July Update

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