Hey Friends and Family!

We hope you had a wonderful and worshipful start to your Easter season! Our first Easter in our new country was eventful, joyful, and worshipful. 

We have been putting forth a lot of effort into the kid’s ministry as it has grown. As a church, we are emphasizing our kids’ learning to worship and memorize scripture. During Palm Sunday we had the kids participate in the worship service by joyfully celebrating with palm branches and the response of the parents was quite something. You could see the imagination for spiritual formation and wonder on their face as they observed their kids joyfully worshipping during the service. Gathering the palms themselves was quite the adventure as I had to venture into the jungle to cut some branches only to be attacked by biting gnats! It’s always an adventure! During Easter service, the kids were able to recite their verses to the congregation – celebrating the resurrection with the entire church. 

We celebrated our tradition of Easter lunch with another missionary here in Macapa. Narry a plastic egg is to be found here, so we made homemade dye and made our own Easter eggs. The kids hid, hunted, and re-hid the eggs until they literally fell apart. 

This next week Christopher and Denise Meyer, the head missionaries here in Macapa, leave for three months to complete their stateside assignments. The assistant pastors at our two churches will be assuming the full responsibilities over these next few months which is a big step for them. Please be praying for them as well. 

In just a few weeks I (Derek) will be traveling back to the United States for the final residency of my Master’s program followed by graduation! This has been a transformative undertaking for me – and I have made friends that I fully expect to have for the rest of my life. This degree has greatly shaped my thinking and practice, and we fully expect to implement this in our future church planting efforts. Please pray for Amanda and the kids as I travel. 

 Also please be on the lookout for some communication from us around The 300 Campain – which is our effort to grow our prayer support base. 

Much Love, 

Derek, Amanda, Selah, Amaris, Josiah, and Adalee

As we enter into the season of Easter leading to Pentecost I’m struck by the mystery and wonder of this season in the church calendar. I can’t help but think that Jesus likewise found this to be a special time and that the message and ministry He undertook with the disciples would be especially important, pregnant with a sense of urgency as he sought to instruct them and prepare them for the mission that was to come when the Holy Spirit was sent. 

The end of the Gospel of Luke and the beginning of the Book of Acts record some interesting details about what Jesus did at this time. He often ate with the disciples, further elevating and demonstrating the importance of the Kingdom table practice I wrote about in my last newsletter. While eating He often “spoke about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit. He prayed. I also imagined that He played and enjoyed their company. 

But what is particularly striking about the narrative is just how adamant Jesus is about helping his disciples see that all of the scripture pointed towards and prefigured the very events they were now living!

Luke 24:44 -45: “This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be filled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Then he opened up their minds so they could understand the scriptures.” 

One of the Gospel passages that is most near and dear to my heart is the narrative about Jesus meeting the man and woman on the Road to Emmaus. I dearly love this passage and think about it often. It was also the passage we read preceding our weekly communion during worship at our old church. One of the aspects of this passage that I  find absolutely fascinating is the reason for which Jesus admonishes his disciples. He does so not on the basis that they did not believe what He told them before His crucifixion and resurrection, but rather because they were “slow to believe all that the prophets had spoken” (Luke 24:25)!

My sincere prayer for you and for the churches here in Macapa is that we will take this season to have our minds set on what was most on the mind of Christ before he ascended. That what He spent the last 40 days of His earthly ministry hoping to impart to His Church would be present to us. That we would ask the Holy Spirit to show us Jesus in all of the scriptures. That our minds and imaginations would be illuminated by the revelation of Christ in even the hardest of passages, and that we would more fully live into God’s grand plan for the redemption of all things – as the scripture says. 

In this season my prayer for our local churches, and for you who steadfastly support the work here, is that when we gather for Pentecost Sunday we will be able to say along with the disciples on the Emmaus Road: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?”

Prayer Support – The success of our church planting here is very much dependent upon the faithful and fervent prayer of God’s people. If you know someone that might be interested in receiving these updates and praying with us please send this link. They will get an introductory letter about us and the mission when they sign up. 

Financial Support – Our family is currently taken care of thanks to your generosity. However, the recent events surrounding the BRICS economic agreements may bring about a less favorable exchange rate going forward and we may need to undertake some fundraising efforts to make up the difference. We are approaching these next few months in prayerful discernment about how to proceed given these new developments. 

There are always needs here in the churches and if you would like to contribute additional resources please use the link below!