XM Archives | Page 32 of 40

0

Celebrating Children’s Day & A Miracle

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.

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

Support National Church Planting

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

Oct, 14

XM

0

XM

Alpha Hit’s the Streets

“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.

0

Alpha Hits the Streets

“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.

0

Celebrating Baptism

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.

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

Support National Church Planting

The group of new believers who received baptism

Along the river's edge right after the baptism

Oct, 4

XM

0

XM

Cyndi’s reflections sparked by Dan’s testimony

Dan’s talk sparked a few reflections for me.

If you were not able to listen to Dan’s testimony last time…have a listen here. Cyndi then follows up with her reflections.

Click on this link to see / hear Daniel’s talk….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzH1e-2YZFc&feature=youtu.be

As a family God has sustained us through these past 3 years full of transition. He has more than sustained us — he has been at work in our hearts breaking and reshaping them.

Some day I will blog about my convoluted journey as a mother leaving behind my daughters and son-in-law. Admitting that our decision to follow God’s leading to Brazil, caused suffering in the lives of our children, both those coming with us and those who stayed behind, isn’t an easy thing to write. Instinctively, I tried to keep my children out of harm’s way and do what was within my power to bring joy to their lives. Ie. Saving up money to take them to Disney world when they were young. Praying for them to find good friends. Hoping they get that amazing grade 5 teacher that you’ve heard so much about. Trying to communicate in a hundred different ways, I’m here for you. The one thought that never crosses your mind is: how can I bring about some suffering in my children’s lives. Uprooting and fracturing our family (reconfiguring sounds better) out of our beautiful home in a comfortable middle class neighbourhood lined with century old maple trees was heart rending. Yes. Heart rending.

When we yield control of our lives to God, when we choose to get out of the driver’s seat what follows is an incredible adventure (meaning challenging, stretching) of faith, filled with both joy and sorrow. This sustained loss of control leads to a necessary suffering because our egos don’t want to die. They want to keep calling the shots. But when they are in charge, we end up living very small lives centered around pleasure, our custom- made comfort zone, and creating our own security systems that ensure we will never be in need for anything or anyone, not even God. This is the cocktail served up intravenously into the veins of the western world. It is a powerful cocktail. It induces a state of stupor that only the cross of Jesus can remedy on a daily basis. This daily ‘cross’ bearing means far more than simply the death of our egos, although it begins there to be sure. It signifies a growing dependence on God to provide all that we need – physical and emotional. This isn’t an easy path in the initial stages. There is much anxiety and many questions. Will God really meet ALL of our needs ? I wasn’t anxious about being physically sustained in Brazil . . . finding my daily portion of rice and beans. But would God prove sufficient in our times of loneliness and the parental ache of living far away from our children. Those were (and are) the big ticket items for me. The promise God gave me before our departure for Brazil continues to assure me of His provision.
Isaiah 58:11
“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
We not only have our deeply compelling emotional needs to reckon with, regardless of where we live on the planet, do we. The lie that Satan spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden continues to present an impressive block to the flow of trust in our hearts towards God. The lie that God is withholding good things from us (see Genesis 3:5)is a formidable hindrance. It is always good to know the tactics of our enemy. This lie, left unchecked/unconfronted, operating within us, causes us to live like God really isn’t who He says He is, leaving us to try to create our own meaningful, loving paths. In recent weeks, I have intentionally rehearsed the truth that God is not withholding anything good from me. I do not want to live controlled by lies that hold us captive. This might sound a bit like trying to ‘find my happy place” but truthfully, it has helped me see more clearly the ongoing provision of God in all things.

Had we not both sensed a compelling call to move to Brazil we would never have left our comfort zone. It’s not easy being led to the edge of your personal resources and allowing your children to reach the brink of theirs, which is why we don’t engineer our own adventures, we are led into them. And through them we become more than who we were, not less, as Daniel discovered. James 1:2 says it best: “Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Interesting how our trials, should we persevere through them, actually ensure that we will not lack for anything we need. How counterintuitive is that ?! We fear they will diminish us in every way. While as a parent, instinctively we protect our children from harm, there are situations that we shouldn’t mess with, in the maturation of our children’s lives. We don’t go out seeking to engineer difficulties and frankly who needs to, but when they surface in our children’s lives, we must walk our children through them.

A few years ago. a neighborhood boy cracked my son’s skateboard by jumping onto the center of the board, in jest. My son’s skateboard was something he used almost on a daily basis, so he asked this youth to compensate for his loss. The youth refused. My son persisted in his request for compensation until the father of this youth called our home in anger, on behalf of his son, informing us that there would be no compensation for the skateboard and to leave his son alone. I remember feeling more sadness for this youth who wasn’t held accountable for his actions than for my son’s loss.

How do we persevere so that we do end up maturing ? (because there are other outcomes less desirable)

Process suffering out loud with safe people

As a family we set aside time to air our thoughts and feelings, and talk about our shocking experiences of a new culture, and to pray for one another. I knew that the suffering we were all going through needed to be talked about. It needed to be heard and understood and our negative emotions like fear, sadness, anger, and loneliness were not to evaluated. Feelings are not good or bad. They just are. They need to be expressed. The tremendous sense of displacement, disorientation and loneliness that we passed through facilitated a level of conversation in our family that we did not have prior. Our family ‘huddles’ became raw, honest moments with one another. Asking Art and our sons to pray for me meant that I was very needy and lonely. It became a privilege to pray for each other in our neediness. There was no pretension or illusion. We had been stripped bare of our own human resources and were asking God to keep us afloat day to day. After a few days on Brazilian soil, David said, “I just want to crawl into a corner of my room and hide there until 2 years has passed.” Coming from our extroverted, adventure-seeking son that wanted to move to Brazil, was saying something.

Sometimes we need guides to interpret our suffering. We need sign posts to stay on the path.

Some suffering is so disorienting we need people who have gone ahead of us to help us make sense of it. God doesn’t want us to struggle alone. All suffering is threatening, but some is blinding. Ask God to bring wise, mature guides so that our suffering does a deep transformative work in our lives versus taking us off track.

We are a ‘suffering avoidant’ culture held captive to the lie that if we are clever enough (and perfect too) we can avoid suffering. This has produced a tendency to shift blame on to others when we are caught in a difficult situation, and a declining reserve of seasoned guides, but they exist. I don’t think you’ll find them at Disney world. My guess is cancer wards, food banks, people who have lived on the edge of their personal resources but have discovered that there is a deep well, a stream that flows constantly and is enough. It’s more than enough.

I well remember the day I called a friend in Cambridge within our first 6 or 7 months in Brazil feeling a depth of loneliness and alienation that I could not shake. I wept and sobbed my way through this conversation – at a loss to know how to carry on in this relationally barren context. Once my tears subsided, my friend quietly prayed for me. My situation remained equally challenging, but comfort started to trickle inside me and sustain me . . . enough to carry on. We under estimate the comfort that we can give one another simply through listening and praying for one another. We can’t take away one another’s suffering, but knowing that we are not alone changes everything. Everything.

Isaiah 45:3 “I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord God , the one who calls you by name.”

Often these secret places are seasons of suffering when our lives seem far away from the path we wanted to be on. Daniel’s treasure was hidden in a dusty, impoverished neighborhood in northern Brazil, and as he candidly admits, he lost everything to find it.

“I’ve realized that God does have a plan for my life, and that his plans are far better than mine.” Daniel

0

Living Waters- Our 2nd Long program that Started Sept 7, 2014

Sunday September 7th we held our first session of Águas Vivas (Living Waters). We have 3 guys, 4 gals in the group and one guy and gal who we are training as leaders.

We meet every Sunday from 9-11:30am

The gal we are training is Rute (Ruth). We have shared quite a bit of her story with you over the past 9 months. God is continuing to work in her life in ways that are remarkable. She has grown up with so little, with every boundary imaginable broken and God continues to heal her, train her and strengthen her. “I feel like this young child being securely embraced by God. I no longer feel anguish nor a deep hatred towards my parents.” We are so excited that she also felt she was to be trained.

Emerson is the young man who I am training. He is such a gifted young man who has sincerely been impacted by God thru this ministry of Living Waters. The other day I sat him down to look at his schedule and to have a realistic look at everything that he is doing. In the process I said that he needs to figure out how he is going to take care of himself and those he loves. I also said that he is going to need to decide what things he is to put his hands to and what things he needs to let go of. He is doing way too much and has literally no time to take care of himself and his daughter.

I listed all the things that he is doing and said, soon you will need to cut out some of these things. One of the things that I listed was Living Waters. When he got to that ministry he said, ” I can’t let this one go. I am only doing well in the other areas of my life because of what God has done in me thru Living Waters.

I certainly don’t know what the future holds for Emerson and Living Waters, but what he has made very clear is that his health as a person and a follower of Jesus is connected to what God has done and is doing thru Living Waters.

Both of these people have walked through some very deep things in their lives and have received a fair bit of healing. They have gained a lot of wisdom and peace from God and you can see it as they interact with others who are very broken.

Each of them have retold recent stories to us where they have counselled others and ended up sharing a depth of wisdom that is quite remarkable. We feel honoured to have the opportunity to train these two.

Outside of our Águas Vivas group, Cyndi and I are both working with 2-3 other people. So in total, we are working with about 14 people , taking them through the Living Waters material. It feels good to have jumped right in there:)

Unfortunately we do not have a picture of our current group. I keep forgetting to take a picture on the Sunday mornings. However, if you remove the 3 people to the right of this photo, you will have a good portion of those who are in our current Living Waters group.

We are really enjoying the Sunday classes. We both feel a whole lot more comfortable with the material in Portuguese and the ministry times at the end of the sessions have been amazing.

As for counselling and taking people through the material individually, we are not sure if this is the best way to do things. It is extremely tiring and these individuals do not have the benefit of hearing other’s stories, and observing how God is meeting others in their brokenness. However, we are here to help as many people as we can and for now this is what we feel we need to do. At the same time, we are meeting more and more people whose marriages are on the verge of exploding apart. There is so much infidelity and secrecy. We are being asked to jump in and help these folks as well.

Please pray for wisdom to know how to help these hurting people. On the outside they look like they have it all together. They have jobs, house and beautiful children, but the depth of hurt and the choices that they have made continue to rip their families apart.

Pray also for Emerson and Rute. That they will continue to receive more healing in their own lives and that they will have wisdom from God when they are helping others.

0

David proposes and Lara ( Larinha ) says Yes!!

We are excited to announce that our son David is engaged to Lara Leite of Salvador, Bahia, Brasil.

They met when we were at language school 3 years ago this January.

We met Lara a few days after we arrived in Salvador. Her uncle, Tito, was bringing us over to his house for lunch and stopped off at an English School to pick up his niece, so that she could help us communicate. She spoke fairly good english.

She was excited to help and also to notice a good looking young man.

From the first day that Cyndi and I laid eyes on Lara we thought, “Wow, what a beautiful young lady. beautiful inside and out.”

Since that time they have been growing in their relationship and we have been getting to know Lara’s family. We get along so well were able to all vacation together last Christmas.

They are planning to get married in May 2015, in Salvador, Brazil.

Here’s to another year of change for the Rae’s:)

This was their fake engagement picture. This happened 2 weeks or more before David asked her on the beach.

Larinha, Voce quer casar comigo?

Larinha, do you want to marry me?

0

Reflections about our river trip

Getting ready for a 3 week trip with 15+ people is no small plan. The night before our departure, there looked like the army was going on the trip with us. Tons of boxes with hammocks, blankets, and boxes and boxes of food. I thought Clyde might of been hungry when he did the shop for the 3 weeks. We headed up the river and it took us 7 days to get to the last homestead before heading back down slowly. This site of river, dusk, campfire was the routine and everyone knew their role. Some cooked, set up camp and someone was on kindling and fire building. The kids enjoyed campfires and on occasion, we had some worship and devotions after a long days haul.

In every village we visit, the best way to communicate is through soccer. Makenna jumped in and played with the guys and gals of this village. It’s natural to just show up and jump in and play no matter what. Between the hours of 5 and dark, soccer is the entertainment and a universal language that gives us entry into the lives of the people.

Catching fish, cooking on open fires on the beach and sometimes eating lunch at 3 or 4pm is common when we are traveling on the river. Remembering our road trips, stopping at rest areas with nice bathrooms, vending machines or even the quick fast food or subsandwich makes traveling very convenient and arrival prompt. But this style of travel is anything but predictable. But one thing I enjoy is the good quality of food that comes off the fire. Nothing but ORGANIC! This day we had fish soup with rice and farinha! And I think it was our last day of ice to enjoy a cup of cold juice from a packet!

Walking up river channels and creeks helped the boat get up with less weight. Hannah did an excellent job, being so little, she held her own and always told me to follow her! She always led me to the right spot and she never fell. I fell plenty and was tired by the time we got back on the boat!

Our first morning. We all hung our hammocks under a farinha house. Privacy and space was a rare commodity. We girls stuck together and were looking out for each other. Who knows what the guys did. Nate asked for my help for most his needs. But he got more creative as time went on.

This was one of the most challenging rapids we had to get the boat through. Upstream and lots of water and rocks! Everyone had an idea of how to get up the rapid, but learning to be patient and wait for our captains orders was a test. God was good and gave everyone the ability to work together and we got up the rapid not in world record time, but safely and calmly.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

I love this picture of Clyde in the Word on the beach early one morning. We made sure we gathered our team together to read the word and share what He was showing us. It really gave a sweet union between us all.

Our first stop was with Cecilia and her family. Her hubby, Bebe, was away getting supplies at the nearest town 1 day away by boat. We enjoyed 2 nights with this family and saw God softening hearts. It was a great time as we reconnected and introduce more friends from our team to this family.

Chelsea, Kelsie, Celia(owner of homestead) and Lucineia(local missionary and wife of boat driver) in a last picture moment before we said our final good byes.

2 yrs ago, Dona Celia didn’t know us white, gringos. She was shy and reserved, but polite as we showed up unannounced at her homestead after 5 full days travel by boat from Maribel. During our stay, it rained for 3 days and forced us to stay and get to know each other. It ended up to be a wonderful time.

This year, it happened again that we came unannounced. But this time it was like embracing an old friend. Having to tell her we were not coming back in 2015, she was very sad but as we explained our situation to her and she understood. She looks forward to the next team, whoever may come up, and the opportunity to hear the Word of God as she is illiterate. We gave her a Saber Storyteller from Global Recordings Network,GRN, which she loves listening to it each night.

Our boat captain, Floresval, on the front of a boat as we head up a very shallow spot on the river. He is a very cautious captain and takes every move very seriously. We appreciate his attentivness. His wife, Lucineia became a Christian about 9 yrs ago. She prayed for her husband every day and about 3 years ago, Flores became a Christian and was baptized. Since then he has had a rocky walk. His wife is small in size, but big in spirit and we ask you keep them in your prayers. They have both told us they want to help make this trip possible every year.

This is a family that have been rejected by the community they lived in. They started all over again about 2 years ago. We have been getting to know them little by little and we see their desire and heart to follow Jesus. It has cost them a lot to go down this path. Today, we see the blessings of the Lord on them. We went to their village to dedicated a little church building they built from their own sweat and tears on their land. They invited many to come and celebrate and testify what God has done, but for one reason or another, nobody came. Our team was there to celebrate and it was a very sweet time with these brothers and sisters in Christ. We also celebrated the next day with baptisms. Everyone is now baptized and walking as new creations!!!

Thank you Jesus for this family of believers. Keep them in your protection and give them the love, grace and wisdom to reach their neighbors who have had a hard time accepting them because of you. ((all who are in the first row(red shirt in the left to the gal with baby on her hip on the right) make up this family)) See a video to see more moments with this familyHERE.

This is what we are just tapping into and ironically, what we are leaving behind. I see another 10 years of ministry and yet, God is calling us home. I can’t question God’s plan, just trust Him. I can see He is lining up others to come along side and I feel content in that.

So many more moments and reflections, but this is just a start.

We are heading out of internet range til November, but I try to have some more updates and thoughts and reflections to post then!

Thanks for reading…..Kelsie

PS, Chelsea Martins, thank you for most of your photos since my camera wasn’t working…most of the time!!!

0

A YEAR UPDATE!

As I re-look my blog I see that I have gravely failed my hopes to continue blogging to keep everyone up to date. So so sorry for all those who have watched and waited!
Well, today is your day to hear what we’ve been up to!!!!!

Since writing a year ago(Yikes) we have done a lot!!! I will try to give you the highlights of the past year to date!!!!

September 2013- We had my 7th and 8th grade teacher and mentor, Midge Shaw and her friend Rene come to visit us in Maribel. It was a wonderful time reconnecting and taking them out on the river and ministering in love and assistance! Midge and Rene came bearing gifts to the river people and ready to pray for any sickness! It was a great time. Exhausting for them but so amazing for us and the folks who received the blessing of having them!!!

Midge and Rene praying for our local members in Maribel

These organic, no sugar eaters enjoyed the fruits when they could!

Midge sharing at a community called Boa Esperanca or Good Hope! Clyde is translating.

Midge and Rene with Pastor Poli and Nega from Uruara!

October 2013-Nov. 2013- We traveled as a family in our truck 7000km to visit friends and church family and to see what God is doing in His Kingdom!!! We visited Marcia and Fernando in Palmas, Tocantins where they have a little church growing. They lived in Altamira and Marcia came to work for us when I was pregnant with Nate back in 2005. She and her hubby met Jesus and began to serve Him little by little. Fernando’s mother lives in Palmas and work opportunities looked better there so they moved in 2009. They wanted to serve the Lord, so the church family in Altamira encouraged them to start a small group and minister to their neighbors! Today it has turned into a church!!! Our sweet friends have turned into pastors and warriors as the mission field there is scorched from religious Christians who judge more than love. So pray for them as they continue to serve and we ask the Father to send more workers to help them there!

Marcia during worship

We were asked to participate in their church baptism!

It was so cool to see Marcia and Fernando baptizing those they had reached
when we had baptized them years before! We felt like Grandparents! It was weird and rewarding feeling!

After the baptism, we realized that Marcia put on the perfect shirt!
“Liberty”

We traveled to Recife where we visited Ricardo and Nadir. We met them at a pastors retreat in Altamira for all our regional churches. They said that we were the first ones to come and actually follow through with a visit as we promised! Relationships are so important here! We enjoyed our visit with them thoroughly and enjoyed seeing the church family as well as the natural beauty around the ocean!

Ricardo and Nadir with their son, Joao(John). Ricardo made us a yummy dessert!

Their church placed right in the middle of the neighborhood.
“Christian Community”

Family picture in Recife

Beach day with church friends

Night on the town with friends in Orlinda(old town near Recife)

We journeyed farther North up the coast to Joao Pessoa(John Person, a place on the coast) and met up with friends that only God could arrange. Chelsea (Newton) Martins and her new hubby, Andre’ were ministry leaders/actors with Jeova’ Nissi and were on tour in the Northeast of Brazil!!! It was a divine appointment to hook up with them and meet Andre for the first time. Chels worked with Xingu Mission as a single missionary back in 2010-2012. God was already working out a fabulous plan for them to come and work with us in Maribel(but we had no idea it was really gonna happen)!!!!

Chelsea before the show “Tortured for Christ” with Jeova Nissi Theatrical Company

Chelsea’s monologue

Andre, in an intense scene after guards have cut off his tongue for preaching the gospel and he still choses
to write on a piece of paper “Jesus Loves YOU”

Late dinner with the theatrical group, great fun!

We traveled to Natal, the most gorgeous place I’ve been in Brazil so far!!!! Steve and Sonia Armour are veteran missionaries and our friends that God has blessed us with. They had us for 10 days as I got sick and couldn’t travel until I was healed up. They have 2 daughters that married and are living on a ranch all together. It was the perfect set up for any close nit family. It reminded us of our family back home and made us miss them, but appreciating the beauty of serving the Lord together!
You can check out their ministry at these site: Light in Action

Natal, Brazil
Natal means Christmas in Portuguese and they chose the 3 wise men to be main attraction year round!

Breakfast on the veranda with Steve and Sonia’s family!

Joel and Arlen with Light n Action in the studio as we got a field trip of their work in off set productions!
Check them out…it IS AMAZING!!!

The whole clan at the Armours Ranch in Natal!

Sonia and us on a tour of the beaches at night!

Field trip on the train for $.25 a person!!!!

December 2013- We pulled off an amazing early Christmas surprise for Makenna and Maddy by keeping a secret that their cousins, Carissa and Isabella were coming to visit!!!! Our brother in law, Matt Heverly was able to come down for 10 days or so and bring is girls with him. It was a fast trip, but such a wonderful time. We took them to Maribel with us and did a 2 day river trip with them. It was a wonderful Christmas gift and we’ll never forget it!!!

First group picture after arriving in the airport!

Carissa and Makenna ages 13

Isabella and Maddy ages 11

Best friends!

Family picture before leaving

Jan 2014- Clyde heard from the Lord while working on the church “Return to your first love”.
He understood it to mean in ministry. His first ministry was working with the homeless in Grants Pass. He felt the Lord saying that our time was closing in Maribel and we were to return to Grants Pass for a undefined time to work with the down and out. I’ll explain more later in a future post.
But in January we realized we were going to be returning home and leaving the mission and Maribel.
We chatted with leadership about our plans and they were sad and supportive at the same time.

March 2014- Clyde had hurt his knee after helping carry some heavy lumber out from the jungle. The knee never got better, just continued to hurt. We traveled to Altamira to check it out and stayed nearly 2+ months as he had to have surgery and therapy. We were able to meet with many folks, be apart of ministry in Altamira a bit and attend the city churches. It was a great and challenging time, but God used it for His purposes. Maribel was very difficult to get to and we were saved the struggles of living out there during the same time!

A panoramic shot of Clyde waking up from surgery in his private hospital room

Brushing his teeth before bed!

Next day and already doing physical therapy on his knee

Learning to rest!

Church service is always a blessing!

Lunch with our Indian friends from 3 tribes! Each of them are following Jesus and prayed in their native tongue
giving thanks for our meal and time together!

Special celebration for a couple that just got married! Small reception at their home!

May 2014- Big Wedding with missionary Christopher Meyer and his Brazilian Bride, Denise Campos, who is the main church, pastor’s daughter. We were asked to be in their wedding and it was a wonderful time. We were still in Altamira and left for Maribel shortly after.

Rehearsal dinner and special picture with Christopher and Denise

Gorgeous couple after the ceremony

YEAH!

June 2014- We got home mid May and Clyde was able to work on a few projects and also get the church ready for Chelsea and Andre’, who we met on our trip to the Northeast back in October, as they were moving to Maribel and serve for 6 months!!!! We were excited to have a little spot upstairs of the church for them to live. It’s a perfect little space for this sweet couple.

Chelsea shared that they felt working with Jeova Nissi was really hard on them as a couple. They were feeling a release and wanted to come and serve us in any way. Chelsea is helping me with schooling the kids and it has really been a huge weight off my shoulders and a complete blessings to co-teach with her as she graduated a homeschool student!!! God knows all the details and cares about them!!!
Andre’ is learning a lot about being a missionary in the rough and rugged and also some trade stuff as he assists Clyde with projects.
They both have been a huge blessing in ministry as they are able to put together very impactful skits to communicate the gospel. So they moved to Maribel in June!!!

Andre and Chelsea Martins

Andre has taken up fishing and provided many a good meal at our table plus
he is working alongside Clyde and learning a lot about construction and life in Maribel

Chelsea spends mornings with us Mon-Fri teaching mainly the older girls.
She has really been an answer to prayer!!!

July 2014- Another wedding!!! Lica and Geidson are a sweet couple that we have known for a few years and they asked if Nate and Hannah could be in their wedding!

Geidson and Lica are an awesome couple who have a mighty future and calling!!
Pray for Lica as just 18 days into their marriage she was in a motorcycle accident.
She fractured her pelvis and it has been a long healing process for her.

Nate was the ring bearer with a twist! Geidson’s family owns a bicycle shop and Geidson loves to ride bikes,
so it was only appropriate for them to incorporate bikes into their theme!
Nate rode up the aisle bearing the rings! Too cute!

Hannah carried a sign that said “Here comes the Bride”
She walked in just before Lica! Adorable!

Nate making his way up the aisle, everyone was enamored by him!

Returning to Maribel we had the annual Festival planned and we were so blessed when other brothers and sisters in Christ came out from Altamira to help us! It was a dream realized. Here is another video to see what happened!!! Festival Video

August 2014- We have tried to make it a priority to do a missions trip up river every year. Actually our goal was every 6 months, but the trip in the winter never happened so we have been able to do it annually. We had a big team this year with 15 and then another member joined up later and a few left because they couldn’t stay for the entire 3 week trip. We inaugurated a new church, did 12 services, baptized new believers and built more relationships as well as distributed reading glasses, match box cars to the boys, homemade bows to the girls and clothes to the men and women. It was a blessed time and we thank the Lord for protecting us on the big rapids and our health. It was hard to tell everyone we were not coming back next year, but that another team will be coming. They showed much support to allow the next years team to come and minister again!

New Creation!!!

Getting ready for a outdoor worship service!

Chelsea and Sergio in a skit about finding the Father and being loaded down
by failures and wrong decisions!

Sweet Indian baby getting a bath!

Introducing the SABER bible story teller to a community that is hungry
for the truth in the Bible!
Global Recordings Network

Lots of fish BBQ

Fish anyone?
Peacock bass, Dog fish and Piranha

Makenna and Maddy and a few others from our team danced with an Indian tribe

Hannah loves babies in every shape and size!

Clyde prepares for morning devotions with our team on the trip.

Nate turned 9 on the river! He was given a chicken by one of the villagers on the river!
He chose to have it for lunch the next day!

September 2014- NOW, we are in Altamira blogging and letting you know that we have 4 more months left to our time here in Brazil. It’s feeling very close and we have a bit more to do to prepare the group in Maribel as well as select our few favorite things over the past 10 yrs to take back with us.
We have many emotions going on at this time. But we know that God works all things to the good of those who love Him and are CALLED according to His purposes!
We are excited to go home and talk in our own language and minister and we are looking forward to how God will bring this ministry into fruition!

This picture is kind of symbolic of us holding on to ministry here in Brazil for just a few more months!
Then we’ll have to let go and watch them from afar and trust the Lord to care for them and lead them.

We appreciate your prayers for this transition!
Blessings, Kelsie and Clyde

0

September Amazon Update!

Anderson has spent most of his life working on farms taking care of cattle, breaking horses, going to rodeos, traveling extensively, and drinking a lot. A rough and tough lifestyle. He has been running this lifestyle all the while being married, and having two daughters. His wife Roseanne has been raising a family like a single parents throughout this whole time. It has been very tough for their family and for the children. When he does finally come home his little children do not even acknowledge him. Roseanne has such a giving, servant heart and has been very faithful to him and their family. She serves at the church faithfully, and prays for her husband regularly. Last month, while he was in town, he came to church and heard the good news of Jesus Christ. He responded by accepting God into his life, and there were lots of tears throughout the congregation, especially Roseanne. This is an answer to prayer, and it is Anderson’s desire to change his ways and get focused on the important things in life. Please pray for Anderson and his family that he will overcome the many challenges that face him and that he will refocus his priorities to the Lord and his family. As well as the other lives being surrendered over to the Lord.

A couple of years ago Brazil started the work at Belo Monte to create the 3^rd largest hydroelectric dam in the world. It is massive. Our somewhat little sleepy town was essentially turned upside down trying to accommodate the huge influx of people. This has presented many challenges and opportunities. During this time we have had the honor to meet new people and help guide them into a relationship with God. There has been much fruit and just the other night we drove about 60 kilometers to participate in one of our home groups at the job site. The home group had lots of people in attendance new and old. The leader is passionate about helping people come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Elba had the opportunity to share and during the prayer time it felt like God was touching people’s hurts, losses, and health.

In these communities where the workers and their families live, there are no churches. We are so fortunate for the Lord’s favor to be able to have some home churches to the over 10,000 people that live in this area. Please pray for more continued favor, and expansion of the home churches.

The family is doing well. Elba enjoyed her trip back to the States especially since it was not freezing. She sent us pictures of her eating Donatos pizza which was not a loving act. We tried to send her pictures of us eating rice and beans but it had no effect.J The girls are doing well. CDR started teaching keyboard to anyone who is interested. Camilly jumped at the opportunity and she is loving it. Pictured below is Camilly learning how to play, and read musical notes with her teacher, Apolana. Alyssa was playing hockey in the house. She found a stick, a snorkel, and a ball and she was set to go. Here is a picture of her worship and praying to Jesus.

Please continue to pray for our spiritual, and emotional health. Also, please pray for an outreach that we are doing right now with our sister church in Brasilia. They brought some dentist here to serve the needy, and will be going out on the river to serve the people of the community. Please pray that it will go well and that people would draw closer to God through their acts of faithfulness. I will write more on the next monthly email.

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:

http://www.xingu.org/14d_dolan_donation.html