Xingu Mission Field Report October 2023

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A happy fall to all! This report highlights the short-teams. We want you to come!

Why should you go on a short-term overseas mission trip?

Short-term team members offer encouragement, love, respect, and support from back home to the missionaries, local ministries, and the local church body, producing a long-term impact.

Short-term teams gain a global perspective of God’s Kingdom and the spiritual growth of its participants when used by God.

A few short-term teams have recently visited the ministries here in Brazil, ranging from 2 to 4 people.

A team of 2, accompanied by the Wilsons, visited a region with a long-term relationship, helped make water filters, ministered, and gave first aid training.

A team of 3 from the Meyer´s sending church visited Macapá and the work there. They held conferences at two churches, participated in outreach events giving food away, hosted a fellowship time with a cookout, made numerous home visits praying for people, and got in a jungle/nature day.

A team of 4, accompanied by the Dolans, currently in the country at the time of this writing, traveled to the interior of Pará and are building restrooms at a church plant on the river.

They also held a service in that location and at the home church reaching out to this river area.

In all cases, the local ministries and the local churches felt blessed by the teams, and relationships were formed or solidified through the team’s visits. With today’s translating technology, several continue to write back and forth with their Brazilian friends. The missionaries love sharing their work with the teams. It’s been expressed that it is therapeutic for them.

Do you want to partner better with God’s work in Brazil? Come for a visit and get personally connected. We’ll have the coffee waiting!

Check out the videos on short-term teams on the home page of our website. http://www.xingu.org

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Xingu Mission
Contact us:
Derek.Blaylock@xingu.org
Steve.Dolan@xingu.org
Patty.Fultz@xingu.org
Bob.Lesher@xingu.org
Christopher.Meyer@xingu.org 
Keith.Wilson@xingu.org
Marsha.Wilson@xingu.org

Our mailing address is:
Xingu Mission
PO Box 340785
Columbus, Ohio 43234

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Sep, 19

XM

Wilson

September 2023 Update

Palmas Church

In March, we were finally able to start a home group inviting all the people we know in Palmas, most of whom have no significant church experience besides our team.

Our initial focus has been on “breaking the ice,” seeking to connect this diverse group of people and introduce Christianity as relevant and relational. We’ve been sensitive to the social dynamics and people’s religious experiences, reservations, and doubts, working hard to create an atmosphere where people can engage openly.

As we get to know and trust each other, we’ve increasingly gone deeper in our discussion of the Kingdom of God and become more personal. This disconnected group of random people is starting to form into an informal community.

We are still at the very early stages of anything that might be called a “church,” but we are excited that people appear comfortable and engaged and consider the group relevant.

Please continue to pray with us. We believe God has called us to nurture a mature, culturally relevant, socially engaged, and spiritually intimate community of believers in Palmas. As we work intentionally toward that, we need God’s direction, grace, and equipping at every step.

Life in Palmas

Palmas is so much different than our previous reality in Pacajá! There are several comforts, like restaurants, a mall, sidewalks, no street dogs, etc. But connecting with people and forming relationships in a larger city is also much more difficult.

As we continue to adapt and develop a rhythm of life in our new city, we’re striving to intentionally organize our personal lives around the community’s context in a way that gives us access to people in an organic way.

Daily walks in the neighborhood; frequenting certain stores, restaurants, and parks; participating with the bicycling community; driving with Uber; anything to become exposed and familiar hopefully leading to relationships.

Please pray with us for favor, grace, and new ideas as we try to organize our lives in a manner that is healthy for our family, and strategic for our Kingdom task.

USA Visit

During December 2023, we’ll be in the States for about three weeks. Our primary objective is to connect with our sons and daughters-in-law and the rest of our extended family. But we would also love to connect with you!

If you have some free time during this window, please contact us as early as possible, we would love to get something scheduled!

Prayer

Please pray with us for God to connect us with key people, and direction as we continue to develop a specific strategy for initiating a new church here. Please also, pray for safe travel and great visits in December.

Blessings in Christ,

Keith and Marsha Wilson

Contact and Donation Information

Sep, 18

XM

Blaylock

Blaylock Missions September Newsletter


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September 2023 Newsletter

Hey Friends and Family!

We are sure your fall season is off to an active start! Ours sure is. This month’s update will be a shorter one because we have quite a bit of ministry activity this month.

Our kids have made some new friends in the neighborhood! They have a group of friends that they now see and play with daily. They have all but claimed a giant tree in the field across form our house and are working diligently on constructing a tree fort. This has been wonderful for them, and getting to know a few of these families has been quite encouraging.

This is an important month for both our family and for the mission. We are currently hosting a team from the United States here in Macapa! We love having teams come down because it allows folks to experience cross-cultural ministry, make lasting connections with the people here, and enables our supporters to see firsthand our churches’ passion, work ethic, and spiritual vitality.

We just had a team come down last month to visit the river ministry and water filter project, and we have another team coming down in early October to support our new church planting efforts in other cities. Perhaps you can be the next team down!

Next week, Adalee and Derek are flying to Belem to meet with the leadership to discuss where we believe the Lord is leading us after our time in Macapa. Please pray for discernment for all involved and for a good trip. We hope to update everyone in the near future on these plans.

Below are our prayer requests. Please keep them in mind and pray for us in these various endeavors. Your prayers ARE making a difference.

Much Love,

Derek, Amanda, Selah, Amaris, Josiah, and Adalee

Prayer Request

1. Fruitfulness and Formation in our Discipleship Groups.

2. Language & Cultural Comprehension.

3. Discernment for The Next Season.

4. Leadership Training and Leadership Pipeline.

Support

Prayer Support – The success of our church planting here is very much dependent upon the faithful and fervent prayer of God’s people. If you know someone that might be interested in receiving these updates and praying with us please send this link. They will get an introductory letter about us and the mission when they sign up.

Financial Support – We are continually amazed at the generosity and provision we receive from you all. If you would like to contribute, please use the link below:

Donate

Xingu Missions

PO Box 340785, Columbus
OH 43234 United States

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ZDolan Steve

Dolan

Amazon Update!

Hello

Thank you so much for your continued prayers, love, and generosity in our lives and ministry. Pray you are blessed with this month’s update.

As I mentioned in our last email, we had our 1st National Senior Pastors conference when we arrived from the States. More than 80 pastors were present from all over Brazil. The meeting was designed to care for our pastors who are daily taking care of the needs of their congregation. We brought in a professional counselor specializing in caring for pastors to help stress the importance of pastors caring for their souls. In addition, It was a time to make valuable connections with other pastors and share their struggles and successes personally and professionally with one another. The time spent together was a success. I saw one couple before the conference started, and by the end, they looked totally different. You could see so much joy in their faces, and it seemed like the weight of the world was lifted. I was shocked and so happy for them. What a gift that we could participate in making this become a reality.

Our home group just got restarted again after so much time away. We are back to regular meetings and discussing the church’s next steps. Most of the group was absent due to a family emergency and people traveling. We believe that we are already doing church in the house, but it is limited in our space for more growth. Please continue to pray for us.

On a family fun note, we got to go to the Brazil national soccer game that came to Belém to play against Bolivia. The last time the National team came here to play was in 2011. Everyone was so excited, and it was a lot of fun. Brazil won handily 5 – 1. Neymar was the crowd favorite, as well as, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa who are big fans. He did not let them down and he scored two goals. The big disappointment of the night was that Elba was robbed and got her iPhone stolen. That was, and still is, a BIG BUMMER!

We appreciate your continued prayers:

· Please pray that we will identify the new senior pastor of the Belém church plant.

· Please pray that the Lord will continue to reveal His plans to the church and us.

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

· Please pray for our family, especially our girls, in this next phase of our lives.

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

· Please pray for the rejection of this virus from your loved ones and its eradication.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Sep, 8

XM

Xingu Mission Field Report September 2023

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Xingu Website

Blessings to you as fall approaches! This report highlights the Brazilian national pastor’s conference hosted in Northern Brazil.

Care for the caregivers. Through your giving for church planting and training leaders in Brazil, we were privileged to partner with the National Association of Vineyards in Brazil to hold their first national pastor’s conference. More than 80 pastors were present, and it was a time to focus on caring for those who spend their lives serving others.

Why was this special?

Having a national conference supports unity within the body. John 17:23 reminds us that unity allows the world to see God’s love.
Conferences allow pastors to gain a proper perspective on their ministry through the encouragement of one another.
Pastors from different parts of the country allow for new perspectives as one learns different approaches to similar problems through the teachings, break-off sessions, and lunch conversations.
Churches are organic entities that are not static. Being together allows for new insights as the Word is made fresh even as it is eternal. Pastors need to pursue understanding, continued education, and spiritual growth; conferences are a great tool.
Pastors need rest and conferences amongst their peers to allow for the change of pace, setting, and reduced responsibility for a few days.
Conferences nourish the health of the pastor, which benefits the whole church.

Walter Trobisch wrote, “The one who gives out much must also take in much.” Here are a few quotes from attending pastors:

“God spoke strongly in all sessions, but particularly through the phrase “waiting is part of the answer” .
“When I heard reports of difficulties that I faced or was facing, it seemed that I felt stronger and compelled to fight. I felt that God took me there for a rest of my soul. I feel very cared for by God and our leadership.”
“God ministered a lot in my life, about leaving everything in God’s hands and that the ministry is not ours, it’s God’s!”
“This holy mixture of South and North was wonderful!!! How incredible it is to hear the story of each one… the good things and even the difficulties… because this humanity brings us closer to each other and to God.”
“What impacted me were the chat groups, having time to listen to others and be heard.”

It was a worthy investment to support this national pastor’s conference, and your giving helped! Thank you for your support!

Click here to Donate – Missionaries and Bases

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Xingu Mission
Contact us:
Derek.Blaylock@xingu.org
Steve.Dolan@xingu.org
Patty.Fultz@xingu.org
Bob.Lesher@xingu.org
Christopher.Meyer@xingu.org 
Keith.Wilson@xingu.org
Marsha.Wilson@xingu.org

Our mailing address is:
Xingu Mission
PO Box 340785
Columbus, Ohio 43234

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Aug, 30

XM

Blaylock

Blaylock Mission August 2023 Newsletter


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August 2023 Newsletter

Hey Friends and Family!

We are sure that so many of you are in the hectic days of back to school! Some of you are sending your kiddos off to school for the first time, some to college for the first time, and some to new campuses. Amid new activities, new seasons, and new complications, we hope you know that we love you, we appreciate it. Thank you for your encouragement and support.

This month was an exciting month of firsts for us as well!

For the first time, we have all four kids in school. Adalee officially started kindergarten. We have met some new neighbors for the first time, made some new friends, led worship in Portuguese for the first time, and had our first small group meeting in the neighborhood (more on that below).

Here is a quick story from Amanda:

On our daily walks around the neighborhood, the kids and I have made an acquaintance with a mom and her 2 daughters- a 6-year-old and a baby. As our familiarity (and my Portuguese) has increased, we have become friends. I noticed the baby has a severe cleft lip, but I never mentioned it. About 3 weeks ago, the mom stopped me and mentioned they were raising money so that the baby (now 5 months old) could have surgery. They will have to travel to another city for the surgery, which is very expensive. I talked to Derek, and we gave what we could, and even reached out to some other friends who gave as well. The mother was brought to tears. The next week she came by our house to visit and to let the girls play. We have invited neighbors over for meals and have been invited to their houses for meals, but this is the first time somebody casually dropped by, uninvited, for a chat. This brought me great joy and a sense of belonging! Since then, this woman has come to our monthly neighborhood social and weekly small group Bible study. It is amazing how a consistent smile and a friendly hello (when you literally feel like all you can say is hello) can open the door to a relationship. This relationship has been so life-giving to me. Please continue to pray that I can understand and speak Portuguese well and have meaningful conversations about Jesus with her. Please also pray for the family as they travel and for the baby as she has this surgery.

Below are our prayer requests. Please keep them in mind and pray for us in these various endeavors. Your prayers ARE making a difference.

Much Love,

Derek, Amanda, Selah, Amaris, Josiah, and Adalee

Prayer Request

1. For the new small group in our neighborhood. Fruitfulness and Formation!

2. Language Learning

3. Vision Clarity for Next Season

4. Leadership Training and Leadership Pipeline

5. XXX

A Month of Firsts

Recently, the assistant pastors at our central church welcomed a new baby! While they are out on maternity leave, they asked if we could co-lead their small group. Amanda and I thoroughly enjoy this group of folks. This group is important not only for the formation of the members but also as a core training ground for leadership in the church.

Additionally, in the last several newsletters, we have written about our efforts to prayer-walk our neighborhood, the intentionality with which we engage our neighbors on the street and around shared meals, and that we sensed God was stirring up new work. As a result of those efforts this last week, we had our first small group meeting in our neighborhood! This is a group of folks from this neighborhood or some nearby neighborhoods in Marabaxio, a small community where we live.

We have started leading worship in these settings. Amanda and I are both enjoying this and working hard to expand our repertoire of songs. We have learned enough of the language that we can generally follow along with what people are saying, and we greatly appreciate everyone’s patience as we endeavor to listen to them in our new language and the Holy Spirit simultaneously.

This is also essential training for us, and what God has done here is essentially the methodology for church planting we intend to use in the future. Please pray for formation, fruitfulness, joy, and understanding as we continue to meet.

Support

Prayer Support – The success of our church planting here is very much dependent upon the faithful and fervent prayer of God’s people. If you know someone that might be interested in receiving these updates and praying with us please send this link. They will get an introductory letter about us and the mission when they sign up.

Financial Support – We are continually amazed at the generosity and provision we receive from you all. It does look like we will have an extended season of unfavorable exchange rates, and we will need to raise additional support to get us back to monthly break-even. If you would like to contribute, please use the link below:

Donate

Xingu Missions

PO Box 340785, Columbus
OH 43234 United States

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Aug, 30

XM

Meyer

August 2023 Newsletter

August 2023 Newsletter
from Christopher & Denise Meyer

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks you so much for your prayers, love and support. We have been so blessed by you.

We are back in Brazil, slowly getting settled in. It’s always a bit crazy readjusting, but we are so happy to again be with our Brazil community.

Our time in the States was great and we definitely feel like our batteries are recharged. It was so good spending time with family, friends, and with our church brothers and sisters.

Here are some highlights from our time in the States:

Speaking at J.T.’s church in Cleveland

Speaking at the Lewis Center Vineyard

Denise with one of the worship teams at VCDC

Jonas & Liam with their cousin, Olive.

J.T. and me

Family photo

While we were back we took a lot of trips to the Columbus Zoo.

This last picture was taken by my parents before we left for the States. Jonas was not happy to go 🙂

On our way back to Brazil after our time in the States

About a week after arriving in Brazil, we needed to head out of town again for a Vineyard Brazil Pastor’s Retreat. We also had a great time connecting with all the pastors across Brazil.

While at the pastors retreat, we took the opportunity to have a Xingu Mission Senior Leadership Meeting. Love working with these guys!

Vineyard Brazil Pastors. Such a blessing to be part of this Movement.

Many of you have asked how you can start to financially support our ministry in Brazil. We will leave a link below.

Denise and I appreciate you so much and would love to hear from you.

In His Service,
Christopher & Denise

Contribution Link

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Aug, 28

XM

Lesher

NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2023-BOB LESHER

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Aug, 15

XM

Xingu Mission Field Report August 2023

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Xingu Website

The Blaylocks are celebrating one year in Brazil! May this update encourage you.

The first year in the missionary field is full of adventures and difficulties in learning, exploring, and acclimating to the unfamiliar. It is a time of missing the familiar, and adapting to the reality of the unfamiliar often is much different than expectations. It is a time to focus on being faithful and celebrate the little successes of acclimation.

Derek and Amanda Blaylock and their four children have finished a year as missionaries in Macapá, Brazil.

Some reflections on their first year:

Biggest Difficulty: missing the family, deep friendships from our church plant, good friends, and neighbors that we were close to.

Biggest Success: getting to observe God’s faithfulness first-hand.

Encouragement: the warm, relational nature of Brazilian culture. Our new neighbors have been kind, helpful, and accommodating. We are making friends and forming familial relationships. Working with a team of committed and faithful missionaries has also been super encouraging. Christopher and Denise Meyer, and Bob Lesher are awesome teammates – it’s quite fun to work with people committed to the same vision and pulling in the same direction.

We have found that Jesus’ words from Matthew 19 – that those who leave the family for Kingdom work will also gain family! We have been well received, loved by the folks here, and cared for by the mission.

Our faith and discipleship have grown tremendously. Something about undertaking this assignment inspires the imagination – you realize that when relying on God, you can be more capable than you thought.

Needs: $350 monthly additional financial support is needed as the exchange rate has been dropping, and their monthly support is insufficient.

Please pray for the Blaylocks as they continue this adventure with a purpose.

Feel free to enter into contact and bless them and God bless you!

Click here to Donate – Missionaries and Bases

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Xingu Mission
Contact us:
Derek.Blaylock@xingu.org
Steve.Dolan@xingu.org
Patty.Fultz@xingu.org
Bob.Lesher@xingu.org
Christopher.Meyer@xingu.org 
Keith.Wilson@xingu.org
Marsha.Wilson@xingu.org

Our mailing address is:
Xingu Mission
PO Box 340785
Columbus, Ohio 43234

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ZDolan Steve

Dolan

Dolan Update – We are back in Brazil!

Hello,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers, love, and generosity in our lives and ministry. Pray you are blessed with this month’s update.

We are now back in Brazil, and I must say, “Were we really in the United States?”. WOW, the time went by so quickly, and we cannot believe we are now back. The adage “time flies when you are having fun” remains alive and active. We had such a great time being with family and friends, but we wish, deep down, we could have savored the moments for a little longer. Below is partial family picture.

Before returning, we had the extraordinary opportunity to attend the USA National Vineyard conference. It was excellent to be there as it allowed us to see friends we ordinarily would not be able to see. It also gave us the opportunity to deepen existing friendships and make new ones as well.

During our trip back, the girls participated in a youth project called “Project Timothy.” Project Timothy’s goal is to inspire, motivate, train, and release a group of young leaders in the Vineyard! During their time, they got to minister at an elderly home. It was very impactful for both Camilly and Alyssa. Elba got to minister to the youth as well. During the National Conference a couple of weeks later, Camilly saw one of the youths from the project, and he asked if Elba was her Mom. She said, “Yes.” He told her that Elba’s prayers for him were powerful and that he cried. Camilly responded, “yea…she makes people cry a lot”. LOL, We thought it was funny. We are thankful God uses us to touch others. We are blessed that it was impactful.

Even though we just got back, we will be hosting a National Vineyard Pastor conference here in Salinas near Belem. We have been working to organize this during our US trip. It starts this Thursday and is the first national conference for our young church planting movement. Please pray for success in every facet. Updates to come.

We appreciate your continued prayers:

· Please pray for the National Pastors conference (August 17^th to the 20^th)

· Please pray that we will identify the new senior pastor of the Belém church plant.

· Please pray that the Lord will continue to reveal His plans to the church and us.

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

· Please pray for our family, especially our girls, in this next phase of our lives.

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

· Please pray for the rejection of this virus from your loved ones and its eradication.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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We went to the Ohio State fair and got a picture with me and my sister Lynn at the lost kids booth. When I was a child, I felt like I lived at this place. LOL 😂