XM, Author at Xingu Mission | Page 10 of 40Xingu Mission

He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Matthew 28:6. Happy belated Easter!!! Praise the Lord, He is Risen!!! Thanks for all your prayers for the church, Brazil, and us.

Almost the exact moment that I sent out last month’s update, the city went into a very restrictive lockdown. The lockdown was due to the infection rate spreading rapidly, and the completely over capacitated hospitals to which I have been told that people are still waiting to get in the hospitals.

Vaccines are being administered for anyone over 60 years old. However, I understand that they are not going below 60 because they are running out of vaccines, and they want to make sure they have the 2^nd round of shots for the ones that received their 1^st shots. They are giving the vaccine called Sinovac, and Astra Zeneca. I will have to confess that when I heard that they were giving vaccines to 16 and up in some parts of the USA. It really makes me miss that 1^st world privilege.

So, for the last month, we have been completely doing on-line services. We will be going back to church in person this Sunday but at a very restrictive capacity. We will also continue to do 2 services so that we can get people into the building and continue to comply with the spacing restrictions and not crowd into 1 service. The church family really wants to be back at the church.

As a church we have been helping to buy groceries for the ones in need in the community. We have distributed a lot of food and we feel blessed to be able to help in this way. We have also given food baskets to our other churches to help people in their community. These 2 ladies were so grateful and emotional because of the help. One of them said that she had just paid the rent, but did not have anything left to buy groceries. The food basket and hot meal came at the perfect time. God organized it all for His glory! In addition, we have been helping people with medical procedures.

The girls are doing well. They are still doing on-line school, and this is keeping them busy. They certainly miss the social aspects of being with their friends. It is tough, but they believe it is the right thing to do at the moment. Most of their social interaction is through online, except, Alyssa likes to jump on the trampoline with her cousin who lives next door in the rain. As you can, our trampoline is stretched to the max!!! LOL

We appreciate your continued prayers:

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

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

Please pray for Elba and I that we may hear clearly where to put our focus and energy in this next phase of our lives.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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XM

Dolan, XM

Amazon Update – February 2021

First, let me say thank you for all your prayers for our trip back to Brazil. Praise the Lord, we got home safely after about 2 days of traveling.

We also want to say thank you for your prayers this last year for the sale of the property. We got back on the 8^th of February at around 1:30pm, and at 3:30pm the following day we signed the papers to close on the property. WOW!!! That was a long journey of back and forth with negotiations, many contract revisions, lawyer negotiation, and key people getting sick and recovering, and so on. Through it all, we are so relieved that we were able to close on the property. Thank you again for all your prayers!!!

As you may imagine, we literally hit the road running, and it has not stopped. We are not complaining, but excited for each day and seeing the Lord work in our midst. However, I do have 1 complaint. Upon arrival we have been fighting for about 2 weeks to get the rats out of our house. They have been having a party on top of our ceiling, and inside the house. We have been chasing them around with brooms to get them out….YUCK. Thankfully we have dogs that are very good hunters, as well as the use of other means.

The church is doing well. Elba just started a new preaching series and the church will be participating in 40 days of fasting and prayer. Elba preached to a full house last Sunday and it was really good to be back. We purchased about 70 food baskets to give to our surrounding churches to bless the people that are without. A food basket contains things like rice, beans, sugar, oil, powder milk and etc. Like you know, it has been a tough for many people financially. Also, starting this Thursday, we will be making hearty soup to give to people at the church. We feel blessed to be the hands and feet of Christ to help.

We are in the midst of the rainy season here in the North of Brazil. It has rained almost every day since we have come back. The church went to visit one of our church plants in the Suribim. It was an adventure to say the least. Roads were blown out, and deep water to pass through. But praise the Lord they got through and had a great time bringing the good news, encouraging the community, and giving away food baskets.

Continued prayers request:

Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.
The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.
Please pray for Elba and I that we may hear clearly where to put our focus and energy in this next phase of our lives.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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XM

Dolan, XM

Amazon Update! January 2021

Our trip is coming to an end and we will soon be making our way back to Brazil. During this time Elba has been taking a Sabbatical and seeking God for His direction in her life. Elba has been active in many roles on the international, national, regional and local level. She is being split in too many directions and she feels that it is affecting the quality of her roles in each of these areas and of course her physical and emotional health. She is trying to seek God’s will for her so that she can be more focused, effective and not so divided. We appreciate your prayers!

As you may remember we had Creative Impact come to Brazil and do multiple video stories of our missionaries. Creative Impact wants to bring glory to God by telling the stories of what is currently taking place in missions around the world. It was an absolute pleasure and blessing to work with Jim and Lynn Adams.

They completed our story and we were hoping to sit with you and show the documentary. However, given the circumstances, that became very difficult. The great news is that it is online and we would love for you to watch. https://vimeo.com/390784748. The documentary is called “The other side of the river”. It is a little over 30 minutes but we believe that you will enjoy it. Let us know what you think.

Continued prayers request:

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

· Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for the buyer’s financial situation as we continue to move forward with the sale of properties.

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

· Please pray for Elba and I that we may hear clearly where to put our focus and energy in this next phase of our lives.

· Safe trip back home to Brazil and that there will be no interruptions and we stay healthy.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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XM

Amazon Update! December 2020

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!!! What a year this has been so far. Thank you for your continued prayers for us. We feel them. If you are interested in making a tax deductible donation to our ministry. Please click the link below. It would be such a blessing, and very helpful. Thanks!!!

https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/dolan-ministries/

We had the great opportunity to go and visit the Lancaster Vineyard pastored by Joel Seymour. Elba got the opportunity to preach. She continued on with a series that they are doing called “The gift of Risk”. Elba focused her teaching on the courageous decision that Joseph made to remain with Mary while she was found to be pregnant, and it was not his child. Mary, was courageous and obedient to the call of God, and said “yes” to receive Jesus into her body in a culture that was brutal towards a pregnant woman without a husband. Joseph, in the same way, responded to Gods call to take Mary as his wife, and be obedient to the path that the Lord had set forth. Both of them lived a life a faith, and as some say, FAITH is spelled RISK. Here is a link to her message. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4EbSQ297-o

On a personal note, we are so grateful because for some days now, Elba has not had a migraine. This is such a huge relief, especially for me, because I thought I was the one causing the migraines. LOL. J We are so deeply grateful for your prayers. Thank you!

Speaking of another risky thing. We were able to go horseback riding with my sister Lynn. Some of our horses needed to hear Elba message about obedience. Thankfully, we made it through without anyone getting bucked off. LOL

Continued prayers request:

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

· Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for the buyer’s financial situation as we continue to move forward with the sale.

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

· That our time will be fulfilling and productive back in the USA.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Again, Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year. Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Nov, 17

XM

November 2020 Newsletter

Dear friends and family,

Thank you for your prayers and support. They have been greatly appreciated. I hope you are doing well!

So much has happened since my last update, it is difficult to know where to start! I will do my best to briefly cover some of the main things that have been going on.

Church opened for services

As I stated in past updates, Macapá was hit pretty hard by COVID-19. Over the last 4 months, the numbers began to drop and things began to open up for us. After 8 long months without any large church gatherings, we decided to start doing “open air” Sunday services behind our church building. Although we had been getting together with individuals and had begun meeting in small groups, we were so excited to get back together as one group!

Viva Vineyard services

And the unexpected (pastoring two churches)

Two days after we decided to return to “in person” services at Vineyard Viva, we were notified by our regional overseers that due to unforeseen circumstances, the other Vineyard in town “Vineyard Macapá” found itself without a pastor. The overseers came into Macapá to sort things out. After meeting with some of the leadership at Vineyard Macapá, it was decided that there was no one attending that church who would be ready to pastor. Denise and I were approached by our leadership and asked if we would consider pastoring Vineyard Macapá along with Vineyard Viva, at least until there was someone ready to lead Vineyard Macapá.

We realized this was a decision we couldn’t take lightly and that we would be walking into a difficult situation. The church was not prepared for a pastoral change, and although we have relationship with some of its members, we knew we would be strangers to others. On top of that, we had no clue what it would look like to pastor two churches. However, after spending time praying about it, we both felt this was something we were supposed to do.

Preaching at a Vineyard Macapá service

Outdoor service for Vineyard Macapá

Closing again

We spent some time developing a plan to determine how to do two services on Sunday (one at each church). We were very thankful that so many of our leaders at Vineyard Viva stepped up and offered to help in any way they could. After organizing things the best we could, we started meetings at both churches. For the most part, we were pretty happy with how things were going.

After 3 weeks, however, we were notified that the COVID-19 cases in Macapá were rapidly increasing and that hospitals were filling up again. The city began to slowly shut things down again; even though churches weren’t being forced to close, we decided to suspend all large gatherings until the COVID cases significantly declined in Macapá. This was a heartbreaking decision to come to. We had worked so hard getting things organized and sorted out – we barely got started before we had to end again.

Feels like the Apocalypse

And then, two weeks ago as I was trying to finish up this update, the electricity in our house shut off. I didn’t think anything of it at the time since the power shuts off in different areas of our city on a regular basis. Generally, it comes back on after a few hours. We became a little concerned when we woke next day, after a long hot night of sleep, and still were without power. What we discovered was that there was a huge fire at the state’s main electrical plant and 90% of the state was without power with no hope given as to when it would be restored. Most of the city, including our home, was without electricity for the next 5 days. The biggest concern at the time was that without power, it was not possible to pump water into people’s houses. Fresh water sold out throughout the city. Also, there were only a few gas stations open for the entire city. I waited in line for over two hours to get diesel for my truck. I knew of people waiting for over 8 hours. At the time, it really felt like the city was falling into chaos.

The line behind us waiting to get gas during the power outage.

The line to get money from one of the few cash machines in the city during the power outage.

Currently our city has “partial” energy. Each neighborhood is on a rotation with electricity for 6 hours followed by 6 hours without. This isn’t ideal, but we will definitely take it over the five days without any electricity! From what we have heard, the state should have the electricity problem resolved within the next few weeks. I pray that this information is accurate.

Final thoughts

Although these last few months have been a roller coaster of emotions, we have been thankful for the peace God has given us throughout. We also have felt that as a family, we have grown closer together through these difficult times. As always, it is a joy watching Jonas grow and develop. He is growing so fast!

We had some birthdays during the pandemic

Jonas’ birthday. He loves dinosaurs.

Thank you so much for your prayers and ongoing support. We are so grateful for you.

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

Contribution link: https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/

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XM

Amazon Update! October 2020

Thank you so much for your continued prayers. We are deeply grateful. We look forward to coming back to the USA. Please pray for us and our travels. Pray you enjoy the below update.

Thank you so much for your prayers for the church. The church has resumed to meet in the evening in person. In the beginning of coming back from the restrictions, we decided to only meet in the morning. Now that we are back to evening services we are starting to see an increase in attendance. Elba is doing a 4 part series on heroic faith. She has finished 2. The first was called confident faith, and it was surrounded by the life of Abraham. The second was called patient faith which was about the life of Job. During this time, we need more faith than ever.

Altamira was at level red, which is the highest level, about 2 months ago and it is now at level yellow. Praise the Lord the cases have dropped significantly after being so high for many months. Not sure if the herd effect is coming into play?? Essentially all business, parks and beaches are back open but people must continue to practice safety measures to dampen the spread of the virus. Public schools are still not open. The public schools do not have the mechanism of online schooling so the children go without. When you drive around the city, it is probably about 50%+ of people wearing mask now. Below is a picture of our beach in Altamira. I took this picture about 1 month ago, the crowds are getting bigger. Thankfully, since taking this photo, Altamira continues in level yellow. We pray for a return to level blue for Altamira and the rest of the world.

At the church, and us personally, we are still being cautious when we have interactions with other people.

In Brazil we celebrated Children’s day. The church did not want the children to be left out. So the children’s ministry did a “drive through” for the children. They came and the church was able to provide some treats for the children, a bit of entertainment, and get their photo taken. We regulated how many children could come in at a time. It worked really well, and the children appeared to enjoy. However, it is sad to see the kids wearing masks. We are praying this is only temporary. The last pictures are from a year ago. We look forward to having more children’s day like that one.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

We are starting to prepare for our trip back to the States. We leave here the 27^th and will arrive in the States on the 28^th. We would appreciate your prayers. The girls continue to stay focused on their online schooling. They will continue their school via online when we are back in the States.

Continued prayers request:

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

· Please pray for Elba. She is still working through her migraines. We are praying. She is trying to regulate the medicine now due to bad side effects.

· Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for the buyer’s financial situation as we continue to move forward with the sale.

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

· Our trip back to the United States. That we will have safe travels, and that our time will be fulfilling and productive.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

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

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XM

Amazon Update! September 2020

Thank you so much for your prayers for the church. The church has now met 3 times since re-opening. We are following the rules that have been set before us by the city. We have the chairs spaced 1 ½ meters from one another, wear a mask at all times, maintaining social distance, bring your own water bottle, and we have people spraying alcohol on the hands as people come into the church. It is not ideal, but we are very glad to be able to have church together again. The church service had over 70 people in attendance last week. I thought this was pretty good considering we are restricting children to come, not encouraging the elderly and the most susceptible to stay home. We continue to record the church service so they can watch it online.

It was very nice to be back with our church members, and the church service with worship and preaching was energetic. It was emotional for me. I know you know this but you really start to appreciate things more when they become absent from your life. Please continue to pray for our church, and the rejection of this virus in this world.

I was running in the morning and during the run I was running near a house where this man used to live. He was a nice guy, but some of his decisions in my opinion, could have been better. I started to have negative thoughts about him when all of sudden I found myself face planted in the dirt. While running I tripped and could not get my balance and then boom….face plant. Immediately, while on the ground, I felt the Lord saying “I want you to bless people, not criticize them”. I got up and started running again, and repented all the way home….while all the while blessing the man and anyone else that came to my mind.

That day’s annual reading of the Bible was Romans 14. In the chapter it speaks about how we should not judge others among other things. Throughout the day I tried to bless others, and quickly realized how many judgmental thoughts I have towards others. Judgmental thoughts towards people I do not know, politicians, actors, Facebook posts, etc. I knew I had judgmental thoughts, I just did not realize how many throughout the day. WOW! In the end, I want to bless other and not be judgmental. I was thankful to the Lord for His gentle corrective ways to start changing my attitude and thought pattern.

The girls’ school has decided to continue to do on-line school until the end of the year. Since this is the case, this is why we have decided to come back to the States at the end of October 2020 and then come back to Brazil in the beginning of February 2021. The girls will continue their school via online and this would give us more time to come back and visit. Again, we would love to meet with you if that works for you.

Continued prayers request:

· Please pray for Elba. Her migraines returned with a vengeance for many days. They are debilitating. We are praying, and she is on a new medicine now.

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

· Thanks for your prayers. Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for our buyers financial situation and that we could move forward soon with the sale.

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

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

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

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XM

Amazon Update! August 2020

At the end of the month of July, our leadership team at the church decided to re-open the church and have our first church service on August 2^nd. They were all excited to be able to gather again and do it in a very healthy and safe way. The following Wednesday about ½ of the leaders came down with the virus. We took that as a sign to continue to do on-line services and postpone opening the church. Praise the Lord all of the leaders have recovered or are on their way to recovery. So, we continue to press on with the on-line services. We surveyed the congregation and about 85% of the congregants would like us to continue to do on-line even when we open the church. So, we can see this being a reality for some time. Also, below is Elba and the girls preparing food for the ones that are sick.

Rick Bergen and I laugh together about the fact that we do not know any bad language in Portuguese. Personally, we do not care to know it. However, we have both been told that someone is yelling words of profanity at us because of our driving, or something. We both said that we just smile, and wave at the person. Since we do not know that part of the Portuguese language. It has no meaning. Since it has no meaning, we are not hurt, ego is not damaged, no feelings of shame, or even being embarrassed. We just continue to have good-will towards that person, as though they were saying “good morning”. As I contemplate this unique situation in our lives, I wonder if this is what it would feel like to be in perfect relationship with Christ.

On the other side of the coin, the other day, someone did something to me that I neither provoked or incited. I understood its meaning, and it came right out of the blue. They made some assumptions and I really felt slimed. I thought, why am I letting this bother me, and why is this effecting my day. Why could I not just hang on and continue to receive the embrace of a loving God, instead of being ripped from His arms by my own insecurities and continue to entertain / mull over this offense. It is a struggle.

The girls just started back to school again. They do not have long summer breaks like they do in the States. They are not physically going to school but learning on-line with video. Camilly loves it, and Alyssa wants to go back school. Camilly is very rigid when it comes to the rules of social distancing. If someone comes to the house, she is like “Why is this person here?” “Make sure they keep on their mask, and stay at a safe distance”. All the while looking at you like you are an alien. If you are looking for a warm welcome…..you are not going to get it here with Camilly. We are thankful for her keeping us in line.

They had a school project to paint their thoughts of the virus. Here is what they produced. Camilly is with the hand with the mask on it. Alyssa has the one with the virus covering the world.

Continued prayers request:

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

· Please pray for wisdom as we navigate opening the church for service.

· Thanks for your prayers. We heard back from buyers and it appears all is still moving forward. However, no date. Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for our buyers financial situation and that we could move forward soon with the sale.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

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

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Jul, 15

XM

July 2020 Newsletter

Dear friends and family,

Thank you for your prayers and support. They have been greatly appreciated. I hope you are doing well!

We are a bit late in sending an update… With our city still pretty much shut down because of the pandemic, all of our days kind of feel like they are blending together! It is so easy to lose track of time.

As we mentioned in our last update, Macapá was hit pretty hard with COVID 19. At the time of our last update, Macapá had around 2000 confirmed cases. Presently there are about 14,000 confirmed cases in Macapá. In our small church plant of around 50 people, we have had 6 people who have had COVID 19. Thankfully, the numbers seem to be slowing down. My prayer is that things keep moving in a good direction.

These last two months have been difficult. A friend of ours named Ademir passed away from COVID 19. Ademir was a Vineyard pastor in a city called Brasil Novo. He had been one of the pioneers of the Vineyard here in Northern Brazil. Denise grew up with Ademir and looked at him as an uncle, so she took his death especially hard. Please pray for Ademir’s family and his church as they navigate these difficult times.

Ademir

We have stayed busy continuing to collect food and household essentials to help families who have been hit hard during this pandemic. We have continued to post our sermons, devotionals and worship online. We have done our best to connect with individuals in our church through video meetings and the occasional “socially distant” one-on-one meeting. We have also tried to take advantage of this interruption in our normal schedule to work on some things that have been on the shelf for a bit.

Online service

Denise & Jonas

Out for a walk in our neighborhood

When we were in the States on furlough, Denise and I recorded some worship songs that we had written. During this pandemic, we have put together a YouTube page and started slowly releasing the songs with lyric videos. So far, we have released 2 songs with 4 more to come. Our hope is to release a new song every 1-2 months. The songs are in Portuguese, but if you are interested in hearing them, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCb6hve_YtVJ9vwFaOC73zw

Denise recording vocals in the States

Prayer Requests:
1) Please pray for continued wisdom, creativity and safety as we maneuver the challenges and opportunities of this season.
2) Pray for encouragement and growth for our leaders and church as we care for each other in new ways.
3) Please pray for Ademir’s family and Brasil Novo.

Thank you for your prayers and support. They mean so much to us. Please let us know how you are doing. We would love to hear from you.

In His Service,
Christopher & Denise

Contribution Link: https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/

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XM

Amazon Update June 2020

This month we have had several congregants get the virus. We also had our youth pastors (Lucas and Dayane) and their family, our church planters (Cleiton and Cristiane) and their family, and our associate pastor (Timoteo and Nilma) get the virus. Our associate pastor, Timoteo, lungs were 50% compromised and he was sent to the hospital and put on oxygen. This also happen to Pastor Felipe in Macapá. Praise the Lord they are all feeling much better. Not yet 100%, or some even 70%, but they are moving into healing. Timoteo and Felipe have both been released from the hospital. Below are their pictures if you would like to pray for them.

This month the “lockdown” in our city ramped up and the authorities were getting stricter on people’s movement to only be for essential business. If caught outside without doing essential business you were fined monetarily.

Since the virus, we have only filmed our online church service at the church with a few people. However, we were ordered that we could no longer do that during this extreme lockdown. So, we had to do the church service from our homes. Our worship leader did the worship portion from her home, and then Elba preached from our living room. We are also doing our church prayers via Zoom.

We respected the mandate from the authorities even though we believe that the risk was extremely low. We want to believe in our hearts that everyone here, and throughout the world, are trying to do the best they can with the information at hand. I have seen throughout the world that sometimes we get it right, and at other time, really wrong. I TRY not to judge because I know that if any of us were in these positions. We would have similar results. I keep praying for our leaders for wisdom.

On a funnier note, we were just about to go to bed when the girls got us to come and play a game with them. We got to the kitchen, and there were 2 pillows with flour on them. We were given a series of questions, and whichever daughter best represented the question, we got to put their head in the flour. It was really fun for me and Elba. I think Elba enjoyed it just a little too much. LOL. We posted it on Facebook if you are interested in watching.

Thank you for your prayers for my trip to take the young man to get psychological help. Praise the Lord he was able to get there safely, but, it was an adventure and stressful. The doctor that saw him said that he is the 2^ndworse case she has ever seen in Brazil. Please pray for Leandro.

Continued prayers request:

· Thanks for your prayers. We heard back from buyers and it appears all is still moving forward. However, no date. Please pray for our buyers financial situation and that we could move forward soon with the sale.

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

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

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

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