want to be able to provide for their child but when you are living hand to mouth, a wheelchair becomes unrealistic. Below is a picture of Micelly, she is 4 years old and is unable to talk or walk. With this new wheelchair, Micelly and her family now have greater freedom and choice, because, unfortunately, without being mobile the family as well as their child, are stuck in their house. We are so grateful and praise God for the help from the Matt Dolan Foundation to help purchase these wheelchairs.

Thank you for your prayers while Elba and I were in Brasilia at the National Vineyard Conference. It was really good to see our brother and sisters in Christ and share in the successes and struggles of ministry. There were about 200 people in attendance with some people coming as far as the USA, Canada, and England. Below is a picture of Elba sharing about church planting at one of the workshops. We were gone a total of 14 days from the girls and it was difficult. Praise God everything went well with the girls, and that we had safe passage back and forth to and from Brasilia, except, we did get sideswiped by a semi truck which broke our rear reflector, and just as we were approaching our home from the long 2 day drive, a rock hit our windshield and broke it. BOOO! However, that was soon forgotten when we saw the girls’ smiling faces running to greet us when we arrived at our house. That was precious. Here is a youtube video of the conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdwWKcxv0A8

On a personal note, all of Brazil, as well as most of the world, are pumped up for the world cup. That is no exception for the girls and Apollo. Below is a picture of them in their native Brazilian colors. Go Brazil! For me, Go USA! In addition, we just ended the rainy season but for one last good measure, the girls along with Apollo, got to play in the rain.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

May update

2010-05-13T12:26:00.009-04:00

This month the church went to a local farm with a creek and held a baptism and picnic. We baptized 9 people and afterward celebrated their new birth in Christ by swimming in the creek with refreshing but freezing water and thank God free of snakes. Some people played soccer and others played volleyball in the creek. We ate lunch together and had a great time of fellowship during the rest of the afternoon. It was a great day spent together with our church. By the way, don’t let the picture of me confuse you. I am not balding; it is just the reflection of the sun off the camera. OK - I am in denial.

For Mother’s Day, the church had a special breakfast for the moms of the church. The moms of the church were asked to bring a friend so that they could share in the fun. There was strong turnout with about 200 people in attendance. We like having these events because it is good way to invite people to the church in a non-threatening way. Plus, we wanted to bless the moms who do not have much with something very special. We hope that in the end the love of Christ was expressed.

On a personal note, Camilly is growing up so fast. She just celebrated her 5^th birthday on April 18. We went to her school to surprise her with a cake and some presents. However, she was not that surprised because someone told her our secret. Kids are so resourceful. All in all it was a lot of fun. Below is a picture of Alyssa in her favorite dress. It is her coração (heart) dress. She loves it and will wear it dirty, wet, dry, or, for even two days straight.

Again, we have purchased our tickets to come back to the States and we arrive July 28^th and will be staying until October 28^th. We are all really excited to see our family and friends.

Elba and I will be driving to Brasilia to attend the Brazil National Vineyard conference. Please pray for us for safe travels, good health and no truck problems. Also, please keep Camilly and Alyssa in your prayers. We will be gone for 12 days which is a lot for us. Please pray for their safety, good health and that the Lord would comfort their heart while we are away. Thanks for all your continued thoughts and prayers. We look forward to seeing you soon. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Happy Easter

2010-04-15T13:46:00.007-04:00

Easter weekend turned out great. Friday, we showed the movie “The Passion”. There was a large turnout. If you have never seen the movie, it is very dramatic. It really helps visually show the suffering that our Lord bore for me and you. It is a wake-up call to realize the love that Jesus has for us. I keep thinking, WOW, my God and my Lord suffered all that for me? I know the answer is “Yes”, but, WOW! I feel so unworthy, but in that same breath, VERY BLESSED! That evening, one person came to Christ.

For Easter Sunday, we had an early morning celebration service. We started off early in the morning worshipping the Lord, and then Elba preached about the resurrection of Jesus and its importance in our lives. We finished by having breakfast together to celebrate the day. Later on that evening, Elba preached the Word of God and it was a powerful service to which 15 people came and accepted Christ into their lives. It was very emotional for a lot of the members of the church because they had been praying for months, and sometimes years for these loved ones to receive Christ. There were lots of tears of joy shed that night in the church.

On a personal note, the girls are doing well and they had a good Easter as well. They got to paint eggs with the missionary children at the mission guest house. As you can see in the above picture, the members of the church enjoyed the fruits of their labor. We also had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard, or should I say, chocolate candy hunt. Nevertheless, they had a great time.

Thanks for all your continued thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Here is a picture of the girls just before church service on Easter Sunday. They look so beautiful!!

March update

2010-03-16T07:31:00.014-04:00

This month we had a short term team from the Madison County Vineyard come and help with one of our local churches. The church’s pastor is Marcio from Independente II, and he is passionate for the Lord and the lost. Their church is meeting in his backyard, and for the last year they have been raising money to build a church by selling pizza during the weekend. Through the sales of the pizzas, the church was able to buy a piece of property. The Madison Vineyard came along side of Pr. Marcio and some of their congregation to help with the construction of the church building. It is really great to see sister churches from two different continents coming along side one another to support, help, encourage, and pray. The church still has a ways to go before completion, so please keep this in your prayers.

The high speed internet that we received several months ago at CDR has been a huge blessing to us and the community around CDR. CDR was given the high speed internet because of our ongoing work to teach students basic computer skills. Also we have expanded our computer program to teach people how to fix and repairs computers. We are excited for this new program, so please keep this in your prayers.

English was also a big success again and we maxed out our enrollment. English is a hot topic and many Brazilians want to learn English in hopes of furthering their lives and careers. The CDR English program is also very favorable because we provide students with native speakers, excellent teaching material, good environment, and a low monthly fee of $16.00. We are proud of the work that CDR is doing and for being an extension to the church. It is a blessing and even though CDR and the church are legally completely separate, CDR is recognized with our church. We had an end of the semester party for the English students at the church. The students came up and sang Christian English songs, and another student essentially preached the Gospel in English to everyone in attendance. It was really cool.

On a personal note, the girls are doing well. I really liked both of these photos that I took of Camilly and Alyssa playing in the rain and hugging one another. Since we are in the rainy season they both love to play in the rain. Once the rain starts, then it is time to suit up the bathing suits or just strip down to your panties. The umbrella is a pretty sorry excuse for an umbrella, but I guess that is all the fun.

Thanks for all your continued thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

February update

2010-02-22T12:46:00.005-05:00

In January, Elba and I had the pleasure of going to Agudos in southern Brazil and spending some time at a catholic seminary for the Brazil National Vineyard meeting. It was a really great time to relax and hear some very good teachings. The teachings concentrated on one of the spiritual disciplines, solitude and silence. It was nice to get away from the busyness of everyday and spend time with God. Personally, I have been trying to do this these last several months but was not hearing anything from God. I was going through a time of spiritual dryness and it was really affecting me personally and professionally. On the outside, I am sure that I looked normal and healthy, but on the inside, I was struggling. During my time at the seminary I was calling out to God to hear His voice but did not hear anything. On the last day and during our closing prayer, Penny Meyer came over and started praying for me. To be honest, when she was praying, I just wanted her to stop so I could go and eat lunch. When she got done praying, she said “the reason I came over to pray for you was because I saw a dark cloud over you filled with rain, and the cloud was over very dry ground”. Once she spoke those words I knew that it was from God and I became overwhelmed with emotions. God was using His people to speak and I was being filled up with His presence. The spiritual dryness was starting to melt away. Penny continued by saying that God will be moving me into a new direction or role within the church / mission. I welcomed that and have been seeking God for this new role. Please keep me in your prayers.

At the church, we had our first couple get married that had never lived with one another or had children before marriage. Rabelo and Elielma have been long time members of our church. During their time of dating we really encouraged and challenged them to walk out their relationship with Jesus being the center. They participated in our premarital program and walked out their relationship with God in the middle. It was a great example to the youth of our church. We are so happy that they chose this path instead of the more convenient path that is more often traveled here in Altamira.

While we were gone, the girls stayed with Elba’s Mom. She traveled two days by boat to stay with them and we were so grateful. It was really nice not to have to worry about the girls while we were gone. Below is a picture of the girls trying to be doggies. They are so sweet except when they want to eat off the floor. YUCK!

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks and blessings, much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

January update

2010-01-18T06:48:00.007-05:00

December was a very busy month and in the midst of all the busyness 6 people were baptized in the Xingu River. During the baptism, the members of the church that came to witness this monumental moment, worshipped along the river’s edge. Whenever I participate or watch a baptism I always remember when I was baptized and how life changing it was for me. Please pray that it will be life changing for each of these beautiful souls.

We had a great Christmas service and there were about 450 people in attendance. We had wonderful time of worship, a presentation from some of the kids in the church, and a great Christmas message. Then some of the members of the church performed a Christmas play about the birth of Jesus. The actors did a great job and the play really held the attention of all the people at the church. Also, the men of the church purchased a cow and with the help of the members of the church we had the opportunity to serve dinner to everyone that was at the church service. To top off the night, 7 people gave their lives to Christ.

We went to Elba’s parents for Christmas. It was a really good time to be with her family. Camilly and Alyssa had a great time as well. Both girls received handmade baby dolls from my mom for Christmas and they were a big hit. Alyssa also received a DVD called “Barbie and the 3 Musketeers”. She loves this DVD, and as you can see in her oversized bathing suit, she loves to impersonate the character. Unfortunately, she loves to practice on her unsuspecting Dad. OUCH!!! Camilly finished her first year of school. Since she started a year early she will be going back to the same grade. Even though she was young for her class, she did very well. We are very proud of her.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks and blessings, much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Amazon December update

2009-12-12T13:25:00.013-05:00

We pray that you had a great Thanksgiving. We did. We were able to celebrate it with all the missionaries, and a team from the Cleveland area. They brought down some pumpkin filling for pumpkin pie, cranberries, and supplies for a green beans casserole. It was great and it felt very close to being at home.

As I mentioned above, we had a short term mission team from the Cleveland area this month come and visit. It was really nice to spend time with them and visit a variety of communities along the river. Each community that we visited the presence of the Lord was present. One particular community named Trapachino was particularly special. We had to tromp through almost knee high mud to reach the community and then we met outside under the mango trees. Trapachino is a new work and most of the people had not received Christ. We had worship and then preached the love of God. The response was amazing with 12 people receiving Christ as their Lord and Savior. It was an honor to be a part of this special moment for these 12 people.

At the church we had a group wedding and 5 couples got married. It is really great to see couples that have been living together for years, having children, finally go before God and lift their marriage up to Him. These couples have been regularly attending our monthly couples meeting and we were pleased to see the Lord changing and growing them in their faith.

On a personal note, I want to introduce you to Miss Japanese. Yes, Camilly was elected to represent her class to be Miss Japanese. Camilly’s school held a competition to see who could collect the most money so that they could rebuild their playground, and send money to missionaries to help spread the gospel throughout the world. It was really fun and in the end, Camilly, with the help of her class, earned the most money. Camilly was so happy. Alyssa joined in the fun by imitating her big sister. She was little Miss Japanese.

We pray that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

I took this picture from the guest house in Altamira. I love the reflection of the moon off the river.

Amazon update - November

2009-11-12T20:38:00.008-05:00

At the church, we held a neighborhood outreach to the community. We specifically invited two neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, where many community services are of greater distance. We organized an event to serve these communities with such things as immunization, doctor appointments, document preparation, legal guidance, haircuts, and oral hygiene. Even though our church members are not rich they are always willing to give a hand. We had a wonderful turnout and around 350 people were served. It reminds me of Mother Theresa quote “Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.” It is really great to be a part of a church that puts their faith into action.

Does the church look different? It should, we had an all church member painting party. Again, like the above story, members of the church came out in force and painted the whole church in just one day. Amazing!! It has taken so much time and energy to get the church to this point. Below is a picture of our first year (2005) in the church. Of course, we would of like to get the church done as soon as possible, but, our priorities are more centered on salvations, discipling, training leaders, and serving the community with the love of Jesus.

On a personal note, Elba and I celebrated our 6th year anniversary on November 8th. We had the great privilege of getting away for a night and getting some alone time. I never imagined how important those times can be especially with little ones. Below is a picture of Alyssa with Apollo and Célio and they just got done picking Acai from one of our trees. Acai has become a very popular additive for vitamin drinks and supplements. Camilly found this dead python outside our house. It looked like a car ran over it. YUCK!

Thanks and blessings, much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:
The Xingu Mission
P.O Box 340785
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Or On-line donations at:
http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

We found this bottle of pop at a local store. YUMMY! Doesn’t “Flesh” pop sound so refreshing. You probably did not realize that flesh taste better with lemon-lime. Lost in translation!

Amazon Update - October

2009-10-21T15:28:00.006-04:00

This month we had a healing conference at the church. It was a great time of worship and teaching. The teachings focused around healing and that when we ask or pray for healing we should be in full expectation that the Lord is going to heal. We should not pray in the hope that the Lord will heal, but pray in the expectation that God is already healing the situation in prayer. Elba had the opportunity to pray for a few people. One of them was a lady who had a large bump on her foot due to an infection. It was very painful. During prayer Elba felt the bump starting to move. Elba asked the lady if she could feel the bump moving and she said “Yes, it feels like a burning sensation”. The lump that was on her foot then started to go down and the pain eased. God was at work and he healed that lady that evening, along with a lot of other people.

We also had an “encounter with God” weekend retreat. The retreat is for new believers and it is a time of teaching basic biblical practices and reflecting on God. It was highly attended with 68 men and 69 women participating. It was a huge success and everyone seemed very excited about their time at the retreat. This is a great opportunity to fulfill the churches and mission’s vision of training leaders.

On a personal note, our little 4 year old Camilly has learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. For the last several months she has wanted to ride a bike. One day she was riding her bike while I was holding and running along side of her. I then let go and off she went. She has not looked back and each day she is getting more courageous. It is awesome to see. Alyssa is doing well and is learning more and more words. Thankfully, one of her favorite words is “Thank you or dank you”. Whenever you do something for her she almost always says “dank you”.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks and blessings, much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

September update

2009-09-10T05:57:00.005-04:00

Hello, how was your Labor Day weekend? Ours was good. We actually had a holiday as well but it was not Labor Day it was Independence Day for Brazil (September 7). Some of the people in Altamira celebrated the day with a small parade which consisted of a few bands, and children marching through the streets representing their school.

We are so excited to report something that happened this month for CDR. We received high speed internet. Can you believe that we have high speed internet essentially in the middle of nowhere? It is true, and trust me, we are elated. The state of Pará is pushing to spread internet throughout the State and come into the digital age. CDR was given the high speed internet because of our ongoing work to teach students basic computer skills. It has not yet been realized but CDR has also been selected to be a center of information for our neighborhood. Essentially what this means is that we will be a center that will teach students different aspects of the computer and will provide access to the internet. ALL FOR FREE! In actuality, we are already teaching around 60 children per week from a local school about the internet for free. We are really excited to see these programs blossom. Please keep this in your prayers.

This semester English was also a big success and we maxed out our enrollment. English is a hot topic and many Brazilians want to learn English in hopes of furthering their lives and careers. The CDR English program is also very favorable because we provide students with native speakers, excellent teaching material, good environment, and a low monthly fee of $16.00. We are proud of the work that CDR is doing and for being an extension to the church. It is a blessing and even though CDR and the church are legally completely separate, CDR is recognized with our church.

Praise God the girls continue to do well. They still love dressing up in their costumes and Alyssa is starting to learn how to finger paint. We just need to teach her how to apply the paint on paper and not her face. I have a suspicion that her sister gave her a helping finger.

I celebrated my 42^nd birthday on August 22^nd. Some of the guys from the church got together and made a surprise breakfast for me. It was really nice. I also received from my lovely wife a birthday car message. The car came blaring its music and birthday wishes. To say the least, it is embarrassing.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

August Update

2009-08-20T09:33:00.006-04:00

At the church we had a baptism this month. We had 7 people make a public declaration of their faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized. It is great watching people come to the Lord and turn their lives over to Him. We have seen so many lives transformed by the power of God and we pray that we continue to see more. After the baptism we had a party with everyone at our house to celebrate their new life in Christ. It was a really nice day. The people being baptized below are Raimundo and Denise.

We continue to meet monthly with the married couples at our church. At the church we are constantly trying to develop strong marriages and family. It is one of our core values. When the couples come over, we sit and have a snack, play a few ice breaker games, teach the Word, and then allow couples to share their struggles and successes. The group is growing and we believe that the Lord is blessing their marriages. The picture below was a game the couples played. They were given a piece of candy and they had to open it up, and eat it without using their hands. It was hilarious to watch!

Elba celebrated her birthday on July 18^th with her twin sister Nira. Some of the church members got together and bought them a dinner at one of the local restaurant. Then they surprised them with a gift from the church. Both Elba and Nira were so surprised and grateful.

The girls are doing well. Camilly loves going to school and playing with her friends and Alyssa is started to form more and more words. In the picture below, Camilly and Alyssa, with the help of our neighbor, Sharon, made some bread with raisins on top. It was not your typical looking bread but it tasted very good. Not bad for their first go around.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers and check out the other pictures below.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

We took this picture of a monkey in the wild when we visited Rio de Janeiro.

We really enjoyed this picture of Camilly. Alyssa is feeding her baby doll; she is such a good Mommy.

July update

2009-07-08T20:36:00.009-04:00

We pray that you had a great 4th of the July. We did, we celebrated together by eating hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad. For desert, we were treated to s’mors and rice crispy treats. It was great because we never get these types of treat here. After desert, we shot off a few fireworks. It was a good time.

We had our regional InterVinha this month and it was a huge success. We had over 170 people in attendance to hear some excellent teachings on the Kingdom of God, and to get an update on the status of churches throughout this community, Brazil, and the whole world. After the InterVinha here in the North of Brazil, Elba and I went to the Southern Regional InterVinha held in Rio de Janeiro. It was a great time as well, except the fact that I was sick pretty much the whole time. However, Elba and I were able to visit the Christ Redeemer which is one of the 7 modern marvels in the world. Pretty cool!

On the third Sunday in June, Elba preached about spiritual discipleship. She shared about the importance of having Godly leaders in our lives to help us on our journey with Christ, and to help us discern certain obstacles that life presents along our path. Plus, how we should follow the examples of Christ and follow after Him and His ways. After the service, we asked if anyone wanted to receive Christ and we had 10 people come up to receive Christ. It was a BIG AMEN!!! Please pray for these new believers as they begin their journey with Christ.

On July 4^th Alyssa celebrated her 2^nd birthday. She was so excited to be with family, friends and more importantly get to blow out the candles. She was also excited that the theme of her birthday featured Nemo. Every time she would see the poster she would scream “NEMO!!”. She really loves that fish. She had so much fun and we did as well.

As I was walking out to our gate to let some people into the house, I step right on this boa constrictor. At first I thought our guest put it there as a joke, but then it moved. I grabbed a broom to secure it but it was fighting me off big time. Finally, I was able to secure the snake and then I grab it right behind the head and put it into a box. He was one mad snake. I took it to a place outside the city and let it go.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

June Update

2009-06-18T16:40:00.005-04:00

Matthew 19:14 “Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." At one of our church services this month during worship Elba sensed that we should let the children remain in the service. Normally, after we end the worship portion of service, the children go to their respective classrooms and are taught the bible. The service was a little noisier and personally, I was wondering if Elba had heard correctly from the Lord. At the end of the service, we asked if any wanted to receive Jesus into their lives. We had an older couple come up to receive the Lord. Then the next thing you know we had a whole swarm of children come up to the front. This is usually not our practice to invite children without their parents, but these children wanted to receive Jesus and they came up with fervor.

One of the mothers told us the other day that before coming to church that night her child was so disobedient, disrespectful, and simply just a troublemaker. She was at her wits end with him and did not know what to do. She felt hopeless and did not feel like she was a good mother. However, that night, her son was a one of the children that came up to receive Christ and he has not been the same. He is now one of the nicest, respectful and obedient children. She is amazed, and is praising God for touching the life of her child, as well as hers. God is good!

On the flood front. We have received an unprecedented amount of rain this year. It has caused a lot of problems not only for the people in the city, but also those along the river systems in the area. Most of the houses along the river have water to their window sills. However, the people do not want to move because they either have nowhere to go or they fear that their possessions will be swept away with the water. So they have placed wood above the water and are essentially living in the part of their house that is the window sill to the ceiling. Some are staying in their small boats. It is sad to see because you know that they are suffering. We were out on the river with a short term mission team from Columbus and we were able to ease the burden a bit by handing out food to many along the river we traveled.

Last month, I reported that Sydney went into rehab and was on his way to recovery. Unfortunately, we have just learned that he left the rehab center. We have not heard from him. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

On a personal note, Alyssa is going for the world record of watching Nemo. She is in love with Nemo and has nearly watched it every day for the last three months. Nemo is her favorite word. One of our friends found this fish in the river and put it in a two liter bottle, she loved it. She kept hugging the fish. Camilly is doing well and she loves going to school and playing every day

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

May update from the Amazon

2009-05-07T20:13:00.004-04:00

Wow, what a month of ups and downs. The big downer was the flood that came through the lower part of Altamira and wreaked havoc on so many people’s lives. The big uppers however were that we baptized 16 people, more than 10 people came to the Lord in the month of April, and Sidney, Elba’s sister's husband, who relapsed into drugs and alcohol and left his family, is now in rehab and seeking to be restored.

On the flood front, there still is no relief in sight as of yet. Things were starting to get a bit controlled after the flood waters subsided but now the river is starting to crest and families are again moving out to safer grounds. Fortunately, they have the time to move their stuff without anything being damaged unlike the flood that overtook them so quickly. We are still serving many families with food, clothing and shelter and we have been trying to restore items that were lost and/or damaged during the flood such as stoves, and mattresses. We are also now in the process of helping rebuild houses and work on structural problems. Please keep us in your prayers for wisdom and that we are good stewards of the money that was given. The pictures below are of a family that received a new mattresses and a stove. The other is where a bridge existed but got swept away in the flood.

On the church front, I would like to share the story of Ramires. Ramires has been coming to the church for easily over a year with his wife and he was seeking God and really wanted proof that God existed. Several months ago, Ramires went to the local doctor to have some tests run and they showed that he had some heart troubles and high blood pressure. To confirm the test, he sent them as well to a doctor friend that is a cardiologist, to which he confirmed the results. During this time, God was working on Ramires and he knew at some point he needed to surrender his life to Christ. We had our church service and he came up for prayer but something was holding him back from asking God into his life. It just so happened that we had a guest speaker that night at church and as he was praying over the crowd of people up front. God stirred his attention to Ramires. He walked straight to the back of the crowd and embraced Ramires. Ramires weakened and said “I want to receive you Lord, I want to receive you Lord, I want to receive you Lord”. It was a really moving moment and ever since Ramires has embraced Christ with all his heart. We just had a baptism and we had the awesome privilege of baptizing him. It has been a beautiful journey to watch him grow. The good news does not stop there. His cardiologist friend wanted him to go through another battery of tests for his heart. He did and he sent him all the results. The doctor called him last Sunday morning and asked Ramires “What did you do to your heart?” Ramires responded “I received Jesus into my heart”. The doctor responded “Well, science cannot explain those things, but by all indications from the test, you have a brand new heart”. Isn’t that amazing! God is so good!!! AMEN!!!

Praise God Sidney has now sought out treatment. He just started treatment on Monday May 4^th and the first days have been rough as he is going through withdrawals. Please continue to keep Sidney in your prayers for a complete recovery, and full restoration. Also, please keep Nira in your prayers as this is going to be a process.

On a Camilly front. I say Camilly because she turned 4 years old on April 18^th. She was so excited and she had a great time at her birthday party. The party was only for girls except for me and Apollo. She had been talking about her birthday every day for the last 2 or 3 months. Mom and Dad were very happy for her but are glad that it is now over, we are just hoping that she is not going to start talking about her next birthday starting now. Alyssa is doing well and is starting to talk and form words. She is now saying “goodbye, obrigada (thank you), and sair (get out). During prayer time last Sunday, Elba was praying for someone and Alyssa kept interrupting them by telling the person that Elba was praying for to “sair”, or “get out”.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

Floods in Altamira

2009-04-16T12:50:00.002-04:00

Easter morning started off like most morning. We got up early and went to the church to have breakfast with the congregation and worship the Lord. It was great. We returned home and at 10:00am our electricity went off and that is when we heard the first reports that 2 dams broke above the city. Within hours, the lower half of the city was flooded. Unfortunately, there were a few children and elderly that lost their lives. It is a tragedy. Thousands of people are misplaced, and they have lost nearly everything of their already small possessions. Personally, we are currently housing several people, and the church is hosting several families. These situations become even tougher because the support from the government is very little.

Below are some pictures. One is during the flood, and another is the house of one of our church members that is staying at out our house. Her house and everything in it are completely trashed. We know that we cannot help everyone but we definitely want to help as many families as we can. Would you like to partner in helping these families? If so, there are two ways to get this accomplished below.

You can send a tax deductible donation to the Xingu Mission at

The Xingu Mission

PO Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio 43234

Attn: Altamira Base

Or on-line at http://www.xingu.org/15a1_altamira_donation.html

If you decide to make a donation, please let us know. This will give us a general idea and allow us to start putting your money to work quicker.

Please pray for all the displaced in Altamira, and pray that we as church can assist families not only physically but spiritually and emotionally.

Thanks and blessings, Steve

Happy Easter!

2009-04-09T17:16:00.008-04:00

We pray that you have a wonderful Easter holiday. Needless to say this is such a special holiday for Christians. Everything surrounds this moment in time and praise God, “He has risen”. Jesus defeated death and for those who put their faith in Him can now have eternal life with Him. Praise God.

This month we had a children’s conference at the church and it was well attended. We brought in Pastor Wanildo from Santeram, a neighboring city, to teach at the conference. He has his Masters in child education and he has a huge heart for children. Our children's ministry leaders were taught many new teaching tools to reach out to children. They left the conference feeling more encouraged and excited. It was a success! As a church we are committed to raise our children in the ways of the Lord.

To give you an update from an email several months ago. CDR, our non-governmental organization moved to the Mission base because it would give us a better opportunity to reach more of the underprivileged. We were nervous about the move because students believe that the neighborhood surrounding the Mission base is not safe because there is a lot crime. We did not know if the enrollment would decrease significantly because of this belief. Praise God, we are happy to report that we maxed out our enrollment for English as a second language with 170 students, and we have 68 students learning the basics of computer. Please keep CDR in your prayers as we plan to open up a Christian Preschool next year. Also, we have been promised from the government to receive high speed internet (YES!!!!) by the end of this month. This would be a huge boost for our computer program.

Also, this month we had the opportunity to go to our sister base in Marabá and see the good work that Rick and Deanna Bergen have started, and now with the assistance from Clyde and Kelsie Bergquist. Elba had the opportunity to share the Word to these new hungry believers. It was really nice to see the Marabá base doing so well. After we left Marabá, we got the opportunity to take a mini vacation at a place called Salinas. It was really fun, and the girls were definitely addicted to the beach and the ocean.

Again, we pray that you have a great Easter and that our Lord Jesus will touch you in a special way. Check out the other photo’s below.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

Check out our new redesigned website at: www.xingu.org

Here is a picture of a little monkey at a house in the Assurini. Notice how I am keeping my distance. That little sucker has some sharp teeth. I did not want anything to do with him, but he wanted everything to do with my hammock.

Picture of Elba and Alyssa on the beach

Here is a picture of Denise having some quiet time. She is a beautiful woman of God.

Christoval

2009-03-10T17:46:00.007-04:00

One of the events that we had last month at the Training Leadership Camp was our annual “Christoval” celebration. Carnival is Brazil’s annual “celebration of the flesh” before the initiation of Lent on the Catholic calendar. It’s a week- long party where “anything goes” and every city in the country shuts down allowing full participation by the people. The Vineyard churches combined efforts several years ago to begin “Christoval”, a retreat for youth, away from the city, with a focus on Jesus and having a lot of good clean fun. It has been a great success to redirect the youth’s energy towards God instead of the temptations of the world and drawing kids toward Jesus. During the three day retreat, the youth had opportunity to connect with Jesus through lively worship and dynamic teaching.

The following week after Christoval at church we had 7 people accept Jesus as their Lord (1st picture below). The church has been doing well and we continue to focus on the developing our leaders, praying for the sick, and reaching out into the community.

On a family note, Camilly and Alyssa really enjoyed being at the camp for Christoval as well. They had lots of friends to play with and they ate a lot of ice cream. It is hard to tell if Camilly was truly eating the ice cream or just putting it all over her face. Camilly was thrown in jail with her favorite friend Eliane. If you wanted to put someone in jail, you could purchase tickets for 25 cents and then someone would have to purchase another ticket for 25 cents to get you out. I got put into jail 3 times. I tried not to take it personally. LOL.

Please take care and thanks for your prayers and thoughts in our life.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

PS – Check out a few of the other pictures below.

We caught this Mucura and her baby in our backyard. The people in this area typically kill them because they kill and eat chickens. I took the Mucura and her baby outside the city and let them go.

Chuck from the Vineyard Church of Delaware took this photo of some woman along the river while on short term mission trip. It is a perfect river community picture. I really like the photo!

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:
The Xingu Mission
P.O Box 340785
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Or On-line donations at:
http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

On the road

2009-02-21T08:02:00.008-05:00

This month was a month of traveling. Not for me, but for Elba, I stayed home with the kids because a man’s work is never done. Elba traveled to a river community along the Xingu called Souzel, then, she went to a small community called Aqua limpa and then we all went to the capital of Amapa, Macapa. They were all memorable trips but the trip to Aqua Limpa (clean water) was nothing short of an adventure. Now that we are in the rainy season the road conditions are challenging. Slipping and sliding most of the way until you arrive. The visit was very sweet because Aqua Limpa is one of the Mirante Church plants. The community is excited about us coming to train and disciple, and there have been salvations over the last 2 years.

We also had a conference for our church leaders at our training leadership camp. It was a good time for them to just stop, and connect deeper with God. We pray that some of these leaders will soon be pastors and start their own churches. This is our goal, to train leaders and plant churches. At the end of the conference, Elba and I, as well as the other pastors, had the great opportunity to model Jesus and wash the feet of our disciples / leaders. Personally, for some reason, I felt reluctant and apprehensive to do this, but when I did, it was awesome. Not only did the Lord touch them but in the moment of washing their feet the Lord rested upon me as well. It is just another reminder of when we give of ourselves, we receive so much more.

On the home front, Camilly started pre-school this month. We are just testing it out. The first day did not go very well and she cried most of the time. We took a week off and she told us that she was ready to go back again. She did and she enjoyed it. Obviously, only being three years old, we do not want to force it on her yet. Alyssa is doing very well and for most of the time is a very happy baby, but she also has a flip side to her that is very determined and can get very mad if she does not get what she wants. As parents, we are trying to enjoy each stage of their lives. Time goes by fast.

Thanks for allowing us to share our life with you month after month. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:
The Xingu Mission
P.O Box 340785
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Or On-line donations at:
http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

Check out our new redesigned website at: http://www.xingu.org/

This little animal is called a "quati".

Happy New Years from the Amazon!

2009-01-15T16:32:00.000-05:00

We hope that you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Ours was very good and the church service for Christmas was nothing short of amazing. I have never seen so many people in our church. We tried to count but it was impossible. We believe that there were close to 600 people at the church. I took pictures but unfortunately they were deleted. Sorry! A couple weeks before the Christmas church service the members of the church got together to pretty up the church and to paint it. We had about 50 people come and donate their time and energy and even Camilly got to chip in a bit. The end result was a beautiful church painted by the temples of God.

This month we had our second meeting focusing on the couples of the church. We are inviting couples over to the house to share a meal, followed by a teaching about marriage, family, child raising, and so on. It has been a good time to be with the couples, hear their struggles, and try to guide them in the ways of the Lord. These meetings will be a regular occurrence because healthy families are so rare in this part of Brazil. It is our hope, with the Lord’s guidance, to change this dynamic in Altamira.

The girls really loved Christmas this year. Camilly got some underwear, berets for her hair, and a doll. Alyssa also received a little doll and her own plastic cell phone. They were both really happy with their gifts. Alyssa is also fond of little kittens; however, she still has not gotten the knack of how to hold a kitten. Poor little kitty!

Well, I need to get going now; Camilly is calling me to do the time honored tradition of wiping her behind. Thanks for all your prayerful support in our lives. Love, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa.

Look who got sunglasses!

We caught this boa constrictor in our backyard the other day. We put it in a bin and set it free outside the city.

Merry Christmas from the Amazon!

2008-12-26T16:32:00.000-05:00

We hope that you had a great Thanksgiving. We did, some missionaries and Brazilians in Altamira got together and we had chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and some dessert. It was a lot of fun and the meal really made me feel like I was back in the States. YUM! Elba and I also had our 5th year anniversary in November. We had someone keep the kids for the night and Elba and I went and spent the evening at a lodge. We had a really nice time. We hope that you enjoy the below email.

We realized that we have not written about CDR for a long time. CDR, our non-governmental organization has continued its focused on social service outreaches throughout the community and assisting the underprivileged. The computer and English school continues to teach the underprivileged in the community computers and English as a second language at an affordable price. The English school is at maximum enrollment with 140 students. These last semesters the English classes have been so busy because of the hunger to learn English. The computer program has been doing fine and we are planning on expanding. We are going to start an administrative assistant class and possibly a class to teach how to assemble and maintain computers.

Presently we are wrapping up this semester in preparation for our big move. CDR is moving to our Mission base because it will give us a better opportunity to reach more of the underprivileged. Plus, we are hoping to start an affordable Christian pre-school for working families, all the while, promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

On a personal note, the girls are doing well. It is fun watching them grow and see their personalities coming out more each day. Camilly is still addicted to the trampoline, and Alyssa is right behind her. Alyssa loves jumping and getting wheel barrel rides from Elba’s Dad. Camilly loves to jump from the dead stump onto the tramp. She learned this from the neighborhood kids. This makes my heart skip a beat, and she is not permitted to do it until she gets bigger or I am present. She is very courageous for 3 years old.

We pray that you have a great Christmas and that our Lord Jesus will touch you in a special way.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa