2022 International Mission Partner Report - Aprender

A heart warming story from Robert & Joyce Hamd of the Philemon Project who fund and support GROW Preschool in Bourj Hammond, Beirut, supporting refugee and migrant children. Here is a detailed account of the impact Aprender’s work has had on them…

An Update from the Medeiros Family…

Dear friends,

Happy New Year!  We enjoyed celebrating New Year in the most incredible location this year, Ushuaia, the most Southern point of Argentina, known as ‘the end of the world’.  Sarah and Daniel were part of shaping the first CMS Latin American conference in Ushuaia, called Refresh (based on the verses in Matthew 11:28,29) and it really was a time of great blessing.   CMS mission partners, local partners and mission associates serving in Latin America came together to seek refreshment and inspiration in the Lord.

Daniel and Sophie were involved in leading worship. Sarah led a couple of seminars on Dance and Soaking prayer, where by coming to Jesus we are truly refreshed.  We also set up a 24/7 prayer room.  It was wonderful to be so involved as a family.  We also took some holiday time to see penguins in the wild, hike to a glacier, and go to the local museum which features the story of the first SAMS missionaries (now CMS) coming to Ushuaia 170 years ago, when only original peoples lived there.  Eventually missionaries founded a farm living alongside the indigenous people.  Now there is a vibrant and growing indigenous church throughout Latin America, so it was a very inspiring place to visit.

In September 2022 Dança Água Viva started in the community Aguazinha.  Thirty women registered and there are about fifteen ladies who come twice a week.  God is meeting the women with his presence and setting them free to worship Him in sprit and in truth.  There is a mix of Christians, non-Christians, back-slidden Christians and pastors coming to the sessions!  We always have a time at the end of the session to minister to each other with the flags and rest in God’s presence.  Often the women share that they experienced God’s peace.  For example, one lady said she had big problems at home and didn’t want to come to dance but her grand-daughter encouraged her to go.  She said her heart was full of anguish but after spending time meeting with Jesus through dance, she was leaving full of peace.  The women are sharing on a deeper level and learning to receive from God and enjoy His presence as the Holy Spirit ministers to their hearts.

On Christmas day, Sarah was overwhelmed when she was given a beautiful work of fuxico art that some of the women had hand-made for her.  It signified how the women are valuing what they are receiving from God in dance.  Pray for Sarah as she considers offering sessions to the children in the community this year. 

Daniel has been busy networking with local leaders and pastors.  He was invited to a Pastors breakfast once a month and he has had opportunities there to build relationships and advocate for Revive and the fostering service.  At the last Shine network meeting of 2022, we had 2 new ministries visiting (Christ for all Nations and Agape Love ministries) who shared a vision of Revival coming to Recife.  It was very encouraging as what they shared confirmed words and visions that we have heard over many years.   They have started a new ministry called “Revive Recife” and Daniel and Sarah will be involved by leading a weekly prayer meeting in their area with local leaders to seek God’s face together in unity, repent and pray for revival to come.  Daniel’s many connections with leaders across the city has helped in getting pastors involved.  His heart has always been for unity so it is great to see churches across the denominations coming on board to pray for Revival and the crusade that is being planned for in Recife in Jan 2024.

Daniel has also been supporting the different Revive ministries, including the food market while Rose and Stu have been in the UK.  During the school holidays he has had the pleasure of Sophie and Ana accompanying him; Sophie even joined him on the early morning run to collect food for the food market at 5am! 

Please pray for Daniel as he continues as an assistant counsellor for Journey UK, helping men on their inner healing journey, through a course called “A Journey of Grace” and for the development of this ministry in Brazil. 

As a family we have moved from River Church (Igreja Rio) to be part of the congregation of Living Waters Church (Igreja Anglicana Agua Viva) in Aguazinha.  Although it was hard to leave Rio church, we sensed it was the right time to move churches.  We were warmly welcomed and Daniel and Sophie have been helping out a lot with the children’s work and Sarah and Ana have had various opportunities to dance in the church.  It would be great to build a dance ministry team in the church so please pray for that!

Ana continues to love her ballet and gymnastics at school and she won the gold medal in her first gymnastics competition and she shone in her ballet show last term.  Sophie is a great singer and is concerned with caring for the environment.  Please pray for them as they start school on the 1st Feb and for the continuation of the Conscience Club at Revive that Sophie started.

In November we also had Sarah’s brother come to stay for a week which was wonderful and Sarah’s parents are now booked to come in April.  It is the first time they have visited us since we have lived in Brazil and so we would really value your prayers for their visit.

Thank you so much! May God bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you and give you His peace.

With every blessing,

Sarah, Daniel, Sophie and Ana

ABTS Newsletter | June 22

Another month has passed during which we experienced afresh God’s faithfulness and wonderful works in and through the Church in the Arab world. I invite you to catch a glimpse of that in this month’s newsletter as you read about our non-formal theological training and about the ministry of our students Sousanna and Yousif in Sudan. I also invite you to read this month’s prayer requests and to pray with us for our Integrated Theology students.

Peace and Grace,
Loulwa El Maalouf
Director of Partnerships

Read More…

ABTS Newsletter | April 2022

Dear Mission Partner,

It is finished! Worthy is the lamb who was slain. In Him, there is forgiveness of sins and the restoration of all creation. We worship Him “who is, and who was, and who is to come”. We worship Him who sits at the right hand of God the Father in glory. In His death and resurrection, He has reconciled all things to Himself and made peace through His blood. Our mission only makes sense in light of His death and His resurrection.  

In this newsletter, we invite you to read about a visit to encourage some of our Sudanese alumni and build better relations with church leaders so we can serve them better. We also invite you to read about our work on a digital library containing Arabic theological resources. After that, we invite you to join us in prayer for some of our Sudanese alumni.

Happy Easter!

Loulwa El Maalouf
Director of Partnerships

Prayer Letter from the Medieros’

Dear Friends,

We hope this letter finds you well. 

Thank you for praying for Sophie and Ana.  Their first month back at school has been positive but there is a lot of homework for Sophie and she has been attending physio sessions 3 times a week for her knee which can be tiring. Please continue to pray for her health and stamina.   

Ana is enjoying school and is delighted that she can do ballet, guitar and gymnastics.

REVIVE

Sophie did a presentation introducing “Conscience Club” (an enviromental project) to the staff and girls at Revive and consequently Revive have started  recycling and we will be doing our first litter pick on the beach in Olinda next Saturday morning.  Please be praying for our first litter pick to go well.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN AGUAZINHA

We believe it is time to build the Dance ministry (Sarah) and the Football ministry (Daniel) in Aguazinha.  The football ministry is on Monday and Friday afternoons and Daniel will be involved with leading devotionals with the guys.  As you know, the dance studio needs some renovation.  While we were in England there was a lot of rain in Brazil and the roof was leaking badly.  When we returned we heard we need to replace the roof before installing the air conditioning.  We were so delighted to receive 2 offerings for the dance studio totally nearly a £1000 and we now need another £1000 to repair the roof!  On Monday, 5pm Brazil time (2pm UK time), we will be presenting to the trustees of Revive and are hoping that Revive will be able to pay for the leaky roof.  Please pray that meeting goes well on Monday and God will provide the money so we can start refurbishing the studio as soon as possible.

In the Community Development team, there is also a wonderful couple called Rosie and Stu who are also CMS mission partners.  They are hoping to start a food bank very soon in the same church building for the poorest families in the community.  Every Thursday afternoon we have been going together to Aguazinha to pray for these new ministries.  We feel that the church building we will be working in will be like a “well-being centre”.  There is currently Jujitsu, the food bank will start soon and, as soon as the studio is ready, the dance ministry.  And on a wider vision, Unity is still very much on our hearts and being friends and working with the other organisations doing prevention work in the area, such as Rio Social (River church) is really important. 

Daniel has started leading intercession before church services at River Church on a Sunday.  Through prayer we believe the fire of God is being ignited.  

Thank you for standing with us in prayer and please do pray for this important meeting with the trustees tomorrow 2 pm UK time!

Love and Blessings, Sarah, Daniel, Sophie and Ana xxxx