Praise the Lord the church continues to see new converts and disciples of Jesus Christ. Below are pictures of baptisms that we held during our worship services over the last weeks. One of the baptisms was not scheduled. The man in the last picture received Christ and in his excitement wanted to be baptized. We still had water in the baptismal from the week before and so we had a spontaneous baptism. Many people stayed around to celebrate his new birth in Christ as he was washed from his old self into his new identity in Christ. Please pray for these new converts.
This month we had Beth Wood from Canada come to Altamira. After working in inner city contexts in Canada for a number of years, Beth spent 7 years in Brazil mentoring and training in local-church based community development ministries. With her colleague Maurício J.S. Cunha she co-authored the book “The Kingdom Among Us” which was published in Portuguese in Brazil in 2003. Beth came to share a biblical and Brazilian perspective on the transformation which can occur when local churches actively pursue the fullness of the Kingdom of God in their poor communities. We were very pleased to have her because we are already working in this capacity through the church and CDR. We invited many of the church leaders throughout the community in the hopes of them catching onto to that same vision. The time that they spent together was very productive and we hope more fruit will be produced as the church continues to be good news to the community, and bridge the gap of the lost so that Jesus can reach more into their hearts.
I just wanted to let everyone know that all is safe and sound with our new power rangers in the house. You do not want to be caught on the opposite end of their powerful swords, unless you go to the local amusement park and ride the Viking boat that swings you up and down. Now that was scary!
Again, we pray that you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. God bless you!
Please continue to pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.
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 43234
Or On-line donations at:
Terry Price found this boa constrictor outside the mission. We got the opportunity to pet it.