Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We saw God do great things this year and are excited for 2009 as well. May God bless all of you who have prayed and supported our ministry and those of Church Planting in Brazil as well.

May God continue to surprise us with even greater accomplishments this coming year.

God bless you.

Mike and Natinha

Natinha sees first major snow fall!

Here is the video of Natinha seeing her first major snow fall. Sorry we were talking in Portuguese, but you can get the idea, maybe. Enjoy!

Kite Competition

The Santa Amaro Church in Palmas held it's first kite competition. The day could have been better even though. The month of July is typically windy, that day wasn't, so it was hard for the kites to fly. But the kids did it anyhow running from one side to the other. Below are pictures of the winners. The kites were judged on best design/prettiest, highest flying, and best aerial acrobatics.


Children all over Brazil love to fly kites and you will see this if you come to Brazil in the right month. Natinha said that when she was a child it was only something that boys did, now you see both boys and girls playing with kites.

Coming To Your Area Soon?

I can't believe it but it has almost been two years since we have been to the USA, and in September we are coming back for our deputation. This means we may be close to your area. Ou deputation schedule is being made now, so if you would like us to visit your church, talk to your mission board or pastor about us visiting you. How do you schedule a visit from us? By calling the Churches of God General Conference office, they will be able to inform you of available dates and what part of the country we will be in and when! We are looking forward to seeing you and sharing what God has been doing here in Brazil.


You can contact Dee at the CGGC office to schedule a visit to your area. Her email is dac@cggc.org

Free Government Sex Changes In Brazil!

Yeah if you read that title you got the gist of this article. On May 16th it was announced that by the end of the year the Free Federal Health Care System (SUS for short) will begin offering free sex changes in Brazil. The operation will be covered by SUS for men wanting to change to the female sex, the other direction male to female is still considered to be experimental and will not be covered. The demand for this surgery is estimated to be at about 1000 cases.

Critics say that this will overstress an already stressed out system. I also see the injustice that this is going to cause many people, people with real health problems. The rational for including this as a valid health related illness is that those who want the surgery and are unable to pay for it have emotional distress, but if we look at the existing government run health care system, it is already unable to take care of those with serious health problems. Health stations (postos de saude) have long lines and super long waiting periods for surgeries, many die from their illness before receiving treatment or the necessary surgery. The biggest part of this problem can be blamed on government corruption, pocketing money, and poor management.

I see this as one more step backwards for a developing country, and a huge leap backwards spiritually speaking.

Lilly of the Valley

At the end of May the dance team of the Palmas church celebrated their annual anniversary, this year they used all of their different uniforms and presented seven different dances that evening. This group was founded by two individuals who had a dream of dancing and interpreting different songs. That dream grew into the present group. The group imposed a monthly fee of R$5.00 to be a part and this money is used in decoration and to buy material to make the different dresses. Everyone enjoyed the celebration, which was followed by food and drinks afterward. The name of the group is Lilly of the Valley.

Dengue in Brazil

Dengue fever is something that we always have to worry about. The government is always warning us not let any water collect in anything in our backyards. The disease is carried by a mosquito and infects people when it bites them. This year the problem got out of hand in Rio de Janeiro and created an epidemic that goverment officials are now wishing they had averted. The truth is if money would have been spent properly it could have been prevented. I have pasted here a very good article explaining the situation there. Please pray for us as one form of this disease is deadly. Natinha has gotten dengue two times already. The 560,000 known cases are the ones that were reported, many others go unreported, my guess is it could be doubled or even be more. Palmas is a hot bed for dengue.

Dengue fever epidemic hits Rio

By Jack Chang

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil --

A deadly dengue fever epidemic has sickened tens of thousands of people and claimed at least 80 lives since the start of the year, and it shows no signs of slowing.

Fear of infection has forced thousands of tourists to cancel vacations to the city of Rio de Janeiro and pushed many residents indoors rather than risk being bitten by the striped Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits the disease.

The epidemic also has collapsed public health services, which are overwhelmed by the crush of patients seeking aid, sparking widespread criticism that government officials were caught unprepared by the outbreak. Last week, the government of Rio de Janeiro state, with a population of 15 million, asked Brazil's military to open three field hospitals to serve thousands of infected people.

"There's been a total lack of attention," said Gabriel Fonseca, 41, an electrician who suffers from the most serious form of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal. Fonseca said he had to wait all night at a city clinic over the weekend to receive hydration treatment that would boost his resistance to the virus. "I've always been afraid of hospitals, for exactly this reason," he said.

It's been an embarrassing episode for this world-famous city, which is known for its bustling beaches and sporty lifestyle. Now, street vendors sell electrified mosquito racquets -- which pop and flash when swatted against a mosquito -- instead of soccer jerseys. Gossip columns, instead of listing marriages and break-ups, announce the latest celebrity to be struck by the disease.

The U.S. and other embassies have alerted citizens to take precautions when coming to Rio, and planes heading abroad are being sprayed with insecticide.

Children under the age of 16 have been hit hardest by the outbreak, making up nearly half of the state's fatalities. Health officials are investigating 79 more deaths possibly linked to the dengue outbreak.

Dengue fever, which infects about 50 million people around the world a year, has proliferated in dense, growing cities, where sanitation is poor and public health services often have deteriorated, said Josh Ruxin, an assistant clinical professor of public health at Columbia University.

The number of people infected by dengue in Brazil quadrupled from 2004 to 2007, when 560,000 people came down with the disease, according to the Pan American Health Organization. While the national infection rate is down this year, it has exploded in Rio de Janeiro state and, at more than 75,000 cases, has surpassed the total number infected all last year.

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Reach Jack Chang at jchang@mcclatchydc.com.

Baptism Held April 27th

We celebrated adding two more members to the church on April 27th. Vilmar and Jusciléia entered the water and were baptized on this day. This couple accepted Christ at the Palmas church last year and went through discipleship classes. They've shown that they are very serious in learning more about how they can better serve Christ. Their baptism didn't happen right away because of their marital situation, but as soon as they could they were married. They are expecting a baby, their first, in September. Please pray for them, their son Nicolas and the baby on the way.

Some pictures appear from the baptism.

Thank you for your prayers!

Thank you for your prayers. Just an update, my Grandpa is out of the hospital and back in his own home, but continues to recover, pray the medicine and rest will put him back to his usual self.

Two prayer requests.

Please be in prayer for our families. Yesterday Natinha's Aunt passed away because of cancer. Also yesterday I found out that my Grandfather was hospitalized Sunday for a viral infection accompanied with a high fever he was hoping to be released today. Thank you for your prayers.

Ministry Budgets Needing Financed

I wanted to point out two areas in need of financial support. The first being the Brazil Church Planting buget. This budget is used to pay salaries for current and future pastors, plant new churches, build places of worship and schools, and help with building projects in already existing ministry locations when extra funds are available. With the decline of the value of the dollar, more funds are needed than ever before to continue financing the ministries here in Brazil. The goal is for our churches to be self supporting as fast as possible, but they have not reached this point yet. Please consider contributing financially to this ministry. You may click on the link at the end of this blog.

The other ministry opportunity is the new vehicle fund for us. Our current car is on its last leg (maybe that should be tire). What should have been replaced last year was not as I did not know to request this in the budget, so a "new" car is necessary as I am having to replace parts on this one too often. I am including a picture of what we are thinking of buying as some have asked me about this. Obviously we will not be buying a brand new car as in this picture but something semi-new.

PALIO ADVENTURE

You may click here to be directed to the page where you can make a donation to these and other Cross Cultural Ministry Funds, or you can send a check for financial support to the following address. Please make checks payable to Churches of God General Conference or CGGC. The ministry number that you may place in the memo portion of the check for Brazil Church Planting is CC2804 and for the new vehicle fund it is CC2828.

CGGC
700 E. Melrose Ave.
Findlay, OH 45840

March Updates!

What has been happening lately? Well at the end of February Pastor Ernesto and I travelled over to Bahia again and visited with the church there on a very happy but necessary visit. We enjoyed meeting with church leaders and worshipping with them in their weekday service.

The first of March we had a talent show at the church in Palmas and many participated showing various talents. Some of the talents presented were cooking, singing, dancing, refabricating a broken and old sewing machine, drawing, and coloring among others. Some pictures appear below showing this evening.


The challenge to cover the roof with a plaster ceiling began at the beginning of this year here in Palmas. We are hoping to have it in place before the summer months (dry season) come again. Dust destroys many things (especially electronic) as well as leaves the inside of the church completely dirty. A long red ribbon is running the length of the church wall. When this ribbon reaches the other end we are at 100% and the work on the ceiling will start. A small house shaped offering box is the place that people deposite their offerings. We are currently at 60% of the funds needed to put the ceiling in place. This has been a great challenge to the local church to give, especially since the church ministry is to typically low income families.

We received a team of 7 from Indiana last week. They came to film the differet areas of ministry here in Brazil. I made the comment that they are like lightning as they were only here in Palmas for two days. They were however able to film some different things and interview people from the local church as well.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and for those who have been supporting us financially as well.

Moving Day

On February 11, 2008 we will be moving to a new house. We have been renting our current home for four years on the 20th of this month, but the owner asked for her house back so that her daughter and son in law could now begin to live here so, we had to move. God blessed and we found another home about as nice as the one we are in now, and not to far from here, actually it is a little closer to the church.

We may be without internet connection and telephone for up to a week or so depending on the telephone companies here. Thank you for your understanding.

Youth Game Night During Carnival

The youth gathered at Pastor Ernesto´s house for a game night. The games played were UNO, Rume-o and Dutch Blitz. These are all imported from the USA, but make for some fun times among Brazilians. Brazilian people are very competitive and game nights are usually quite loud. This year we were unable to rent a facility that the church could afford during carnival as is usually done. This year the camp will be held on the Easter weekend, and the camp (farmette) has already been rented for that purpose.

The fellowship this evening at Pr. Ernesto´s went until midnight! That was quite a good evening and the youth that participated had a good time. Pray God would grow these relationships with the pastors and the youth as well as the relationships between the youth themseleves as some new young people came to this event as well. Two pictures follow.

Thursday, January 24th Abner Arrives!

Abner Melo Nunes

On the 24th of January, while Don Dennison was visiting us here in Palmas, Abner Melo Nunes was born to Ernesto and Miriam Nunes. They are celebrating, as are we (because he is our nephew). He is doing very well and was born with 49cm and 3. some odd kilograms, I´ll let you convert that into inches and pounds. Abner pretty much has it made, as he does what all babies do, eat, sleep, and cry. Makes me think about our walk with God, especially when we are beginning our walk with him, we need to drink that spiritual milk, meditate on His word (sleep), and of course cry out to Him when we need Him most! If you like baby pictures you will enjoy what follows. God bless!