Hello

Happy early Thanksgiving!  We are very grateful for all your prayers, love, and generosity in the ministry and our lives.  The Lord is good, and there are many things to be thankful for each moment.  Bless you!

One of the things that we are thankful for is that on November 8^th, Elba and I celebrated 20 years of marriage.  It is such a cliché, but time has really gone by quickly.  We feel so lucky and fortunate that the Lord has put us together.  We pray for the continued deepening with one another in our marriage.  In celebration of our anniversary, we went to a nice restaurant. 

We had the opportunity to drive 800 kilometers to Altamira for several days.  It was a long day, and parts of the journey were challenging, especially on the dirt and dusty roads.  It has been almost a year for Elba and me since we have been back.  We went back because one of our pastors got married, and they asked Elba to help officiate the wedding.  It was a pleasure to participate in this lifelong journey with them. 

Returning to the Mirante church, where Elba preached, was also excellent.  It was nice to see our friends and get to worship together.  The church has many new faces and a lot of old ones as well.  We are so proud of the beautiful work the team is doing, and we give all the praise to God for a continued successful transition.  Even though we missed the faces, we did not miss Altamira.  We are grateful that the Lord has led us to Belem. 

As you know, we run a non-profit organization in Altamira called CDR.  We can do that from afar because of the very talented people working for CDR.  We got the opportunity to participate in some of the English classes.  English is in great demand, and we feel privileged to be able to offer it to students for about ½ the price the market charges. 

During our trip back to the States, we brought gear to play Pickleball.  It has become addictive for the youth in Altamira.  They play constantly, and they love it.  While back in Altamira, I got the opportunity to get to play with them.  Junior has been using the game as an evangelism tool to draw more youth to the church.  In addition, Pickleball is also starting to blossom in Belem.  I play with a group of a couple of people once a week.  The group from Belem wants to challenge Altamira to a playoff.  They also keep asking me to see if people from the USA would like to come and play as well in a tournament.  Are any Pickleballers out there up for the challenge?  Let’s see where this goes.  Smile!

We appreciate your continued prayers:

·         Please pray that we will identify the new senior pastor of the Belém church plant.

·         Please pray that the Lord will continue to reveal His plans to the church and us.

·         Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation to help people draw close to God as we navigate this time and leadership transition. 

·         Please pray for our family, especially our girls, in this phase of our lives.  

·         Please pray for our spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, and financial health.  

·         Please pray for the rejection of this virus from your loved ones and its eradication.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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