Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

We want to thank you all who have prayed and supported us throughout this year. Thanks!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a great 2010. May God richly bless you and your family.

God's blessing to you.

Mike, Natinha and Hannah

Accident

We had a big accident happen at the church in Santo Amaro, Palmas Tocantins Brazil, on November 14th. The church is constructing the classrooms on the second floor. This will provide the structure to cover the roof, so that the concrete floor stops leaking. One of the walls that was recently laid fell onto a Cyber Café. A very strong storm came by and blew the wall over. We are very THANKFUL to God, that no one was injured or killed in this accident, as the Cyber Café was empty at the time of the storm.

This left the church in a terrible financial situation. The wall fell through the roof of the Cyber Café and onto seven computers, monitors, stabilizers, chairs etc. The rain ruined a lot of the electronic items amounting to R$8157.56 or in dollars $4,826.96 Since the church doesn’t take in enough money to pay this damage, and to help avoid a lawsuit we are asking anyone or church that could help out the church of Santo Amaro in Palmas with these costs .

Anyone wanting to help the church with a donation can send it to the following address with a note that says Help Santo Amaro Church.

Here is the address:

Churches of God General Conference

700 East Melrose Ave.

Findlay, OH 45840

Thank you so much.

Mike Poe

Some pictures appear below of the damage, computers were already taken from the cafe before these were taken.

Chambersburg First Work Team to Palmas!

They came, they saw, they worked, they sweat a lot, and most of all were a blessing to us and those they came across during their time here.

Chambersburg First Church of God Work Team to Brazil


On the 11th of November 13 Americans (oh yeah one was actually German, sorry Natasha) stepped off the plane into the heat of Palmas, Tocantins! They came to work and minister among the Brazilian people and in my opinion did a great job at doing both.

I like this photo!


The team being so big was separated into two work teams, some worked on our church building in Taquari while others worked on the second floor of the Sunday school classrooms at Santo Amaro. God blessed us with beautiful weather. Some asked if it is always this hot, and the reply was "this is nice you should see it in August or September!" For many this was their first time in Brazil so everything seemed new to them. The Taquari team helped fill dirt in to prepare for the concrete floor, and also helped the carpenter build his "boxes" that help hold the concrete in for columns and beams. The Santo Amaro team threw bricks up to the second floor, Kirby showed us his masonry skills, and others helped lift buckets of concrete and mud up to the second floor.

A little bit of Clowing around at Taquari!


On Saturday we held a children's service outside under a large tent in Taquari, we had almost 80 children show up! They listened to a Bible story and got to see some crazy clowns as well. That evening we had a service and were able to minister to the people in the neighborhood. One young man came up after the service to talk to Galen Bricker. He thanked them for coming. After talking for awhile Galen asked him if he could pray for him, to which the young man asked For me to accept Christ? to which we told him that was up to him, if he wanted to sure we would help him pray. He said he wanted to and I was able to translate Galen as he helped this young man ask Christ to forgive him of his sins and come into his life.

On Sunday we ministered to the Santo Amaro neighborhood, all the way over on the other side of the city, to give you and idea it is like driving about 15 or more miles from one church to the other. We did more of the same invited children to Sunday school had the clowns and Brazilian church members go with them on the streets. The church was packed with kids almost 80 again if not more, I lost count to be honest. That evening we held a church service as we typically do on Sunday evening and we had 103 people in attendance probably missed a few in my counting there too. We had four people raise their hands to accept Christ that evening and came forward to accept Christ into their lives.

Taquari Church With the Walls Up!

Move This Dirt Into the Church, Thanks!

The trip had to have at least one day of rest in which I took the team to see three different waterfalls, one more beautiful than the previous. The team enjoyed the nice cold water after a 1.5 mile hike threw some virgin Atlantic forest.

God used this team to touch lives and it was nice to see how He worked among the Brazilians and Americans during these nine days.

Taquari Night Service Under Tent

Amateur Dirt Movers

Thank you once again for coming Earl and you and the team are welcome back anytime.

Jesus name be praised!

Where have we been!

If you have been wondering where we have been here is the scoop! We moved, again! We are happy to be out of our last house. It had a lot of problems, one of the major ones were bats. After a street fight broke out that was the last straw. God was good and allowed us to find a nice home in a different neighborhood. We were blessed because our contract was running out and we were unable to find anything until it was finally God´s timing, perfect as always.

So if you haven´t heard from us in awhile it is because we are exausted from the move, getting our new home in order, attending to our normal ministry duties, building a church, getting ready for my parents to come... I think you can see where this is going. Please pray for us as a much needed vacation time is coming! God bless you and thank you for your prayers.


Hopefull our internet service will be hooked up by Sunday, but I am not holding my breath.

Construction Work Begins at Taquari!

Work has begun on the church building at Taquari!! Praise the Lord!!! We have watched as through the last few weeks steel has been bent and shaped into the form that needs be, cement has been poured and this week after the footers were set, they began pouring the foundation which will hold up the walls, they should have finished that today. God has blessed and the rains have held off for the most part although they have come early this year. The walls will be going up this coming week as well as the columns that will hold up the second floor and roof. We are very grateful to everyone who has contributed to this construction work. More will be needed for sure (the dollar has fallen to R$1.70), so if you feel God leading you to give toward this building project you may give your gift to the Findlay office and specify that it is for the Taquari building project. Some pictures appear below of the current progress of the church.




The footer (I guess that is what they are in English) are almost 6 feet deep and are where what the pillars will sit on top of. The metal sticking out of the whole in the ground will be one of the pillars, after it is filled in with concrete, wood boards are nailed together to keep the concrete in place while it hardens.


Two pastors who are learning more than they ever imagined about building.

Even Hannah has made some trips with Mommy and Daddy to the construction site, she slept through most of the visits.


A Brazilian worker is digging some of the holes for the pillars.


Here are the wooden forms I was talking about above, these will form the foundation of the building.


The photo above and those below were taken today and show you the progress that has been made so far.


A view from the front of the lot.


Another shot from the front.


A close up of the foundation and the metal that will be part of the pillar.



Two of the workers that are responsible for the construction.

Getting Ready!

We are getting ready this week for a big event in the Taquari neighborhood. We were able to have a bus donated for our use on Saturday evening and we will be taking a large part of our church members from the Santo Amaro church out to the site of the Taquari church. An evangelistic ground breaking service has been prepared and we can't wait to see what God has in store for us. As we are really close to the start of building the church, we will also be holding a ground breaking ceremony on this evening!

What can you do? Well, the greatest and best thing you can do is pray for this evening. Pray that God would move in the hearts and minds of those who have heard, read and been personally invited to the church! Pray that people may come to know Him as Lord and Savior on this evening as well.

We will be posting more on this in the days that follow!

God bless and thank you for your prayers!

Hannah Betty Poe

For those of you who haven't heard our daughter Hannah was born on the Fourth of July! We were hoping for that date, but were actually prepared for the C-section to be performed on the 9th of July. Natinha's water burst in the wee hours of July fourth and at 2:25 a.m. Hannah came into the world weighing 6lbs 7 ounces and measuring 20". God has truly blessed us. Please continue to pray for the health of Natinha as she is recovering from her C-section. Pray that Hannah would grow strong and healthy as well, and that we will be good parents. Thanks!

Rains have stopped!

The rains have stopped below is a glimpse of a common sight in the streets of Maranhão as people began to go back to their homes to see the devestation. Aid has begun to arrive and we are able to help here in Palmas as places have been set up to drop off clothes and shoes for those in need in the Northern states. Pray that this aid gets to the people that need it most.

Rain Rain Go Away!

The northern states of Maranhão, Pará, Ceará, Bahia and Piauí have suffered serious and widespread flooding over the last two weeks. Many cities especially in the interior parts of the states are no more. Other larger cities have been affected as well, Teresina the capital of Piauí people were wading through water waist deep. Parts of Maranhão have had towns washed away, and highways have been destroyed. Mining of ore has also suffered a lot because of the rains. Here in Tocantins the rains continue to fall today started out sunny but the clouds are continuing to grow and it will probably rain this afternoon again. Palmas has only suffered with potholes and lots of them. But another larger city closer to the border with Maranhão has had some serious problems with flooding. The prediction for Tocantins is for the rains to continue up to July. This is odd because the rains normally stop by early to mid May.

Please pray that the rains would stop and that the people of Brazil would be moved in their compassion to give and help those in need in these northern states. When the floods came to the southern state of Santa Catarina the outpour of donations and news media coverage was truly great, but we can see the discrimination by the news media and lack of donations as well, the northern states are areas where there is a lot of poverty.

Rainy Day

Well the plans were not changed to much by the rain. Those who were scared to go because of the rain in the morning missed out on a fun day. The sun came out later in the day and the kids and adults had a great time in the creek! I will try to get some pictures up when time permits.

Holiday Get Away!

This Friday is a holiday here in Palmas, and we are looking forward to going to a place where there is a nice cold creek to swim in. The church has been given transporation (free) by bus to get everyone to the event. Pray for a great day. The month of May is dedicated to the family, and this outing will be for our entire church family.

Fifth Anniversary of Women's Group in Palmas

It was a night of celebration! We celebrated five years of Women's meetings here in Palmas at the Santo Amaro church. Saturday April 25th was the date and the church was really full, the challenge was given to bring a visitor and many did. The service was completely conducted by the women of the church and in the end we had many refreshments. Natinha preached this evening, and handed out some "prizes" to some of the women, such as who came to the most services, who is the newest member of the group, and even gave a small gift to all the little women who attend the services with their mothers.

Some pictures follow as well as the video of the choreography that was performed that evening.

Enjoy!

Children's Meeting in Taquari

Pictures of Good News

Photos from our camp April 2009.