August Amazon Update!!!

Thank you so much for your prayers for our regional InterVinha conference.  We had a large turnout of well over 300 people.  We held the event at the churches training center, and it was an orchestration of organization with 100’s of people sleeping at the training center each night, providing each meal, recreational time, cleaning and all the rest.  Elba and the team did an amazing job and by the grace of God it went really well.  Aside from all the logistical and physical things getting accomplished well, the conference would have been a flop without the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Praise the Lord He was alive and present. 

     

Our guest speaker was Gary Best from Canada and he spoke on the topic “Naturally Supernatural”.  Gary wrote a book in 2007 with this same title and it has received good reviews.  Gary spoke through the scriptures building us up to say that this is Christ plan and original idea for us today;  that we can participate in the work of God’s Kingdom and that the miracles of Jesus time are for us today as well.  After Gary’s teaching, he challenged us to do the stuff that Jesus was doing in His life and ministry.  This is not new territory for our church, and I believe that each of our churches are doing this daily.  But, it was a good reminder, and encouragement to continue to push into the Kingdom.  We had the opportunity to pray for healing, words of wisdom, and miracles.  The Holy Spirit did not fail us, and His power was felt by many.  Many people were healed physically and emotionally.  Thank you Lord!!! 

In addition to the conference, we also had Dr. Dave Keseg come and teach about first aid.  Dr. Dave is the founder of Luke’s brigade http://www.lukesbrigade.com/ and they focus on training first aid to people who live in remote areas and with limited access to health care.  In his teachings, he focused on basic first aid, assessment of life threatening situations, and basic and essential treatment of injuries and illnesses.  All the participants learned a lot, and had a good time in the process.  They also received a certificate and a first aid kit.  Thanks Dr. Dave!

On a personal note, Camilly and Alyssa are now back in school and they are happy.  They missed seeing their friends and it was good being back together.  Also, they gained 2 “sisters”.  McKenzie and Kayla are here from the Vineyard Church of Delaware and they will be staying with us until December.  They just arrived and they are trying to get their bearings with their new life here.  Please keep them in your prayers. 

Also, please pray for our upcoming annual dentist outreach to the community.  A Dentist team is coming from Brasilia to work on the river with Richie Bouthillier, and then they will go to Santarem to work in the city and a small community about 45 kilometers away.  We appreciate all your prayers. 

Please also continue to pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.  

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  43234

Please click the donate button to make a secured on-line donation:

Here is a picture of my nephew Apollo.  He found this owl by our house.  It was really friendly and did not mind that he picked it up and carried it around.  Who would have thought?  He put it down for the night, and then it flew away.  Pretty cool.  We love having owls around our house.  They are great in keeping the rat and cockroach population down. 

July Amazon Update!

The federal government donated a used dentist chair to “Project Smile” in Brasilia to be used at CDR.  However, we needed to go and pick it up.  We loaded the truck for our 2000 km journey and were successful in getting it back to Altamira.  The project has been such a blessing to the over 1,100 people it has served in its 3 year history.  Please keep the team in your prayers because next month we will be doing a big outreach to serve more people in the cities and along the rivers.  During our time in Brasilia Elba got to share at the church.  I really like it in Brasilia because it reminds me a bit of the US in the people, climate, and infrastructure.  However, we did not like the fact that we discovered that our tires and brakes on our truck were in bad need of replacing.  Glad to be able to change for safety sake, but bad for the sake of financial hardship.  Over a $2,000 in truck repairs and licensing fees just this month.  OUCH.  Vehicles are so expensive.  Sometimes I wish they were not such a necessity. 

We had a couples dinner at the church and it was really nice.  We feel it is important to continue to invest in marriages and give opportunity for these couples to share a special moment.  Life can be difficult and hard and sometimes it’s easy to put a backseat to our relationships with our loved ones.  Life and the attacks of the enemy are always trying to destroy, or distract us from the things that are important.  That is why it is important for us to push back, and sacrifice to make sure that we keep these as priorities.  The couples really enjoyed their time together and we encouraged lots of PDA, public display of affections.  J 

Alyssa and Elba both celebrated birthdays in July.  Alyssa had a birthday party and invited some of her friends.  She was so happy to finally be in the double digits (10). Of course, she got the traditional egg smashed on her head.  The women at the church had a potluck dinner for Elba and her twin sister Nira.  There were NO eggs smashed on Elba’s head…that tradition does not apply to her.  J  Camilly played in her first soccer tournament at school.  They played the grade ahead of them and unfortunately did not win.  However, Camilly scored all of the team’s 2 goals.  The girls are on school break and go back to school the first week in August.  Their summer vacation is a little over 1 month long. 

We have our annual church conference coming up next week, as well as some important meetings.  Please keep us in your prayers for the Lord to speak and continued guidance for us. 

Please also continue to pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.  

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  43234

Please click the donate button to make a secured on-line donation:

I found this tarantula hawk (wasp) near our house.  It found this tarantula and it stung it which made it paralyzed.  It then carried it to a nearby hole that it dug where it will lay a single egg on the tarantula abdomen.  I found some more additional information on Wikipedia that said that when the wasp larva hatches, it creates a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then enters and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep the spider alive. After several weeks, the larva pupates. Finally, the wasp becomes an adult and emerges from the spider's abdomen to continue the life cycle.  God’s amazing creation.