Dear friends and family,

Thank you for your prayers and support. They have been greatly appreciated. I hope you are doing well!

So much has happened since my last update, it is difficult to know where to start! I will do my best to briefly cover some of the main things that have been going on.

Church opened for services

As I stated in past updates, Macapá was hit pretty hard by COVID-19. Over the last 4 months, the numbers began to drop and things began to open up for us. After 8 long months without any large church gatherings, we decided to start doing “open air” Sunday services behind our church building. Although we had been getting together with individuals and had begun meeting in small groups, we were so excited to get back together as one group!

Viva Vineyard services

And the unexpected (pastoring two churches)

Two days after we decided to return to “in person” services at Vineyard Viva, we were notified by our regional overseers that due to unforeseen circumstances, the other Vineyard in town “Vineyard Macapá” found itself without a pastor. The overseers came into Macapá to sort things out. After meeting with some of the leadership at Vineyard Macapá, it was decided that there was no one attending that church who would be ready to pastor. Denise and I were approached by our leadership and asked if we would consider pastoring Vineyard Macapá along with Vineyard Viva, at least until there was someone ready to lead Vineyard Macapá.

We realized this was a decision we couldn’t take lightly and that we would be walking into a difficult situation. The church was not prepared for a pastoral change, and although we have relationship with some of its members, we knew we would be strangers to others. On top of that, we had no clue what it would look like to pastor two churches. However, after spending time praying about it, we both felt this was something we were supposed to do.

Preaching at a Vineyard Macapá service

Outdoor service for Vineyard Macapá

Closing again

We spent some time developing a plan to determine how to do two services on Sunday (one at each church). We were very thankful that so many of our leaders at Vineyard Viva stepped up and offered to help in any way they could. After organizing things the best we could, we started meetings at both churches. For the most part, we were pretty happy with how things were going.

After 3 weeks, however, we were notified that the COVID-19 cases in Macapá were rapidly increasing and that hospitals were filling up again. The city began to slowly shut things down again; even though churches weren’t being forced to close, we decided to suspend all large gatherings until the COVID cases significantly declined in Macapá. This was a heartbreaking decision to come to. We had worked so hard getting things organized and sorted out – we barely got started before we had to end again.

Feels like the Apocalypse

And then, two weeks ago as I was trying to finish up this update, the electricity in our house shut off. I didn’t think anything of it at the time since the power shuts off in different areas of our city on a regular basis. Generally, it comes back on after a few hours. We became a little concerned when we woke next day, after a long hot night of sleep, and still were without power. What we discovered was that there was a huge fire at the state’s main electrical plant and 90% of the state was without power with no hope given as to when it would be restored. Most of the city, including our home, was without electricity for the next 5 days. The biggest concern at the time was that without power, it was not possible to pump water into people’s houses. Fresh water sold out throughout the city. Also, there were only a few gas stations open for the entire city. I waited in line for over two hours to get diesel for my truck. I knew of people waiting for over 8 hours. At the time, it really felt like the city was falling into chaos.

The line behind us waiting to get gas during the power outage.

The line to get money from one of the few cash machines in the city during the power outage.

Currently our city has “partial” energy. Each neighborhood is on a rotation with electricity for 6 hours followed by 6 hours without. This isn’t ideal, but we will definitely take it over the five days without any electricity! From what we have heard, the state should have the electricity problem resolved within the next few weeks. I pray that this information is accurate.

Final thoughts

Although these last few months have been a roller coaster of emotions, we have been thankful for the peace God has given us throughout. We also have felt that as a family, we have grown closer together through these difficult times. As always, it is a joy watching Jonas grow and develop. He is growing so fast!

We had some birthdays during the pandemic

Jonas’ birthday. He loves dinosaurs.

Thank you so much for your prayers and ongoing support. We are so grateful for you.

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

Contribution link: https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/

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