November 2019 Amazon Update!!!

Elba and I were honored again to have another baptism at the church.  The church gets so excited for baptisms.  During our baptism the worship band was playing and singing, and lots of people run to the front to get a better view and pictures.   I know I have mentioned this many times, but I love the symbolism of letting the person be completely immersed in water, being baptized into Jesus’ death on the cross and no longer being slaves to self or sin.  When they are raised out of the water they are raised into a new life in Christ and are with Him forever.  We are so grateful and we praise the Lord for these 9 people that made this public declaration of faith.  Each of the people being baptized wore a shirt saying “I Decided”.

We had a women’s gathering at the church called “Cha de Rosa”, or pink tea.  The women in the church really worked hard to make this a beautiful and special moment for our guests.  The youth served a small meal while the women were enriched by the guest speaker.  The guest speaker was a psychologist in the city and she talked about emotional and mental health. 

Not to be too outdone.  While traveling to Joao Pessoa, and Recife.  Marsha Wilson, and Elba participated in another “Cha de Rosa” for the women at the Cabo church.  The women really enjoyed Elba and Marsha’s visit to pray, encourage and bless.  

We had a children’s day celebration.  This is a National holiday and there is no school, and government and private businesses close.  It is a big deal.  This year we used the mission property to celebrate the occasion.  Camilly and Alyssa helped with the celebration.  They played lots of games, including water balloon fights, which Camilly assisted.  Alyssa colored the children’s faces.  The kids ate lots of sweets and hot dogs.  It was a good time for the children in the neighborhood…I think also for the adults.  

We do have prayer requests and humbly ask you to pray for us:

1.      For Steve’s trip to Humaita to visit a church planting team.  It will take 2 ½ days to get there by truck.  Please pray for safety, guidance, peace, and wisdom.

2.      Elba just started getting a migraine again after almost a year without them.  Please pray for healing.  Below is a picture of children from our church family in Recife praying for Elba

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.  

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

July 2019 Amazon Update!!!

Thank you so much for your prayers for the National Conference that was held at our church.  It was a lot of work to make this event happen, but in the end, it was great.  I believe we had over 300 people in attendance.  This was a chore as many of them came from out of town and we had to organize their housing, and meals. 

We were blessed to have our Pastors, Rich and Marlene Nathan from Vineyard Columbus come and teach our group.  Marlene shared about women in leadership to women leaders, and Rich taught our group various subjects such as:

• ·         Helping your church to Grow by Becoming More Invitational
• ·         Constructing a more integral church
• ·         Why the Vineyard Church must not stop growing
• ·         Passing the Torch to the Next Generation
• ·         What I Say to a Young Leader

These messages were so encouraging and timely for our group of leaders.   At the end of every service, practically everyone in attendance was coming up for prayer to receive more from God to become a better pastor / leader or they were praying for others.

In addition to the great teachings, the time of worship was incredible, and the time to connect with the community of believers was so encouraging and uplifting both emotionally, and spiritually. 

Literally, stepping on the heels of the conference, we had a Dentist team of 10 people from Brasilia.  Our house was hustling and bustling to accommodate the team, and the people from the conference.  I think we had at 1 time over 20 people staying in our house.  The dentist team went to a remote community called Maribel where it took around 5 hours to drive 100 km.  We have a church in Maribel and we used the church to serve the people of the community.  It was another amazing time of serving the community and helping people with dental needs that otherwise would not be able to get easy access to this care.  In the few short days the volunteer dentist team served hundreds of people doing cleanings, repairing cavities, pulling teeth, and repairing teeth.  It is amazing what the dentist can do with limited resources.  It is an incredible work and we pray the Lord’s continued hand upon them all.  It has been a pleasure partnering with our sister church in Brasilia to serve the people, and share Jesus Christ.  They will be coming back in September to work with our missionary Richie Bouthillier in Portel.

Alyssa just celebrated her 12^th birthday on July 4^th.  She had been talking about learning an instrument and she wanted to learn the Ukulele.  We were able to get one for her recently and she has been playing it so much.  She has been watching YouTube videos on her Ipad to learn.  We are very excited for her.  Camilly, not to be outdone, is starting back with the keyboard.  Her cousin Apolana is teaching her.  Here is a picture of Camilly with Angelita at the new SpiderMan movie.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.  

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

June 2019 Amazon Update!!!

The church is doing well and 2 highlights were that we celebrated Mother’s day and had a baptism.  The Mother’s day service was really special and Elba continued her teaching series about family, marriage, children and the challenges that we face daily.  After the service we prayed for the Moms and then setup a section in the church for them to sit and enjoy a snack.  The husbands, and singles served the Mom’s and there were lots of smiles and laughter. 

We also had a baptism at the church.  The church gets so excited for baptisms.  During our baptism the worship band was playing and singing, and the children clamor to the front to get a better view.  I love the symbolism of letting the person be completely immersed in water being baptized into Jesus’ death on the cross and no longer being slaves to self or sin.  When they are raised out of the water they are raised into a new life in Christ and are with Him forever.  Praise the Lord for these 7 people that made this public declaration of faith.  Each of the people being baptized wore a shirt saying “I Decided”.

Elba was invited to speak at one of the universities from one of Camilly’s teachers at her school.  Camilly’s teacher teaches at this university as well as Camilly’s school.  Even though the universities are secular, she went and spoke about Christ and the role that Christians play in serving the community and helping the poor.  The talk was well received and they asked her to come back and share again.  Let’s see how this will materialize itself. 

The girls are just finishing up school for about a month break.  They do not get the summer breaks like in the States.  I believe that they will be starting back to school in the beginning of August.  Even though it will be short, they are looking forward to having the time off.  Here is a picture of Apolana, Camilly and Alyssa making parmesan chicken.  Alyssa is the official taste tester.  For the record, it is really good.  They are getting so big. 

Thank you for your prayers for Elba.  She has been feeling much better.  Please pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.

Please also pray for us, and the church, as we will be hosting our National Conference for the North called InterVinha.  We are fortunate and excited to have our Pastors Rich and Marlene Nathan and family come and be the main speaker.  

Much love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

May 2019 Amazon Update!!!

In the previous last 2 monthly blog updates I have written about our campaign to increase the number of home groups in the church.  To recap, the idea was to have Elba create a video series called the "The Real Jesus" based off The Vineyard Columbus rendition.  We would then distribute the DVD to members of the congregation that are willing to open up their home, serve a snack, and play the DVD.  We worked hard to produce the videos weekly and we got them completed.

1.      The historic Jesus

2.      Jesus the Master

3.      Jesus the Sufferer

4.   Jesus the Healer

5.   Jesus the King

During the campaign we created over 20 new groups.   This was very exciting and we were wondering if any of these home groups would continue meeting together after the campaign.  We are happy to report that 7 groups made commitments to continue to meet together.  We are very surprised by the result and look forward to seeing how these groups will mature, create community, and disciples.  In addition, some other churches are asking for the videos that were created so they could do the same campaign.  Awesome!!!

The Easter weekend service went very well and we had a large turnout not only for the evening service, but for the early morning service as well.  We encouraged our members to bring their friends to come and celebrate.  In the morning service, we had a nice time of worship, shared the Word of God and then we ate breakfast together.  It was a lot of fun, a lot of food, and a labor of love.  In the evening service, Camilly was part of dance team that performed for the church.  They practiced really hard and the result proved in their performance.  We were glad to see some new faces come to the church to celebrate Easter together.  It was a great service to celebrate the Lord's resurrection.  Praise the Lord!

Our church is committed to mission and one of the places that we go to frequently is a place called the Suribim.  It is about 100 kilometers away from the church and they have been thriving in this remote community.  However, some sin issues have presented themselves in the community and it has caused problems within the congregation.  Sometimes within these remote communities it is not unheard of for people to take the matters into their own hand to administer justice.  Sometimes this justice leads to death.  We believe that Jesus has touched a majority of the people in this community and he is changing people from the inside out.  It is amazing how when Jesus is introduced into a community and people take hold of His good news, a people group is changed…as well as the community.  However, we still ask you to pray for this community for healing and reconciliation.  The first picture is of Elba's twin sister, Nira. 

As mentioned above, Camilly was a part of dance team and they performed really well and the church loved the dance.  Actually, the following week.  A director at one of the public school asked if the dance team would come to their school and do the same presentation for their students.  That was such an honor, and a great way to show the love of Christ through the dance team.  Here are the girl's Mother's day picture together.  It is a great picture and they all look so beautiful. 

Please pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.   Please pray specifically for Elba.  She had been experiencing a lot of pain in her abdomen / back area.  We thought it was a kidney stone but that got ruled out.  The new thought is a herniated disk. 

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

Livre de vírus. www.avast.com.

Happy Easter! Praise the Lord for He has risen!

As I mentioned last month the church started a new campaign to increase the number of home groups in the church.  The idea is to have Elba create a video series called the “The Real Jesus” based off The Vineyard Columbus rendition.  We would then distribute the DVD to members of the congregation that are willing to open up their home, serve a snack, and play the DVD.  We have been working hard to produce the video’s weekly and we have already done 3 videos to date.

1.      The historic Jesus

2.      Jesus the Master

3.      Jesus the Sufferer

During the campaign we have created over 20 new groups.   This is very exciting and we are praying that after this campaign the groups will stay together and continue meeting together weekly.  Below are some new groups meeting.  Please join us in this prayer. 

We also got the opportunity to visit our new church plant called “Mexicano” and Elba got the opportunity to share the Word.  It is still a small community of believers but there is great faith and fellowship.  It was exciting.  After the service they served a rather large meal for everyone that came.  I asked if they prepared a meal because we came, they said “no”, and thankfully I learned that on most Sunday’s congregants bring food and eat after the service.  You can sense that there is strong fellowship and community.  We could not be happier.  Please continue to pray for them. 

Camilly and some of her classmates went out to the local senior home to serve the men and women that live there.  The conditions are primitive and we felt welcomed by our visit.  One of the students read them a poem and then we began to serve cake and juice.  We thought we brought way too much cake and juice, but nope, they really enjoyed it and they ate it all up.  We were really happy to see Camilly participate in this outreach.   Alyssa has been learning how to draw digitally, and this has become one of her hobbies.  It is fun to see the creativity come from them. 

Please pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.  

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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March 2019 Amazon Update!

One of the annual events that the churches participate in is our annual “Cristoval” 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 almost every city in the country shuts down allowing full participation by the people.  However, and praise the Lord, this was the 2^nd year that the mayor’s office did not fund any carnival event here.  The Vineyard churches combined efforts many years ago to begin “Cristoval”, 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.  Elba had the privilege to preach the first night. 

 

It was really powerful in the lives of the hundreds of youth and adults that participated in the conference.  However, there was one youth in particular that we were so fond to send to the event.  Yes, Camilly was old enough to participate and she had a great time being with her friends, and celebrating the Lord.  As parents, we got to experience Camilly for the first time initiate prayer for one of her friends on her own.  It was deeply exciting for both Elba and I and we were close to tears.  Unfortunately, in her 2^nd day at the event, she got very sick and we took her home. 

The church is doing well and we are in the midst of starting a new campaign to increase the number of home groups in the church.  Home group growth has always been a challenge for the church.  Challenges range from the home group leader feeling inept, to members not having time due to the busyness of life, work and such.  The campaign that we are using was developed by the Vineyard Columbus.  The idea is to have Elba create a video series and then we distribute the DVD to members of the congregation that are willing to open up their home, serve a snack, and play the DVD.  We are trying to keep it as simple as possible with the ultimate hope that the group stays together after the campaign.  In addition, once a month, we have been training our current small group leaders.  Please pray for great success and lasting results for the campaign.  I will keep you posted. 

During our time off we got the opportunity to visit the Maquine caves in Minas Gerais.  It was really massive, awesome and beautiful to see. 

We appreciate you so much for all your prayers and support.  May the Lord’s joy and comfort be upon you always.   

Please pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.   Also, please pray for Steve as he will be having a small surgery to remove a large varicose vein. 

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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February 2019 Amazon Update!!!

We have been traveling for personal vacation time which was very nice and needed.  We ended our time in Brasilia and the church asked Elba if she was interested in hosting a woman’s conference.  She agreed and spoke to the women.  During the conference she talked about the empowerment and transformation of women in ministry and encouraged the women to step up into leadership. 

As a strong woman leader in a predominant male hierarchy culture, Elba is unique because women in leadership is not embraced by everyone with welcoming arms especially in the North where we serve, but also in the South of Brazil.  It is a fight not only to be heard as a woman, but to be respected and to have authority.  Elba has done a great job in establishing and positioning herself as a woman leader, and is passionate to keep empowering and pushing through the resistance and removing all of the barriers.  We really believe that if we are to evangelize this world, we all need to participate and lead. 

After the conference, Elba spoke at 2 of the churches in Brasilia.  During Elba’s preaching she wanted to make it clear to the congregation by saying “you invited me to come and speak to the women and empower them, I believe that was accomplished, so now, let them do it.”  It seems clear to us. 

After the conference we went to our missionary care retreat.  The missionary care retreat is awesome as it allows all of our missionaries to come to one place and be with one another.  Our missionaries are now spread out distance wise and almost all of our missionaries are serving alone.  Serving alone in a foreign land with a different culture is difficult and challenging.  Day by day we walk out the call of God in our lives and our dependency to lean into the Holy Spirit is crucial.  Community with other missionaries who are walking out that same journey is incredibly refreshing, re-energizing, and encouraging.  We highly value this time.  We were grateful for Danny and Penny Meyer to come to minister to all of us.  

My sister Lynn came down as well, and she helped with child care at the retreat while we were in the meetings

Unfortunately, during our travels our cat, Bob, passed away.  It was very sad and there were tears.  He was a good cat, extremely smart and a good rat killer.  We will miss our Bob.  During that same time, one of our dogs had a litter of pups.  They are cute and are just learning how to start walking around. 

We appreciate you so much for all your prayers and support.  May the Lord’s joy and comfort be upon you always.   

Please pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.  

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa