Hello,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  They are so important for us.  We pray you are blessed with this month’s update.

This month we had the churches in Altamira come to have a conference about small groups surrounded under the principles of worship, communion, discipleship, and mission.  Milton Lucas, our National leader, came and led the conference.  The theme of the Small Group Conference were:

1. Why Small Groups?

2. What are Small Groups?

3. How Small Groups Work

4. How to Lead Small Groups

We value small groups because of the community that it provides.  It is a place where people can get close enough to know each other, to care and share, to challenge and support, to confide and confess, to forgive and be forgiven, to laugh and cry, to be accountable to each other, to watch over each other and to grow together, to name a few.  Below are a few pictures of the conference, and us practicing in small groups.

As in the USA, September was Brazil’s suicide awareness month.  The purpose of bringing awareness is to acknowledge those affected by suicide, raise awareness, and connect individuals with suicidal ideation to treatment services.  Elba, with a Psychologist, shared at one of our local schools, and at the church.  The talks were more directed toward teenagers.  Suicide is a significant problem for so many different reasons and we pray that this time was effective and valuable to all the attendants.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.  We are in Chile for their National conference and will be traveling home at the end of the week.  Please pray for our time here, and safe travels back home. 

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

We appreciate your continued prayers:

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

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

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

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

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

_­­  

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Hello,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  They are so important for us.  We pray you are blessed with this month’s update.

This month’s update will be about our recent trip along the Xingu River with Midge Shaw and Renee.  Midge Shaw has been coming to the Amazon for more than 20 years and has faithfully invested her time and resources to share the love of Christ.  We visited many churches and Midge spoke about the theme “Kingdom Come”.  Many people surrendered their lives over to Christ during the conferences.  The Lord healed people and gave words of wisdom, encouragement, and reconciliation.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  It was a tremendous Godly adventure. 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.  We are traveling to Belém tomorrow.  Please pray that the Lord will continue to reveal His plans to us, and the church. 

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

We appreciate your continued prayers:

• Please pray that we will identify the new senior pastor of the Belém / Ananideiua church plant.

• 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 the rejection of this virus from your loved ones and its eradication.

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

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

_­­  

Tax-deductible donations can be written and sent to:

Please click the donate button to make a secured online donation:

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Hello,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  They are so important for us.  We pray you are blessed with this month’s update.

Elba started a new preaching series called “Resetting your life” at the church.  The series tries to help people reorient their life back to Christ.  With everything happening in the world, it is easy to get distracted and get caught up in everything that the world offers.  I know that you are constantly bombarded in the States with mixed messaging, click-baiting, and super-energizing headlines, and the distractions go on and on.  That problem is not just a problem in the first world countries.  It is a problem here as well.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in all these things that your attention fades away from God.  It is a battle, and we must constantly reset our thoughts to Christ.  We had three people come up to receive Christ after her sermon, praise the Lord.  Elba will preach “Why is it so hard to change” in this week’s message, and our dear friend Midge Shaw, who is visiting from the USA, will preach “Changing your life by changing your thinking.”  The focus will be on how to conquer the battle of the mind.  Please keep us in your prayers. 

The team of dentists from various places in Brazil came again to serve the poor in the communities.  Since the inception of this project, the leadership felt God calling them to help others to share Christ through acts of love by taking care of people’s teeth.  The team’s t-shirts read, “Because Jesus sent me.” They have had several busy weeks serving the needy by providing dental services for 549 people along the river communities of the Tapajós, doing cleanings, repairing cavities, and pulling teeth. 

Then they came to Altamira, and we converted an English classroom at CDR into a large dental office.  We set up four working dentist chairs, and the dentists worked almost non-stop daily.  They served 86 people in the community with many various dental services.  It was a huge blessing and success.  After their time in Altamira, they returned to Santarém and are still serving people in the community.   

They have provided the following:

Provided 600 children with dental kits and performed 3029 procedures

We are so grateful for everyone’s participation in helping promote the Kingdom of God and give good dental care. 

Guess who we saw while we were visiting Belém?  Elvis Presley.  Who would have thought?  He gave a show at a restaurant and did an excellent job.  Elba and the girls essentially had no idea who Elvis was, so it was a lot of fun getting them caught up on his life.  I think they are now Elvis fans.  Viva Belém!  😁

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

We appreciate your continued prayers:

• Please pray that we will identify the new senior pastor of the Belém / Ananideiua church plant.

• 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 the rejection of this virus from your loved ones and its eradication.

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

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

_­­  

Tax-deductible donations can be written and sent to:

Please click the donate button to make a secured online donation:

If you want to unsubscribe to this email, please reply with the word “Unsubscribe,” and I will remove you.  Thanks.

Hello,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  We pray you are blessed with this month’s update.

This month was super busy with our annual National Vineyard church conference.  To help increase more people participating, we have two conferences.  We have two conferences because it helps minimize the cost for the participants coming to the conference.  The first conference was in Sao Paulo, and then we had it in Altamira the following week.  Elba went to both and spoke at each one.  Joel Seymour, a regional leader from the USA, was the guest speaker.  Joel talked about our core beliefs, Vineyard values, distinctive, theology, and who we are as a church.  It was nothing new but powerful and a great reminder of what, why, and how we do things as a church.  

I took this excerpt from our last XM field report.  It was powerful.  “The last night of the conference ended with a call to pass the baton well.  Passing on the baton is most often when things get tripped up.  The good news of Jesus doesn’t belong in our hands alone.  Loving people means passing it on.  The churches we plant are not ours.  We are not building a kingdom for ourselves; we are working with God to build something that brings Him all the glory and honor and builds His Kingdom here as it is in heaven.  It was incredibly beautiful to see how many at the conference went for prayer about being the next generation of church planters and pastors.  The pastors with years of experience prayed for them.  So many people were touched by the move of the Spirit.  As you continue on your journey with God take some time to reflect on the legacy you are participating with Him in leaving.  We thank you for helping us through your prayers and support as we participate with what God is doing here in Brazil.  God bless you!”

The Xingu Mission is also so blessed to receive a new missionary family to Brazil.  The Blaylock will be serving with Christopher and Denise Meyer in Macapá.  The Blaylocks have four children, and this move to come to serve in Brazil has been long in the making.  We are excited about them coming and being a part of the team.  They get in Macapa today.  Please pray for them for a successful and easy transition.  We want more missionaries to come and serve, and we pray the Lord taught us in Matthew 9:38, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

We celebrated Alyssa’s 15^th birthday.  The 15^th birthday for girls is a BIG deal in Brazil.  I guess it would be similar to a girl’s sweet 16 in the USA.  We are very happy for Alyssa and are excited to see what the Lord has in store for her in her life.  The Lord has gifted her with many talents, and the Lord has used her to minister to many people.  We pray that she will continue to be used by the Lord and that her walk with Him will deepen daily.  During her birthday, I got the privilege to do a Father-Daughter dance.  It was great, and thankfully she carried the show. 

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

We appreciate your continued prayers:

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

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

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

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

_­­  

Tax-deductible donations can be written and sent to:

Please click the donate button to make a secured online donation:

If you would like to unsubscribe to this email, please reply with the word “Unsubscribe,” and I will remove you.  Thanks.

Hello,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  We pray you are blessed with this month’s update.

CDR, our community center, has been reaching out to the community to help the underprivileged with affordable education in English and tutoring services for over 20 years.  In addition to providing affordable education, CDR did an outreach to the community this month by providing doctor consultations, physical therapy, fluoride treatments, diabetes, and high blood pressure testing, medical consults, physical therapy, documentation, legal counseling, and haircuts.  CDR did these activities in combination with the church to create more of a bridge of friendship to our neighbors to spread the Gospel. Lots of people volunteered their services and resources, and it was successful. In addition, our service to the community got the attention of local news, which shed a very positive light on the church, and CDR. 

The church is very committed to missions, and every month makes the long journey through rough roads to visit a community called Suribim. It is remote and challenging to arrive, and it takes about 4 hours to get there. The first 100 kilometers are good, but the last 50 can be tough.   We have been going for many years, and the congregation is very faithful. We use our mission vehicle for most of the trips, and when it comes back, it looks like it was in a war with lots of mud and rugged terrain. Praise the Lord, He makes it all work out, and Jesus is the One glorified. 

The community cup. HMMM??? When I first arrived in Altamira, this was common in many public places. It was a culture shock to me and one I thought was disgusting. I thought those days were over, given everything we have been experiencing. However, we had a person who drank some water and kindly placed it on the water jug for the next person to use. I guess old habits are hard to kill. Thankfully, for the most part, that practice has wained considerably. 

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

We appreciate your continued prayers:

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

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

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

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

_­­  

Tax-deductible donations can be written and sent to:

Please click the donate button to make a secured online donation:

If you would like to unsubscribe to this email, please reply with the word “Unsubscribe,” and I will remove you.  Thanks.

Hello,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers.  They are working and we feel them.  We pray you are blessed with this month’s update.

The church recently had a baptism, and it was a grand celebration in the church and heaven. There was so much joy and the touching of the Holy Spirit. During the baptism, the church sang and worshiped God.  The symbolism of letting the person be wholly immersed in water, being baptized into Jesus’ death on the cross, and no longer being slaves to self or sin.  When they are raised out of the water, they are raised into a new life in Christ and are with Him forever.  Praise the Lord, and may His transforming power be upon them and us daily.   Alyssa took the photos, we love the picture of Elzira with her arms raised, filled with joy and freedom. What an expression of baptism. 

Our children’s ministry, in my opinion, gets the most courageous award this month. They had over 30 children come to the church and sleepover. The time together was filled with many games, swimming, watching a film, eating hot dogs over an open fire, and very little sleep. My hat goes off to them. I do not think I would have had the energy and patience. Praise God they did, and it was beyond a big hit. 

Look who turned 17 on April 18^th, Camilly. The time goes by quickly. Many years ago, a very good friend told me to slow down and enjoy every moment with my kids because time goes by so quickly. I have tried my best to practice that advice, and you know what, the time still goes by so quickly. We are very proud of Camilly and the beautiful woman she is becoming inside and out. The girls took this picture just before going to church on Mother’s day. I have some stunning women in my life. 

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

We appreciate your continued prayers:

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

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

·         The rejection of this virus from you, your family, and friends and to be thrown out of this universe forever. 

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

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

_­­  

Tax-deductible donations can be written and sent to:

Please click the donate button to make a secured online donation:

If you would like to unsubscribe to this email, please reply with the word “Unsubscribe,” and I will remove you.  Thanks.

Hello,

Happy Easter!  Praise the Lord for He has risen!

Finally!!!  After a two-year hiatus, we had our traditional Easter early morning church service by celebrating the Lord’s resurrection, and serving breakfast.  It takes a lot of work to pull this off, and it is essentially a whole church effort.  Each of the home groups was responsible for bringing an item that would be enough to feed 200 people.  Everyone chipped in and made it a great and inviting time for all guests.

We started by worshipping the Lord, and then Elba shared a short message about the resurrection of Christ.  Then we celebrated the good news that Jesus is alive by eating breakfast together.  Members of the church prepared food at their house and then brought it to the church for all to enjoy.  Elba, Camilly and Alyssa were pancake duty.   A member of our church made a watermelon cake…pretty impressive. 

Also, the day before, some of the children went to the church and painted eggs. 

CDR, our non-profit organization, just had a graduation for 27 students from our English program.  It was an exciting night, and the students worked hard to get to this point to graduate.  It was so nice to have a graduation in person.  We had two students address the audience in English.  CDR’s goal is not only to help empower the impoverished by providing English at an affordable price but to help bridge the gap between the community and the church.  So when I heard the two students speak at the graduation and give glory to God for all of His help, I felt good that it was happening. 

Did you know Brazilians who speak other languages tend to have better opportunities and higher monthly salaries than people who have only a basic knowledge of another language or who only speak Portuguese?  For example, a recent study of 2,400 job positions in 19 thousand companies in Brazil compared different English and Spanish levels.  They found that fluency in another language could increase the monthly employee’s salary by 51%.  WOW!

Here are some pictures of the celebration.  We were surprised by the great turnout. 

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

We appreciate your continued prayers:

• Please pray that we will identify the new senior pastor of the Belém / Ananideiua church plant.

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

• The rejection of this virus from you, your family, and friends and to be thrown out of this universe forever. 

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

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

_­­  

Tax-deductible donations can be written and sent to:

Please click the donate button to make a secured online donation:

If you would like to unsubscribe to this email, please reply with the word “Unsubscribe,” and I will remove you.  Thanks.