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

Amazon Update - April 2020

Happy Belated Easter.  Praise the Lord that He is Risen.  Thank you Jesus!!!  As I mentioned last month,  let's keep praying to Jesus for His healing upon the world.  He is our only hope, especially with so much uncertainty, we need to be the light in this time of darkness.  Pray the Lord's peace and comfort over you during this difficult time.  If you need any prayer, please let me know.

During the past month our church family has been trying to adapt to "virtual community" as we make adjustments, along with the entire world, to adapt to this season of social distancing in the wake of COVID19.  Given the circumstances, I think we are doing the best job we can with the tools and gifting that the Lord has instilled in us.  However, we are still pursuing to do it better and stay connected. 

On Easter we felt that it was important to celebrate communion with the church but it was completely different than years past where we had a service at the church, and shared a breakfast.  This time we had some of our leaders and their families come to our house, and then we had a Zoom gathering with members of the church.  It was not perfect, but we were able to feel a bit more connected to the congregation to celebrate the PERFECT sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, and the resurrection of the Lord from the grave.  AMEN!

After the on-line celebration, we enjoyed a breakfast together, and then we had a candy search in the backyard.  This was nice, as this brought some normalcy to our situation. 

We have been doing on-line weekly services and are increasingly trying to use social media to maintain contact with our church members and friends for the last couple of weeks.  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.  Below are some pictures of the production.  We have been working twice as hard as before trying to learn the technologies.  Elba goes over and over her messages throughout the week in preparation for Sunday.  It is whole different dynamic preaching to a camera, than to a congregation. 

We just started back up our men´s prayer group on Thursday morning at 6am.  It is a small group of men and it was really nice to be together and pray to Jesus to intercede for the church, the things going on in our lives, as well as the lives of others.  As you will notice we are trying to get together and pray in a reasonably safe way.

One of the other big highlights this month was the celebration of Camilly´s 15^th birthday.  The 15^th birthday for a girl in Brazil is HUGE.  I read that “In Brazil it is widely celebrated among Brazilians, the quinceañera marks an important milestone in a girl's life. Part birthday party, part rite of passage, it symbolizes a girl's entrance into womanhood when turning 15 showcasing her purity and readiness for marriage.”  Yes, to the purity, but the readiness for marriage…at the age of 15….let’s put that on the back burner until she finishes college.  Well, whatever they say, we know that we are very proud of the beautiful woman that Camilly is becoming.  She is a treasure and a true gift from God.  Personally, seeing her all dressed up, and looking way older than 15, I was taken aback.  It is going way too fast.  We did our best to respect the gathering rules in place.  Camilly only got to invite a handful of her friends.  Even though it was limited, we really pray that she enjoyed every moment.  We are very proud of her.

 

Continued prayers request: 

·         Update: Thanks everyone for your prayers on the sale of the property.  We are in the process of working through the language for the contract.  This is positive and we are thankful to God.  Since there is a financial crisis in Brazil due to the virus, the buyers are asking that we be patient.  So, I come to you again, and ask that you continue to pray for this to be finalized in its entirety, and that all parties will feel good about the whole process up to the completion of purchase and thereafter.

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

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

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

December 2018 Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year from the Amazon

We experienced two very exciting things at the church.  The Xingu Mission is all about training leaders and planting churches.  Unfortunately, these are not instantaneous occurrences and they take time to develop, nurture, grow and release.  We just had 15 member of our church complete training through the Vineyard Institute here in Brazil.  Vineyard Institute exists to equip people through high quality biblical and theological education integrated with spiritual formation so that they are prepared for kingdom work at any level in the church.  We are hoping that one day they will be church planters!    

In addition, Cleiton and Cristiane have been serving faithfully as our youth pastors for many years.  They are passionate leaders and love the Lord.  We have a small group that is about a 20 minute drive from the church.  This small group has been growing and are developing into a large congregation that is outgrowing their small wood house.  We are sending Cleiton and Cristiane to be the pastors of this congregation to help in the work that the Holy Spirit is doing.  We are so excited about sending them and we are excited about what the future holds for this group of believers.  Planting churches and watching lives change to be like Christ is such a blessing and brings joy to our hearts.  Please pray for them and the new Mexicano church. 

 

The girls helped prepare the Christmas tree this year.  However, there was a lot of fuss because Mom wanted to put the tree up before December.  It just did not feel right to put the tree up in November for the girls.  But since it was just a couple of days before December, they conceded, and the tree was up and they did a great job.  The girls also did well in school and received awards for their grades and performance.  They had a presentation and everyone got dressed up for the occasion.  They are always excited if they can go to school events without their everyday uniforms.  We feel blessed!

 

Again, Merry CHRISTmas to you.  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

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November 2018 Amazon Update!

It has been another exciting month and one of the biggest excitements was the baptism we had at the church.  It is always a big celebration in the church, and praise the Lord, in heaven as well.  I love that during the baptism the church is singing and worshiping God and 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 10 people that made this public declaration of faith.  We are a bit partial for this baptism as Alyssa was one of the people who we baptized.  It was truly a blessing.  However, unlike all the others being baptized who walked down the stairs into the water.  Alyssa instead decided to jump into the water.  Yep, that’s the pastor’s kid.  :-)  Please keep these new believers in your prayers.

Elba went down to the National Vineyard Conference in Sao Paulo.  Elba has stepped into the National leader position temporarily in Brazil due to the death of our leader’s wife.  She helped coordinate the event and shared at the conference to the pastors and leaders in the South.  During the conference they had great worship, teaching, and time for prayers.  In addition, they introduced 5 new churches and 1 church plant.  Amen!!!

The conference was called “Why Church” which is an expansive response.  They focused on the topics “Church to worship, Church to reconcile and Church to serve”.  Another great benefit to the teachings is just being together with one another.  There is much encouragement, and refreshment when we can share our hurts, challenges, and accomplishments. 

This is what happens when you overextend your front flip on the trampoline.  OUCH.  She is doing much better now and it is healing.  She is a tough girl.  At the church, the girls participated in the children day celebration.  Children’s day is a National holiday in Brazil.  We hosted many children in the community with games, entertainment, food, and face painting.  It was a big hit.  

 

 

On a funny note, I was driving in town and saw this dog on the back of this guy’s motorbike.  I had to take a picture.  I was concerned the dog was going to fall off.  I followed them into town, and the owner was driving fairly fast, but the dog never fell and seemed to be having a blast.  

 

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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September 2018 Amazon Update!

Thank you so much for your prayers for the dentist team that came and served.  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.  This year the dental team went on the river with the Marantha III and VI to serve communities near Belo Monte.  The Marantha III was retrofitted to serve as a dental clinic and the team worked tireless hours serving the community needs.  In these short two weeks the volunteer dentist team served 353 people doing cleanings, repairing cavities, pulling teeth, and making dentures.  It was 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.




Here are the statistics of the people served in the last years.  Amazing work considering they do this once per year for 2 weeks.  Since this project is self-funded, they are limited to only once per year.

Coming right off the boat we got prepared for our annual pastoral training.  The retreat training was surrounded around various topics such as mental health awareness such as depression and suicide.  They also taught on ethics in pastoral counseling, and marriage and divorce in the church.  It is training that a lot of our pastors need to become more skilled.  There were more pastors wanting to participate but were unable to afford the travel cost to get here.  In some of those cases, we tried to at least help 1 pastor participate. 

In addition, the pastors did an exercise with some of the years written on the wall and they were asked to write significant events that happened during that time.  It was very encouraging for all of us to stop and look back and reminisce at where we have come from, and then, start pushing ahead into the work for the future.  

The girls are doing well and are participating fully at school.  One of the things that I think is cute is that the girls really like to listen to 1950’s music.  Camilly's favorite music is Mr Sandman, and Alyssa likes Lollipop by The Chordettes.  I think it is sweet.  Below is a picture of Camilly listening to some music, and Alyssa participating in her annual “Independence Games” competition at school.  

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

August 2018 Amazon Update!

Elba and I left the girls for about a week to travel to Macapá.  To get to Macapá we took a line boat which travels up the Xingu River, and then into the Amazon.  The journey took about 32 hours to get there, and about 36 hours to get back.  We went to Macapá because the church recently had a young dear member / leader commit suicide.  As you can imagine, it has made a dramatic impact on the church and they are doing their best to walk through the healing and understanding process of this tragedy.  Our missionaries, Christopher and Denise Meyer, who just recently planted the 2^nd Vineyard church in Macapá, have been doing a great job to help people work through this difficult time.  We were blessed to be able to come alongside of them to support them and the leadership as they navigate their way through this time.  Again, it is difficult, and prayers are appreciated.  Pictured below is Jonas, he is Christopher and Denise new baby boy.  

I am not sure if you knew this but we have church service in the evenings here in Brazil.  There are a couple of churches that have early morning service but it is rare.  Before the service, a bunch of the church members got together to go and hangout at a local creek.  Each of us brought some meat, rice, and salad and we ate till we were full.  Even though this was a simple and fun event, it is important that we get together outside of the church.  Getting together outside of church allows us to get to know one another better, it is encouraging, it is fun, and the community attracts the Holy Spirit.  I would not have thought much about the latter but I am reminded in the Bible that says the Holy Spirit is present whenever believers gather together (Matthew 18:20). A great example of this was the early church of Acts, which made a habit of meeting together, eating together, and worshiping together. As a result, “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46–47).   This does ring true as not everyone that was with us was a part of our church and it promoted the opportunity to lower barriers to get to know the church and Jesus a little more.    

  

 

 

 

The girls are doing well and they just started back in school the first part of August.   We are very happy that they are thriving and doing so well in school.  Praise the Lord!  Here is a picture of them at a wedding that we had for a young couple from our church. 

Oh my goodness, did this just come to Altamira….am I dreaming?  Nope, it is here and I think we are now big time….Smile!!!

Please pray for the dentist team that is out helping many people along the river who do not readily have access to medical care.  Update to follow next month. 

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa