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

July 2018 Amazon Update!

We just started another small group in the last 3 weeks.  Promoting small groups has always been a priority of the church because we believe that this is where we see spiritual growth, learning, fellowship, and serving.  Our small groups are usually a group of 4 or more people that meet on a weekly basis.  Small groups are a place where you can study the Word of God, develop deeper friendships, and pray for one another.  It is during small groups where we can see lives being transformed and leaders developed.   Pray for a multiplication of more small groups through the churches. 

The church had its annual country themed celebration to help raise money for projects at the church.  With the economy not being good the church has seen a significant reduction in giving.  It is barely paying its bills and workers.  These events help fund projects that the leadership feels are necessary.  In this case, it helped build a woman’s restroom.  The event was successful and earned just enough to get it built.  The event had a bizarre of donated clothing, many games, food, and live entertainment.  Please pray for our church. 

We have other challenges at the church.  For example, when trying to mix the sound for the worship band during church service we try not to let the HUGE tarantula get us!!!

On a personal note, we celebrated two birthdays in July.  Alyssa on July 4^th, and Elba on the18th.  Alyssa had a sleep over with a bunch of her friends, and they burnt the midnight oil having fun together.  Elba (and her twin sister, Nira) turned 40 years old and the church put together a big party.  They had a lot of fun and they were both treated to a beauty skin treatment.  Personally, I thought it was unnecessary as Elba already looks so beautiful and young.  Not to be left out, Camilly participated in her school Olympics.  She played soccer, handball, and dodgeball.  They came in 2^nd place. 

Prayer update: We took the leap of faith and put our house up for sale.  No offers as of yet.  If it God’s will for us to sell, then it will happen.  We are placing it at His feet.  If you should remember, please pray for God’s will. 

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Camilly and her friend trying on a pair of pants. 

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June 2018 Amazon Update!

Aside from CDR providing English and Computer classes, and teaching people how to sew, all at a discounted price compared to the other schools in the city, they also went to one of the local schools as they have for the last several years to teach the students about “safe touch”.  They got the chance to sing worship songs, as well as present a puppet show, a dance, and dramatic play.  Afterward they taught the students the importance of safe touch, and then prayed for the students, then provided a meal.  It is our great hope that by teaching these children some principles about what is safe, and general safety tips it will help prevent these children from being abused.  Also, if abuse is happening, it may give the child the courage to tell someone in authority so that they can be helped and protected.  Prayer request:

• Please pray for these children and that sexual, physical and mental abuse will never happen!
• Please pray for CDR.  Even with lower prices, the school is suffering due to the poor economy. 
• Please pray that this improves and wisdom for us to lead the school through this time. 

We were back a week when I left for a week to Belém to go to our Senior leadership meeting.  It was really good to be with some of the missionaries that I serve with.  Once I got back, Elba left and is still gone as of this writing to Santarem for a week long training of caring for Pastors.  We both had adventures getting to our places of destination.  I went right in the midst of a trucker’s strike, and on the way to Santarem a truck overturned causing Elba to take an even rougher terrain to get around the truck.  In addition to the training, Elba shared the word for Valentine’s day which was celebrated in June 12^th here.  I am sure the word was a lament because we were separated from each other on Valentines day.

On the first day back on the preaching schedule we had a couple of guys come up and receive the Lord.  So cool to see people surrendering their lives and start to follow the ways of the Lord.  It is the first step of many along their path but we are privileged to be able to share this moment with them.  Thank you Lord!  Please pray for these fellows.

Prayer request: We shared this prayer request last month and we thank you for your prayers.  We believe that we are going to try to sell our home and see how God will either confirm or not.  If He wants us to remain here then we want to do that of course.  We really appreciate your continued prayers for the Lord’s will to be done.  Thank you!

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

May Amazon Update

We arrived back in Altamira last Thursday.  We were so blessed to have the opportunity to go back and help my Mom with her recovery and to be at my sister Shelley’s memorial service.  My Mom is recovering really well and she just started rehab.  She is pretty much able to do most of the things that she could before the injury, except, she gets tired quicker.  We believe that she is on a good road to recovery and we are grateful for your continued prayers for her.  Thank you.  We took this picture just before going to a wedding.  Pretty much everything that I had on was borrowed.  

On a church note, the church celebrated a baptism.  They always get to participate in the fun stuff while we are gone.  J   Even though we were not there we can see 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.  Needless to say, it was also a great celebration in heaven as well.  Praise the Lord!  We are so happy for this public decision that they made in their lives and the great adventure that the Lord will lead them going forward.  Please keep these new believers in your prayers.

Again, we arrived last Thursday, and the girls were back in school on Friday.  They were not singing for joy to go back but they went all the same.  After getting there, they were happy to reconnect with their friends and teachers.  We kept up somewhat well with the homeschool but Alyssa was more than 30 pages behind on her math.  Thankfully she is good at math and we believe that she will get caught up quickly. 

Prayer request: We have been tossing around the idea of moving to another house.  We know that the Lord brought us to where we are living but after many years, and certain dynamic changes, we are considering moving to another house.  Since, we know that the Lord brought us here to live we do not want to move on if our time is not over.  We really would like clear direction as to how to proceed and so we are asking for your prayers. 

Please also continue to pray for our re-entry, and for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.  

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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