Uprooting the Mighty Oak Tree

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Thank you to all of you who read, encourage, support and pray for us we can't do this without you!

Na Mesa Do Pai (At the Father’s Table) From the beginning of this ministry with the women we dreamed of one day being able to hold a larger event for them, like a banquet.  But it seemed to be just that, a dream.  How could we, just two people, pull off an event like that? Early in the new year we both prayed and felt that was the next step, but we hesitated again because of the fact that it seemed like an unreachable goal. But as I prayed I felt strongly that God was saying to us to move forward with it and as we trusted Him and stepped forward He would add to our numbers and the distance between us and where we wanted to be would be reached. Well that is exactly what happened.  We decided to just trust that somehow everything would come together. That's when the sickness hit our house, and one after the other we fell down with a fever, body aches and a weakness I haven't felt since Malaria.  The week before the event I was so sick I fainted on the way back from the bathroom! Thankfully Phil was by my side to catch me. We feared that since we hadn't been able to get to the streets we wouldn't see any girls at the event. The Wednesday before I managed to get into the car with Phil driving and we drove down the road handing out invitations to the girls. By Saturday, the day of the event, I was mostly back to normal and running on adrenaline.   The Anglican church agreed to let us use their beach front church  and our friends at Ezekiel 47 all pitched in to help with the food, set up and take down and praying for the girls. Shores of Grace stepped up and sent the leader of their ministry with the women in prostitution and a woman who has left the streets recorded her story and also came to speak in person and encourage our girls that they too can have a different life.  Another five people from Shores came along with them to help.  We also had our good friends and fellow missionaries Christopher and Denise visiting us as well as their adorable son Jonas. We had about 25 people in total involved in making it all happen. In the end we had nine girls attend-a great turn out for the first one. Maria, from Shores of Grace, spoke to the women about the story of Lazarus, that although he had been dead for four days, his body already decomposing, that Jesus called him out and back to life.  She told the women that they may think that their dreams are dead and decomposing, like Lazarus, but that Jesus is calling them out of the tomb and back to life. All of the women stood at the end to receive prayer, there were tears flowing freely and as we closed for the evening they all just stayed where they were, there was a peace in the room that was palpable. Phil and I were overwhelmed, in a good way.  All the sickness we had suffered and other calamities leading up to the event (too many to mention!) were worth it if even one of these women will see their life transformed, will begin to understand that she is worthy, loved and valued. When we were back on the streets all the girls were talking about how much they loved the banquet with the girls who didn't attend, we believe attendance will continue to rise as word gets out. Join Our Team!  Sickness Hits the Snells! Our family is usually pretty healthy.  In fact, I can’t remember a time before this month that our kids had a fever or flu, it’s literally been years and I don’t remember at all the last time I did. Well this month we made up for lost time.  It started with Luke, then it hit Phil and he was down for almost two weeks with what we suspected was dengue, just as he was getting better I started with a fever, a week or so later I was starting to come around, after having fainted once and losing about 8 pounds, Faith came home from school with a fever. What.is.going.on. We are pretty exhausted and now much more grateful for our usually healthy bodies.   Once we were strong enough to get to the doctor we went to have tests done and sure enough, all three of us had dengue, a virus carried by a certain species of mosquito.   Praying this is the end of it for a long time!

Time flies when you are doing what you are passionate about!  It’s furlough time again, and although our time will be short due to the kids in school, we are hoping to pack in as much visiting and sharing as we can.  Our calendar is booking up fast but we still have a few dates available if you would like to host a screening of the documentary that was made for us.  If you would like to host a screening, please reply to this email and we will organize an evening! We arrive in Canada on the 12th of June and leave on the 15th of August. VISITORS!  We absolutely love visitors!  This month we had Christopher and Denise Meyer and their adorable son Jonas visit us.  Christopher and Denise pastor a new church plant in Macapá in the very north of Brazil.  We loved having them with us but it was too short! Prayer Requests For the rest of our month here in Brazil, that we can accomplish what we need to before leaving For protection and health as we travel For our kids as they will miss some classes and have to keep on top of their studies while we are away. For our house and the Moura family who will be looking after it and our fur family while we are away. That this furlough is a fruitful one.  We need to increase our monthly partners to continue and expand what we are working towards here in João Pessoa.