Thanks for all your prayers for us. We are so grateful and could not do this without your intercession. We pray that you will be blessed with the below update. .
A team of dentists from Brasilia, Brazil’s national capital, came again to serve the needy by providing dental services. They had a busy two weeks. They first went to the Marabá church, then the Pacajá church, and then on the river. They served 405 people that required a total of 1244 procedures, and provided 887 fluoride treatments. This is almost double the amount from last year.
During their time with us last year, they had to perform hundreds of teeth extractions. They were shocked by the poor condition of the people’s teeth and in an effort to relieve some of the trauma from the extractions. The team decided to come and make dentures. The team (including Elba) helped create the molds of the teeth. We then took the molds and created the denture a couple of days later. It was a monumental task but they were able to complete the goal and the results were amazing.
During their time at the churches and river communities they had a chance to share about God’s love and pray for the kids and adults
This month the missionaries got together and had their first missionary retreat. You might ask “why have a retreat?” It is said that 29% of the reasons American missionaries leave the field were unpreventable. Leaving the estimated world-wide preventable attrition (A gradual diminution in number or strength because of constant stress) at 71%. Preventable attrition included six major categories: 1) marriage and family reasons; 2) agency reasons; 3) personal reasons; 4) team reasons; 5) cultural reasons: and 6) work related reasons. Early intervention in the missionary life cycle, even before departure, would have made a difference in these attrition rates.
Craig and Linda Heselton came and taught us about Emotional Intelligence to help retool us and build up the team. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is simple defined as “the ability to recognize one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.” It was definitely a learning experience for me and one that I hope will create more growth personally and professionally.
It was also very good to just get all the missionaries together to spend time with one another. This time together helps to build up our team and re-energize us for the continued road ahead. Our mission is looking to have marathon missionaries, and not sprinters. For this reason, we are committed to the care of our missionaries so that we can help sustain the calling that the Lord has on their life as life-long missionaries.
During the missionary care the girls had a great time reconnecting with the other missionary children. They were essentially inseparable during the whole time we were together. Every morning they were antsy to go and play with the other kids, and at night they did not want to come in. We were so grateful for this time. Also, pictured is Camilly and Alyssa trying to log roll.
Please continue to pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.
Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa
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The Xingu Mission
P.O Box 340785
Columbus, Ohio 43234
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