ENCONTRO

Women's Encontro

Men's Encontro

"O Encontro é tremendo!" (Encounter is tremendous!) was the theme song for the Encontro retreats which were held the last two weekends of September (separate retreats for men and women). Over 90 men and 100 women attended the retreats, with 70 of the men and 80 of the women being participants, while the rest were leaders and speakers.

Encontro runs from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon and is very intense... with worship, teaching, and prayer ministry sessions all directed to bringing an individual into direct contact with the living God, one-on-one. Encontro is an opportunity to move into a stronger, more intimate relationship with God.


Participants are required to sign up and attend a pre-Encontro meeting. New believers and almost-believers are encouraged to attend, and more mature Christians can also have a refreshing encounter with the Lord.


The testimonies after this fall's Encontro sessions were "tremendo!" Many men and women said they returned from Encontro "a different person". Others said God had spoken clearly to them about things they were struggling with. Several commented that they had received healing for emotional and spiritual wounds, and some had confessed and repented of sins the Lord brought up. Best of all, 7 men and 10 women invited Christ into their hearts and became believers! Hallelujah for our new brothers and sisters!!!


"Encontro is a lot of work for church pastors and leaders, but it is worth it. To see the Lord touching His people and know that He has brought healing into their lives is wonderful!" said Pastor Elba Dolan when we talked after the Encontro.


And since I was a participant in this latest Encontro, I can add my own testimony that "Encontro really is tremendous!" God met me there, and I will remember this encounter with Him forever.

Santa Ana church plant

Post by Marsha Wilson

It has been stated that our mission is "training leaders and planting churches". There is a church plant in a neighborhood called Santa Ana. Santa Ana sits on a less developed outskirt of Altamira. Until recently it had rather transient residents. The resident growth of the city, however, is pushing more toward this neighborhood. The church plant in Santa Ana currently holds a service once a week led by Keith and Marsha Wilson and their Brazilian missions team. The church plant is lacking committed Brazilian leaders.

We are going to blend planting churches and training leaders into one project as we start a weekly children's program here. There was a previous program being run, but by Marsha alone. Now we are going to integrate training several youth from the Mirante Vineyard, a larger church in a different neighborhood, allowing them to reach out of their neighborhood, out of their comfort, and grab a vision for being missionaries to the children and youth in Santa Ana. We believe this training will bring a larger vision for the church plant and eventually a leader will emerge for this church plant to become a fully operational church.

Children are key in reaching families. Children have less responsibility and more time to come to church as well as enthusiasm and desire to learn more about Christ and spread that to their family. They have a yearning to see their lives and that of their families become better with the hope that comes in knowing Christ. The Vineyard church here is refreshing to many youth with the "come as you are" attitude breaking down class barriers and opening a door to a life free in Christ.

We have seen God's hand working and continue to pray for his guidance in this church plant.

Our Biggest Challenge

posted by Josh Pflederer

"Planting churches and training leaders", that's what we are all about at the Xingu Mission. In many ways, the more difficult of the two is training leaders. Many of the communities we work in are eager to have a church. At a cost of around three thousand dollars for a simply constructed church building, money is usually not a big issue either (although we have plenty of needs in that department as well). On the other hand, to train a leader it takes time, and a lot of it.

We've tried several different approaches to training leaders; one on one discipleship, small groups, leadership classes, etc. But no matter what you do, they all require time. There seems to be no shortcuts when it comes to leadership training. This past year we started a new training geared towards training leaders through a classroom setting as well as real life ministry application. The training, called FIEL (which means "faithful"), takes place over one weekend a month. Each training meets at a different location, usually a remote community in which we are working, and covers a different topic. The mix of teaching and hands-on application has been met with very positive responses.

Following is a video about the FIEL program. Please continue to pray for the leaders, students and the communities in which they are working.

The Youth of the Central Church

posted by Chelsea Newton

Every Saturday night, there's a youth group meeting at the Central Vineyard Church. In some ways, its what you would expect of a normal youth service. It has a good band and the youth show up ready to worship. There is usually a teaching, sometimes by a pastor or sometimes by someone in the youth group. But every Saturday night something new and different is going on. Sometimes it appears to be more of a party than a service.

This group of fun-loving, energetic teens and twenties call themselves Arena Jovem.

Its a group where everyone gets to play. People respond during worship with enthusiastic singing, jumping, clapping and dancing. There is often a skit, a dance, games or a video presentation. All these ministries are almost entirely led, organized and made up of the youth.

Every Saturday night is different. Often, there is a theme. Whether its hip-hop, cowboy or career night, you can expect everyone to show up at the church dressed up for the occasion. Sometimes, they have an evangelistic service on a street somewhere in the city.

These pictures were taken on "cowboy night"

One night, the youth pastor got put in the hot seat. It was interview night, and the group could ask any questions they wanted to. The pastor sat in the front on a stool while someone ran around the benches with a wireless microphone.

Another night, they spent the whole service worshiping. They pushed all the benches to the side of the room and invited everyone to the center. “There were some people who just stayed to the sides, but I wanted to worship. It was so good! I really felt God and he said a lot of things to me. I hope we can have this kind of night more often,” I was told by a friend.

Regardless of what the theme of the night is, its always a place where you can experience God. This group strives to make the service a place where unchurched friends can feel welcome and have fun, and where the youth can earnestly seek God.

The Pleasure of Prayer

Posted by Bud Simon

Here in the Altamira Region, we require our missionaries to take a “prayer day” at least once a month.

The prayer day is a day or ½ a day that is set aside to focus on being in God’s presence and hearing His voice. We require that each missionary do this at least once a month to help bring focus, clarity, and God’s presence to their work.

We have two options that are available for a missionary to fulfill this in their life. First, as a group we set aside the first Wednesday afternoon of each month for doing this. We go out to the church’s training center together. We may worship together for a short time, share a few thoughts together, and then each person on their own will quietly seek after God, through prayer, meditation, Bible reading, and devotional reading. Personally, I tend to avoid any type of electronics devices, like laptops, ipods, cell phones, blackberrys, etc. I find these a distraction. However, this is a personal preference, not a generalization for everyone.

The other option is that a missionary can choose to do this on their own at a different time. The process is similar, but the time and place may be different.

Why bother? There is a significant difference between spending an extended time alone, listening to the Lord (4-8 hours or more) as opposed to a 15 minute quiet time or reading your Bible at breakfast or commuting to work. The value is not to say that one should be done to the exclusion of the other, but there is value in the “both/and”. Think of the married couple that speaks together everyday in snatches as time is available but never takes a “date” time. Or think of the couple that only wants to talk during the “date” time, but no other time. There is value and importance in both because the platform for achieving depth and thoughtful insight is much greater during an extended time seeking God.

This was Christ’s habit (Mark 1:35 and others) and it seemed always to catch his disciples by surprise. Even in our busyness, it is important to slow down and hear God’s voice. It is good to work hard at family, church, and our job; however it is better to work hard doing God’s things in our family, church and job.

We achieve doing God’s things by stopping to hear God’s voice.

Here are some books I have found to be useful in this area:

A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings From His Classic Works

Keep a Quiet Heart

Too Busy Not To Pray: Slowing Down To Be With God

Disciplines of A Godly Man (there is a parallel book, Disciplines of a Godly Woman, which I have not read)

Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers

Alpha Circles

Posted by Josh Pflederer

Almost without fail, when our family is out in public and people hear us speaking English to each other, someone will approach us and try out one of the few English phrases: "wat iz your namey?", "Weh iz you froam?", "How ahh you? I am fine". It's no secret that a working knowledge of English helps tremendously in finding a job and career advancement. The mission took advantage of this years ago when it started an English school. Through donated curriculum and some volunteer teachers, we've been able to offer these classes at a fraction of the price of the other English schools in town. It has become a much appreciated service to the community, as well as a way for people to be introduced to our churches.


This past year, we started a Friday night meeting for our English students who wanted an opportunity to practice their English with native speakers. Because of the openness that Brazilians display toward God and religion, we are able to center these discussions around spiritual topics. Alpha Circles, as the meeting is called, usually includes a few worship songs, (sung in english), a short talk by one of the missionaries (given in english and translated to portuguese), often a game or activity, and always followed by small group discussions in English.

The meetings are held at the Mirante Church, so it is natural for the students to ask questions about our church. We have seen several students visit our church as a result of coming to Alpha Circles, and we see the potential for this ministry to continue to be a bridge between the community and our churches.

Jim goes over his talk with Cleide, who will translate.

A discussion group lead by Terry (a missionary from Porto de Moz who was living in Altamira while studying english) and Jim Stevenson.

A group lead by Kate Snow, second from left (a short-term missionary who has since returned); Brin, who leads Alpha Circles, is seen observing the group.

A skit performed by a couple students along with Kate and Terry

A new way to connect

What do the missionaries do exactly? What types of ministry does the Xingu Mission have in Altamira? What does a "normal" day look like for you?

These are some of the questions that we hope to answer with this blog. Our website, which is currently being updated, is a great way to get an overview of our work in Brazil. But to connect to the people, the stories behind the pictures, we want to offer a different medium... and so the Altamira blog was created.

We hope to give you a peek behind the scenes into the everyday lives of the missionaries and the Brazilians that make up the Altamira Region of the Xingu Mission. Each week a different missionary will write a post, and with it will come a different perspective of what God is doing in this remote Amazonian city.

Whether you are a financial partner, were a member of a visiting mission team, or just interested in mission work, we encourage you to become a follower of our blog.