Hello
We are especially grateful for your prayers. Knowing that there are people faithfully praying for us, our family, and the ministry God has entrusted to us means more than we can express. And this month, that shared ministry came with quite an adventure! From rough waters to changed lives, we are grateful to know that you are praying for us.
August was filled with excitement—and it was very busy! In addition to the continued renovations at the church and getting to know our new community better, we hosted two teams during the month. The first was our dental team, made up of Brazilian dentists and volunteers from different parts of Brazil. The second was a team from the USA led by Chip Richardson from Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
A Journey We Won’t Forget
Elba and the dental team had quite an adventure as they traveled to serve a community about 50 kilometers away, across the bay. During the trip, the boat engine lost power in the middle of the bay and the wind and waves were tossing the boat around so violently that, for the first time on one of these trips, we asked everyone to put on their life jackets. We sent out a Mayday call asking the authorities for help, but unfortunately, no one came. The waves were so powerful that they actually ripped the steel tie-off anchor from the speedboat that we were towing behind the boat. When the speedboat broke loose, Lobato heroically jumped into the water, boarded it, and tried to get it safely to the closet community. The trip took about two hours, and the boat nearly capsized twice along the way. Thankfully, when he finally reached shore, he found someone who was able to tow the boat back to safety. When the tow boat arrived, the team had gotten through the worst of the bad waves. A trip that should have only taken 3.5 hours turned out to be 9 hours, everyone was extremely relieved—and exhausted!
Serving the Community
After that unforgettable journey, the dental team got to work serving the community. As usual, I’ll let the pictures tell most of that story. The before and after are dramatic. While the dental team was serving, Chip Richardson’s team arrived, and we traveled out to join them and deliver water filters to families in the community. Although the Amazon contains one of the world´s largest freshwater systems, thousands of families living along its rivers still lack access to safe drinking water. Many still rely on untreated river water for drinking, and cooking. For some reason, there also seemed to be an unusual number of tarantulas around during this time. That added another little adventure to the trip! Several days later, we all returned to Belém. At one point, I think we had about 20 people staying in our house. It was tight…but it was good!
Distributing water filters
525 Servings in Less Than Two Hours!
The team also participated in our first outreach from the new church building. Our congregation prepared a huge amount of soup, and together we distributed 525 servings in less than two hours! But it was about much more than soup, we had the opportunity to pray with many people and begin getting to know some of our new neighbors. The team also brought small Jesus figurines that we gave away during the outreach. They were a big hit!
Helping at Our New Church Building
Chip and the team spent the rest of their time helping us prepare the new church building. They worked on getting some of the restrooms and the kitchen ready, and they did a great job. They also participated in our first English Night at the church, where Rob shared his testimony in English.
A Much-Needed Rest
After the teams left, we took a week off to rest and relax. Praise the Lord for rest! We spent several days by ourselves, and then the girls came and joined us for the rest of the week. After such a full and eventful month, it was really good to get away for a little while, spend time together as a family, and simply rest.
Podcast
Please check out a conversation that Elba had with Jay Pathak on the We are Vineyard podcast. You can hear her story about pulling teeth for the Gospel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eShdcpk61AQ&t=64s
Please continue to keep us in your prayers:
· Pray for God’s continued provision for the renovation and preparation of our new building.
· Pray for wisdom and strength for our team as we make many decisions and work toward our first service.
· Pray that the church would become a place where thousands of people encounter Jesus for generations to come.
· Pray for our church, leadership, and congregation—that together we would help people draw closer to God and faithfully follow His plans for our church and for us.
· Pray for our family’s spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, and financial health.
· Pray for Elba’s book, Reino e Discipulado—that it would get into the hands of the people God wants to encourage and equip through its message.
Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Your prayers, encouragement, and financial support allow us to continue going where God sends us and investing in what He is building.
Much love,
Steve, Elba, Camilly & Alyssa
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