September Amazon Update

One of the benefits of being a missionary is receiving short term mission teams.  The Vineyard Columbus sent a team here led by Sue and Mike Burkett and they held a healing conference for all the churches.  It was a great time and we saw people get healed physically, mentally and spiritually.  One of the big healings was when Mike Burkett was praying for a young woman who lost her hearing in one of her ears.  They prayed and after praying asked if she could hear.  She said “I can hear a little bit and she felt like her ear was burning”.  Mike said “let’s keep praying”.  They kept praying and in the end this young girl said that she was able to hear completely again.  What a miracle! 

We were hoping that the miracles would transcend onto Elba and that she would be completely healed of the infection in her breast.  Unfortunately, that did not happen.  Please continue to pray for Elba.  The infection / cyst in her breast continued to grow and be very painful.  She went to the doctors and they drained out a lot of the infection and also got a biopsy.  They are sending the sample to Belo Horizonte because there is no place to get it tested here.  Please join us in prayer that the results will lead us in the right direction to get this completely healed.  We are very grateful for doctors and medicine but would love to have God heal her. 

We had a large windstorm and it brought down one of the cell towers that is located next to CDR, the Mission and our house.  The storm just came out of nowhere and caused a lot of damage.  Alyssa was outside jumping on the trampoline having the time of her life.  Praise the Lord nothing happened to her when a large branch came smashing down into our house.  Aside from the tower going down and damage to our house, the church and guest house lost parts of their roofs, as well as many other houses in the area. 

Personally, I celebrated a birthday in August.  Brazilian custom sometimes dictates that you will get an egg and flour smashed on your head.  The whole day I was walking around on eggshells, no pun intended.  Every time I would turn around, Camilly would have an egg in her hand ready to pounce.  She was relentless.  So instead of feeling the constant pursuit, I gave in, and let Camilly, Alyssa and Apollo smash eggs on my head.  Can anyone say “payback!”? 

Please pray for a complete healing for Elba, as well as our whole family.  Thanks in advance. 

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

August Amazon Update

One of Elba’s passions, and the Xingu Mission’s DNA, is training leaders.  We were given the opportunity to pray and bless these new pastors at the Mirante Church.  These new pastors have shown great faith, excellent character, a calling, and a full desire to follow Jesus with all their heart.  We are so proud them.  Keith and Marsha are now serving in Pacajá and will be accompanied by Ferreira and Fernanda in the next couple of months (http://www.xingu.org/15d_pacaja.html).  Cleiton and Cristiane are serving Mirante as our youth pastors, and João is serving as our men’s and mission’s pastor.  As a church, and personally, we are so fortunate to have each of them in our lives.  We believe they will be great pastors and they will be instrumental in moving the Kingdom of God forward in Brazil. 

Thank you so much for your prayers for our trip to Pacajá, Marabá, and Palmas.  We are now back safely after traveling around 3000 kilometers.  Our bodies arrived back busted up due to the rough terrain but praise the Lord we had a very good trip.  It was so good to see our friends who are serving faithfully to spread the Gospel.  Pacajá is just starting out and Keith and Marsha are getting to know their neighbors and building a bridge of friendship so that they can invite them to have a full relationship with Jesus.  The Marabá and Palmas churches are teaming with life.  Both are young churches with a younger congregation.  It is full of energy and God is working in their midst.  When I was in my teens I was everywhere else except in church.  Because of my past, it always seems strange to me to see the youth in church celebrating God.  It was just not what I did.  However, I am so glad because I know that if these youth follow in the ways of the Lord, they will not make the same dumb mistakes or immoral decisions that I made.  I know that their lives will be so much better in the future because of their decision to follow Jesus. 

Elba celebrated a birthday in July as well.  Alyssa’s birthday was on the 4^th and Elba’s was on the 18^th.  We surprised Elba with a small party, and some of the members of our church bought us dinner at one of the local restaurants.  We had a really nice time together.  Below is a picture of Alyssa.  One evening, the lights went out and it was very dark.  Alyssa got a candle and told us in her sincere voice that she was going to her room to have some quiet time with God.  We smiled and our hearts shined brightly.  Actually, we thought she was just saying it but I peeked into her room and was able to get this sweet picture of Alyssa with her bible.  Lord, may this be a glimpse of both Camilly and Alyssa lives forever.

 

Please pray for Elba.  She had to return to Marabá last Sunday because of an infection / cyst in her breast.  She has been on antibiotics for the last couple of months and it still has not gone away.  During our visit in Marabá she visited a specialist and he put her on a stronger antibiotic.  Unfortunately, it has not gotten better.  She returned back to Marabá so the doctor can drain it and run some test.  Generalize medicine is available here but for things requiring specialty medical care you need to go to a larger city.  This is one of the big drawbacks about living in a remote area.  Please pray for a complete healing for Elba, as well as our whole family.  Thanks in advance. 

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

I took this picture while we were visiting Palmas.  It was a beautiful waterfall and the water was FREEZING.  What a relief to the very hot weather. 

July Amazon update

Elba and I, along with around 500 other people throughout Brazil went to Agudas, São Paulo for our National Vineyard Church conference.  The main speaker was Phil Strout.  Phil Strout was just elected to be the National Vineyard Church Director in the United States.  He taught for three nights about creating a church movement from the inside out.  It was really encouraging because we are already in the process of doing it, and it challenged us not to become complacent but to keep pushing out.  We had about 40 people from the North come to the conference.  It was a huge financial sacrifice for each person but we hope it will have a lifetime return. 

After coming back from the National conference we had a team from the Vineyard Church of Delaware County led by Michael Hansen come and visit.  We literally came home on Monday evening and were on the river Wednesday morning.  We visited several communities along the river for several days bringing the good news of Jesus Christ and encouraging other believers.  One of our churches was flooded due to the river’s high level.  However, we were able to meet in one of the neighbor’s house.  After the river trip, we headed back to Altamira and the team held two conferences.  One conference was led by Michael with the focus on worship and the other conference was lead by Danny Meyer about relationships, and youth.  It was a very blessed time and we are always so grateful when teams can come down to help minister to our Brazilian friends, as well as us missionaries.    

Alyssa turned 5 years old on July 4^th.  She invited her friends to come over to the house to celebrate the big occasion.  They played games, busted a big balloon filled with flour and candy inside, ate cake, and watched Alyssa open her presents.  She really loved her fairy princess outfit and Barbie.  Alyssa and her friends had a great time. 

Please continue to pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.  Also, we will be traveling from the 19^th to the 31^st visiting some of the Mirante Church church plants.  We are going to visit Pacaja, Marabá, and Palmas.  It will be a lot of driving and we need the Lord’s hand of safety and grace.  Please pray!

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

Kris Lambert from the Vineyard team took this picture when we were on the river.  Pretty awesome!

June Amazon Update

Thanks for all your prayers and support.  We pray you are blessed with the below update.

It brings me great pleasure to introduce 36 graduates of our leadership school.  These 36 students made a year commitment to dive deeper into God to discover the will of the Lord for their lives.  The leadership program is open to our churches and students must pay to attend.  It takes a commitment and these leaders are hungry for God.  We are excited to see how God will use each of these leaders to expand the Kingdom of God.  The woman that is pictured with Elba is Betania.  Betania is a leader of a church that we oversee.  She was recognized for the best attendance during the leadership program.  Now, this may not seem like much, but when you consider that she lives in a village about 68 kilometers away and has to take a bus through mud filled roads during the rainy season of Brazil, it is extraordinary!!!  The conditions are tough, but with the guidance of the Lord she overcame and did a great job at the leadership school.  We are so proud of her and the other graduating students.  We pray that these new students will excel the Kingdom of God throughout this world. 

We had a Mother’s day service at the Mirante church.  It was a really sweet time to celebrate the mothers of the church and to reach out to others mothers in the community that had not visited the church.  We had a nice breakfast, a time of worship, sharing of the Word, and prayer.  Some of the women were really touched by God. 

If anyone can find my two front teeth….it would be much appreciative. 

 

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

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

May Amazon update

As we mentioned in our last blog update we postponed the baptism for two weeks because of the death of one of our church members.  We had the baptism along the Xingu River and 5 people were baptized.  The people being baptized were really touched by the Holy Spirit as they were symbolically going down into the water to die to their old self, and then being raised again as a new creature in Christ.  As a congregation, we sang worship songs along the side of the river and then prayed for the people being baptized.  On a really cool not, one of the men being baptized was listening to a worship song “sweetly broken” which spoke to his heart and eventually drew him into a relationship with Christ.  Without knowing about this man’s connection to this song, the worship team started singing that song during his baptism.  We serve such a good God!  Afterwards, we all came back to our house and had a barbeque to celebrate this important occasion for these followers of Christ. 

We also held a meeting this month to help encourage our married couples in the life of marriage.  We had a lot of fun playing some games, eating a meal, and then showing a video.  The games that we played were to have the wife hold the man’s wedding ring in her mouth.  Then she had to run to her husband and put the ring on a straw that the man was holding in his mouth.  Another game was called “3 in 1”.  The couples had to do three things for one minute each.  First, the couples had to kiss for 1 minute.  Then for another 1 minute the husband had to carry his wife, and then for the last minute, the wife had to cuddle the husband.  They had a lot of fun and the winner of the games got a brand new bible.  The video that we watched was about how to protect your marriage from the traps of this world so that we can have long and joyous marriages. 

Camilly turned 7 years old on April 18^th.  We cannot believe how time goes by so quickly.  For her birthday she invited a couple of her friends over to play and eat some cake.  It was a very simple party but they loved it, especially the ultra cool sunglasses.  Camilly was ecstatic about the pair of shoes she received.  All in all she had a great time on her birthday and she ate up all the attention. 

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

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

I found this beetle in one of our trees and I thought it looked really cool and unique.  It is definitely a bugs life here in the Amazon. 

April Amazon Update

Matthew 28: 1-7  "After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.  There was a violent  earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.   The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.  The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”  Praise the Lord that He has risen!!!  We pray that you had a wonderful Easter and that you are blessed with below email.

We planned our yearly Easter celebration, adding to our annual breakfast we thought we would have a baptism along the Xingu River.  Unfortunately, those plans were immediately cancelled when we heard that Mateus had passed away the night before Easter.  Mateus was 11 years old and was severely handicapped as a young child because the doctors at the hospital misdiagnosed him and gave him a drug that caused his disability.  He was in the care of his grandfather, Nego. We held a funeral service for Mateus on Easter morning because in Altamira when someone passes away you have less than 48 hours to bury the body.  If this was not sad enough, just 20 days before, Nego’s wife died (picture of Deusdite below being baptized) due to surgical complications.  A lot of people surrounded Nego to comfort him to the best of their abilities.  The church has really stepped up as his family during this very difficult month.  Amazingly, Nego is holding up well and doing his best to trust God, please remember Nego in your prayers. 

At CDR, we started tutoring children in the neighborhood that need reinforcement in school.  We have a dedicated teacher that helps children with a wide variety of subjects throughout the day.  In Altamira, students only go to class for 4 hours a day.  In those 4 hours, the teachers are trying to cram into the students minds as much as they can.  Essentially the teachers teach at the school but our tutor is helping facilitate learning. Our tutor is helping bridge the gaps that are overlooked by the school.  We are very pleased to be able to offer this to students so as to empower them for the real world. 

Camilly, Alyssa and Apollo had an Easter egg hunt.  They had a lot of fun trying to find all the chocolates that we hid around the house.  Alyssa was famously dressed in only her underwear…she says that it is way too hot for anymore clothes.  At the church, they also participated in a presentation about Jesus and His resurrection.  It was totally unorganized which made it more cute and fun to watch.  We are very proud of our little girls. 

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

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html

Here is a frog that we found inside our house.  His underbody was black and his back was brown.  Most Brazilians here are so scared of frogs…probably because many of them are poisonous….I kicked this one to the curb.

March Amazon Update

Elba took a team of 4 Brazilian leaders to Macapá to have a spiritual retreat.  Macapá is the capital city of Amapá and is about a 2 day boat trip from Altamira.  The purpose of the spiritual retreat is to draw people away from their normal day to day routines so that they can focus on God.  It is a powerful time because in addition to the teachings, fellowship, and worship, it gives the person time to reflect on where they are with God.  Is He present in my life?  Am I allowing Him to guide my life?  Am I hearing His voice and drawing close to Him?  What are the sin issues in my life that are preventing me to draw closer to God?  With all the “noise and busyness” in our lives we miss the Lord guiding our steps to draw closer to him.  During the spiritual retreat God came in power and touched many people.

Do you notice anything different in the picture of the church?  That’s right, we put tile down on the floor.  A couple of weeks ago, a doctor friend of ours who studies English at CDR came to our church for the first time.  We were talking at the service and he said “I would like to help you buy tile for the church”.  I was a little doubtful that he was serious because to tile the whole church would cost a lot of money so I said skeptically “Really!?  WOW!? What a blessing!”   Well, he turned me from a skeptic into a believer because two weeks later he purchased 400 square meters for the church and had it delivered.  This helped cover 70% of the floor, and the church purchased the additional 30%.  I asked the doctor to come back for a 2^nd visit when our Pastor from the US, Rich Nathan, was going to preach at the church, knowing the doctor would be interested in hearing the sermon given in English and translated by Elba.  To add to the goodness of this story, the doctor came to the service and at the end he accepted Christ as his savior.  So many blessings, our doctor friend became a Christian, Brazilians supporting the local church, and the church got new tile.   

The girls were in another wedding.  Elba’s sister Preta got married and both girls got to participate.  Camilly was a flower girl and Alyssa was the ring bearer.  During the rehearsals we were unsure if Alyssa would walk down the aisle.  She seemed nervous and was not excited about walking down with her cousin Apollo.  Thankfully, she did a great job and there were no incidents.  We are very proud of them both and they looked so beautiful.  The dress that Preta wore was donated by the Vineyard Columbus.  She was very excited to have the opportunity to wear such a beautiful dress.   To rent a dress like this here in Altamira would have cost around $555.00 which is almost 2 monthly salaries.  This donation was such a blessing for her. 

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

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio  43215

Or On-line donations at:

http://www.xingu.org/6_giving.html