Peter and Josi’s Newsletter - June 2021

                                   Peter and Josi’s Newsletter - June 2021

Dears Friends,

Greetings again!   Thank you to all for your prayer and support.  We are now in June, and Escola Crista Água Viva school has been open for a few weeks now Praise the Lord!. Our pupils returned, although not as many as at the start of the school earlier this year. Many parents have struggled with employment.and losing jobs. Covid is still high. Although not as high as it has been. All we can say is that it's been a very gruelling time, and Brazil is still in the grip of this Pandemic.   Thankfully I had the 1st vaccine dose a few weeks ago and Josi had her 1st last week. And gradually the population is being vaccinated, so hopefully sooner or later the pandemic will end.

Word by Heart

In April we had Nathan Cardim, a student from Word by Heart who was on his practical and visited our base, so we were more than happy to welcome Nathan and have him present Word by Heart to our school. Word By Heart is a YWAM school that trains students to memorize whole chapters and books of the Bible and present scripture in a dynamic way. I also got to paint a picture to - I suppose you could call it - Word by Art! We all enjoyed Nathan's presentation and heartily recommend the Word by Heart ministry.

A short video

of the presentation at this link 

News from Josi

I continued working with the community, school and project.  Also Christian worldview training in education and the arts.

In this time of pandemic, our work has been done with the community in the following way: We have helped with counseling with the children and families, helped with food baskets, and the purchase of medicines for covid 19. Families with covid go to the health center, the doctor gives the medicine to help fight the symptoms of covid, some of the medicines there are at the health center they receive, but others do not have them, they need to buy it to start the treatment to fight the symptoms of covid 19, so we help with purchase of medications. We help with the children's activities, printing the activities that the municipality's school pass on to them.

In this month from April to until now in June there have been many people infected with covid 19 in the community, so we have been trying not to meet with the group, we attend parents separately and through the whatsapp group we have, trying to help them with their needs, as far as possible.

At school, many parents who worked or did odd jobs are unemployed, but we continued with the children. We have 50 children from 4 to 13 years old in school, many are not given any payment to the school, we have lived a miracle every day, with a little money we give to the teachers who work with our school, they are people from the community who also depend on wages to survive.

We have been training teachers and educators on the biblical worldview of education and the arts for community transformation. We have fruit from our work, children who were from the first group of children years ago being reached through ministry here in the community, are now adults and work discipling others and teach in the school. Here in the community, we reach many families and children through art and the Crianças do Rei Project..    Also the vaccines are being rolled out now. But the hospitals are close to collapsing with so many Covid cases. Please pray for Brazil and the government.

The Broad and Narrow Way - Peter

Since our last newsletter I discovered the possibility of creating videos presenting the History and Explanation of the Broad and Narrow way picture. For a while I knew about Text to Speech software, but wasn't all that impressed, that was until now. The software has come on in leaps and bounds, and it is surprising to hear the results. When I realised I could make realistic speech from just text it threw open all kinds of possibilities - And so I embarked on my first video project with the software which is over 19 minutes long The History of the Broad and Narrow Way by Gawin Kirkham.  <<< To watch the video click on the highlighted link.  The improvements to the software are due to A.I. Artificial Intelligence.   For a long time I wanted to make some kind of video about Gawin Kirkham’s History of the picture, and had thought about using 3d years ago, but never developed further than a few still images.  But now many things have come into place, and narration is a very important part. Also finding old pictures was challenging so I adapted old illustrations, photoshopped and created original sketches when I wasn't able to source suitable old pictures to follow the narration of the history. I also made the videos in Portuguese, French and German. Google translator is very useful, but one needs a native speaker to check narration afterwards.

I struggled a bit with the French version...but I was surprised how well the German and Portuguese versions were received and I didn't have to reddit.

Also completed the Explanation of the Broad and Narrow Way by Charlotte Reihlen with her 1st Edition lithograph - over 40 minutes long.  <<< To watch the video click on the highlighted link above..  By all means please give feedback!   It's a new venture and gives many ideas. I hope to develop learning activities and Bible study material to go with the videos too. Producing the videos has given me many thoughts about producing teaching material which is easily accessible.  The old ways of teaching and education are undergoing something of a revolution at the moment. The pandemic has only accelerated this with teachers and schools having to adapt to technology and new teaching methods online..  

Charles H Spurgeon - Surf School

Recently I was reminded of Charles Spurgeon phrase “I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.”  I have to confess - an image of Charles Spurgeon, with a surfboard springs to mind! ....and so I decided to look at the phrase with a surfing theme in mind!   They say Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal is where some of the biggest and perhaps most dangerous waves in the world can be found, only the most experienced and talented attempt to be towed out with jet skis and wait for these enormous waves to come barrelling down and attempt to ride. As well as training, they are prepared in their minds and braced for these kinds of  waves.   But what of the trials of life?  We all face from time to time - how do we face up to them? And its this wave that Charles Spurgeon is talking about - And Spurgeon certainly had a few throughout his own life.   But he had learned to embrace and kiss the wave that threw him against the Rock of Ages......he knew the importance of recognising the Rock of Ages during the storms and trials ....submission to the will of God, accepting His grace and mercy - can turn whatever trial we are going through - to victory.  The trials we go through are marked with destiny and Eternity in mind.   One example from scripture - Joseph in Genesis 50:20  - "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."  

  .         Prayer and Thanks!

Praise the Lord for continued health and strength!  

Praise the Lord for His provision.  (We give thanks for all the provisions and blessings throughout 2020!) For anyone in the UK who would like to give regularly we have our new Stewardship support forms. Please ask for details.

Pray for the school and project, the need for safety, health and quarantine 

Please pray for the Bible Museum and for partners. If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts please contact us. 

Please continue to pray for more volunteer staff and for evangelism. (We give thanks for answers to prayer) 

With our best wishes and prayers 

With our love - Peter, Josi and Dorothy

Giving through Stewardship

For those who kindly wish to support us in missions with YWAM Brazil. We are registered with give net - Stewardship Services in the UK. Monthly and one-off donations can be easily processed with Debit and Credit cards - please visit the link below to see our giving page. Give net has made some recent updates which should make this easier - for those who wish to remain anonymous, give net makes this provision. For people outside the UK who wish to give - the payment process allows International donors to opt out of UK Gift Aid system. Stewardship Services are a Christian organisation serving charities and missionaries from the UK.

For those who wish to pay through STEWARDSHIP  We have an account at https://www.give.net/20089559   Before confirming any gift on give.net you will be asked whether you wish to remain anonymous. If you choose this option your personal details will be will not be made known. If you have any questions please ask for details Donations may also be sent via Western Union which we are able to receive here.   

Peter and Josi Millward, Rua Pintor J. Figueiredo No. 805. Praia Iparana. Caucaia, Ceara.  CEP. 61.627-250.  Brazil. https://www.facebook.com/escolacristaaguaviva  ​  *Email: ​jocumpraia@gmail.com​ ​ *Please note the email address is the current one I use