October Amazon Update!

We want to thank you so much for your prayers for us this last month as we were traveling to Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey.  The trip was such a blessing and we would never have had the opportunity to do this without the financial generosity of our Brazilian friend.  The trip was a whirlwind of different places and sites to see.  Elba and I went into this trip thinking that it was going to be a great spiritual journey, however, we quickly realized that this was going to be a tourist sightseeing journey.  Our schedule was packed.  There were days when we would not get to the hotel until 9:00 – 10:00pm to have to wake up at 4:30am to start again.  We never slept in once.  Thankfully, during the busyness Elba and I did experience some really special encounters with God.  One of those times was on a boat in the Sea of Galilee.  The Captain of the boat happened to be a Christian and he spoke Portuguese.  He sang a few worship songs in Portuguese as we sailed along the sea.  It was a really emotional time.  Below are just a few pictures of our trip. 

This month at the church we had our annual celebration of Children’s day.  Children’s day is actually a holiday and there is no school and some business close for the day.  The church did something different from years past.  Typically, the church will open its door during the day and have many games and activities for the children followed by a small teaching of the love of Christ.  This year the church had a slumber party and the kids spent the night at the church.  They played lots of games, danced, sang and watched a film.  The next morning they went to a little park and played more games.  They loved it!

Once a month, several men from the church who have construction experience help someone in need.  There was a couple that needed to complete one of their bedrooms before the baby’s arrival.  The men came and started plastering the walls.  Their help really sped up the process to get the bedroom and house completed.  Since I have very little skill when it comes to construction, they leave me in charge of buying the snacks.  J  These guys are very faithful and thank the Lord that they are part of the church, being God’s hands to the needy, and sharing the Good news of Jesus. 

Last week we had our annual missionary care retreat.  We invited Dan and Sandy Thiessen to come and do soul care for our missionaries.  It was a really special time; a time that was needed for our spiritual health.  Missionaries live a sacrificial life and they give up many things to follow the call of the Lord.  In addition, they are always giving their best and it can be very draining.  It is nice when we can all get together as a family, to hear one anothers heart, to pray, encourage, rest, and to just “be”.  The time went by so quickly and we are grateful that the Lord allowed us this opportunity to be together.  We have an amazing bunch of missionaries!

Elba was invited to come and speak at the Vineyard Columbus woman’s conference to be held in February 2017.  Elba is excited about this opportunity and since it is coming up to our time to visit the States, we accepted with great enthusiasm.  We will be coming back to the States on December 10^th and staying in the Columbus area until February 5^th.  We look forward to seeing and spending time with our family during Christmas.  We also look forward to seeing you.  Would you like to get together?  If so, write me back and let’s get something on the calendar. 

Thank you so much, and 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

Or On-line donations at:

https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/dolan-ministries/

This is what happens when you are posing for a picture and the Camel decides it is time to lay down….and to lay down quickly.  LOL

At the pyramids.  The amount of resources and effort to construct the pyramids is mind boggling. 

Special time of prayer at the Wailing Wall. 

Spent the night climbing Mt Horeb where Moses received the 10 Commandments on camel and having a time of worship and prayer as the sun rose.

The Egyptian people wanted to take pictures with the Brazilians.  Our guide said we could have sat there all day taking pictures with people.  We asked this woman if we could have a picture with her and she was really nice. 

Just in case you need a cup of coffee…You can go to Stars & Bucks….they are distant cousins to Starbucks. 

September Amazon Update!

The team of dentists from Brasilia came again and they brought more dentists and more helpers.  Since the inception of this project the leadership felt God calling them to serve others to share Christ through acts of love by taking care of people teeth.  The teams t-shirts read “Because Jesus sent me”.  They had a busy two weeks serving the needy by providing dental services.  For the first week we converted CDR into a large dental office.  One room has been permanently transformed into a dental office for more upcoming visits.  We set up 5 working dentist chairs and the dentists worked almost non-stop each day, sometimes not ending until past midnight.  After the week at CDR finished, they went on the river to serve people in 2 river communities near Porto de Moz for another week.  Richie Bouthillier met up with them with his mission boat to help with the work.  They converted one boat into a dental office and they also went out into the community to teach the importance of dental care.  All in all it was a huge success.  I think it would be fair to say that they helped hundreds of people and performed several hundred procedures.   

Unfortunately, this year was no different than last and they had to perform many teeth extractions.  However, the dentist team came better prepared.  They brought 3 professional denture makers with all their denture making equipment.  They worked tirelessly trying to serve the needs of the people.  They setup up shop in our mission office where they would make molds of the person’s mouth, plaster the molds, set the fake teeth, and then polish and refine the dentures.  It was awesome and I believe that all the recipients were very grateful.  It was a monumental task but they were able to complete the goal and the results were amazing.    

Recently we had the death of a very nice man in a rural community that the church has been reaching out to in missions.  We had the wake at the church and he was surrounded by many family and friends.  To give you some insight, when someone passes away here the wake and the funeral happen almost immediately, and they usually have the body buried within 24 – 48 hours.  The family members will stay with the body for the whole time. 

Introspectively, death has a rude way of reminding us of our own mortality.  It is a slap in our face that says that we are mortal and wakes us up to the reality of death and what lies ahead for us when we die, like, will we go to heaven or hell.  During funerals here, Elba usually poses that question to the living and gives them an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Savior so that they can have the full assurance of a place in heaven.  Maybe, 1 or 2 people will indicate that they want to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.  At this funeral, we had many people stand and come forward to seal their destination with Christ.  In the midst of sadness….there was joy.  

Camilly and Alyssa are doing well and the latest thing going on their lives is Pokemon.  Whenever we are driving around we are always on the look for those sly characters.  We have even went out as a family to search for Pokemon.  I think the girls are on level 10.  Here are the girls with some of their friends waiting to see the dentist.  Alyssa looked scared…they did great.   Camilly gave me this sweet card for my birthday. 

Prayer request: Elba and I are going to Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey with some of our friends from the Brasilia and Central church.  We got the offer to go last year but refused because we would not be able to afford the cost.  Our friends came back to us and said that if we could pay for 1 ticket they would pay for the other.  WOW, what an amazing generous offer.  We accepted and we have been saving our money month, after month, after month and finally paid for the trip last month.  As you can imagine, we are very excited to go.  Please pray for our safety and peace to get there and back home, that the trip will draw us in deeper relationship with Jesus, that the girls will be safe and have a great time with our family here, and that everything will go along as scheduled without incident. 

Thank you so much, and 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

Or On-line donations at:

https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/dolan-ministries/

August Amazon Update! Steve and Elba

I (Steve) first came to Brazil in June of 2001 to help build a church at Belo Monte.  The first picture is of our team and we had a great time.  We got the shell of the church completed and then went home.  During that time from then to now, the church has experienced many leadership changes and the church reopened and closed many times.  Now, there is new leadership and things have been changing.  They renovated the church, the congregation is increasing in size and leadership seems more stable.  Last month I was asked to share a few words at the church inauguration which was a fun and nervous time, but thankfully everyone thought I did a good job.  We also got the opportunity to bless the new leadership team and the new pastor.  I feel more encouraged for the future of this church.  Please pray for this church, the congregation and leadership team. 

Wow, we were so blessed to have 13 people get baptized during the church service.  It was a really exciting time and the Holy Spirit was touching each of their lives.  I really love watching people getting baptized.  First, I like the public testimony that it gives to people in the community.  Second, I love that during the baptism the church is singing and worshiping God.  Lastly, 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 and may His transforming power be upon each of them and us daily.  I think these pictures below show that happening. 

Elba and her twin sister, Nira celebrated their birthdays in July.  I am so thankful that God brought Elba into my life. She is such a beautiful person inside and out and I love her dearly. She is such great wife, best friend and mother.  I bought this cake in celebration of her birthday and brought it home on my dirt bike. The cake did not do too well on the way back. Obviously, I did not think that one through. 

We are so proud of Camilly and Alyssa as they continue to excel in school.  They both won the gold medal and they got very high marks.  Good job girls!!! 

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

Or On-line donations at:

https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/dolan-ministries/

We went to Santarem so Elba could perform her nephew’s wedding.  During that time we went to the mall and they had these giant balls that you can get into and roll around.  The girls, along with Apollo loved it.  Camilly liked pushing the ball.  However, when she got inside she freaked out. 

July Amazon Update! Steve and Elba

Thank you so much for your prayers for us and the team from Columbus and Madison County Vineyard.  We had a wonderful and full week with the team and it was a blessing.  When the team landed on Sunday afternoon they got directly into a few vehicles and they were off to Pacaja with Keith and Marsha Wilson which is about 250 kilometers away from Altamira.  The team made it just before the church service and they were able to minister to the church congregation.  They did various activities throughout the week to bless the community and encourage the workers.  They participated in an English get together at CDR, home groups, an oral hygiene clinic at one of the local schools to which they passed out toothbrushes and toothpaste, they helped with a big church outreach to the community where the church provided free haircuts, health checkups, counseling service with a lawyer, documentation, and a lot of prayers.  During the prayer time we had testimonies of people being healed of headaches, toothaches, emotional healing and the confirmation of God’s unlimited love for them.       

After the week in Pacaja, the team came back to Altamira and they went to the Mirante church.  Cindy Taylor preached to the congregation about returning to our first love in Jesus and to regain that enthusiasm that we once had in the Lord.  The message appeared to touch many in the congregation and the Holy Spirit was active during ministry time.  All in all it was a great time with the team and I believe that the Lord used them to minister to us and the Brazilian people.  For all the team did and help participate in it would appear that it would have taken a whole month.  However, they were able to squeeze all of it in a 1 week timeline.  

After the team left, our whole family was back in the truck on the road again to visit the church in Marabá.  The Marabá church is about 530 km away.  We had a really nice time with Ivanildo and Monica who are the pastors.  Elba got to preach at the church and she shared about the importance of being committed to the church, and ultimately to Christ.  The church is comprised of a lot of young adults and it was encouraging to see them hungry for Christ and wanting more of Him in their lives.   Praise the Lord.  Please pray for the church in Marabá and its leadership. 

On July 4th, Alyssa turned 9 years old.  She is growing up so fast and is a real sweetheart.  For her birthday she got a secret diary and a coloring set.  She loves to color and beatbox.  Beatboxing is one of her hobbies that she is crafting and we are always amazed at the different sounds she is able to generate.   The team brought down this pie in the face game.  It was a big hit at her birthday party.  Camilly got a new skateboard and she is really picking it up quickly.   

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

Or On-line donations at:

https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/dolan-ministries/

One of the nights we went outside the city to look at the stars.  They sky was filled and we saw many shooting stars.  It was really nice.  Leonard Taylor took these shots by keeping the exposure open for a long time.  Then I turned on a flashlight so that we could see Alyssa and the team.