Hey Friends and Family!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all! We hope that you are doing well, that your faith is prospering in every good endeavor, and that the joy of the Lord would increase for you as we enter into a very special time in the church calendar. This will be our last newsletter for the year as we are looking forward to focusing on the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. We will also be taking some time as a family to refresh and unwind before heading into a very busy new year in 2024.

We are entering this season with celebration! God has been working in the churches here, bringing people to Himself in faith, growing leaders, working miracles (yes, real miracles), growing families, and strengthening the community. Recently, we celebrated all of this with a large baptism and worship service (more on that below).

Thank you for your prayers regarding vision for the next season. Our prayers, conversations, and strategy meetings have been fruitful, and we think that we have some solid direction for the next season of ministry here in Brazil. We look forward to discussing that with you in the new year.

Our family is doing well. We all experienced a bout of illness that left us out of commission for two weeks, but we have now fully recovered. We looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with our missions partners, putting up our Christmas tree, watching Elf and It’s a Wonderful Life, and enjoying our 2nd Christmas in Brazil together. 

We do plan on returning for stateside assignment next August. We found a ministry in Houston that provides vehicles for missionaries who are back stateside and have submitted our application. They told us to apply now, so we did. Please pray that they can provide a vehicle for us when we return home.

Every year during this season, I always make the time to read St. Athanasius’ essay called On The Incarnation. It is a beautiful reflection on the reasons for, and outcomes of, Jesus’s incarnation. I want to leave you with an excerpt:

“For in speaking of the appearance of the Savior amongst us, we must needs speak also of the origin of men, that you may know that the reason of his coming down was because of us, and that our transgression called forth the loving-kindness of the Word, that the Lord should both make haste to help us and appear among men…

For by his becoming man, the Savior was to accomplish both works of love: first, in putting away death from us and renewing us again; secondly, being unseen and invisible, in manifesting and making himself known by his works to be the Word of the Father, and the ruler and king of the universe.”

God’s Immense Grace To You All!

Much Love, 

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

Thank you all for your prayers and support on behalf of the ministry here in Macapa. This last year has been a fruitful one for our two churches. Last Sunday week we rented a space to throw a party! We have had 20 people commit their lives to Jesus and join the church by taking their first steps in obedience through baptism. As you can see, God has been working in both young and old, and men and women. This is the result of the Holy Spirit empowering not only the pastors but also small group leaders and everyday disciple-makers committed to seeing what the Father is doing and joining Him in it. 

This is not only the result of the work here. Your intercession on our behalf, your generous financial contributions, and your encouraging communication to us here – it all makes an impact for the Kingdom!

Praise God for the lives that He is changing here, and thank you for all that you are and everything that you do!

Prayer Support – We always need more prayer support! 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 – ln this coming year we will have some one-time ministry expenses. If you are able contribute, please use the link below: