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

Powered by WPeMatico

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

Powered by WPeMatico

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

Powered by WPeMatico

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

Powered by WPeMatico

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. 

 

Powered by WPeMatico

We continue to be in “lockdown”.  Still no church or large groups are allowed, and the use of masks in public is mandatory; very similar to other countries.  Here in Altamira, and throughout Brazil, the cases have continued to increase.  The pharmacies do not have the drugs necessary that doctors are prescribing to “combat” the virus.  They are prescribing hydroxycloquine, Ivermectin and Azithromycin as first line of defense.  One of the biggest problems is that we do not have much testing for the COVID.  The test they do have here requires you to have the virus for 8 days to be confirmed.  In light of waiting those 8 days to confirm, the doctors are essentially guessing based off of symptoms and prescribing the above medicine.  The problem is that it could be just a cold, normal flu, malaria, dengue, or something else.  I certainly do not give fault.  Everyone is trying to do the best they can with the limited resources at hand.  It is our reality at the moment. 

For Mother’s day we had a few of our leaders come to the house.  We had an online service to share communion and “be with one another”.  Before sharing communion we had a time of worship with some of our leaders at the church, and virtual congregation.  We look forward to getting past this time and being able to interact with one another in person.  Everyone is so excited to see one another even though it is on a screen.  The problem is that everyone wants to talk at the same time, and it becomes a mess.   Not a bad problem. 

We continue to do on-line weekly services and are using social media to maintain contact with our church members and friends for the last couple of weeks.  We have been making some home visits.  We do this with caution and do our best to respect others space and distance.  At the church, we are doing our best to make the worship and sermons pleasing to the Lord, and the best possible experience for the congregation.  It seems like it going well, however, it is a lot of work.  I have been working so much producing video’s for the church.  If you have never had the chance to work on editing a film, let me tell you, it is a long strenuous process.  Elba has been doing a series called “A Faith that wins”.  She has preached “A faith that leads during difficulties”, “A faith that wins over my weakness”, and “A faith that anchors me”

The girls spend their days doing homeschool via Zoom.  It is working well for the time being but I think they would like to be with their classmates in person

Continued prayers request: 

·        Update: The sale of the property seems to be on hold.  We have not heard from the buyers.  We understand that with the crisis they have been put in financial stress.  I am disappointed, but at the end of the day, God is still on the Throne.  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. 

·        I may have to travel to take someone to a specialized hospital about 2k kilometers away.  Please pray for healing for this man, and for safe travels. 

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

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

Powered by WPeMatico