XM, Author at Xingu Mission

We pray that this you well and that you had a wonderful and blessed Easter. He has Risen, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord.

We had our traditional Easter early morning church service and celebrated the Lord’s resurrection and then served breakfast. It takes a lot of work to pull this off and it is essentially a whole church effort. Each of the home groups were responsible to bring an item that would be enough to feed 300 people. Everyone chipped in and made it a great and inviting time for all guests.

The church went down to the local corner grocery store and pitched a tent and asked people if they wanted prayer for healing. We prayed for over 80 people and people claimed to be healed. It was really encouraging and a great blessing for the ones who received prayer. We prayed for a man who walked by on crutches. He was obviously touched by the Lord in such a great way that he went away carrying his crutches. YAHOO! Praise the Lord indeed. Lord, continue and soak us more with your presence and power to heal the sick, the blind, the lame and the deaf.

We also had the pleasure of baptizing 4 people into the Lord. I got the privilege to be able to experience this moment with them. We celebrated the baptism while the church was worshipping the Lord and celebrating these new births in Christ as they were washed from their old self and into their new identity in Christ. Please pray for these new converts.

Praise the Lord the girls continue to do well. They both participated in dance presentations for our Easter service. They both did a great job. We also found this snake in our yard and we killed it. They said that it was poisonous and we did not ask any more questions. J The girls were brave and held it after we killed it. Camilly will be turning 10 years old on April 18^th. She is so excited and is in total party mode.

Thank you so much for all your prayers for Elba. Praise the Lord she is feeling much better and is running at 100%. We feel so privileged to have you in our lives praying and supporting us. Thank you so much. Please continue to pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us. Thanks again.

Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa

Tax deductible donations can be written and sent to:

The Xingu Mission

P.O Box 340785

Columbus, Ohio 43234

Or On-line donations at:

https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/dolan-ministries/

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Apr, 11

XM

No Going Back

Do you remember those paintings, the ones that just look like a bunch of blotches but hidden within is a three-dimensional image?

When they first came out I thought it was ridiculous and that anyone who said they saw a soaring eagle or a skyline of New York city was either lying to themselves and everyone else or just delusional. I tried and tried, blurred my eyes, stood like a fool with my nose pressed against the painting at first and then backed up, but still nothing.

I finally gave up and decided it was exactly as it looked, a bunch of random colour blotches with no other hidden image.

Then one day I was at a friend’s house and they had one. They gave me a few suggestions for how I could try to see the picture so I tried again. I allowed my focus to blur, relaxed my eyes and there was a flash of something round, and protruding from the picture. I startled me so much that I brought my eyes back into focus. What did I just see? I tried again. Suddenly, my eyes came back into focus, except this time I was faced with an image jumping out of the blotches. I was looking a full moon, hanging over a majestic pine and through the night sky soared an eagle. Incredible!

‘I see it I see it!’ I shouted.

My sister, who was with me, hadn’t seen it yet.
‘Where, how? I can’t see it!’ she was frustrated and a little jealous that I could see it, somewhat doubtful that I actually was seeing something.

I walked her through the steps again and told her how I managed to see the picture.

I watched as her eyes went from dull to large and bright.
‘I see it I see it! Oh my goodness, how is this possible!’ She exclaimed.

After that night we were a little crazy about seeing these pictures. We bought a book full of them, ran to the mall where there was a display of them and stood looking at all of them. You felt as though you could reach out and touch the things in the picture.

From that day on the images that were ‘hidden’ in these blotches, were impossible for me to notsee.

So, where am I going with this?

I always wondered what people meant when they said they found Jesus like he had been hiding under the couch or something. I just didn’t get it.

The Kingdom of Heaven is sometimes described as the already and the not yet, the seen and the unseen. Before I ‘saw’ I thought that those who could see were like the people who claimed to see something in those paintings. They were either delusional, or lying to themselves.

I was blind but now I see….

For me the moment of believing came in a flash, just like seeing the images in those paintings. I was blind to it, and then I wasn’t. It all became known, even though I didn’t have all the answers, I now could see what was always there, I believed.

How precious did that Grace appear, the hour I first believed.

In order to see those images, I had to re-learn how to see, I had to un-train my trained eyes, not to see what something looked like on the surface, but to see beyond it. Once I saw the images in those paintings, there was no going back, I couldn’t un-see them.

I once was lost but now I’m found.

Before I believed, I saw most Christians (and ironically most especially missionaries) as people who just wanted to bend you to their way of thinking, they’d been brain washed and now they were bent on shoving religion down other’s throats. Why couldn’t they just leave people to their own beliefs?

Here’s the thing. When I was able to see the images in those paintings, I wanted to help everyone else see those images, not because I wanted to push something on them but because it was AMAZING.

When you begin to understand the magnitude of believing and see how it has changed your life from a seemingly random arrangement of blotches of colour, into a beautiful three-dimensional piece of art, you want others to have it too, because it’s GOOD, it’s more than good….

It’s AMAZING!

Now scroll back up, look at the blotches, blur your eyes and then relax. Do you see him? He’s in there, waiting, he’s been seeing you your whole life, just waiting for you to be able to see him.

Apr, 1

XM

A Video Update

Our ministries here are in full swing, kids are in school and days are full. I find I’m without the time to let my fingers fly on the keyboard the way I would like to these days. Saying that, we don’t want to leave our followers and supporters thinking we have sailed down river never to be heard from again.

So, this month we are shaking it up and bringing you a video upate!

Mar, 31

XM

Take time for God

A healthy spiritual discipline is to sit quietly, with all our electronics off, to think about who and what is around us, and to wonder about God’s hand in it all.

Bella Bergen 2015

Mar, 31

XM

Church Last Week

Our church has a new enthusiasm since the Cristoval event. One of the powerful things that happened during this event was when Art and Cyndi Rae spoke to the young people. Even now, a month later, people are changing.

Deanna preaches at Igreja da Vinha in Marabá.

Mar, 31

XM

Pond

Our friend has a loader, so he came and worked for us for a few hours last week. As we get opportunities we make improvements to our property. In this case we have a pond in our field. We look forward to the day when this is part of a training and retreat center.

When we first moved here we planted bamboo on one side (top photo), to help prevent erosion.

Mar, 28

XM

Puzzling Reflections

I was at the neighbours this week, and the news was on. “This guy did this. Then this person did that.” While these might be the facts, they are not the whole story. Paul says that we see through a glass dimly. It is like we are looking in a mirror, and trying to discern what is happening. The gospels say that Jesus was motivated by compassion. This is the lens through which He saw people and situations. As we look at our family, neighbours, friends, and national events through the eyes of compassion, with faith, hope, and love, we can sometimes understand a little of what is going on, and how we can be helpful.
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 1 Cor. 13:12 NET

Go to Source

Mar, 28

XM

Marabá Leadership Team

This photo of the Marabá leadership team was taken while Deanna was in Canada last Fall. We are very grateful that her health continues to be good.

In the meantime, we posted this leadership photo on the new Mission Website (thanks to Steve Dolan). We’ll retake the Maraba Leadership Team photo when Deanna gets here, so it will be complete.

To see the new Xingu Mission website, click here.

The Maraba Leadership Team photo (missing Deanna)

Go to Source

Mar, 28

XM

The Leader’s of Tomorrow

I just had coffee with a young fellow who was quite involved here for years, but had disappeared. “I had to get out of here before I ended up shot or in jail.” Then he started telling me of the sad stories of several young fellows his age, and the terrible experiences of friends who go to jail. Our neighbourhood has a bad reputation, which we are working to change. Not all of these young men and women make poor choices as teen-agers. Some of them stick with the church, and their Christian friends, and some of these now have happy marriages. The consequences of the two different paths seem so obvious when you can see them for a little distance.

Our hope is to find more ways to include teen-agers, so they can get past those difficult years, and onto a good path as adults.

Here are two photos of Bella teaching Sunday School. While I think she has been a helper all of her life, this was her first time actually responsible for the teaching. I am very proud of her! Thank you to everyone who supports this work, and enables us to live with and to help these people. We are so grateful.