Monday morning Emma, Bella, and I, were sitting at our table, luxuriating over a meal after an exhausting week-end, which included the big wedding on Saturday, the baptism, preaching on Sunday, and studying almost every free second until 4 a.m. Monday morning (midnight PST) to submit a university essay, worth 30% of my grade. We were telling stories, and enjoying fried eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, bacon, and fresh mangoes, which fell from the tree right outside our front door, suddenly the dog was barking and there were people at the door. “Could you take Bruno to the hospital!?” Then I remembered that at some point during the week-end Phil told me that he had taken Bruno’s grandma to the hospital. She passed out from all the violence in her home (which shares a wall with our church property) when the police came in and arrested Bruno. He had gone on a kind of rampage, I’m not sure why. Now, Monday morning, he had a broken knee. I took him to the hospital three times this week, and he is scheduled to get surgery next week. Bruno told me “William was arrested and thrown in jail last night.” When I told Bella, she told me that William’s girlfriend was pregnant. Bruno used to want to be a missionary. Bruno, William, and many others participated in church programs. Now they are repeating the stories their parents passed down to them. Bruno wants to reform his life. Please pray for God to transform him. There is so much pain in broken families. At least two of our neighbourhood families had no food in their homes this week, and lots of children. We brought one of them some basic supplies. Our hope is to help transform this neighbourhood. I think of 1 Cor 1:26b, 27 “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.” Maybe God will raise up a harvest of missionaries from this violent neighbourhood, people who will serve God with complete abandonment. We have three major goals: 1. Help develop the local church. 2. Build a training center and host regular events. 3. Plant many more churches, especially among the unreached. We are low on support. I say this just so you know. (1) We need funds for building maintenance and improvements (2) We need a caretaker home in the church yard so we have someone to keep an eye on things. We need funds to develop the training center, (3) especially an eating area, and (4) a new shop, so we can use our existing shop for a conference teaching room. One day this church will have enough offerings to care for itself and to help many others. Right now you have an opportunity to invest in a startup organization that will produce missionaries, healthy families, and countless acts of kindness until Jesus returns.

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Nine People Baptized!

Last Sunday morning many of our church members had breakfast together and walked down to the river on the edge of the church property to baptize nine more people. Felipe was in trouble with the law not too long ago. Now he is training for the worship team, and his life is turned around. Other baptism candidates included Eliete and her daughter Shianne, the Snells daughter, Faith, the Leao’s daughter, Bruna, and several others. It was a great morning.

Phil, Felipe, and Monica

The Tocantins river, at the foot of our property.

Phil, Monica, Jen, and Ivanildo – the baptizers. (They paired up so there was one fluent Portuguese speaker per team).

Nine people were baptized at the river this morning.

Marques led worship.

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First Josias started coming to our church. Then a girl started coming with him. They are both not from our immediate neighbourhood. Here is how some conversations went. “Who is the new girl?” “Josias’s girlfriend.” “Ohhh (and an opinion).” After several months, Josias and Vanessa started to think seriously about marriage, and Ivanildo and Monica set up regular pre-marital counselling meetings.

Yesterday, at the wedding feast, at about 10:30 at night, I was walking along the food line-up, talking to people, and reflecting on what a beautiful wedding it was. One of the 14 year old girls had a different expression on her face, so I stopped. She said, “One day I am going to get married.” It seemed to me like this was a new thought for her. Many girls in our neighbourhood get pregnant young, and go from their boyfriend’s house, or his mom’s house, and back to their mom’s house when things don’t work out, and many relationships are full of pain and difficulties. The beauty of a community of people supporting a young couple as they make marriage commitments is very profound.

Vanessa

“I do!”

Married!

The church transformed their front yard for the wedding.

Huge amounts of food capped off the evening celebration.

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One of the main roads in Altamira             

    It is easy to pass by others in their need.  It really is. 

    My wife and I were driving down the road at 60 mph on our way to lunch together.  I drove right by them.  “Them” was a young couple with a small child walking along the edge of the road, pushing their scooter which had a flat tire.  My wife said something about helping them and I turned around.  When we pulled up beside them, they were both surprised and thankful.  We gave the mother and her child a ride home which was a detuor from our route but one that was well worth it.  It got them out of the midday heat and helped their four year old get lunch more quickly.

    Bonus benefit – when we dropped this young mom and her little son off at their home, we met her sister-in-law, who was an old friend that we hadn’t seen for a few years.  They live out in the bush and it was good to be able to reconnect with a brief visit. 

    When we step out in small ways from our normal routine, usually we reap unexpected rewards.   God uses these moments when we are outside of our predictable pattern of life to speak into our lives, to lead us to new relationships, to open our eyes to new realities, and to soften our hearts with greater compassion.  One thing that we just don’t find in the Gospels is anything that says, “And then Jesus just did pretty much what everyone expected”.  It seems that God’s way is often to touch us when we step outside our self-imposed boundaries and expectations. 

    May God keep us sensitive to where he is guiding and our eyes open to the needs of those around us, even when it seems inconvenient.  

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One of the many children in the Altamira region of Brazil

Hello Friends, Family, and Supporters!

Always good to write to you all and tell you about all the good things that I get to be apart of on a regular basis. This is my first month in Portel, and already, I feel a sense of purpose and connection to work God has started here.
Last week, I had the privilege of going out on the river with the team that delivers water filters. This is a project that was started in Porto de Moz when Richie and his family were based there. Now, they have moved the project to the Marajó region, which is where Portel is located. The project is very simple and effective. The team spends a few months making the filters which are basically made out of sand and concrete. The sand filters the water making it drinkable. Then, they load all the filters (which are very heavy) onto the boat and head out to the communities who live on the river.
Most of the people who live there go directly to the river for their drinking water. As you can imagine, they are constantly struggling with diarrhea and parasites as well as other health problems because of the quality of the water. The filters give them clean, drinking water with a system that is easy to maintain.

A Water Filter in a River Home

I wanted to go on the trip to experience the project for myself, but also to see how I could bless the people that we visited. I brought some goodies along me to give away: candy, markers, tooth paste, tooth brushes, and some basic medicines. As we stopped at each house, we were able to bless some of the people and the kids by giving away the gifts until we ran out. We also offered to pray for the families, and they willingly accepted.

Some of the kids with their presents

At one of the houses that we stopped, there was an old woman who could no longer talk or move very much and was being taken care of by her daughter. I assume that she had probably had a stroke, and her daughter said that she had been that way for 5 years. I laid my hand on the woman and as soon as we began to pray, she began to cry and moan. Of course, we had no idea what she was feeling, but I could imagine the suffering she might be experiencing from being literally trapped in her own body for years. I asked God’s Spirit to fill her and comfort her and give her peace. I prayed that His presence would let her know that she is never alone. I felt blessed that God had called us out onto the river to be a light to the people there.
I was also very impressed with the team of men who were responsible for delivering the filters. You can’t imagine how hard they worked everyday to deliver 90 filters in a week. There were so many challenges for them, but they faced them all. Loiro is the leader of the team, and he went to each house, asking the families if they wanted the filters as well as explaining to them how they worked. Elizeu not only worked hard all day, but then also gave a short service for one of the families later one night. And all of them, after each day, played soccer with the people from the communities, building friendships with them. I felt truly honored to be among such great servants.

Delivering a Filter

The day after we came back from the trip was Children’s Day here in Brazil. So, our church had an event for the neighborhood kids in the morning. It was a lot of fun, and we had about 50 kids show up.

They had to dance and balance the orange at the same time!

Now, I am back in Portel, and working hard toward the goal of preparing for the school. There is a lot to be done, but I have faith that God is helping to move this dream to a reality each day. I recently created a page on my facebook that will give updates about the progress of our school as well as our other projects, like the water filters. It’s CDR Social Marajó. Please go check it out!

As always, I want to thank all of you for your sincere support and faithfulness to our mission in Brazil. Our goal is to bring the Kingdom of God to Earth, and we do that everyday in big ways and small. Thank you for being apart of that. Thank you for seeing the possibilities and investing in people you have never met, but have decided to love because of Christ. I believe that what you are seeing here is only the beginning. My dream is to continue to grow a place where the people of this region can come in and experience the goodness of God in every area of their lives. God bless your families. Bless you with a deeper knowledge of God’s love and delight over you. That he sacrificed it all to give you freedom in the inner parts of your soul.

Love you,

Allison

Please see the rest of the pictures from my trip on the link below.

Water Filter Trip

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This is a short video clip of our the Children's Day Celebration at our church… as you can see, you don't need to be a child to celebrate – Anna can be seen on the far left edge of video.

One featured holiday in Brazil that exists in a unique form when compared to North America is Children’s Day.  This is celebrated on October 12^th and is marked by special events for children by the community, the family and the church. 

Our church has celebrated this event for several years by having a kid’s camp during this weekend.  This year, there more than 60 kids at the weekend camp and three of those kids were ours.  It was a great time for the children to worship, learn, pray and play together.  Too often we overlook children in the life of the church, prioritizing most of the other programs with talent and finances. 

                We really appreciate the effort and time that people put into the children’s ministry at our church.  One of those special people is a friend of our family, Lica.  I had the honor of walking Lica down the aisle and giving her away when she was married recently.  A couple of months ago, she broke her hip in a motorcycle accident.  She has convalescence ever since, using a wheelchair and she was still using crutches when she spoke at the children’s camp last weekend.  She shared on the power of God to change our situation and when she was done, some of the children spontaneously began to prayer for her to be healed.  They kept on until she started to dance with them and run around the auditorium!!  She laid her crutches down and is walking normally.  Totally a God moment. 

                So watch out because you never know when someone will believe what we teach.  And, when they do, it is an awesome thing because God delights when we give Him freedom to work in our lives. 

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I had the honor to give Lica away at her wedding – walking down the aisle with her earlier this year 

“Tia Jennifee, tia Jennifee!” shouts a small voice.  I look over the hot pan of beans I’m carrying from the Kombi to see little Emily running towards me, arms outstretched.  In the absence of her beloved ‘tia Deanna’ she seems to have taken a shine to me, and I am not complaining.

Emily (Eliete’s daughter) and Ruan (Kita’s son)

She’s hands down adorable.

I put the pan of beans down on the blue satin cloth covering a table outside the house of another friend of ours, Kita and bend down to scoop Emily up in a big abraço (hug).  She chatters away to me about this and that and I nod but unfortunately since she’s only three and I’m still learning Portuguese, she’s hard to understand.  But we hang out anyway as we wait for the people we invited to attend our Alpha Na Rua (Alpha in the Street).

The tables are adorned with red and white checkered table clothes and set up right in the dusty street.  There are few cars in this neighbourhood so blocking off one area is not a problem.

The sun is starting to set at it’s usual time, life near the equator means equal amounts of dark and light.  Unfortunately, in this neighbourhood there is more darkness than light, something we are hoping to change.

Seven o’clock comes, and as I do every week, I worry that no-one will turn up.  It’s in that moment I have to remember that God will call those who he’s working on, it’s not a worry I need to have.  But, as it also happens every week the minute we lift the lids off the pans and start to serve the food, our guests arrive and soon our tables are over-flowing with people and children, and the bubble of conversation mixes with the chirping crickets, barking dogs and cicadas still buzzing in the night heat.

By doing this on the street, we hope to remove some of the barriers people have between them and ‘the church’.  We’ve taken down the walls, invited them to our table to eat, talk and question life’s biggest questions.  Alpha is a twelve week, non-denominational introduction to Christianity.  It allows people to ask questions, discuss and wrestle without judgment.

This weeks Alpha is an introduction to the Holy Spirit.  When the video ends instead of having our small group discussions, we gather everyone in a circle and pray for them.  As I’m praying for woman,  I notice a group that has gathered across the street, watching from a distance.  I ask my husband and one of our young adults to go and pray for them.  Our young adult is a bit reluctant, I’m nudging him to the edges of his comfort zone.  They offer, and only one accepts, it’s the lady who lives in the house directly opposite to where we are and she has been watching every week, this week she’s decided to take part.  I offer to pray for her and she accepts. After I pray her eyes are bright, and her smile is wide (the first time I’ve seen her smile) and she thanks me, says “I really needed that prayer”.

As we finish for the night and pack up the chairs I notice, that sitting in the dark is a woman I’ve begun to know.  I ask our pastor’s wife Monica to come with me to pray for her.  As we sit and chat with her two men who are sitting with us chat with us too.  We pray for the woman, and afterwards one of the men says something quietly, I can’t hear him.  Monica asks if he would like us to pray for him.  He nods.

We rally the troops and surround him.  As the others are praying I see a picture in my head of this man in the dark, so dark he can’t see the hand in front of his face.  Suddenly, there is a light so bright it illuminates everything around him, and there’s path in front of him. I sense that there is some fear of this light.  I explain the image to him and tell him not to be afraid, that the light is good, the light is Jesus and he has a plan for his life.

We finish and he thanks us and heads home.  Monica asks ‘Do you know what he said to me?’.
‘No, I couldn’t hear him’ I respond.
‘He said yesterday, he wanted to put a rope around his neck and kill himself’, she says.

My eyes widen and I think of the image I had in my head, of him in the dark, and then in the light.  I say a silent prayer for him, I hope that something in his heart just changed, that the light is illuminating a path for him out of the darkness.

.

There’s a story about a child throwing starfish who’ve been beached, back into the ocean and someone asks why the child is bothering, there are thousands and thousands of starfish he can’t save them all.  The child picks up another starfish and puts it back into the ocean saying, ‘No, but I just saved that one’.

There are thousands and thousands of starfish in our neighbourhood, we can only pick up the ones God puts in front of us and put them back in the ocean.

Here is a 3 minute video about Alpha in the streets and how you can help.

Go to Source

“Tia Jennifee, tia Jennifee!” shouts a small voice.  I look over the hot pan of beans I’m carrying from the Kombi to see little Emily running towards me, arms outstretched.  In the absence of her beloved ‘tia Deanna’ she seems to have taken a shine to me, and I am not complaining.

Emily (Eliete’s daughter) and Ruan (Kita’s son)

She’s hands down adorable.

I put the pan of beans down on the blue satin cloth covering a table outside the house of another friend of ours, Kita and bend down to scoop Emily up in a big abraço (hug).  She chatters away to me about this and that and I nod but unfortunately since she’s only three and I’m still learning Portuguese, she’s hard to understand.  But we hang out anyway as we wait for the people we invited to attend our Alpha Na Rua (Alpha in the Street).

The tables are adorned with red and white checkered table clothes and set up right in the dusty street.  There are few cars in this neighbourhood so blocking off one area is not a problem.

The sun is starting to set at it’s usual time, life near the equator means equal amounts of dark and light.  Unfortunately, in this neighbourhood there is more darkness than light, something we are hoping to change.

Seven o’clock comes, and as I do every week, I worry that no-one will turn up.  It’s in that moment I have to remember that God will call those who he’s working on, it’s not a worry I need to have.  But, as it also happens every week the minute we lift the lids off the pans and start to serve the food, our guests arrive and soon our tables are over-flowing with people and children, and the bubble of conversation mixes with the chirping crickets, barking dogs and cicadas still buzzing in the night heat.

By doing this on the street, we hope to remove some of the barriers people have between them and ‘the church’.  We’ve taken down the walls, invited them to our table to eat, talk and question life’s biggest questions.  Alpha is a twelve week, non-denominational introduction to Christianity.  It allows people to ask questions, discuss and wrestle without judgment.

This weeks Alpha is an introduction to the Holy Spirit.  When the video ends instead of having our small group discussions, we gather everyone in a circle and pray for them.  As I’m praying for woman,  I notice a group that has gathered across the street, watching from a distance.  I ask my husband and one of our young adults to go and pray for them.  Our young adult is a bit reluctant, I’m nudging him to the edges of his comfort zone.  They offer, and only one accepts, it’s the lady who lives in the house directly opposite to where we are and she has been watching every week, this week she’s decided to take part.  I offer to pray for her and she accepts. After I pray her eyes are bright, and her smile is wide (the first time I’ve seen her smile) and she thanks me, says “I really needed that prayer”.

As we finish for the night and pack up the chairs I notice, that sitting in the dark is a woman I’ve begun to know.  I ask our pastor’s wife Monica to come with me to pray for her.  As we sit and chat with her two men who are sitting with us chat with us too.  We pray for the woman, and afterwards one of the men says something quietly, I can’t hear him.  Monica asks if he would like us to pray for him.  He nods.

We rally the troops and surround him.  As the others are praying I see a picture in my head of this man in the dark, so dark he can’t see the hand in front of his face.  Suddenly, there is a light so bright it illuminates everything around him, and there’s path in front of him. I sense that there is some fear of this light.  I explain the image to him and tell him not to be afraid, that the light is good, the light is Jesus and he has a plan for his life.

We finish and he thanks us and heads home.  Monica asks ‘Do you know what he said to me?’.
‘No, I couldn’t hear him’ I respond.
‘He said yesterday, he wanted to put a rope around his neck and kill himself’, she says.

My eyes widen and I think of the image I had in my head, of him in the dark, and then in the light.  I say a silent prayer for him, I hope that something in his heart just changed, that the light is illuminating a path for him out of the darkness.

.

There’s a story about a child throwing starfish who’ve been beached, back into the ocean and someone asks why the child is bothering, there are thousands and thousands of starfish he can’t save them all.  The child picks up another starfish and puts it back into the ocean saying, ‘No, but I just saved that one’.

There are thousands and thousands of starfish in our neighbourhood, we can only pick up the ones God puts in front of us and put them back in the ocean.

Here is a 3 minute video about Alpha in the streets and how you can help.

Go to Source

Me, Anna, and Suzanne at Anna's baptism  

                Yahoo!!  Our family had a great weekend – we celebrated Anna’s baptism.  I have a baptized a lot of people over the years, and it is always a good time.  But there is something special about baptizing your own children.

                It was a big weekend for our church.  We started our second service to both encourage growth in our church and also to make sure that there is ample space for people to minister in their gifts.  Along with that, we had our baptism service.  Since our church is only a block from the river, it is convenient to be able to walk down there for our baptism.

                For Anna, she has been discussing getting baptized for about a year.  When we talked to her about the upcoming baptism, she was really happy that the opportunity had finally come.  She has walked out her faith with genuine sincerity.  At times, she has shown wonderful spiritual insight when we talk with her and pray together. 

                Sunday morning dawned with a bit of overcast, but it is always warm here in our corner of Brazil.  We met at the church with nine others people who also were going to receive baptism.  There also were people from the different home groups in the church along for the celebration and we walked down to the river together.  As the new believers lined up for the baptism, I was out in the water waiting for them.  It was great to see the joy on everyone’s faces, but especially on my own daughter.  It is definitely a good time when we can celebrate with our children as they move ahead in their walk of faith.  

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The group of new believers who received baptism

Along the river's edge right after the baptism