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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Our Team Just Doubled! These last few months have flown by.  Our kids have the month of July off for school holidays which is a welcome break from the 5:30 wake ups and mountains of homework. In perfect timing we welcomed our new team members Allison, Rona and their adorable son Oliver!  Allison and Rona visited João Pessoa a year ago and decided that this was where God was calling them. Allison has been working with women with addictions and relational struggles in Altamira, and has created a Portuguese 12 step program that uses Christian principles to helps people work through the root issues that led them into addictive behaviours.  She has already begun to put this tool to use with one of our girls, it’s a great addition to our tool chest! Rona has been using flag foot ball and Alpha to connect to new people and plans to use both these great tools here in Joao Pessoa as well. And Oliver just lights up every space his in with his delightful personality! We are very happy to have them with us! Missao Restauração Last year, a friend of ours took us to visit a foster home for girls. At the time there were several girls living there, one of which was seven months pregnant at the age of 10.  Shocking and heartbreaking.  We knew God had a purpose for us there we just weren’t sure what it was yet.  We toyed with the idea of doing an Alpha because they said all of the girls were not connected to church or God and they felt that helping them spiritually was a big need that they themselves could not fill. At the time we were just two people, it didn’t seem like the right timing.  But we didn’t forget about them. Ezekiel 47 is a small house church full of people who are very Kingdom minded and wanted an opportunity to serve.  At the time that we started we had not started our own church and they were and remain like family for us.  We have the same Kingdom purpose vision. We asked if they would like to help and they jumped at the opportunity. Alpha With The Girls Each week we start with food (who doesn’t love to eat-and it’s a great ice breaker!) and then we have some kind of active game.  This gets the girls to wake up, laugh and have fun.   The video and discussion follow and they almost always ask at the end, ‘is that all?  I wanted it to last longer!’   Last month we held a retreat for them. Two nights were like our normal meetings but held in the house Ezekiel 47 uses for their meetings.  Getting the girls out of their environment was great to help change the atmosphere and expectations. Saturday our friends from Ezekiel 47 planned the day.  They blew us away with their love and service to these girls.  The day was filled with music and various people sharing their own life story, the hurts and pitfalls as well as they way they saw God moving in their life.  Some of the girls opened up and told their own stories, which until this point we hadn’t heard.  There was not a dry eye in the room. The retreat ended with the three men who are fathers standing in the place of the fathers who had abandoned and rejected them hurt and abused them, and asking for their forgiveness, in an act of servanthood they washed each girls feet.  It was a very moving moment for everyone. The highlight was seeing one of the girls who has been the most closed off melt into the embrace of one woman after another as tears fell down her face.  God clearly moved in her life!     When Alpha is over we will continue to walk with these girls, along with the people in our church as well as Ezekiel 47.  We are already planning what that will look like. It has been, by far, one of the most rewarding Alphas we have ever done!

If you don’t already, follow us on instagram, Facebook and Twitter, we share snippets on a more regular basis! A Visit from Michael Hansen! At the beginning of August we were blessed to have a visit from Michael Hansen, pastor of Vineyard Church of Delaware County.  We were extremely blessed to have him here to see and participate in what God has been doing over the past almost two years since we moved to João Pessoa. We hope it was the first of many visits! If you want to visit we are always open to visitors, just write and ask!   Update on Faith After more testing it has been determined that Faith does not have Attention Deficit Disorder which means she doesn’t need to be on medication.  It has been confirmed that she is dyslexic and has the Central Processing Disorder we mentioned in our last update.  The good news is that for the latter, there is therapy that can be done to retrain the pathways in her brain. This will help her immensely in the classroom as well as with concentration.  Faith has also started with an psychoeducational therapist which will help her in the area of dyslexia.  Her teachers and principals have already seen a difference in her performance, thank you for your continued prayers! Faith was blessed to be part of a study, which meant free testing! We are incredibly blessed and grateful for all the professionals we have been able to find and the openness of the school to find a plan that will help Faith. It all comes at a cost and is not covered by our current medical insurance, please pray with us that we have the funds we need to cover these additional costs. Speaking of which….. Our wonderful friend Mirela has launched a fundraiser to help with these and just general education costs.  She is making beautiful hand-made cards, proceeds going to the gofundme we started before leaving in February. For more about Mirella’s cards you can go to https://www.facebook.com/MyMidnightMuse/ Gofund me  https://www.gofundme.com/Lukeandfaith&rcid=r01-153495055128-2b36124ba2284d7b&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w 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 Fernando Ferrari, 147 Pedro Gondim João Pessoa, Paraíba  58031-190 Brazil Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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Hello Everybody!

I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the fall season coming ahead, although some of you probably have some mixed feelings about summer ending. Where we are, the seasons change from hot to not-so-hot, and I often miss the changes that take place with 4 seasons!

We are really settling in well here into our new lives. João Pessoa is a lovely city. We feel very privileged and blessed to be here. If you remember in our last blog, I told everyone that we were trying to sell our car in Altamira. And thank God, we did! AND, we already bought another one here! It is small and cute and we like it a lot.

It’s smiling at you!

Another ministry that Jen and Phil were able to start before we came here is helping at a place called Mission Restoration. It is a foster home for girls run by a Brazilian couple. The Snells met with them and began brainstorming on how they could help by serving these girls. They started doing a program called Alpha with them once a week. Alpha is a great program that helps introduce the basic message of the Bible in a very practical and open way, allowing people to ask questions and express opinions in a group setting. The Snells were also fortunate enough to receive the help of a local group of believers called Ezekiel 47. During the Alpha program, there is a retreat with a focus on the Holy Spirit. All of us together worked to create a very special weekend for these girls. We played games and ate together. We worshiped together and several of us gave our testimonies of how God had moved in our lives. Throughout the weekend, we saw the girls open up even more and share their own stories and struggles. We were able to pray for them and just love on them. It was an awesome time. The Alpha course will be ending soon, but we are already meeting to talk about ways that we can keep supporting and investing in the lives of these girls. Please join us in praying for them.

Us with a few of the girls

Being generously served by the Ezekiel 47 Team

Playing a treasure hunt game

A few weeks ago, we also had the privilege of receiving a visit from Michael Hansen, the senior pastor of VCDC. We had a great time showing him around and introducing him to several of the ministries we are working on. He preached at our church, and Ronã translated from him. We were so glad that he got a chance to meet with our team.

Ronã trying to explain one of Michael’s jokes…lol

Michael with a few from of church planting team from Recife

Once a month, we put up a tent on the beach to invite the women on the streets that we pray for to take a break and enjoy a little sanctuary. We offer them a few yummy treats, as well as a moment to connect with God. This time, I gave my testimony and a few of the women said they felt touched by my story.

Our Beach “Sanctuary”

Jen and I praying for one of our friends who works on the street

As I said before, we feel so privileged to be able to do this kind of work in a place like this. And to every person we serve and share the love of Christ with, you are right there with us serving and sharing as well. You are on our team, and we are grateful for all of your support and the many ways that you have given it.

Prayer Request:
-A clear and direct vision for our church planting team for the future of Vineyard Jampa, as well as unity and intimacy among our team members
-Strength in our marriage and family as we grow in grace and love for one another
-New ideas and open doors for ministry opportunities
-Pray for the girls at Mission Restoration
-Pray for the women working in prostitution to find healing and job opportunities

We love you all and thank you so much!

Love, the Moura Family

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