Thank you so much to all of you who pray, write, call and support us financially, we are incredibly grateful to get to do what we do because of the love and support of you!!

Moving Ahead With Something New For a few months now, we’ve been feeling that familiar nudge, that still small voice saying it was time to take steps forward, take things to a new level.  About a two months ago we started talking to the girls about doing a breakfast with them once a week, off the street, would they come?  They said they would. So we started to pray, about what that would look like where we would do it. As most of you well know we love to use Alpha, it’s a great tool that helps to level the playing field, strips away some of the things that can leave people feeling like God is distant and angry and gives an opportunity for people who have questions about God, faith and the meaning of life to really explore what they think of these things.  We know from personal experience that it can be the key that opens the door to peoples hearts, that’s how we ended up where we are today! We started to look around for a place that was close enough but also not too costly.  We checked with several of the hotels along the beach but either they didn’t have a meeting room or they wanted too much money for the short time we would need it. Then I remembered that the Anglican Church that is located on the same road had already offered up their space for us to use whenever we needed it.  I contacted them and they were delighted to help!   The space is perfect for our needs, open with an ocean view and a table for us to eat, as well as a small room that already has a TV where we can show the videos. For weeks we talked to the girls about what we wanted to do, we have found that we often need to have a long lead up to do something so they start to get curious and excited and eventually start asking us about it ‘when does that thing start?’  Despite all that we had no idea how many, if any, girls would turn up.  At first there were none, and we thought maybe we would just be enjoying a lovely seaside breakfast with our team.  We decided to take a drive down the beach and four girls decided to take the leap and come with us. They loved it.  Two days later when we were there praying, one of the girls who had come was there as I started to ask if the girls would like to come to the next one, they asked what it was.  As I started to explain, so did the girl who had participated so I closed my mouth and let her do the talking. This week we had TEN girls!  There first question before coming was ‘will it take long?’ I told them an hour, and the decided to give it a go. One of the most challenging things on Alpha can be getting people to talk, not so with this group, there was a very lively discussion after the video.  I said to them in the car on the way back that I understood it was taking some of their time, but they stopped me and said, ‘But it’s good! We need this, and we loved it!  We will be back next week!’ We feel privileged that they have trusted us enough to take part in something new, to allow us to begin with baby steps on what could be a turning point in their lives. We continue to pray that their lives will be changed, that the seeds we are planting will blossom and that these women will know who they truly are, and the future they can have.

Maevia We continue to walk closely with Maevia who left the streets nearly a year ago.  The road she is on isn’t easy, and it’s marked with high highs and low lows, both for her and for us.  In the space of two weeks she has gone from moving into a new place, in a better neighbourhood and starting her first job , leaving her first job to having a relapse in drug use last night.   There were a lot of changes that happened in too short of a time, and unfortunately despite our advice to the contrary on some of the changes.  We recognize that emotionally she is in a fragile state and needs professional help, we have psychologist here in João Pessoa who is able to take her though a trauma treatment therapy, she will start this treatment tomorrow.  Before anything else, she needs emotional healing to be able to move forward.  We continue to support and love her through all these challenges and successes as long as she is willing. Sowing Seeds In Traveling Fields In the past year and a half since we started ministering to these women and men, there have been many who have come and gone.  Some we have seen again and we get to hear their story, ‘I’m working now, full time, God willing I will never come back to the streets!’ Or we hear through other girls when we ask that they have found work, or we have no idea what happened to them.  Each time we go we pray that God will speak the words they need to hear, that we can bring hope and light and love to them.  Often, we leave having no idea if our presence has had any affect, sometimes it can be really difficult to see these women week after week still there.   As one of our colleagues who works in the same ministry at Shores of Grace in Recife said in their update this week, we have ‘to learn to rest in the unknown and to continually sow obediently, knowing there will be fruit and there will be victory, even if I never get to see or hear about it.’ (Robert and Ana Floyd) We are sowing seeds in traveling fields, the lives of these women can be transient, but we need to keep in mind that the Kingdom of God and the way He sees the harvest is beyond our ability to understand, all we can do is obediently act on the things he calls us to do. Prayer and Praise Report Praise God that we are able to continue to minister to these precious women and men Praise God that our small group church plant team is meeting weekly, strengthening our relationships as a leadership team Praise God that Faith is moving forward with her therapies and today studied for a test by herself, this is BIG news Please continue to pray for our kids, their schooling and their relationships here in Brazil. Please pray for our small group, our relationships and marriages Please pray for the women and men that we encounter, that their hearts would feel the fullness of what it means to be loved unconditionally. Please pray for Maevia, for the battle she fights daily and that she will continue, even when she slips, to get up and walk forward, trusting God Please pray for our team, Allison and Rona and Oliver, that we have the resources both financially and spiritually to continue doing what we feel God calling us to do. Copyright © 2018 Xingu Mission C/O Jen and Phil Snell, All rights reserved. You are receiving these emails because we consider you a friend who would like to hear about the work we are doing in Brazil. If you would not like to receive these emails anymore please send us a quick email and we will remove you promptly! Our mailing address is: Xingu Mission C/O Jen and Phil Snell Rua Odon Carvalho, 214 Barrio dos Ipes João Pessoa, Paraíba 58028-800 Brazil

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Hello to All of Our Wonderful Friends and Supporters!!

I just want to remind you, as always, how great it is to have you guys on our team! You make everything we do possible. Each and every day, as we minister to others in many different ways, you are right there with us. Thank you!

Alpha with the Girls…

One of the ministries that we have had the privilege of participating in is going weekly to pray for the women who work as prostitutes near the beach. Each time we go there, it is always a little bit different. Sometimes, we feel like we are able to really connect with some of the girls in a meaningful way. Other times, it can feel like we are running into a wall. There is always a tug-of-war happening in our hearts as we are both wanting so much to help them, but also having to accept that this is a very slow process.
However, recently, we have been able to take another step forward in connecting with them on a deeper level. Just last week, we started our first “Alpha” on Tuesday morning.
For those of you who don’t know what Alpha is, I will give you a brief explanation. Alpha is a program that was started several years ago to help non-believers have a casual environment in which they could ask questions and learn about the basics of Christianity. Once a week, we get together, have a meal, watch a short video, and talk about the discussion questions.
There is a church just up the road from where we meet with the women, and they have allowed us to open up the space to invite these women for the Alpha meeting. We were a bit nervous that we would be the only ones there for the first week, but thankfully, we had 4 girls show up! We served them breakfast, had a short time of worship, and then watched the video together. It felt like a very special moment, and God’s presence filled the space.

Watching the video together

Later in the week, Jen and Phil were able to go back again to pray for the women. They heard that word was getting around about our first meeting and how much the girls liked it! We are hoping for even more women next week!
As you can imagine, there is a lot of spiritual battle surrounding these women. The enemy has had so many hits in their lives already. There are so many things stacked against them. Please, join us in praying for them and that the power of the Cross would invade every area of their lives!

Update on Mãevia:

You may remember from a few months back that I told you about a young woman named Mãevia who had successfully left prostitution. At the time, she was still in the middle of battling a crack addiction. Mãevia had gone to a rehabilitation center, but had only remained there for about 15 days. Well, I am happy to say that we are still very much connected to her. She still has remained free from crack addiction and prostitution, but in many ways, her life still a mess.
Mãevia has lived most of her life being traumatized and abused. She has no internal structure to even begin knowing how to live a “normal” life. For us, as we try to walk along side her, it’s like being on a roller coaster. There are a lot of ups and downs! Right now, we are simply trying to see, one day at a time, how we can we helpful to her. Next week, she is supposed to start meeting with a therapist. Please pray that she is able to start working through some of her wounds. Our hope for her right now is that she can begin to learn how to calm down her emotions, as she is prone to explosive and defensive behaviors. We are well aware that this will be a long journey. We pray for the wisdom and patience and love needed to guide her along the way.

Moving…..Again

So, I’m sure you have already heard me talk about how much I love our new apartment and our new city and that we are so close to so many wonderful places and we even love our neighbors…… You can imagine that the idea of moving is the absolute last thing I want to do right now. However, we received some news a few days ago that has been a little hard to swallow. Apparently, the owner of our apartment has a son who will be getting married and wants to buy our apartment from her and live here. *Insert big, fat, cry face here* We can stay until our lease is up but they are requesting that we leave a little early. Despite all this, there is some good news in this situation. The tenant upstairs will be leaving at the end of December. That apartment is not as nice as ours and there are many repairs that need to be taken care of, BUT there is the possibility that we could at least stay in the building! We are in the process now of figuring out all the details. Please, please, pray that we can move upstairs and that it can be a smooth transition. I am so weary of moving. Every instinct in my body just wants to settle down in one place for a long while. We are always open to God’s will in our lives, even when it is painful or confusing, but please pray that God would give us favor in this situation. Thank you.

Thank you all so much, for your prayers and support. We are so grateful for them. We love to hear your words of encouragement.

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Love,
The Moura Family

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It has been another exciting month and one of the biggest excitements was the baptism we had at the church.  It is always a big celebration in the church, and praise the Lord, in heaven as well.  I love that during the baptism the church is singing and worshiping God and the symbolism of letting the person be completely 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 for these 10 people that made this public declaration of faith.  We are a bit partial for this baptism as Alyssa was one of the people who we baptized.  It was truly a blessing.  However, unlike all the others being baptized who walked down the stairs into the water.  Alyssa instead decided to jump into the water.  Yep, that’s the pastor’s kid.  🙂  Please keep these new believers in your prayers.

Elba went down to the National Vineyard Conference in Sao Paulo.  Elba has stepped into the National leader position temporarily in Brazil due to the death of our leader’s wife.  She helped coordinate the event and shared at the conference to the pastors and leaders in the South.  During the conference they had great worship, teaching, and time for prayers.  In addition, they introduced 5 new churches and 1 church plant.  Amen!!!

The conference was called “Why Church” which is an expansive response.  They focused on the topics “Church to worship, Church to reconcile and Church to serve”.  Another great benefit to the teachings is just being together with one another.  There is much encouragement, and refreshment when we can share our hurts, challenges, and accomplishments. 

This is what happens when you overextend your front flip on the trampoline.  OUCH.  She is doing much better now and it is healing.  She is a tough girl.  At the church, the girls participated in the children day celebration.  Children’s day is a National holiday in Brazil.  We hosted many children in the community with games, entertainment, food, and face painting.  It was a big hit.  

 

 

On a funny note, I was driving in town and saw this dog on the back of this guy’s motorbike.  I had to take a picture.  I was concerned the dog was going to fall off.  I followed them into town, and the owner was driving fairly fast, but the dog never fell and seemed to be having a blast.  

 

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

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Hi everybody!

This is Ronã. Long time, no see! I feel better writing the blog now, since I know who all of you are.

I wish you guys could visit us and see our new city. We definitely love our new place. It’s completely different from my small hometown in the middle of the Amazon. They speak with a different accent and use different expressions. The sun here rises much earlier, the roads are better, and the ocean isn’t far!

Sunset in Jampa (Nickname for João Pessoa)

Since we arrived here, we have been having church every Sunday at the Snell’s. We are a small group of around four families. Once a month, instead of having a service, we go out and pray for people on the streets.

Some of our church family

We also try to connect with the people around us in our daily life.

Allison has been doing the hair of practically every women of our building, and two of our neighbors asked if we could teach English for their kids. The kids are Natan and Sophia. They are very smart and are learning very fast. We feel good that we can bless our neighbors. Especially for those 2 kids that don’t have a present father.

Teaching the kids in our building

One of my favorite places in my new city is this studio at the Cultural Center.

Studio Made in PB

It’s called “Studio made in PB”. I have drawing classes here every Monday and I have met some very interesting people. I call them the comic tribe. They take comics, cartoons, and super-hero movies very seriously. Don’t dare say anything bad about Batman or Thor in front of them! Many pop culture artist in the city studied here. I had the pleasure to meet some of them, and their art is just stunning!

 

My teacher is named João. He was also a student at “Studio made in PB” before becoming the teacher. He is a great teacher. He has taught me many things and also motivated me to publish my first comic story . João will be a father next month. His wife is eight months pregnant with a baby boy!

João and I at the Cultural Center

“Studio made in PB” has allowed me to use their space to do an Alpha course. We are just waiting for the right moment to start. The Alpha will be an opportunity to tell the story of the super-hero of the real life, Jesus Christ. We are also talking about the possibility of me teaching English classes there. They are supposed to offer classes for free for students from the public school, but they lack teachers. Join us in prayer for how God wants to use us in this place.

The other tribe I have been connecting with is the ‘no pad football’ tribe. Yeah, you read that right; they play american football with no protection at the beach! There are about 8 teams in their league. The Carcarás, The Bolados, The Devils, The Jaws, The Punishers, and The Vikings are just a few.   There are even The Witches, a team of women who love football. They all have the dream of being the second full pad football team in the city. They are inspired by the João Pessoa Espectros, the city team, which were the Brazilian champions few years ago.

No Pad football players

Espectros Football Team (Black and Red)

Don’t you worry, I don’t plan to play with them in the league! However, it has been a good experience helping them out with the football materials that some of you guys donated to us.

Before saying good bye, I’d like to let you know that I also started a new quarter in VI. This time I picked the course Biblical Meta-narrative by Bill Jackson. It’s a course I’ve always been interested in taking. It goes into the details of the Bible, considering the cultural context in which it was written as well as revealing the big picture story of the Bible. I’m learning a lot.

Prayers requests:

-That we be witnesses of God among the people we are meeting and building relationships with;

-Financial Support: Our support went significantly down last month and the exchange rate is currently dropping here in Brazil. We also want to raise a fund to pay for Ollie’s studies next year;

-Our family and marriage

-Brazil’s current political situation: We are in the middle of an economic crisis, the country is polarized, and the future president will have a lot to do.

We love you all so much and we thank you for absolutely everything you have done for us.

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Lots of Love!
The Moura Family

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Thank you so much for your prayers for the dentist team that came and served.  It was another amazing time of serving the community and helping people with dental needs that otherwise would not be able to get easy access to this care.  This year the dental team went on the river with the Marantha III and VI to serve communities near Belo Monte.  The Marantha III was retrofitted to serve as a dental clinic and the team worked tireless hours serving the community needs.  In these short two weeks the volunteer dentist team served 353 people doing cleanings, repairing cavities, pulling teeth, and making dentures.  It was an incredible work and we pray the Lord’s continued hand upon them all.  It has been a pleasure partnering with our sister church in Brasilia to serve the people, and share Jesus Christ.




Here are the statistics of the people served in the last years.  Amazing work considering they do this once per year for 2 weeks.  Since this project is self-funded, they are limited to only once per year.

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Hello Everyone!

As always, I pray that you are all well and really experiencing the life God has for you. This life may not be a life always filled with riches and success and peace and happiness, but the life we live in the presence of God is always a life with purpose. We discover everyday a little more of what it means to be his children and what it means to be loved by him in all our seasons of life.

Cancer

For many of us, this has not been an easy season. As many of you know, last year we lost a close and beautiful friend, Tania Leigh, to cancer. She was only 40 years old, and everyday, her family and friends try to figure out life without her.

Tania and Ola on their wedding day

More recently, we lost our dear friend, Marilyn King, to cancer. Marilyn had shown her support to us as missionaries in numerous ways over the past few years. Her encouragement helped to remind us just how loved we are even though we are so far away from home. We were so blessed to see through Facebook how all of you honored her and her family by giving her a beautiful goodbye celebration. She, too, leaves behind a family who are just beginning to comprehend what life will be like without her. We pray that each day, they can experience the Lord’s comfort and the support of their church family.

Marilyn and her family

Here in Brazil, we have also recently lost another very special woman to cancer. Milton and Erika Lucas are the national directors of the Vineyard in Brazil, and Erika just passed away a few weeks ago. Their family is very beloved here and the whole movement is grieving for her. Erika was also only 45, and they have 3 children who are going to miss her terribly. Please, pray for them as they take steps in moving forward.

The Lucas Family

Larry Crabb states in his book, Finding God, that, “Life itself is a trauma, an unpredictable drama that breeds terror.”
We have no idea what tomorrow will bring, and we cannot prepare ourselves for all the possibilities, even though we exhaust ourselves with trying. We are in the hands and at the mercy of a fallen and broken-down world, but praise be to God, that world is in the hands of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is truly bigger than our brokenness, bigger than our failures and tragedies. The only sure place for our feet to stand is on him. He is our hope that, one day, all things will be set straight. One day, we will see our loved ones again. One day, we will not wrestle with constant fear and pain. One day, our freedom will be complete in his arms.
In the meantime, we are here, and we keep fighting. We fight with prayer and sacrifice and grace. We fight to bring about good whenever possible and in every situation.

Work and Hobbies

I have noticed over the years a tendency among Christians to put their lives into categories. We have our work life, our family life, our leisure life, and our church life, and often times, like food on a plate, we don’t like it when anything is “touching”. We compartmentalize. We are all guilty of it on some level. But as we read the Bible, we see that God would prefer that we just mix it all together into one big heap. He wants our lives to be integrated.
As Ronã and I have started here in a new city as church planters, this is a concept we have taken very seriously. We want who we are–all of who we are–to be expressed in every area of our lives. Our approach to this has been fairly simple: Take the things you love to do and do them with other people. One of the things that I have enjoyed doing for a long time is hair styling. I don’t have any professional experience, I have just picked up some things over the years. So, since we are in a new place and we are trying to meet new people, I decided to sign up for a professional hairstylist course! I have been going for about a month now, once a week, and I love it! And beyond enjoying what I am learning, I am trying to be very intentional about building relationships with my colleagues.

My Teacher and a few of my classmates

We often underestimate the amount of influence we have over the people around us, but our attitudes and actions have the power to change the atmosphere of a place. We can bring love and grace and integrity into an environment that is full of competition and gossip and back-biting. We can be a trusted friend in a place where no one trusts anyone else. We can make decisions to do the right thing in a situation where cheating has become the norm. We can pay attention and notice when someone is hurting or going through a difficult time. We can be a source of encouragement and hope.
As Kingdom people, we are called to use our sphere of influence to bring about Godly change through our service to others. We are not all called to be pastors or church planters or missionaries. Many of us are called to be cashiers, engineers, teachers, computer techs, delivery persons, sales persons, real estate agents, food servers, and yes, even, hairstylists. Our work or our hobbies can and should be our ministries, the place where we bring the influence of the Kingdom of God in whatever capacity we have. 
Please, pray for me as I continue to just love on and grow closer to these beautiful women. Pray that God opens my eyes to who I can help and how I can help them.

We thank you again for your constant support and encouragement to us as a family. We hope that you feel like you are truly apart of our work here. We need your prayers that God would guide us daily and use our lives to bring about the realities of his kingdom here on the earth as it is in heaven!

We love you!
The Moura Family

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Catherine Brown from Scotland shares this prophecy about Brazil.

Catherine Brown prophecy, September 1, 2018. Elijah List newsletter. To read the full article, click here.

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As I was in prayer for the nation of Brazil, I heard the Spirit of the Lord say, “It is time for Heaven’s judicial intervention for Brazil.”

The Angel of Justice and Mercy

I then saw a powerful vision unfolding. A mighty angel holding a set of scales was positioned on the nation of Brazil, standing in Sao Paulo. On one of the scales he was holding was written the word ‘mercy’ and on the other scale the word ‘justice.’ The scales were perfectly in balance.

Prayer Treks

I then saw people making treks across the nation, zig zagging in all directions. The prayer treks were pilgrimages that were opening up ancient wells of blessing and simultaneously creating new wells of blessing and opening the flow of Heaven over the people and the land.

Rehoboth

As a result of the increased and focused strategic prayer activity throughout the nation, the word “REHOBOTH” was emblazoned across the nation and I heard the Spirit of God say, “Brazil is in a season of Rehoboth. She shall experience expansion, multiplication, restoration, redemption and ultimately Kingdom transformation in all spheres.”

In the Bible in Genesis Chapter 26, we read how Isaac had encountered resistance to his opening up wells in the land of Gerar, but upon the digging of a third well he encountered no resistance and this time he named the well ‘Rehoboth,’ which in Hebrew literally means, ‘broad places.’ The previous two wells he had named ‘Esek,’ which means ‘contention’ and ‘Sitnah,’ which means ‘hostility.’ (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

“…and he said, ‘For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.’” (Genesis 26:22)

Rehoboth indicates expansion and multiplication and a time when God makes room for His people and for Kingdom expansion. In the land of Gerar, Isaac had sowed and received a hundredfold increase in the same year as the Lord blessed him extravagantly and abundantly.

Furthermore after the naming of the Rehoboth well the Lord appeared to Isaac at Beersheba and said, “…Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake” (Genesis 26:24).

Rehoboth was the place from which the promise of multiplication for generations came forth to Isaac. Rehoboth does indeed speak to us of increase, acceleration and multiplication.

Breaking Chains – Restoration, Redemption and Transformation

In my vision I witnessed there were some chains on the nation, which have yet to be broken, even some chains that are presently upon the Church. I heard a voice from Heaven say, “Let the lamp stand of Brazil not go out,” and perceived there is a need for repentance because of idolatry.

This is the season of transformation in Brazil. It is not an old wineskin that God is going to use to set the new paradigm and cause the shift. I hear the Spirit of God say that in this next Kingdom move false leaders will be removed from their positions of influence. Those who are building empires and who are not building for the glory of God and His Kingdom will be exposed in their motivations. Yet mercy will be extended to all who are willing to align themselves with the Word of God and the will of God.

Justice and mercy will be poured out from Heaven on behalf of those who have been known as a type of ‘Jabez’. Just as Jabez experienced restoration, expansion and redemption in all things, so in this year of divine speed shall the nation of Brazil experience these same blessings in unparalleled speed.

Redemption of schisms and healing will include:

• Ethnic healing.
• Generational healing.
• Healing in communities and for families.
• Healing the political realm and governmental circles.
• Healing in the marketplace.
• Healing in the Church, in denominations and healing in the apostolic movement.

We pray for the divine destiny of Brazil to come to fullness. We command speed in the execution of justice and mercy and Kingdom transformation in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. God bless you this day and always.

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