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 2nd 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 2nd 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
