One of the events that the Mirante Church participated in recently 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.
As a church we are continually engaging our community to reach people for Christ. One of those ways is to hit the streets and pray for people for healing. We went to the corner grocery store and setup tent. We prayed for many people for healing. We also had a lot of people want us to pray for them and their family for peace and protection over them. The city is going through a lot of transitions and it is not safe with lots of robberies, and murders. We pray that this time that we had with them will draw them closer to God.
When the rainy season starts we have these large ants come out. They are large and have big butts. Elba told us that when she was a little girl they would pinch off their butt and fry them up and eat them. The girls and I winced but we were up for the challenge. We fried them up and ate them, well some of us ate them. Camilly chewed it up and spit it out. This was the first time that I consciously ate an insect and it was definitely different. It tasted like a peanut in the beginning, and then later it tasted like liver. It was interesting but I think it will be the last time we eat ant butts:
We would like to ask you to join us in prayer for our dear friends and brothers in the Lord, Orlando and Mateus (father and son). Orlando needs lung transplant and Mateus needs a bone marrow transplant. They need a miracle. Please pray for them!!!
Please continue to pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.
Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa
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Columbus, Ohio 43234
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