January - February
2006

Prayer Corner...

In our last letter we asked for prayer for Elivelton, a 14-year-old who is learning to play worship songs on his guitar. What we didn’t tell you was that Elivelton hadn’t given his life to Jesus yet. But the inevitable finally happened! On January 4^th Elivelton received Christ as Savior. Since then, he continues to challenge us to learn songs as fast as he does for Sunday services and is teaching one of the other teens to play guitar. Elivelton began attending church at the invitation of friends from the youth group, and despite the fact that his parents are non-Christians and sometimes create obstacles for his coming to church, he has missed very few services. Elivelton’s story is an excellent example of how the Lord can use a secular government to bless His kingdom. Elivelton learned to play the guitar (and keyboard) through a federally funded after-school program designed to eradicate child labor. When he began to use Vineyard worship songs in his practices, the Lord got hold of his heart.

Please continue to pray for him and others in the youth group who come from dysfunctional family situations. Teens in our community are constantly bombarded by peer pressure toward reckless behavior (promiscuity, drinking, parties, etc.). In response to this, we hold a teens’ meeting with good clean fun every Saturday, and the girls come over for an all-nighter with Heidi once a week during their summer vacation.

2006 will be an interesting year for us as we juggle business, family and ministry needs. Since our church plant is the farthest from the Xingu Mission base (21 hours by boat) we face special challenges in terms of team development and exchange of ideas and resources. Please pray for the Lord’s protection over our little flock, such that the stresses of frontier ministry not become reason for discouragement. In 2006, we would like to be able to develop more teaching materials, have Heidi finally obtain her permanent papers such to enter the Brazilian Nutrition Counsel, and be able to participate in more Mission and Vineyard Brazil events. All of these goals are attainable but are dependent upon increased funding, so we once again invite you to become part of our financial support team. A gift of just $25 a month, for instance, goes a long way in Brazil, so prayerfully consider investing in God’s Kingdom in Brazil if you have not already done so. Gifts sent to the XM address below and designated for us go directly toward supporting our family and projects. For more information on the Mission’s donation policy or to donate online, visit http://xingu.org/Donation (note capital "D"). We thank you in advance.