XM, Author at Xingu Mission

Wedding

Hello to all our Wonderful Supporters and Friends!!

As you can see, I have some great news! Ronã and I got married! On April 23rd, 2016, we had a simple ceremony along our friends in Altamira. It was a wonderful experience, and both Ronã and I were filled with a lot of joy. We have already received a few pictures from our photographer who did an amazing job of capturing the day. I will post them in a link below. After the wedding, we spent a few days at a nice hotel in Altamira, and then we headed back to Portel. We have quickly continued with our normal routine of teaching and helping with the church ministies.

Next month we will be traveling to Brasília which is the capital of Brazil to participate in the annual Intervinha conference. This conference is an effort to try and gather as many members as possible from all the Vineyard churches located in Brazil. It is a great time of fellowship and entering into the presence of God. This year, we will have some guest speakers: the Mumfords from England, David Ruis from Canada, and the Strouts from the U.S. We are very honored to have these leaders come all the way to Brazil to share with us!
While we are in Brasília, we will also be visiting the U.S. Consulate to have an interview for Ronã to get a visa. Please pray that this process goes smoothly because we hope to travel back to the U.S. for a visit at the end of the year. I am very anxious for all of you to finally meet him!

Our church here in Portel has been continually growing, and Richie has already made a lot of progress building a church on our property. One of the projects that has helped us grow as a church is delivering soup once a month to our neighbors. This is one of my favorite ministries to be involved in. It is pretty simple. A group from our church takes a pot of soup to about 5 different houses close to the church. We spend a little time talking and sharing the word of God with the families and then we offer to pray for them and their needs. Many of our neighbors are very poor. We often encounter many women who basically live alone raising several children. Some of them have husbands but they often work on the river and are gone for weeks at a time. Some families are taking care of a sick, elderly parent which creates additional strain on their already very limited resources.
Yesterday, we visited one mother who usually sends her children to our church services. She showed us that her well had collapsed and explained that she now had to walk to her mother-in-law´s house to get water everyday. In reality, it would probably cost less than $100 to fix the well, but she will never have enough extra money to spend on something like that.
Another family that we visited had been robbed just that morning. The thieves stole their moving cart. This type of cart is used here almost like a moving truck. Men load the cart with cement or furniture and literally pull it along to the destination. It´s back-breaking work, as you can imagine, but at least it´s a job. Now, the husband of this family has lost his livelyhood. They don´t know what they will do.
It is hearing stories like these that gives me a lot of perspective on my own life. As you remember, I was robbed last month. They took my gas tank, my bike, my computer, and cell phone. Luckily, I was able to retrieve the bike. And because of the very generous support of people like you, I was able to replace my phone, my computer, and my gas tank. Being near to the poor makes me realize just how rich I really am in comparison to most of the rest of the world. I have never gone hungry, and I have more than I need to survive. I feel honored to be able to pray for these families, and even provide for some of their needs.

The Church in progress

Thank you all again for your generosity, especially for your extra donations to help with the robbery. What an amazing gift it is to feel your support from such a distance. I know that I am in your thoughts and prayers.
Please pray for Ronã and I as we are starting out on this new journey. I believe marriage is a great opportunity to grow in Christ-likeness, and also to experience a taste of the love Christ has for us. Please pray that Ronã and I are about to embrace both parts of the journey.
I also pray for all of you. I pray that your can soak in a spirit of gratitute as your look around at the details of your life. Whether in joy or heartache, there is a blessing. Our longings are only reminders of the other life we will live. That beyond the curtain of death lies the fulfillment of the promise. It is not as far off as we would imagine. And God is walking closely by our side, aware of every step, guiding us there. God bless you.

Love, Allison and Ronã

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Wedding Pictures

Apr, 30

Scary Night

Hello Friends and Family at Home!

As you may have already heard, last week, my house was robbed while I was sleeping. It happened at around 4:00am. I woke up and saw a man taking both my computer and my cell phone from a table on the side of my bed. I jumped up and lunged toward him. I grabbed him but I couldn´t hold him and he ran away. I tried to run after him but fell. I was still half a sleep, and didn´t really have time to react. I stood up and could see that both my front door and the gate were wide open. There was a hole in my window screen. The shirt and the sandals of the robber were laying on the ground.
I immediately went back inside to get dressed and go to the police station, which is very close to my house. It was closed with no one there. I wanted to contact friends but without a phone, that was not possible. I could do nothing but wait until the morning.
Finally, morning came and Ronã and Richie helped me with the details. We went to the police to file a report and also tried to reconstruct how the thieves had entered. My neighbors told me that they saw everything happen as two guys were trying to pry open the gate and one was standing off to the side with a gun. They were too afraid to intervene.
The next day, a friend of ours said that he had found my bike. He had been driving around his neighborhood and saw it at someone´s house. He stopped and confronted the guy, taking the bike from him. We immediately went to tell the police of the discovery.
Over the past week, the police have asked our friend several times to retell his story, but they have yet to confront the guy with the bike. They tell us that they are waiting to find him on the street because they are afraid that if they go to his house, he will try to hide the items somewhere else. Then, they may be even harder to find later. I´m not sure if I believe them, but I don´t really have another choice.
I´ve heard from others friends that the robbers are trying to sell the computer, but nobody wants to buy it! It´s an Apple and it´s in English, so no one here (at least the drug dealers) don´t know quite what to do with it! I guess this is a cause for hope!
Luckily as well, I have everything from my phone and my computer backed up to a hardrive and the internet, so I am not going to lose any information. But of course, now I am without both. Please, pray that the police are able to get at least the computer back soon.
As you can imagine, this was a pretty tramatic event for me. I wasn´t afraid at the moment it was happening, but the after-effects have been difficult. I spent a few days sleeping at another missionary´s house, Patty Fultz. She helped me recover and gave me a safe place to rest. I am back home now, but I will not live in fear. All I can do is try to make my house safer, which I have already done. The rest is in God´s hands.
Our classes are going well as Ronã is teaching both the Kids and Beginner classes. His students are really enjoying having him as a teacher. I am teaching the Advanced class, and I am really impressed with my students. The classes are being held in my house.
Our church is also doing well with steady growth. Richie has just started building our future church building. We are all excited about the progress.
I wish I could give you a better report of what is going on here, but it has been a crazy time for me. Again, your prayers are so necessary. Thank you for all of your love and support and prayers. They sustain me.

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Love, Allison

Apr, 23

April 2016 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

We appreciate your prayers and support, and wanted to give you an update on the things that have been going on in our lives and in the Macapá Vineyard.

What are some highlights over the last month?

Probably the biggest highlight was our baptism. Sunday attendance has doubled over the last number of months. And we have seen quite a number of new people in our church make decisions to follow Jesus. It was so fun and exciting celebrating with them at the baptism. I love baptisms. In a way, it connects us as Christians to those who came before us. It’s a tradition that has been practiced for thousands of years and it’s always an honor to take part in one. We are already planning out our next baptism and I can’t wait!

From our baptism

Another recent highlight is that Steve and Elba Dolan came to visit us in Macapá. As you may recall, Steve is the leader of the Xingu Mission, the organization we work for. He has also been a mentor to me since I arrived in Brazil. Elba is the Senior Pastor of the Mirante Vineyard in Altamira, the church Denise and I were sent out from. Elba is also one of the national leaders of the Vineyard Movement in Brazil. Although we consider Steve and Elba to be our leaders, they are also good friends. We had a great time with them here in Macapá. It was also very helpful to receive advice and insight for the future of Vineyard Macapá.

Out with Steve and Elba

Meeting with Steve, Elba, Felipe, Uana, Denise and me

Are there any hurdles that we have been facing lately?

Although this is a good problem to have, our church building is quickly getting too small. Our numbers continue to rise weekly. We continue to buy new chairs and soon after the new chairs are filled. Currently it’s not until after worship when the children leave for Sunday school that everyone is able to find a seat. We realize that it’s only a matter of time until we won’t be able to fit additional chairs into the building. We have discussed different ideas like going to multiple services, but we do realize that more space is needed. We love a packed house! But at the same time, we don’t want our service to be uncomfortable. We talked with Steve and Elba at length about this and were thankful for their wisdom and experience. We are beginning to pray and plan for our next steps. After all, we don’t want anyone turned away because of lack of space.

Our church

What are we looking forward to in the near future?

There are two things that Denise and I are really excited about. The first thing is the Brazil National Conference also called Intervinha. This will be taking place in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, during late May. My dad will be flying into Macapá about a week prior to Intervinha and he will be joining us in Brasilia. So excited to see my dad! This will be a very special Intervinha as Vineyard Brazil is being released as its own Association independent of the United States, and Milton Lucas will become our first National Director of the Association of Vineyard Churches in Brazil.

The other thing Denise and I are excited about is having a team from my home church in Delaware County visiting in June! This will be the first time we will be hosting a team, so we are a little nervous – but mostly excited! We can’t wait to show everyone around Macapá and show what Denise and I have been up to! My best friend and brother, J.T., will be on the team and also my good friend, Michael Hansen.

These visits and encouragement from my family, our friends and church couldn’t have come at a better time as lately I have been feeling a bit homesick. Denise and I were scheduled to take a furlough this summer, but we feel that since we moved to Macapá recently it would be valuable to be present for a while. For that reason we decided to skip our furlough this year and take it in 2017.

What would we like prayer for?

Pray for our time with family, and that our Delaware County team/friends are blessed, too.
Pray for our travel and for Intervinha.
Pray for health – I have had a couple bouts of kidney stones over the last several months. Also, we are living at the epicenter of the Zika virus.
Pray for continued spiritual breakthrough, and wisdom in discipleship and church growth.

Thank you again for your prayers, support and emails. They all mean a great deal to us.

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise Meyer

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

Apr, 1

Discovery Bible Studies – Eight Month Review

The youth in the Marabá church are starting to experiment with the DBS model. In the last couple of weeks, they started 14 new groups. Nine stopped after only one or two meetings. Five of these new groups are still going, and many of the young people are looking for other people who may be open to starting groups. As far as I know everyone who tries this type of a Bible study likes it, but many people are simply too busy, or not ready. We are trying to honor those who start groups that stop as much as those who start groups that carry on. Bella now facilitates 3 or 4 groups. Ivanildo and Monica are both facilitating groups. We see starting groups like planting seeds, and when they don’t take, we are learning to move on and try again.

We started experimenting with the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) process in August. We grew to over 20 DBS groups by Christmas. Our church started changing so rapidly the leaders became uneasy. Even though they invited me to do the training, and they like what they knew about the process, things started to take off in an unprecedented way. They did not have peace about where it was all going. There were other factors also that contributed to the apprehension.

In December Deanna and I left for about 6 weeks of travelling. This was a good thing. This allowed the dust to settle and the growth to slow down. When we got back 9 groups were still going. In the 2 months following our return Ivanildo and I had some good talks at a deeper level than we have had in the past. Now the local leaders are feeling good about leading the Marabá church forward, and using this model, though there are still many questions. We are free to help here in Marabá, to start groups in new cities, and to help other churches learn the model.

Last week-end Elba invited us to introduce this DBS model to some of the Mirante church leaders. Elba is continuing with their cell group model for some of that congregation, but introducing this as their own pilot project with other leaders. This week-end I am going to Santarem to meet with Clenildo, Angelita, and some leaders in their church. Next week-end I am going to Canaã, with the goal of going there for five week-ends during April and May.

We have yet to see a whole group decide to get baptized. Deanna’s lady’s group looks like they may be the first. They are 23 lessons in to the first 26. I lead one group through the whole 26 lessons, but they were all baptized before we started, even though they were in a lukewarm state spiritually. Two of the key players in this first group experienced great disruptions in their lives during this process. Eliete’s brother died, causing weeks of travel and disruption. Then her ex-husband died, causing months of travel as she works to pursue legal rights for her children. Her teen-age son Luan was also a key person two, starting another group and on the verge of starting another. It was his dad who drowned. He moved to Southern Brazil to resolve legal issues, and his groups stopped. That was months ago. The other fellows in my group were already baptized, and they continue to serve in the church. One is facilitating a new group.

I continue to be in relationship with Tiago (who was beating his wife the first time we met) and Leila, but their group has not restarted. Jaycee (“I am so sick of sin”) and Fabio are interested, but they also have not restarted. They both told me that Fabio used to be addicted to pot, but he has not had any interested since our second DBS in their house last September or October. This has been good for their family. Fabio and Tiago would both start going on missionary trips with me if I could figure out how to make that work. Maybe to Canaã? A lady in one of the Canaã groups got her wrist instantly healed during one DBS meeting. She couldn’t wash clothes. This was last Fall. In February I went back up there and it was still healed. “See. I can still wash clothes.” I am trying to figure out a way to spend more time in Canaã. A few hours once in awhile does not seem enough. I think there are four groups that will start or restart if I start showing up regularly.

Johnny (who leads a rock band) really wants to reactivate his group. They have trouble meeting without me present. Some who come do not value him as a spiritual leader. Last week they were going to meet without me, but then his Mom got really unreasonably sick with a bad attack of dengue, and they had to cancel.

It is hard to know what is spiritual warfare, and what is just part of living in a broken world. Elba invited me to come to lead some meetings in the Mirante church long ahead of time. “I’m sorry it is so far in the future, but the is the first time we can fit you in.” The meetings were to be in early March. The day we were to meet one of the beloved young fathers in their church died, and there was a funeral instead of the DBS meetings. We rebooked and did the meetings two weeks later. They went really well. Clenildo and Angelita are running hard and really stretched. Still, they wanted to fit in a couple of meetings about DBS with their leaders before we leave for the summer. A few days ago they had a bad car accident. No one was seriously hurt, but there was quite a bit of trauma, car damage, and no insurance. I am still going to go there this week-end, just to be with them, and to see if it is a good time to have some extra meetings. I think this is Angelita’s first big car accident. Faithfulness and perseverance enable us overcome obstacles.

One lesson I am learning is the necessity of finding ways to hang out with the various group facilitators. Once we identify group leaders, we need to find ways to hang out together. Pizza. Mission trips. Other ways.

In summary, we continue to learn about how this process will work in our circumstances. The adventure is back in the game.

Mar, 25

Scarry Night

Hello Friends and Family at Home!

As you may have already heard, last week, my house was robbed while I was sleeping. It happened at around 4:00am. I woke up and saw a man taking both my computer and my cell phone from a table on the side of my bed. I jumped up and lunged toward him. I grabbed him but I couldn´t hold him and he ran away. I tried to run after him but fell. I was still half a sleep, and didn´t really have time to react. I stood up and could see that both my front door and the gate were wide open. There was a hole in my window screen. The shirt and the sandals of the robber were laying on the ground.
I immediately went back inside to get dressed and go to the police station, which is very close to my house. It was closed with no one there. I wanted to contact friends but without a phone, that was not possible. I could do nothing but wait until the morning.
Finally, morning came and Ronã and Richie helped me with the details. We went to the police to file a report and also tried to reconstruct how the thieves had entered. My neighbors told me that they saw everything happen as two guys were trying to pry open the gate and one was standing off to the side with a gun. They were too afraid to intervene.
The next day, I friend of ours said that he had found my bike. He had been driving around his neighborhood and saw it at someone´s house. He stopped and confronted the guy, taking the bike from him. We immediately went to tell the police of the discovery.
Over the past week, the police have asked our friend several times to retell his story, but they have yet to confront the guy with the bike. They tell us that they are waiting to find him on the street because they are afraid that if they go to his house, he will try to hide the items somewhere else. Then, they may be even harder to find later. I´m not sure if I believe them, but I don´t really have another choice.
I´ve heard from others friends that the robbers are trying to sell the computer, but nobody wants to buy it! It´s an Apple and it´s in English, so no one here (at least the drug dealers) don´t know quite what to do with it! I guess this is a cause for hope!
Luckily as well, I have everything from my phone and my computer backed up to a hardrive and the internet, so I am not going to lose any information. But of course, now I am without both. Please, pray that the police are able to get at least the computer back soon.
As you can imagine, this was a pretty tramatic event for me. I wasn´t afraid at the moment it was happening, but the after-effects have been difficult. I spent a few days sleeping at another missionary´s house, Patty Fultz. She helped me recover and gave me a safe place to rest. I am back home now, but I will not live in fear. All I can do is try to make my house safer, which I have already done. The rest is in God´s hands.
Our classes are going well as Ronã is teaching both the Kids and Beginner classes. His students are really enjoying having him as a teacher. I am teaching the Advanced class, and I am really impressed with my students. The classes are being held in my house.
Our church is also doing well with steady growth. Richie has just started building our future church building. We are all excited about the progress.
I wish I could give you a better report of what is going on here, but it has been a crazy time for me. Again, your prayers are so necessary. Thank you for all of your love and support and prayers. They sustain me.

DONATE

Love, Allison

Mar, 14

31 Questions about Discovery Bible Studies

Questions

What should I do when the group only want to study one time?
What are the lists of verses we can use for Discovery Bible Studies?
What happens at the end of the 26 selections in the Creation for Christ study?
How long should I persist with a group?
What happens when many in the group quit coming?
What is the difference between Discovery Bible Studies and discipleship?
Can we arrange to do a Discovery Bible Study during the time of the church service?
What is the difference between Discovery Bible Studies and cell groups?
What should I do if my group has people who have problems with the law, and they confess things to me?
Do you have to have prayer in Discovery Bible Studies?
What should I do when the group is not a good location to do the studies, or when the group disagrees with the location?
What should I do if the majority of the group gives up, if just one faithful person remains other than myself, and we have many visitors participating if they are passing by?
What if my group is illiterate?
Does the leader of the group need to be a Christian?
What is needed to do a Discovery Bible Studies?
What should I do if the group ends all 26 lessons without visible results?
What should I do if someone is stealing my people or my group?
What should I do when the people only want me as a leader / facilitator?
What are the signs when the group is ending?
Is there anything about men doing groups with men and women with women?
What should I do when the group is quiet, when they do not speak or interact?
What should I do if some in the group begins to believe false doctrines because of the stories studied?
What should I do when a person in the group talks too much?
What should I do if the group wants to increase the study time to be more than an hour?
What should I do if someone in the group comes to harmful conclusions from a text?
How can I tell who is a Person of Peace?
How many people are needed for a Discovery Bible Study?
Can an addict or someone trapped in a serious sin start a Discovery Bible Studies?
What should I do if someone misses some studies in the group?
How do I know who should be the leader in the group?
What is the difference between the leader and the facilitator?

Mar, 2

March 2016 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for your prayers and support. We appreciate them very much!

Denise and I are still enjoying our new life here in Macapá! We are both very excited to share some of the things that have been going on and that we have been learning. It has been a very eventful month so first I just want to do a rundown of some of the highlights.

Denise and I were invited to take part in a youth worship conference in São Paulo. We both participated in the worship band and I was asked to be the speaker on the opening night. We had a great time getting to know new people, learning new things and seeing God draw near.

Worship conference in São Paulo

The leadership team we worked with

Fabiano praying for me prior to preaching

Preaching

Three days after returning from São Paulo our good friends and old roommates Geidson and Lica arrived from Altamira to speak at a youth conference we were putting on. The conference went great and Lica & Geidson did a fabulous job. They were also the first of our friends from Altamira to visit us in our new home.

Geidson & Lica

Within 24 hours of Geidson and Lica leaving Macapá, we were back at the airport picking up our fellow missionary friends Phil and Jen Snell. Phil and Jen were joined by their 2 kids and a young woman named Madeline who is here on a short term visa, helping to homeschool their kids. Our time with them was a blast. Spending time with Jen and Phil is always filled with lots of laughter!

Jen, Phil and Madeline with us and some Macapá members

Our church having fun with games

When Denise and I showed up in Macapá around 4 months ago, the church was going through a rough time. As we stated in our last newsletter, things felt very stagnant and dry, but then the Holy Spirit showed up! Since that time, the Lord has continued to revive the church. In a two month period, we have seen our church attendance more than double. Even more exciting than that, we’ve continued to see people encounter Jesus for the first time. We have seen around 10 people make first time commitments to walk with Jesus. Later this month we are planning to have the church’s first baptism in over a year.

Denise with one of our new members, Bianca. She will be baptized this month.

Church attendance two months ago

Church attendance three weeks ago

We have spent quite a bit of time thinking and pondering the reasons for the church’s recent upswing. Denise and I would love to take credit for the church’s growth and excitement, but we cannot. J We do feel that we have helped impact certain areas of the church. We brought new ideas that we have implemented and they seem to be working, but we believe that what is going on with the church comes down to one decision that was made: to always allow a lot of room for the Holy Spirit to operate. During earlier meetings with our leadership team, there was a John Wimber quote that continued to surface: “The Holy Spirit wants his church back.” We decided to shorten our teachings and allow extra time to invite the Holy Spirit to minister to us and do his thing. Time and time again, he has showed up. It’s in these moments that we see excitement fill the church. People’s lives are being changed.

Two new members sharing about their experience of meeting Jesus for the first time

Ministry time at the Macapá Vineyard

Denise and I have been humbled by the Spirit’s blessing. We have received front row seats to something beautiful. Many nights we have lay in bed giggling like little children about how fun this is and how much easier our job is when the Holy Spirit shows up. We are so excited for what is coming next. After all, we are not only spectators in his divine plan, but have been invited to come play a part in it as well.

Prayer Requests:

The continued presence and movement of the Holy Spirit in our church.
Increased discipleship within the church.
Protection, provision and wisdom for Denise and me as we minister here.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. We love hearing from you!

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

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

Lost in the Light

Hello Faithful Friends and Supporters!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying a mild winter. Honestly, I would love to be cold right now—not freezing—but cold sounds great. I would wear a scarf and a sweater and curl up my hands in the sleeves and drink hot tea. I would watch the early evening light lower between the tall, naked trees. I would listen to the quiet of crisp air, and I would be still in my very soul.

But instead, I am here in Portel where the heat often feel like a smothering lover. You long for space and a refuge from it. A sacred place, but none exists.

I will take this opportunity to be unusually candid with you. This can be a hard place to live. There are so many demands coming from so many different directions, and you never feel “on top of it”. It is always on top of you.

I was asking the Lord last night, “Are you sure you picked the right person for this? Am I really cut out for this?” And he took me to a passage in 1 Corinthians 2:3-5 where Paul states, “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”

The truth is that I’m not the best missionary. I’m not like the ones you read about in books. I only have a cup of water to give away. I am not feeding the masses. I am not saving thousands in orphanages. The Holy Spirit doesn’t bring everyone to their knees when I walk in the room. My service is simple and incomplete. I still have to fight with myself. I don’t live in the place of perfect peace and perfect trust in God. I get just as impatient waiting in line as the next person. I have nothing to offer God. I came here in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

And sometimes, I feel so spoiled. Maybe it’s just complete apathy, but the people I see everyday do not seem to be nearly as up in arms as I am about their circumstances. They live in the same harsh world that I do, except that often, their plight is much worse than mine. And of course, they have nothing else to compare it to. I, unfortunately, do. I have a whole world of luxury to juxtapose my daily experiences. And these lost comforts call me, and I want to listen.

But I didn’t come here to be comfortable. I can spend eternity being comfortable. I gave up comfort for a simple dream. I wanted to see the Kingdom of Heaven. I wanted to watch God work and move in the Earth. I wanted to see a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. But do I have enough strength to let go of myself long enough to see it?

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” 1Corinthians 1:27-29

I am a foolish and small and weak thing, so I guess I’m qualified. My only hope is that in all this emptiness, God would reveal himself. I can’t tell you how much my heart aches daily to see the Lord. I long to see him move tangibly in the lives of those around me. I long to see them overwhelmed and overtaken by the true lover of their souls. I long to watch them fall in love. It is this desire that has so directly positioned me in the place of weakness and fear.

Won’t you come with me? Won’t you enter into the place of your own heart to find the darkness there? Won’t you allow the light of a new hope to shine in there? Only when all other lights are dimmed can we see the One that shines the brightest….

We die a thousand times

And then you bring us back to life.

We die a thousand times

And then you bring us back to life.

Dig our bodies from the grave

Take us from the sweat and mud

Cleanse us with your refreshing blood

Wipe the lies from our eyes

And we see for the first time

Though we rested in the belly of destruction

You birthed us again, naked with redemption

What mystery is this that we could tell the story again?

What path is this that we could share what we have learned?

Only you and I know

Only our feet walked it together

I cannot walk it for another

Take them down the road

Lead them into the lonely wilderness

Let them smell the fiery smokes of hell

Let them taste the decay of their flesh

Let them hear the whisper of your tenderness

Let them feel the hint of your breath

Let them sense the weight of your presence

Take them into your arms again

Pick them up from the miry pit

All is new all over again

All is new all over again.

Breathe, veins pump blood.

Rich again, well again, free for the very first time.

We die a thousand times

And then you bring us back to life.

Love, Allison

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Cristoval 2016 Pacaja

Cyndi and I had the privilege of traveling to Pacaja on Monday to teach at their Cristoval ( a retreat that the Church hás during Carnival so that families can get away and do fun things together instead of being in their neighbourhoods with a lot of ‘binge partying’).

I spoke 3 times in 2 days on walking in God’s love instead of

walking in fear of God. This was the 3rd time that this young

church hás ran this retreat and I was very impressed and

encouraged by it all.

Here are some photos:

Making flowers for the Hawaii night

Great worship band.

Open sessions of great worship and then teaching and minstry

Jan, 14

January 2016 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for your prayers and support. They have been greatly appreciated.

Denise and I have been in Macapá for almost 3 months now. Living here has been a completely different experience than our time in Altamira. For one thing, in Altamira we had a huge safety net of other missionaries, multiple Vineyard churches, and the home base of the Xingu Mission. Here in Macapá, although we have been developing new and special relationships, we are a bit more isolated and feel that sense of being on our own. Denise and I were brought here to help a small struggling church. Prior to coming here, we talked a lot about ideas for the church, but I don’t think anything could quite prepare us for our experience here so far. Since we arrived, putting our ideas into action has been scary and exciting all at the same time.

Shortly after arriving, Denise and I were ordained as pastors in the church. This was suggested by the two Northern Brazil Directors, Clenildo and Elba. They wanted the church to see us as people of authority from the get-go. The Senior Pastor, Felipe, agreed with this decision.

Our new church home

Us being ordained

We are falling in love with the church and the people here, but the Macapá Vineyard needs support in many areas including training for the worship team, discipleship and small group development, and help with finances and with organization in general. Denise and I made the conscious decision that our main focus initially would be to speak vision into the church and help the church develop a mission which we believe is a primary need here.

After a month of meetings and discussions, Denise and I became a bit disheartened. We knew that this process was going to be long and slow at times, but it was discouraging to see no movement whatsoever. To be honest, the church as a whole seemed disenchanted, bored and dry. Denise and I decided to spend a week fasting, praying and intentionally seeking God. The next week I was scheduled to preach at church. Denise and I both went to church experiencing something different in our hearts – a feeling of hopeful expectation. On this week the church was packed with new people and we could sense something different in the church as well. As I spoke about the Great Commission and how we as the Church all have a part in this, I could sense an excitement in the air. The whole church stepped forward for prayer at ministry time! We also had 3 visitors make decisions to follow Jesus for the first time!

Denise and I left church that night with overwhelming excitement. We realize that this process is going to be a difficult one with many twists and turns, but we believe that God gave us a glimpse of what is to come. Since then Denise and I have continued to speak vision into the church, we have started a discipleship program, but most of all have tried to lead by example. We are seeing our numbers rise, more new conversions and a tangible excitement growing in the church.

Denise preaching at church

Going to see the new Star Wars with friends in Macapá

Some kids worshipping

Last month Denise and I were also able to visit Denise’s parents for Christmas. Although I missed my family in Ohio tremendously, being with Denise’s family eased this longing. We had a great time with her parents and brothers! It was also nice being able to sit down with Denise’s father Clenildo and discuss ideas for the Macapá Vineyard. Clenildo has been doing ministry for many years here in Northern Brazil and is very good at it. He had great ideas that Denise and I have already started to incorporate into our work in Macapá.

Denise and I speaking at the Santarem Vineyard while visiting her family