Amazon Update! May 2020

We continue to be in “lockdown”.  Still no church or large groups are allowed, and the use of masks in public is mandatory; very similar to other countries.  Here in Altamira, and throughout Brazil, the cases have continued to increase.  The pharmacies do not have the drugs necessary that doctors are prescribing to “combat” the virus.  They are prescribing hydroxycloquine, Ivermectin and Azithromycin as first line of defense.  One of the biggest problems is that we do not have much testing for the COVID.  The test they do have here requires you to have the virus for 8 days to be confirmed.  In light of waiting those 8 days to confirm, the doctors are essentially guessing based off of symptoms and prescribing the above medicine.  The problem is that it could be just a cold, normal flu, malaria, dengue, or something else.  I certainly do not give fault.  Everyone is trying to do the best they can with the limited resources at hand.  It is our reality at the moment. 

 

For Mother’s day we had a few of our leaders come to the house.  We had an online service to share communion and “be with one another”.  Before sharing communion we had a time of worship with some of our leaders at the church, and virtual congregation.  We look forward to getting past this time and being able to interact with one another in person.  Everyone is so excited to see one another even though it is on a screen.  The problem is that everyone wants to talk at the same time, and it becomes a mess.   Not a bad problem. 

We continue to do on-line weekly services and are using social media to maintain contact with our church members and friends for the last couple of weeks.  We have been making some home visits.  We do this with caution and do our best to respect others space and distance.  At the church, we are doing our best to make the worship and sermons pleasing to the Lord, and the best possible experience for the congregation.  It seems like it going well, however, it is a lot of work.  I have been working so much producing video’s for the church.  If you have never had the chance to work on editing a film, let me tell you, it is a long strenuous process.  Elba has been doing a series called “A Faith that wins”.  She has preached “A faith that leads during difficulties”, “A faith that wins over my weakness”, and “A faith that anchors me”

The girls spend their days doing homeschool via Zoom.  It is working well for the time being but I think they would like to be with their classmates in person

Continued prayers request: 

·        Update: The sale of the property seems to be on hold.  We have not heard from the buyers.  We understand that with the crisis they have been put in financial stress.  I am disappointed, but at the end of the day, God is still on the Throne.  Please pray for our buyers financial situation and that we could move forward soon with the sale. 

·        Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time. 

·        I may have to travel to take someone to a specialized hospital about 2k kilometers away.  Please pray for healing for this man, and for safe travels. 

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

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