XM, Author at Xingu Mission

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! What a month. It has been crazy, but awesome.

My home church, Vineyard Church of Delaware County, sent a team to visit us. It was great to spend time with them – and with J.T., my brother.

The VCDC Team

I’ve got to be honest, though. The best part of our month was the birth of Denise’s and my son, Jonas Taylor (J.T.) Meyer. He was born on April 28 at 7 pounds, 3 ounces. He is healthy and doing great. Denise had a C-Section and is recovering well. We have had a full house both with Denise’s parents staying with us as well as visitors. We’ve been really busy but with lots of good stuff.

Our Family

The church plant is doing wonderfully. Vineyard Viva is enjoying an increase in numbers both by birth J and visitors.

Thank you for your prayers and ongoing support for us as we adjust to being a family of three and continue to pastor our growing church. We love hearing from you.

In His Service,

Christopher & Denise

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

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Apr, 10

XM

Half Way There

Hello Everyone!

It has been such a pleasure to spend time with all of you on our visit so far. It has already been quite the journey, and we are only about half way there. For Ronã and Oliver, especially, this has been a time filled with new experiences.

When we first arrived, we spent a couple of weeks in Georgia visiting with my Mom. It brought me so much joy watching her interact with Oliver and Ronã.

When we arrived in Columbus, we spent the first week hanging out with my Dad and his wife, Mimi. They invited over all the family and some friends to welcome us home.

We also got the chance to visit my grandparents and some old friends in North Carolina.

Dinner at my Grandparents’ house

We are so glad that we have been able to spend time reconnecting with old friends and making some new ones!


Having lunch with Chris and Amanda Saul, and their beautiful daughter, Cora


Visiting the small group of Jim and Jo Ann McCann

Financial Update:

I am thankful to say that we have made some progress toward our financial goals, but we still have a ways to go.

The Xingu Mission asked that we have at least $5000 as an emergency fund available. As of now, we have about $4000. We are almost there!

For our average monthly support, we are expected to have around $3,300. At the moment, our current monthly average is about $2000. I know that many of you have recently signed up to become our monthly supporters, and we are so grateful to you. For those of you who have not, we ask that you prayerfully consider investing financially in what God is doing in Brazil.

After speaking with our leaders, we decided it was necessary to extend our trip here by a few weeks in order to create more opportunities to meet with people face to face and continue working towards our financial goals.

If we have not already had a chance to get together with you, we would love to schedule some time for either lunch or dinner. Below, I put some dates that we still have available.

Thursday, April 12th: Lunch

Tuesday, April 17th: Dinner

Wednesday, April 18th: Lunch

Saturday, May 12th: Dinner

Monday, May 14th: Lunch

Thursday, May 17th: Dinner

Friday, May 18th: Lunch or Dinner

Saturday, May 19th: Lunch or Dinner

Tuesday, May 22nd: Lunch or Dinner

Thursday, May 24th: Lunch or Dinner

Friday, May 25th: Lunch or Dinner

Thank you all for the love and support that we have received from you during our journey. Ronã has told me how welcomed he has felt here. That even though you have never met him before, he has been treated like an old friend. Thank you for welcoming me and my family into your hearts and homes!

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Love, the Moura Family

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Mar, 29

XM

March 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Denise and I wanted to take a moment to say hi and thank you again for your prayers and support. You mean so much to us!

As you can imagine, we are super busy with the church plant and preparing for the baby. We are super excited to meet our son. Here are a few fun picture so you can share in our excitement.

Vineyard Viva

Denise, baby and me

This month, Xingu Missions asked us to write an article for their quarterly newsletter. We thought you might enjoy reading what we wrote:

It was just over two years ago that Denise and I arrived in the city of Macapá. We originally came here to help the existing church. There was also an additional plan to plant more churches in the Macapá region. This second plan always seemed a bit far off. I knew that at one point we would want to plant churches, but I always looked at it as pretty far down the road. After a year and a half in Macapá, we realized that things were moving a bit more quickly than what we anticipated. The church we were sent to help was doing great, the divisions in the church had subsided and the attendance had tripled. We began to realize that maybe it was time for us to start really thinking about planting. After having talks with the leadership in the church along with some of our missionary supervisors, it was decided that it was indeed time for the next step.

This last December we made it official and along with fellow missionary Bob Lesher and 8 others we had our first service for our new church, Vineyard Viva (Alive Vineyard). In the 3 months of our existence, God has taught me many things. Of the many things he has taught me, the most significant thing I have learned is to keep my focus and the church’s focus on Him. I know that this sounds simple, but let me unpack this a bit. With a new church, everyone is extremely excited with a lot of ideas: ideas for “in church” ministries, ideas for outreach, ideas on the style in which our church will operate, ideas for everything. The temptation is to make “ideas” and “vision” our Number 1 focus. Although ideas, vision and planning are good things, one thing I continued to hear God speak to me was that we need to be extremely deliberate in placing our focus on Him before anything else. I really sensed God saying that if our focus stays on Him, he will bless our church.

We have already seen God’s blessing on our church. Our numbers have begun to rise, but most importantly, we are seeing God come and meet and impact people. We are already seeing lives changed and this more than anything is exciting. We know we are at the first steps of a long journey and have much to learn, but we couldn’t be any more excited. We feel as long as we stay connected to God and His leading, we will end up exactly where we are supposed to be.

Prayer Requests:

Please pray safety and health for Denise and our son through labor and delivery.
Pray for the upcoming transition as we go from a family of two to three.
Continue to pray for our church as it continues to grow.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. We love to hear from you.

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

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

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XM

The Way Forward, Christmas in Canada, University Alpha, Educating Luke and Faith

Thank you!
To all of you who read, pray, support and love us thank you! We love you all!

Home for The Holidays

What Were We Thinking? Winter in Canada is COLD!

Although we are questioning our sanity going back (as are many others) for apparently the coldest winter in 36 YEARS we thoroughly enjoyed being with friends and family and making some new connections during our time in Canada.

Christmas with my big beautiful family!

Our very wintery drive to Ohio

Our time in Canada was short, and we apologize if we were unable to connect with you on this visit, please know there is an open invitation to visit us in Brazil or we will have to make sure we see you on our next visit!

Winter’s beauty at our home church

Thank you to all of you who loved us, kept us fed and warm and reaffirmed to us how much we love our Canadian family!

Making winter memories!

This wonderful family puts up with us and lets us call their home our home when we are back in Canada, we love you Fellmans!! or as we like to call ourselves ‘Snellmans’!

The Way Forward

As we have shared our stories of what God has been doing through us during our first year in JoÃ£o Pessoa and our ideas and hopes for the future, we have been so encouraged, things have evolved and we have vision and so much excitement for the future.

We are beginning to see the girls in their homes, this gives us the opportunity to meet and begin to build relationships with their families neighbours and friends, and we know that that will only increase as we get to know them more. As we prayerfully move forward we can see where God is giving us more and more opportunities to expand our relationships and the Kingdom through these growing relationships!

We are continually surprised at how God has connected us in such a short time. A year ago we arrived in a city of almost a million people and the only people we knew left the city. We now have a large circle of friends and a ministry we love! Blessed beyond measure!

Join the Team-Donate to the Snells

University Alpha

Last August Phil began running Alpha in a state University English class. The opportunity came about when one of the people who had been taking Alpha in our home suggested it might be a possibility.

The professor gave one stipulation, â€˜If even one student complains, we have to shut it downâ€™. At the time any kind of religious based study was prohibited in the University.

Not only were there no complaints, there were passionate discussions that often flipped from english into Portuguese as they asked the hard questions and wrestled with what they believed. It went so well and the students enjoyed it so much that we have been invited to do TWO classes this year! This is great news as it introduces us to new people.

When we return we will be starting a new small group and inviting the people in the class to come.

Educating Luke and Faith

As most of you know we made the decision last year to put Luke and Faith into a Brazilian school. After four and a half years of homeschooling (which is a callingâ€¦.and I donâ€™t have it!) and going from living somewhere where they were surrounded by other kids to a big city where we live behind walls, we felt that the healthiest decision for them and our family was that they start going to traditional school.

Ready Set Go! The school year just started!

It has been the best decision we could have made! They love being surrounded by people, even though it has meant a lot of blood sweat and tears as they learn to read and write in their second language. They both passed their first year which is a small miracle in itself and as a mother, I see it as fruit of the strong willed personalities they have, they persevered and it paid off!

The school they attend is private and fully Portuguese. The public school system in Brazil is not equipped to handle the kind of accommodations immigrant students need and unfortunately the system is broken in many other ways. There are frequent strikes and students suffer because of it.

The cost of schooling privately is high, but the benefits for our children and us as a family are immeasurable. They finally feel as normal as they possibly can as missionaries in a foreign field. Not to mention they are getting an education and becoming fully bilingual. When they reach high school age (only a year away for Luke!) they have the option of entering a dual diploma english program that will give them a Brazilian diploma and an American one. Both Luke and Faith want to pursue their post-secondary education in Canada, so this dual diploma will ease the transition.

Homework time

The downside is that the cost is something very difficult to carry on our limited budget. We have started a go fund me to help with the cost of this crucial need for our kids.

We are asking friends, family and supporters to consider giving towards this campaign or investing in them by sponsoring them on a monthly basis. Investing in a kids education is priceless and you are indirectly helping our ministry by helping us keep them in school.

Hereâ€™s the link to give to the campaign. If you would like to help monthly with their expenses, just reply to this email and we can discuss how you can go about doing that.

https://www.gofundme.com/Lukeandfaith

Prayer Requests

As we settle in to our other home it stirs all kinds of emotions, although we love where we are living and what we get to do, having your heart in two places can make transitioning difficult, especially for our kids.

Please pray that they have a great transition back to Brazil and back to school and routine

Please pray that we are able to pick up where we left off. Leaving so early into the ministry was hard, the girls asked often, â€˜youâ€™ll be back right?â€™. We have tried to keep in touch as much as possible but we know itâ€™s also possible that we may have some ground to make up.

Please pray for wisdom as we move forward, our greatest desire is to always be in step with our Father and what His plans are.

Please keep our friends and co-labourers Allison and RonÃ£ and their son Oliver in your prayers, they are about to start the process to fundraise and move to JoÃ£o Pessoa to join our team! We are so excited to have our team grow!

Finally, please pray for the girls we are ministering to, that they would increasingly feel the Fatherâ€™s love so deeply, that they would have the courage to take the necessary steps forward to see their lives changed!

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XM

Cristovál 2018 Fotos 2

The Snake

The first day someone almost stepped on this boa constrictor, which was wrapped around an iguana. We caught it, took some pictures, and then set it free back in the swamp.

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XM

Cristovál 2018 Fotos 1

Cristovál started with an evening of games. The next day one of the big events was a cross-country run, where your team only got points when everyone was at the finish line. This encourages the stronger ones helping the weaker ones.

The

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XM

January Amazon Update!

Thank you so much for your support and prayers. We usually like to send our updates in the middle of the month but we have been traveling for the last 21 days and just got back. It was a great time and adventure. Bless you and pray that you enjoy the below update!

As I mentioned above we just got back from traveling for 3 weeks and it was an adventure as we slept in many different places and traveled via boat, planes, and automobile. I did not do so well with the driving part. OPPS. Thankfully no damage….except to my ego.

We spent about 2 week in Santarem and Jacarim. During our stay there we spent time with their leadership and talked about current things that are happening within the church, and the future. We also participated in ordaining 2 couples to be senior pastors. The first picture is of Inilson and Enilda to be the senior pastors of Santarem. The second pictures is of Ricardo and Cleury to be the senior pastors of Jacarim church. Both of these couples are passionate for the Lord, and the lost. Please keep them in your prayers.

We also had the pleasure of being with Richie Bouthillier and his family in Portel. We went to officially inaugurate their church building, and participate in ordaining Geise to be the pastor in Portel. The Bouthilliers are doing a great job in Portel and it was a great thing to celebrate. The mission is all about planting churches, and training leaders. This moment was what we are called here to do. Help plant Vineyard churches, and train local leaders to lead into the future. Praise the Lord!

The girls are doing well. They just started school on the 1^st of February. Actually school started a few days ago but since the girls were with us during our travels they were unable to attend. During our trip, we had a chance to go to Elba’s hometown. Camilly and Alyssa were trying to learn how to fly a kite. It somewhat worked. Elba also showed us the place that she used to get water every morning by bucket and then carry on their heads back to their house. I was fortunate enough to be able to turn on a Fawcett and water came out.

Please also continue to pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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I found this English school in Santarem with this name. A lot of my friends in Ohio would argue that this could not be a good English school with the name of Michigan. J

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Jan, 24

XM

January 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for your prayers and support. They are always very greatly appreciated.

Things have been going really well for us lately. Denise is now at the six month point of her pregnancy! It’s been so cool being able to feel the baby moving around inside her belly. We can’t believe that in three months we will be bringing a baby home! We are a bit nervous, but mostly excited!

Denise and our baby

One slight complication is that Denise has a hernia. She believes she actually got this hernia when she was young, but it was never taken care of. As the baby has grown, the hernia is being pushed out and has begun to show itself again. Because of the strain of giving birth, her doctor has recommended a C-section. During this surgery, the doctor will also take care of the hernia. This has been a bit of a disappointment, but Denise has moved past it and now feels complete peace about the plan.

We are having a lot of fun seeing what God is already doing through our new church plant. We planted our church six weeks ago with eight other individuals. We have enjoyed growing closer to the team and seeing deeper relationships develop. We also have had new people beginning to show up which is very exciting. The last three weeks we have seen between 20 and 30 at our services. We are working hard trying to connect with all the new people and help them feel part of what we are doing.

Church Party

Here is Bob Lesher from VCDC who is part of our church plant, too.

I want to take a minute to share a little personal triumph in my life. As I’ve mentioned in past updates, learning Portuguese has been a battle for me. It has definitely been a “two steps forward, one step back” process. Over the last year, I have seen some huge leaps and advances in my Portuguese, but one thing has always felt out of reach – preaching in Portuguese. Although I have been meeting and counseling individuals in Portuguese for a while now, when it comes to preaching, Denise has continued to translate for me. You see, not only has Portuguese been difficult, but since I was young I have had a deep rooted fear of speaking in front of groups of people to the point of having panic attacks. Since arriving in Brazil my thought has always been, “How could I possibly preach in Portuguese when I can barely do it in English?”

While on my furlough back in the States, I was lying in bed one morning and had a thought cross my mind, “When you return to Brazil you need to begin to preach in Portuguese.” Initially I ignored the thought, but I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. I began to sense that this was really the Holy Spirit speaking to me. Although the thought of preaching in Portuguese terrified me, I made a commitment in that moment to be obedient soon after I returned to Brazil.

I’m happy to report that this last Sunday, I did my sermon in Portuguese. I was nervous beforehand, but once I started, it felt so much more comfortable than I expected it to be! Everyone was very encouraging and supportive. People were actually taking notes! I remember thinking, “I can’t believe they actually understand all this!” I know I have a ways to go, but this step was a huge one for me.

Me preaching in Portuguese

Prayer Requests:

1) Please pray for continued growth and health of our new church plant, and for relational connections in our new neighborhood.

2) For continued grace to preach in Portuguese.

3) Good health for Denise and our baby.

Thanks again for your prayers and support. We love to hear from you, even if it’s just a quick hello.

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

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

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XM

Homecoming

Hello to You All!

I hope your new year is off to a good start. For me, this year is filled with so much anticipation! In less than one month, we will be on our way to the States. Even though I am still here in Brazil, I find that in my mind, I am already “there”. I am imagining sitting by the fire at my parents’ house. I am seeing Ronã eating Grater’s ice cream for the first time. I am imagining my Mom playing with and talking to Oliver. It brings both longing and joy.

In the mean time, we are preparing to be gone for 3 months and for our move to João Pessoa once we come back. We have sold most of our stuff. We have found a new home for our dog, Café. We are getting used to the idea of leaving what we have been building since we came back here to Altamira less than 2 years ago.

The hardest thing to leave behind is the women’s group that I have been leading, as well as the individuals that I have been investing in. Thankfully, one of the women, Débora, will be continuing to lead the group after I have gone. We have already moved the group over to her house, and she had begun taking responsibility for it. It has been such a pleasure for me to watch her grow and develop into a mature follower of Christ. She has showed faithfulness and a sincere motivation to pursue Jesus at whatever the cost. Even though I am leaving, we will continue to keep in contact with each other while I am away in order to guide her.

Group Selfie!

This group has provided an opportunity for these women to share their struggles and victories in a safe environment which is often not available to them in other settings. Please pray for Débora and these women as they continue to move forward with each other and with God.

Update from Ronã: Hey everybody! We are almost finishing with the vacation flag football project. We started with around 8 kids (5 of those I had never met before). We still had some spots available, so my friend, Amoacy, advertised at CDR. One kid came and then he invited 3 of his friends, and they invited their friends!
While talking to them about Christ, I noticed that some of them have never heard the stories of Jesus before. I was glad God gave me the chance to introduce Him to them. Always, when I am with them, I am reminded of myself. When I started studying at CDR, my teacher invited me to do a play at the church, and also to play soccer a couple of times. I felt so happy and accepted at that time, and it is one of my favorite memories. I pray that these kids may feel the same way. Below is a video of the kids playing.

We would like to start scheduling our time to visit with you while we are there, so below, I am going to put the dates that we will be available. Please, send me an email with the time that will work for you. We can get together for lunch or dinner. Can’t wait!

March 13-March 26
April 2-April 24
May 10-May 14

Love, the Moura Family

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XM

Merry CHRISTmas from the Amazon!

One of the big highlights this last month was having a short term mission team come from Columbus Vineyard. It is such a treat to have our friends come to work alongside us to reach the people of Brazil. A majority of the members had been here the year previously. This is a blessing because like last year they went to Pacajá to walk alongside missionaries Keith and Marsha Wilson. This is important because the team is continuing to establish more relationships and are laser focused on a certain area. We refer to this as going narrow and deep. Narrowly focused to work a majority of their time in Pacajá and each year deepening their relationship with the Brazilians and the team. We are looking forward to the many more years to come with this team.

How about you? Are you interested in coming? We have many places like Pacajá that would love to have a team come and visit.

On the way back home the team stopped in Altamira for 2 days. During those 2 days we had the opportunity for them to come and preach at 2 of our churches. Pastor Kent Irwin preached at our church, and Patrick Adams preached at the Independente Church. It was a pleasure to have them share the Word. In addition, a lot of the English students at our school wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving with the American team. This was a treat and we had well over 100 people in attendance. Patrick shared about the meaning of Thanksgiving, and how we should always be thankful to God and one another. Then we had one of our students read Psalm 136 and then some English students sang “Set a fire”. Afterwards we sat down with the students and ate a lot of chicken and potatoes while speaking English. It was really special for the students, and for our team.

TRAVELERS BEWARE: If you come to our house and it is your birthday. This is what happens….A Brazilian tradition. Smash eggs over head, and then throw flour into the face. Betsy was a great sport. Elba and the girls are ruthless and it is just a matter of time before they get you. Elba got caught in the crossfire. Please do not let this discourage you from coming and visiting.

As the song goes “It is starting to look a lot like Christmas….WAIT…ok, let’s start over. It is starting to FEEL a little bit like Christmas. It is never the same here as it is in the States. This may be a good thing in the sense of all the hurry around and such. We try our best to get into the season and we just put up our tree with a few lights. We are definitely far from the norm here in Altamira because the majority does nothing. Here are some pictures when we were in the big city of Belém (which means Bethlehem). We even saw santa.