Seeing The Kingdom Come

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Our Team Just Doubled! These last few months have flown by.  Our kids have the month of July off for school holidays which is a welcome break from the 5:30 wake ups and mountains of homework. In perfect timing we welcomed our new team members Allison, Rona and their adorable son Oliver!  Allison and Rona visited João Pessoa a year ago and decided that this was where God was calling them. Allison has been working with women with addictions and relational struggles in Altamira, and has created a Portuguese 12 step program that uses Christian principles to helps people work through the root issues that led them into addictive behaviours.  She has already begun to put this tool to use with one of our girls, it’s a great addition to our tool chest! Rona has been using flag foot ball and Alpha to connect to new people and plans to use both these great tools here in Joao Pessoa as well. And Oliver just lights up every space his in with his delightful personality! We are very happy to have them with us! Missao Restauração Last year, a friend of ours took us to visit a foster home for girls. At the time there were several girls living there, one of which was seven months pregnant at the age of 10.  Shocking and heartbreaking.  We knew God had a purpose for us there we just weren’t sure what it was yet.  We toyed with the idea of doing an Alpha because they said all of the girls were not connected to church or God and they felt that helping them spiritually was a big need that they themselves could not fill. At the time we were just two people, it didn't seem like the right timing.  But we didn't forget about them. Ezekiel 47 is a small house church full of people who are very Kingdom minded and wanted an opportunity to serve.  At the time that we started we had not started our own church and they were and remain like family for us.  We have the same Kingdom purpose vision. We asked if they would like to help and they jumped at the opportunity. Alpha With The Girls Each week we start with food (who doesn’t love to eat-and it’s a great ice breaker!) and then we have some kind of active game.  This gets the girls to wake up, laugh and have fun.   The video and discussion follow and they almost always ask at the end, ‘is that all?  I wanted it to last longer!’   Last month we held a retreat for them. Two nights were like our normal meetings but held in the house Ezekiel 47 uses for their meetings.  Getting the girls out of their environment was great to help change the atmosphere and expectations. Saturday our friends from Ezekiel 47 planned the day.  They blew us away with their love and service to these girls.  The day was filled with music and various people sharing their own life story, the hurts and pitfalls as well as they way they saw God moving in their life.  Some of the girls opened up and told their own stories, which until this point we hadn’t heard.  There was not a dry eye in the room. The retreat ended with the three men who are fathers standing in the place of the fathers who had abandoned and rejected them hurt and abused them, and asking for their forgiveness, in an act of servanthood they washed each girls feet.  It was a very moving moment for everyone. The highlight was seeing one of the girls who has been the most closed off melt into the embrace of one woman after another as tears fell down her face.  God clearly moved in her life!     When Alpha is over we will continue to walk with these girls, along with the people in our church as well as Ezekiel 47.  We are already planning what that will look like. It has been, by far, one of the most rewarding Alphas we have ever done!

If you don't already, follow us on instagram, Facebook and Twitter, we share snippets on a more regular basis! A Visit from Michael Hansen! At the beginning of August we were blessed to have a visit from Michael Hansen, pastor of Vineyard Church of Delaware County.  We were extremely blessed to have him here to see and participate in what God has been doing over the past almost two years since we moved to João Pessoa. We hope it was the first of many visits! If you want to visit we are always open to visitors, just write and ask!   Update on Faith After more testing it has been determined that Faith does not have Attention Deficit Disorder which means she doesn’t need to be on medication.  It has been confirmed that she is dyslexic and has the Central Processing Disorder we mentioned in our last update.  The good news is that for the latter, there is therapy that can be done to retrain the pathways in her brain. This will help her immensely in the classroom as well as with concentration.  Faith has also started with an psychoeducational therapist which will help her in the area of dyslexia.  Her teachers and principals have already seen a difference in her performance, thank you for your continued prayers! Faith was blessed to be part of a study, which meant free testing! We are incredibly blessed and grateful for all the professionals we have been able to find and the openness of the school to find a plan that will help Faith. It all comes at a cost and is not covered by our current medical insurance, please pray with us that we have the funds we need to cover these additional costs. Speaking of which….. Our wonderful friend Mirela has launched a fundraiser to help with these and just general education costs.  She is making beautiful hand-made cards, proceeds going to the gofundme we started before leaving in February. For more about Mirella’s cards you can go to https://www.facebook.com/MyMidnightMuse/ Gofund me  https://www.gofundme.com/Lukeandfaith&rcid=r01-153495055128-2b36124ba2284d7b&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w Copyright © 2018 Xingu Mission C/O Jen and Phil Snell, All rights reserved. You are receiving these emails because we consider you a friend who would like to hear about the work we are doing in Brazil. If you would not like to receive these emails anymore please send us a quick email and we will remove you promptly! Our mailing address is: Xingu Mission C/O Jen and Phil Snell Rua Fernando Ferrari, 147 Pedro Gondim João Pessoa, Paraíba  58031-190 Brazil Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.