Emma got home Monday night, with four other young people from our church. They came home by bus on the Trans-Amazon Highway, a fourteen hours journey with about half the road paved. All was well until they came to a river where the bridge was gone. Washed away. Everyone had to get their bags and pay a motorboat to cross the river. Then they had to get on a different bus on the other side. Except there weren’t enough seats, because many buses were doing this, but there was standing room. Needless to say, they had a fun adventure. But that was not the best part. They were part of a prayer conference, and saw many outstanding instantaneous healings. Saturday morning they prayed for people in the marketplace with very cool results. Emma has lots of stories, and this is a week that will mark her life. And the same for these other youth.

Luciano, Paulo Roberto, Adriana, Sammi, and Emma

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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I hope you all are enjoying time with your families. Now that I am living in Portel, and the only other missionaries are from Canada, it was easy to forget about Thanksgiving in November! But don’t worry, I’m not one of those people who get really sentimental about the holidays. Of course, I miss my family, but not just during the holidays.

As you know, I have been working on all the details to get the English classes started in February of 2015. There have been some great developments in the past month. We are still working on the building to house the school, but unfortunately, the funds to complete it are coming in slowly. I had been a little worried about how we were going to move forward without a building. Then Richie told me about a small university located in the city where he had rented out space for a missions meeting. He explained that there were rooms there available for rent. I went there and talked to the cooridinator of the school. It turned out that not only did the university have the rooms and times available for rent at a reasonable price, but that they were also looking for an English teacher. The English classes that they offer are only held on the weekends, so they wouldn’t interfere with any of the CDR classes. Also, the classes they offer are really only introductions to the English language, so it is a great opportunity to recruit students for CDR. Lastly, the money that I receive from the teaching position will be used to pay the rent for our own English classes! All this totally felt like something God had prepared for us! I can see that He is setting us up for success.

This past week has started our application process for the classes, and I have been walking around the city giving out flyers with information. As I have been speaking to those at the local businesses, many have expressed interest in joining the classes, especially interest in enrolling their children. Being that I am a native English speaker, it gives our project a lot of credibility in the city, as well as all the connections Richie has been able to make in his short time here. We are on our way. We are starting small, but I do believe we will start well.

Now that we are not under pressure to finish the building, we can work on it slowly as the funds become available. Of course, if you are interested in helping us finish, please contact me.

As I said before, I feel that God is moving things along in the right direction. Being a missionary, you find out quickly how little control you have over everything. We are so dependent on God and his provision. That can be very scary and very exciting at the same time! But of course, when you experience God coming through for you, you feel humbled and loved. Thank you, God, for your faithfulness!

As always, I want to thank and bless all of you. I know your prayers are a large part of my success here. There is no distance in the spiritual realm. I ask that you would continue to pray for the success of the CDR English school and for the funds to finish our building. I ask that you would pray for me to continue to build meaningful relationships in my new city. I want to bless you as well, that you would experience success in the projects that God has put in front of you to do. That he would show you his provision. I also pray for the health of your relationships, that God would touch those relationships in your life that are lost or broken. I pray that he would bring restoration and healing.

In early December, I will be returning to Altamira to spend the month visiting with my friends there. Being here alone in Portel can be difficult, and it is important that I go back to get some much needed relational time. I will talk to you all soon!

Love you and God bless!

Allison

Kids playing Volleyball at the Mission

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This month was really exciting because we participated in a conference with Marc Marx called “Healing on the Streets” (HOTS).   HOTS was launched out of Causeway Coast Vineyard in Colerain Ireland on Easter of 2005. Adopted by many churches the Healing on the Streets model is spreading around the world. It’s a gentle, non-confrontational way of connecting with people on the streets of our cities and introducing them to Jesus.  The conference was really good and I even received a healing.  (Read below)

After the conference we put our training into practice and hit the streets.  We went to a busy part of the city, and the city traffic cops blocked the road so that we could put chairs and ask people if they needed prayer for healing.  We prayed for so many people and they were healed.  We also helped lead them into a loving relationship with Jesus.  The most verifiable healing came to Lica (1^st picture).  Lica was in a horrible motorbike wreck and she broke many bones.  She was bedridden for many months.  She has been on the mend but it has been a slow process.  Her hand still had a broken bone that was clearly visible and had little mobility.  The doctors told her that they would need to re-break and reset it again.  She sat down, and the team started praying.  Christopher Meyer put his hand on top of hers and he felt the bones moving back and forth.  After they ended prayer the bone that was extruding from her hand came down significantly and she had about 90% of her movement again.  Praise the Lord!

The girls continue to do well.  However, Alyssa wanted so badly to give Camilly a gift, and actually, Camilly wanted to receive the gift with great eagerness.  Well she got…Chicken Pox…. and she was not happy.  We always need to be careful what we ask for.  Alyssa is learning how to play the flute.  She is learning Christmas songs like O Holy Night, and Jingle Bells.  She has pretty much mastered the songs.  Both Camilly and Alyssa would like to play songs for us during Christmas.  Camilly on the keyboard, and Alyssa on the flute.

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

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:

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My healing came in the form of a leg growth.  I always knew I had one leg shorter than the other because of x-rays and confirmation by Chiropractors.  One of the other missionaries, Jen, also had the same problem and her leg grew.  Athila (the Central Senior Pastor) started pushing me to sit down to see if I would get a healing.  Out of embarrassment I sat down.  There were about 40 people surrounding me, and I was nervous.  I mean, what if nothing happened.  Marc grabbed my legs and confirmed what I already knew.  He started praying and I felt something pulling my leg, I looked at my leg because I thought he was the one pulling it.  However, his hands were not even close to my calf.  Then I saw my leg grow, and everyone gasped so loudly.  It was amazing.  Afterwards, I started walking on it and it felt so weird because I was landing so much quicker.  What an amazing experience….I still questioned if it really happened….but in the end, I know God touched me, and many others.  Pr. Athila after seeing what happened with me, jumped into the seat immediately so that God would heal him….He did.   

Elba’s sister Elbaleine was in the hospital and Elba went to be there with her and to pray for her.  During her time with her sister another woman came in with a terribly swollen and infected foot.  Elba felt God tugging on her to go and pray for her and she did.  Once she started praying she heard bones cracking and then the lady’s swelling was gone and she had complete mobility.  She was so amazed at the power of prayer that she asked Elba to put her hands on her head because in her words “my life is a mess”.  Elba then shared God’s love for her and the lady left the hospital.  After her visit with her sister, Elba left the hospital and saw the lady that she prayed for outside talking to a bunch of people and she started screaming “there’s the lady with the holy hands”.  This was so embarrassing for Elba and she reaffirmed that it was not her but Jesus that healed her.  Elba also prayed for her sister, and nothing happened and she is still not well.  These are the things that are difficult because one person gets a healing, and another does not.  But should we give up?  No, we need to keep pressing in, and just keep praying. 

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It’s November and we are just 80 days or so away from getting on the plane to head back to what we called home 10+ years ago. 
I personally have felt many ups and downs during this process, but thank the Lord for allowing us plenty of time to process this change.

Nate working hard on math on the porch, away from the noise of the others in the living room.

Chelsea and Makenna working hard!

Maddy working on math, looks like Hannah already did her work and was playing outside.

 We have been on a good home-school schedule trying to get most subjects done by Christmas or at least by re-entry to the States. 

Church life…
Church life is going well. We are working with our leadership team to get them ready for walking on their own.

Chico and Nilza, our main leaders in Maribel

Chico and Nilza will be/are the main leaders of the Maribel church. 

We had a gal come back to the Lord a few weeks ago. I have had a few conversations with her since and asked Nilza to start discipling her. It brings joy to see discipleship happening and watching folks grow as they learn to walk with Jesus and show the way to others.

Alem do Veu

It took nearly 18+ months to accomplish a panoramic study from the Bible, but we did it!!!! 
Our friends, Steve and Sonia Armour, missionaries currently in Natal, Brazil, have worked many years developing this bible study in Portuguese. We were blessed to visit them last year and give them an update on our group. With the crazy, unpredictable culture of river folks, they were awarded certificates of completion. Some gave testimony that it helped them gain more knowledge and understanding of the Word of God and as Chico mentioned, it is the most treasured thing we have, the Word of God.

Chico with his certificate

Nilza with her certificate

Our Maribel Alem do Veu Graduates

Visitors…

We have had lots of visitors from Altamira and Maraba last month. The Snell Family are the newest missionary family living in Maraba and it was a mission for them to come all the way out(nearly 1000km) to see the work and bless us with bringing our sweetest Brazilian friends, Monica and Ivanildo and their family. It was a great surprise that they could also bring their kids(our kids were super happy) and a miracle that they could get the time off of school to come! We took them on a 3 day trip up river to visit communities that we regularly visit. We had 3 people give their lives to Jesus. Ivanildo shared and it was like a knife cutting through butter. We have visited this community many times and never had one salvation. We just kept planting seeds of friendship and watered them along with sharing the Lord with them. The Lord gave us a great gift in seeing hearts respond to Jesus! We were kissed by the sun and many mosquitos during that trip and the kids all did well!

Prayer time was very fruitful!

Special time of prayer over the youth in the village

A last good bye to this family and neighbors from Sao Fransisco!

Catching fish and eating mangos on the way.

Nate and his best bud, Marcos. Their birthdays are just one day apart!

Maddy, Bruna and Makenna in one last embrace.

Load ’em up and move ’em out! Jen, Phil, Ivanildo and Monica all piled in with the kids and heading back to Maraba! Thanks for the chocolate and s’mores, it was what the dr. ordered!!!!

Last weekend we had another missionary couple, Art and Cyndi Rae from Altamira come. They also brought a Brazilian couple we have known, to visit. They blessed us with lettuce, cheese, meat and watermelon!!!! It was a great treat!
We made homemade pizza with cheese in Maribel for the first time ever!!! Thanks Rae’s!

Cyndi Rae, Sheyla, Maddy and Makenna fixing up our pizzas in our kitchen in Maribel

Short and Sweet, praying before the Rae’s and our friends before they head back to Altamira.

Art giving the Brazilian thumbs up! Thanks for coming guys! We look ahead at travel for the next week or so. We are traveling up to Portel, where our co-laborers, Richie and Christie Bouthillier, who were in Porto de Moz, have started a new base much further up the river and onto the Amazon River. We will say our last good bye’s to them and a few of the Brazilians that moved there to help them plant a new church and work on the filter project there.

Maddy won “mustache” stickies from a treasure hunt!

Maddy surrounded by friends from Maribel

Maddy will celebrate her 12th birthday on Wednesday. The following day we will travel to Porto de Moz to see all our old gang, youth that are 6 yrs older now and some who have married and are starting families! It will also be our last good byes to them.

Our first visit to Porto de Moz in 2004. Lots of bbq’s on this beach,  relationships built, baptisms and relaxing family days happened here.

Our first months in PdMoz, taking the kids for a walk! Richie and Christie had little ones too and it was great fun!

We appreciate your prayers this week as it will be emotional for us all saying good bye.
We plan to return to Brazil to visit but we just don’t know when we’ll see all of these folks, whom we love and will miss as they are all so spread out in the region we have lived these past years. 

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Do You Believe In Miracles?

Three weeks ago we packed up our Kombi and with our family and four youth from our church drove the bumpy dusty Transamazon Highway to a conference on Healing in the Streets in Altamira.  I had no idea that one of the first miracle healings I would witness would be my own.
 The day before it happened, I admitted to someone that I was a bit of a ‘doubting Thomas’, that I would have to see or experience something like a limb growing in order to believe it.  The next night at the conference on ‘Healing in the Streets’, the speaker, who was from Ireland and therefore being translated, asked if anyone in the audience had one leg shorter than the other.  My hand seemingly involuntarily shot up.  Because everyone else didn’t understand what he said until it was translated, I was the first one.  He called me up and I was immediately surrounded by 300 people and regretting having put my hand up.  He explained that Christ gave all His disciples the authority to heal the sick.  Just as the Apostles did, they spoke to the problem and to it told go in Jesus name, and that because we are disciples we have the same authority.  At that he gently held my feet in his open hands and told my back to be straight (I was diagnosed with mild scoliosis when I was twelve) and I felt something shift in my back and I think I stopped breathing.  He then told my leg to grow and….well….it did.  There was a loud collective gasp from the crowd as they watched my leg extend to meet the length of the other. I was in shock, my leg just grew, I felt it move through the leg of my shorts as it did.  Turns out that even when I experience something I still have a hard time believing it.
This visual miracle was a great faith booster for our youth (and me!) and they were excited to hit the streets the next day praying for the sick.  We lined chairs up in a busy market street and offered to pray for passersby.  We saw many people healed of pain, bone growths shrink, eye infections disappear and hearts that were broken revealed and healed.  We are bringing this ministry to Maraba, with hopes to visit different parks every month, with worship, dance and theater performances followed by prayer.

In the Bible, when Jesus healed someone he often told them not to tell anyone about it-and of course they did the exact opposite and shouted it from the rooftops.  Many have discussed why He might have told them not to tell anyone.
I posted about my miraculous leg growth experience on Facebook and to my dismay found that it led to a huge debate about the reality of the love of God and miracles between my Christian and non-Christian friends.
In Kevin Dedmon’s book ‘The Ultimate Treasure Hunt’ he says “most people do not come into the Kingdom through a well-developed argument.  They come through an encounter, whether it is a personal testimony of how someone else encountered God in some way, or a supernatural encounter in which God revealed Himself to them in a specific way.  The reality is a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.” Although I believed that God could heal anything, clearly before my own encounter, I still had some unbelief.  Because of my own experience, my own encounter, that unbelief is gone.   When God demonstrates His love through physical healing, the veil between heaven and earth is opened and we are able to experience the ‘not yet’ in the here and now.
We want to introduce the people in our neighbourhood, in our city to a loving and living God, through personal encounter.

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Why Are River Trips Important?

We can reach out to remote people, help those on the margins of society, and follow God's heart of compassion.  

Follow the link to watch the video….

Support the Simon Family (click the link to support our ministry)

Support National Church Planting

Sunrise over the Xingu River

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The kids love the chacara (church property) even more when it is fruit season. But some of them are kind of untrained. This week when some of our leadership was travelling, we were less able to keep a close eye on their activities. They ended up moving a hose out of our view, playing with water for hours, and left the water running overnight, which eventually burnt out the water pump. Then they got into our old car, which we are trying to sell. They found some powder graphite and sprayed it all over inside and outside of the car, making a terrible mess. If we can keep loving them, having patience, keeping the big picture, who knows the plans God has for these kids? And when you hear their stories, it really helps.

Thais, who is up in a choke-cherry tree, is one of the girl’s good friends. She has a cute little baby, Melany.

The children bring bags so they can take home the fruit on our trees.

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Bella is 16!

Bella turned 16 years old today! We made mango pie and vanilla ice cream, to celebrate.

First Birthday Celebration Without Mom, (but we celebrated together throughout the day via Skype).

Emma and Bella collected two buckets of Bacuri Mangoes.

Bella tested two mango recipes, and they are both good.

Birthday Breakfast.

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Bella got her inspiration one day this week from The Screwtape Letters, a book by C. S. Lewis, and from the pumpkin pie that she cooked up (her first).God gave his church seasonal rhythms, so that our celebrations (and our lives) can always have change, and they can always be the same, all at once! How cool is that?We celebrated a Canadian October tradition in Brazil, and it was delicious. I wish you could have been here. Have a great week. Warmly, Bella and Rick.

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