Mission Partner Update - The Costas, July 2024
NEWSLETTER OF THE COSTA FAMILY
JULY 2024
Bruno, Camila, and Mariana.
Dear American family, greetings from Brazil! Please, again, see below a little bit of what God has been doing through our ministry! We praise Him for having you with us to accomplish together His work in Brazil.
MISSION TRIP TO THE AMAZON
The Lord gave us another tremendous mission trip in the Amazon! We had 9 Americans and 19 Brazilians! What another wonderful team God gave us! We worked in five different villages, where over 1,100 people could hear the Good News! As we have mentioned before, the ribeirinhos (the people who live in remote areas at the bank of the rivers) is one of the least evangelized people groups of Brazil. The churches in these places need a lot of help. We shared Jesus in schools, door to door, and during evening meetings where many people attended. It was a tremendous harvest! The Regional Director that supervises the churches with which we worked in partnership was very excited to see so many people responding to the Gospel.The meetings were very blessed. Also, our medical/dental team served almost 600 villagers and were able to pray with many of them.
In one high school meeting, we could see how the students were deeply touched by God. One girl, who was pregnant, was very impacted and left the meeting crying a lot. Some of our team members went for counseling her. Other students were clearly impacted by the Word of God as well. At the evening open air meetings (with the Jesus film), it was wonderful to see how many people attended! We praise the Lord for the missionaries who are based in these regions. It was a privilege to work alongside them.
Also, God worked incredibly in the lives of the ones who were on our team. God used them in so many ways. We can see much fruit already! Over the years, we can clearly see how God uses these trips to engage people in missions and to call some to be in full time ministry!
Thank you very much, American team, for helping us in the harvest fields of Brazil! We thank God for you!
SCHOOLS
Thanks to our wonderful God for the ministry that He continually gives us in the schools! There were so many meetings in the last months.
After one of our meetings in a school, the vice-principal came to me, Bruno, to talk about the meeting. He was very touched by the message. He mentioned that he was in his last year of work since he was going to retire soon; he said how much the message meant to him at this point of his life - he emphasized a lot on how strongly it spoke to his heart. So, we had a very good conversation.
Moreover, sometime later, when I went to get a glass of water, I saw him in the room sharing the message with a teacher through the pictures he took with his phone! The teacher with whom he was sharing said that he was speaking greatly about what he had heard. Also, he said to me that he was explaining the message to the teacher because she was not able to be in any of the other meetings that we were going to do in the school. Look at how much he was concerned to let this teacher know the message! It is always awesome to see how wonderfully the Word of God speaks to the heart. It was so powerful how God spoke to this man. Praise Him!
WP INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Praise the Lord as we had an amazing WP International Conference in Ecuador! This conference happens every four years. It was great to see again many good friends and to meet new ones! There were representatives of WP from many countries. God gave us a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement. We could preach the Gospel in schools and in other places as well. The Ecuadorian team did a tremendous job on hosting this conference.
We had the immeasurable opportunity to visit the house where lived the five missionaries (Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Nait Saint, Roger Youderian e Pete Fleming) that were killed in 1956 by the Wadanis. Miniwa, the grandson of the Indian who led the killing, came to our conference and shared with us what God has been doing in his tribe since they were reached by the families of those missionaries. He is a strong Christian. As many of you know, this story motived missions every where in the world; and our leader, David Wilson, got his call confirmed from the Lord when he heard through HCJB the news about the killing of the missionaries. As soon as David heard that (he was a teenager in New Zealand and was shepherding a flock of sheep at that time), he began to prepare to be a missionary pilot. This was to later change to being an evangelist when he met WP. When we look all that God did through David in WP, we can see how immeasurable is what the Lord has done though His people spread everywhere in the world who were compelled by the powerful testimony of these martyrs!
BOLIVIA
Praise the Lord that the trip to Bolivia was great! The team, led by Wagner (one of our staff members), was a tremendous help for our missionaries there. They worked on the mountains of Bolivia with descendants of Incas on helping churches to reach many with the Good News. Praise the Lord for the fruit of this trip! God worked greatly in the lives of the ones who went as well, and they are ready to go back next year! It was a tremendous trip, really blessed by God!
MISSION TRIP TO INDIAN TRIBES
In August, we are going to the South of the Amazon to work with a local ministry with which we have been working in partnership since 2010. Our Brazilian team from São Paulo is going there and our team from Bolivia as well (we will be very close to the border with Bolivia). One American is coming, too. We are expecting great days of evangelism! Please, pray for this trip!
BE AMAZING BRAZIL
Right now, Camila and the Be Amazing team are organizing another The Amazing Home (Women’s retreat), that will be in Sep. There are already many ladies ready to participate! Please, pray for the Lord to use it again for His glory! May many lives be deeply touched by Him.
Other Be Amazing projects are going on! It is continue growing all over Brazil in many churches. Through the Bible study groups, women have been tremendously encouraged, and others have been reached. Praise the Lord!
LAUSANNE MOVEMENT
Dear friends, as many of you know, the Lausanne Movement started in 1974 with Billy Graham, John Stott, Ralph Winter, and other good influential names of that time. Since the first Congress, they had two more Lausanne Congresses. The fourth Congress will be this year in Seoul, South Korea, on Sep 22-28. As I have mentioned in a few past newsletters, I was invited to be part of the International Lausanne Proclamation Evangelism Network, whose goal is to align projects and establish partnerships for global evangelization. Therefore, I was selected to participate in Lausanne 4. I am very grateful for that opportunity. It has been a tremendous honor to be part of this movement. However, the cost is very high. Please, we would like to ask you to pray with us for the provision of the funds. We are getting close to the Congress, so I will have to give my final answer soon. Thank you very much!
MISSION CONTROL PROJECT
The Mission Control Project is moving! It will represent a tremendous step to facilitate and improve our work. As the ministry is growing in Brazil, and we are developing many projects, the place where the ministry is based today (our home) is becoming smaller. The Be Amazing growth has been another thing that makes the need of a mission base even more. It will help a lot in the management of our ministry and for the development of our projects. See the brochure attached to this newsletter to find out more details about it. Thank you very much for each one of you who has already contributed – may God bless you very much! Please, let us know if you have any questions concerning it! We are trusting the Lord for a miracle to do it. Please, pray with us for the provision of this project.
Thank you very much for your precious partnership through your prayers and support!
May God bless you very much!
In His Love,
Bruno, Camila, and Mariana
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