XM Archives | Page 5 of 40 | Xingu MissionXingu Mission

Praise the Lord the church is still going strong and is recovering slowly each day. We have been doing 2 services on Sunday. One in the morning, and then in the evening. The morning services have been relatively full, and people seemed to be comfortable with the idea of early morning service. We have been able to maintain children ministry as well, praise the Lord!

Elba and I held a mini conference about investments. About 50 people came. Here in Brazil, and in most 3^rd world environments, it has been our experience that when someone has money, they almost immediately spend it. There are lots of reasons for that behavior and we want our congregation to start thinking differently about the future. As Proverbs 21:20 states “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.” Everyone seemed excited about the concept of investing for their future, but they do not know where to start. So, we talked about the basics, such as, how to open up bank accounts, and a broker account, how to transfer money, and etc. During the conference, I also showed them some basic financial instruments so they can start investing in Brazil. For a month or so afterwards, I have been working with people individually to get them setup to start investing. It is getting some traction, so let’s see what happens.

Dentist and helpers came throughout Brazil to serve the dental needs for children and adults here in the North of Brazil. It was another amazing time of serving the community and helping people with dental needs that otherwise would not be able to get easy access to this care. Unfortunately, it did not end on a high note as we made the decision to stop serving the community. The reason was because almost the whole team tested positive, including us, and we felt that it was best to stop. There were lots of safety measures in place but it did not prove to be enough. We are now home resting. Thanks for your prayers!

Before the project came to a rude stop, the team worked tireless hours serving the community needs. In these short two weeks the volunteer dentist team performed cleanings, fluoride treatments, repairing cavities, and pulling teeth. It was an incredible work and we pray the Lord’s hand upon them all. It has been a pleasure working to serve the people, and share Jesus Christ through words and deeds. Please keep us and the team in your prayers for excellent health! The team is still there recovering since they are restricted to travel via airlines. It is not fun to be far from family and home.

We appreciate your continued prayers:

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

· The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.

· Please pray for Elba and I that we may hear clearly where to put our focus and energy in this next phase of our lives.

· Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Dolan, XM

Amazon Update – March 2021

The church just moved to 2 services starting last weekend because we were approaching over capacity due to the restrictions. This is really good news. The bad news is that the city is again on red alert and there are lots of lockdowns again. Unfortunately, people are suffering to a great degree, and we have many people in our church that are going through their 2^ndround of the virus. It is distressing because they are young and in good health, but their lungs are compromised and they have been admitted to the hospital. As I understand, the hospitals are at capacity, and they are stacking the rooms with patients. Please pray for the sick, the church, and us. UPDATE: Due to high cases, church is closed again, and we are back to on-line services. 🙁

The church continues to be the hands and feet of the Lord. We have continued to go out to the neighborhood and give food. However, given the uptick, we will probably stop for a short stint of time. We have delivered meals and groceries to the sick to help as we can. We are desperate for more of the Lord’s intervention, and to give us wisdom on how to continue to touch the lives of others.

Elba made her famous chicken with tucupi sauce. If you are unsure, Tucupi is the yellow juice extracted from the root of a manioc (cassava) when grated and squeezed. She puts lot of garlic, jambu, greens and chicken in the dish. It is really delicious and it put some smiles on people’s faces.

The girls are doing well. They are still doing on-line school, and this is keeping them busy. We are very proud of them and their diligence to achieve in school. Here is a picture of the girls with their Mom. Wow, they definitely got their beauty from their Mom.

Continued prayer requests:

Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.

Please pray for Elba and I that we may hear clearly where to put our focus and energy in this next phase of our lives.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Dolan, XM

Amazon Update – April 2021

He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Matthew 28:6. Happy belated Easter!!! Praise the Lord, He is Risen!!! Thanks for all your prayers for the church, Brazil, and us.

Almost the exact moment that I sent out last month’s update, the city went into a very restrictive lockdown. The lockdown was due to the infection rate spreading rapidly, and the completely over capacitated hospitals to which I have been told that people are still waiting to get in the hospitals.

Vaccines are being administered for anyone over 60 years old. However, I understand that they are not going below 60 because they are running out of vaccines, and they want to make sure they have the 2^nd round of shots for the ones that received their 1^st shots. They are giving the vaccine called Sinovac, and Astra Zeneca. I will have to confess that when I heard that they were giving vaccines to 16 and up in some parts of the USA. It really makes me miss that 1^st world privilege.

So, for the last month, we have been completely doing on-line services. We will be going back to church in person this Sunday but at a very restrictive capacity. We will also continue to do 2 services so that we can get people into the building and continue to comply with the spacing restrictions and not crowd into 1 service. The church family really wants to be back at the church.

As a church we have been helping to buy groceries for the ones in need in the community. We have distributed a lot of food and we feel blessed to be able to help in this way. We have also given food baskets to our other churches to help people in their community. These 2 ladies were so grateful and emotional because of the help. One of them said that she had just paid the rent, but did not have anything left to buy groceries. The food basket and hot meal came at the perfect time. God organized it all for His glory! In addition, we have been helping people with medical procedures.

The girls are doing well. They are still doing on-line school, and this is keeping them busy. They certainly miss the social aspects of being with their friends. It is tough, but they believe it is the right thing to do at the moment. Most of their social interaction is through online, except, Alyssa likes to jump on the trampoline with her cousin who lives next door in the rain. As you can, our trampoline is stretched to the max!!! LOL

We appreciate your continued prayers:

Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.

Please pray for Elba and I that we may hear clearly where to put our focus and energy in this next phase of our lives.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Dolan, XM

Amazon Update – February 2021

First, let me say thank you for all your prayers for our trip back to Brazil. Praise the Lord, we got home safely after about 2 days of traveling.

We also want to say thank you for your prayers this last year for the sale of the property. We got back on the 8^th of February at around 1:30pm, and at 3:30pm the following day we signed the papers to close on the property. WOW!!! That was a long journey of back and forth with negotiations, many contract revisions, lawyer negotiation, and key people getting sick and recovering, and so on. Through it all, we are so relieved that we were able to close on the property. Thank you again for all your prayers!!!

As you may imagine, we literally hit the road running, and it has not stopped. We are not complaining, but excited for each day and seeing the Lord work in our midst. However, I do have 1 complaint. Upon arrival we have been fighting for about 2 weeks to get the rats out of our house. They have been having a party on top of our ceiling, and inside the house. We have been chasing them around with brooms to get them out….YUCK. Thankfully we have dogs that are very good hunters, as well as the use of other means.

The church is doing well. Elba just started a new preaching series and the church will be participating in 40 days of fasting and prayer. Elba preached to a full house last Sunday and it was really good to be back. We purchased about 70 food baskets to give to our surrounding churches to bless the people that are without. A food basket contains things like rice, beans, sugar, oil, powder milk and etc. Like you know, it has been a tough for many people financially. Also, starting this Thursday, we will be making hearty soup to give to people at the church. We feel blessed to be the hands and feet of Christ to help.

We are in the midst of the rainy season here in the North of Brazil. It has rained almost every day since we have come back. The church went to visit one of our church plants in the Suribim. It was an adventure to say the least. Roads were blown out, and deep water to pass through. But praise the Lord they got through and had a great time bringing the good news, encouraging the community, and giving away food baskets.

Continued prayers request:

Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.
The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.
Please pray for Elba and I that we may hear clearly where to put our focus and energy in this next phase of our lives.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Dolan, XM

Amazon Update! January 2021

Our trip is coming to an end and we will soon be making our way back to Brazil. During this time Elba has been taking a Sabbatical and seeking God for His direction in her life. Elba has been active in many roles on the international, national, regional and local level. She is being split in too many directions and she feels that it is affecting the quality of her roles in each of these areas and of course her physical and emotional health. She is trying to seek God’s will for her so that she can be more focused, effective and not so divided. We appreciate your prayers!

As you may remember we had Creative Impact come to Brazil and do multiple video stories of our missionaries. Creative Impact wants to bring glory to God by telling the stories of what is currently taking place in missions around the world. It was an absolute pleasure and blessing to work with Jim and Lynn Adams.

They completed our story and we were hoping to sit with you and show the documentary. However, given the circumstances, that became very difficult. The great news is that it is online and we would love for you to watch. https://vimeo.com/390784748. The documentary is called “The other side of the river”. It is a little over 30 minutes but we believe that you will enjoy it. Let us know what you think.

Continued prayers request:

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

· Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for the buyer’s financial situation as we continue to move forward with the sale of properties.

· The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.

· Please pray for Elba and I that we may hear clearly where to put our focus and energy in this next phase of our lives.

· Safe trip back home to Brazil and that there will be no interruptions and we stay healthy.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Amazon Update! December 2020

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!!! What a year this has been so far. Thank you for your continued prayers for us. We feel them. If you are interested in making a tax deductible donation to our ministry. Please click the link below. It would be such a blessing, and very helpful. Thanks!!!

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

We had the great opportunity to go and visit the Lancaster Vineyard pastored by Joel Seymour. Elba got the opportunity to preach. She continued on with a series that they are doing called “The gift of Risk”. Elba focused her teaching on the courageous decision that Joseph made to remain with Mary while she was found to be pregnant, and it was not his child. Mary, was courageous and obedient to the call of God, and said “yes” to receive Jesus into her body in a culture that was brutal towards a pregnant woman without a husband. Joseph, in the same way, responded to Gods call to take Mary as his wife, and be obedient to the path that the Lord had set forth. Both of them lived a life a faith, and as some say, FAITH is spelled RISK. Here is a link to her message. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4EbSQ297-o

On a personal note, we are so grateful because for some days now, Elba has not had a migraine. This is such a huge relief, especially for me, because I thought I was the one causing the migraines. LOL. J We are so deeply grateful for your prayers. Thank you!

Speaking of another risky thing. We were able to go horseback riding with my sister Lynn. Some of our horses needed to hear Elba message about obedience. Thankfully, we made it through without anyone getting bucked off. LOL

Continued prayers request:

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

· Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for the buyer’s financial situation as we continue to move forward with the sale.

· The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.

· That our time will be fulfilling and productive back in the USA.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Again, Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year. Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Nov, 17

XM

November 2020 Newsletter

Dear friends and family,

Thank you for your prayers and support. They have been greatly appreciated. I hope you are doing well!

So much has happened since my last update, it is difficult to know where to start! I will do my best to briefly cover some of the main things that have been going on.

Church opened for services

As I stated in past updates, Macapá was hit pretty hard by COVID-19. Over the last 4 months, the numbers began to drop and things began to open up for us. After 8 long months without any large church gatherings, we decided to start doing “open air” Sunday services behind our church building. Although we had been getting together with individuals and had begun meeting in small groups, we were so excited to get back together as one group!

Viva Vineyard services

And the unexpected (pastoring two churches)

Two days after we decided to return to “in person” services at Vineyard Viva, we were notified by our regional overseers that due to unforeseen circumstances, the other Vineyard in town “Vineyard Macapá” found itself without a pastor. The overseers came into Macapá to sort things out. After meeting with some of the leadership at Vineyard Macapá, it was decided that there was no one attending that church who would be ready to pastor. Denise and I were approached by our leadership and asked if we would consider pastoring Vineyard Macapá along with Vineyard Viva, at least until there was someone ready to lead Vineyard Macapá.

We realized this was a decision we couldn’t take lightly and that we would be walking into a difficult situation. The church was not prepared for a pastoral change, and although we have relationship with some of its members, we knew we would be strangers to others. On top of that, we had no clue what it would look like to pastor two churches. However, after spending time praying about it, we both felt this was something we were supposed to do.

Preaching at a Vineyard Macapá service

Outdoor service for Vineyard Macapá

Closing again

We spent some time developing a plan to determine how to do two services on Sunday (one at each church). We were very thankful that so many of our leaders at Vineyard Viva stepped up and offered to help in any way they could. After organizing things the best we could, we started meetings at both churches. For the most part, we were pretty happy with how things were going.

After 3 weeks, however, we were notified that the COVID-19 cases in Macapá were rapidly increasing and that hospitals were filling up again. The city began to slowly shut things down again; even though churches weren’t being forced to close, we decided to suspend all large gatherings until the COVID cases significantly declined in Macapá. This was a heartbreaking decision to come to. We had worked so hard getting things organized and sorted out – we barely got started before we had to end again.

Feels like the Apocalypse

And then, two weeks ago as I was trying to finish up this update, the electricity in our house shut off. I didn’t think anything of it at the time since the power shuts off in different areas of our city on a regular basis. Generally, it comes back on after a few hours. We became a little concerned when we woke next day, after a long hot night of sleep, and still were without power. What we discovered was that there was a huge fire at the state’s main electrical plant and 90% of the state was without power with no hope given as to when it would be restored. Most of the city, including our home, was without electricity for the next 5 days. The biggest concern at the time was that without power, it was not possible to pump water into people’s houses. Fresh water sold out throughout the city. Also, there were only a few gas stations open for the entire city. I waited in line for over two hours to get diesel for my truck. I knew of people waiting for over 8 hours. At the time, it really felt like the city was falling into chaos.

The line behind us waiting to get gas during the power outage.

The line to get money from one of the few cash machines in the city during the power outage.

Currently our city has “partial” energy. Each neighborhood is on a rotation with electricity for 6 hours followed by 6 hours without. This isn’t ideal, but we will definitely take it over the five days without any electricity! From what we have heard, the state should have the electricity problem resolved within the next few weeks. I pray that this information is accurate.

Final thoughts

Although these last few months have been a roller coaster of emotions, we have been thankful for the peace God has given us throughout. We also have felt that as a family, we have grown closer together through these difficult times. As always, it is a joy watching Jonas grow and develop. He is growing so fast!

We had some birthdays during the pandemic

Jonas’ birthday. He loves dinosaurs.

Thank you so much for your prayers and ongoing support. We are so grateful for you.

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

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

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Amazon Update! October 2020

Thank you so much for your continued prayers. We are deeply grateful. We look forward to coming back to the USA. Please pray for us and our travels. Pray you enjoy the below update.

Thank you so much for your prayers for the church. The church has resumed to meet in the evening in person. In the beginning of coming back from the restrictions, we decided to only meet in the morning. Now that we are back to evening services we are starting to see an increase in attendance. Elba is doing a 4 part series on heroic faith. She has finished 2. The first was called confident faith, and it was surrounded by the life of Abraham. The second was called patient faith which was about the life of Job. During this time, we need more faith than ever.

Altamira was at level red, which is the highest level, about 2 months ago and it is now at level yellow. Praise the Lord the cases have dropped significantly after being so high for many months. Not sure if the herd effect is coming into play?? Essentially all business, parks and beaches are back open but people must continue to practice safety measures to dampen the spread of the virus. Public schools are still not open. The public schools do not have the mechanism of online schooling so the children go without. When you drive around the city, it is probably about 50%+ of people wearing mask now. Below is a picture of our beach in Altamira. I took this picture about 1 month ago, the crowds are getting bigger. Thankfully, since taking this photo, Altamira continues in level yellow. We pray for a return to level blue for Altamira and the rest of the world.

At the church, and us personally, we are still being cautious when we have interactions with other people.

In Brazil we celebrated Children’s day. The church did not want the children to be left out. So the children’s ministry did a “drive through” for the children. They came and the church was able to provide some treats for the children, a bit of entertainment, and get their photo taken. We regulated how many children could come in at a time. It worked really well, and the children appeared to enjoy. However, it is sad to see the kids wearing masks. We are praying this is only temporary. The last pictures are from a year ago. We look forward to having more children’s day like that one.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

We are starting to prepare for our trip back to the States. We leave here the 27^th and will arrive in the States on the 28^th. We would appreciate your prayers. The girls continue to stay focused on their online schooling. They will continue their school via online when we are back in the States.

Continued prayers request:

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

· Please pray for Elba. She is still working through her migraines. We are praying. She is trying to regulate the medicine now due to bad side effects.

· Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for the buyer’s financial situation as we continue to move forward with the sale.

· The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.

· Our trip back to the United States. That we will have safe travels, and that our time will be fulfilling and productive.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Amazon Update! September 2020

Thank you so much for your prayers for the church. The church has now met 3 times since re-opening. We are following the rules that have been set before us by the city. We have the chairs spaced 1 ½ meters from one another, wear a mask at all times, maintaining social distance, bring your own water bottle, and we have people spraying alcohol on the hands as people come into the church. It is not ideal, but we are very glad to be able to have church together again. The church service had over 70 people in attendance last week. I thought this was pretty good considering we are restricting children to come, not encouraging the elderly and the most susceptible to stay home. We continue to record the church service so they can watch it online.

It was very nice to be back with our church members, and the church service with worship and preaching was energetic. It was emotional for me. I know you know this but you really start to appreciate things more when they become absent from your life. Please continue to pray for our church, and the rejection of this virus in this world.

I was running in the morning and during the run I was running near a house where this man used to live. He was a nice guy, but some of his decisions in my opinion, could have been better. I started to have negative thoughts about him when all of sudden I found myself face planted in the dirt. While running I tripped and could not get my balance and then boom….face plant. Immediately, while on the ground, I felt the Lord saying “I want you to bless people, not criticize them”. I got up and started running again, and repented all the way home….while all the while blessing the man and anyone else that came to my mind.

That day’s annual reading of the Bible was Romans 14. In the chapter it speaks about how we should not judge others among other things. Throughout the day I tried to bless others, and quickly realized how many judgmental thoughts I have towards others. Judgmental thoughts towards people I do not know, politicians, actors, Facebook posts, etc. I knew I had judgmental thoughts, I just did not realize how many throughout the day. WOW! In the end, I want to bless other and not be judgmental. I was thankful to the Lord for His gentle corrective ways to start changing my attitude and thought pattern.

The girls’ school has decided to continue to do on-line school until the end of the year. Since this is the case, this is why we have decided to come back to the States at the end of October 2020 and then come back to Brazil in the beginning of February 2021. The girls will continue their school via online and this would give us more time to come back and visit. Again, we would love to meet with you if that works for you.

Continued prayers request:

· Please pray for Elba. Her migraines returned with a vengeance for many days. They are debilitating. We are praying, and she is on a new medicine now.

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation, that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

· Thanks for your prayers. Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for our buyers financial situation and that we could move forward soon with the sale.

· The rejection of this virus from you, your family, friends, and to be thrown out of this universe forever.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Amazon Update! August 2020

At the end of the month of July, our leadership team at the church decided to re-open the church and have our first church service on August 2^nd. They were all excited to be able to gather again and do it in a very healthy and safe way. The following Wednesday about ½ of the leaders came down with the virus. We took that as a sign to continue to do on-line services and postpone opening the church. Praise the Lord all of the leaders have recovered or are on their way to recovery. So, we continue to press on with the on-line services. We surveyed the congregation and about 85% of the congregants would like us to continue to do on-line even when we open the church. So, we can see this being a reality for some time. Also, below is Elba and the girls preparing food for the ones that are sick.

Rick Bergen and I laugh together about the fact that we do not know any bad language in Portuguese. Personally, we do not care to know it. However, we have both been told that someone is yelling words of profanity at us because of our driving, or something. We both said that we just smile, and wave at the person. Since we do not know that part of the Portuguese language. It has no meaning. Since it has no meaning, we are not hurt, ego is not damaged, no feelings of shame, or even being embarrassed. We just continue to have good-will towards that person, as though they were saying “good morning”. As I contemplate this unique situation in our lives, I wonder if this is what it would feel like to be in perfect relationship with Christ.

On the other side of the coin, the other day, someone did something to me that I neither provoked or incited. I understood its meaning, and it came right out of the blue. They made some assumptions and I really felt slimed. I thought, why am I letting this bother me, and why is this effecting my day. Why could I not just hang on and continue to receive the embrace of a loving God, instead of being ripped from His arms by my own insecurities and continue to entertain / mull over this offense. It is a struggle.

The girls just started back to school again. They do not have long summer breaks like they do in the States. They are not physically going to school but learning on-line with video. Camilly loves it, and Alyssa wants to go back school. Camilly is very rigid when it comes to the rules of social distancing. If someone comes to the house, she is like “Why is this person here?” “Make sure they keep on their mask, and stay at a safe distance”. All the while looking at you like you are an alien. If you are looking for a warm welcome…..you are not going to get it here with Camilly. We are thankful for her keeping us in line.

They had a school project to paint their thoughts of the virus. Here is what they produced. Camilly is with the hand with the mask on it. Alyssa has the one with the virus covering the world.

Continued prayers request:

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

· Please pray for wisdom as we navigate opening the church for service.

· Thanks for your prayers. We heard back from buyers and it appears all is still moving forward. However, no date. Please pray for the Lord’s will, and for our buyers financial situation and that we could move forward soon with the sale.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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