The time of waiting, preparing.

 Wow, time flies! The past years were busy ones, Covid Epidemic, post covid, leaving Camp Victoria, coming for internship at Teen Residential facility and know looking for our next mission assignment while taking online college courses.

And so, a new chapter in our lives begins. Finishing our 1 year internship at Eagle Village, and leaving Michigan with our earthly belongings in a small U-Haul trailer, was a big step into a period that seems to be of waiting. Waiting for the next “ministry” God has for us to serve in. Yet, God has been teaching me that the time is indispensable and that “ministry” is found in the present just as much as it is in the future.

 

In a Bible study a friend sent me a while ago, the speaker, said something that I found interesting, “Today is all you really have, waiting on God is one thing, putting off what you can and should do today is quite another. Because tomorrow always consists of what you do today. So, what do you do in the time of waiting? You don’t waste it, you do what your hands find to do, you prepare yourself, not waiting until someday in the future, you use the day that you have today” (Mrs. Thetus Tenney, youtube, What to do in the waiting). Thus, we are gratefully accepting this time of “waiting” by preparing ourselves and our family the best we can.

 

“it is not good for a person to be without knowledge, and one who hurries his footsteps errs.” (NASB, Proverbs 19:2)

Picking up where we left off at...

 

So, after so long here I am again. Since my last post much has happened. We are still at Victoria Ministries and have survived 2020. The family is doing well. Telma is still very patient with me and the boys are growing as fast as ever. This year as we slowly start to push start the ministry many challenges are set before us. 2020 really scrambled a lot of stuff up. An entire world to be rediscovered ministry wise. How will Camp Ministry continue to be relevant to the current need of the world around us? We will be trying to find out in the months and years to come.

May 2017 – Brazil – Marcos & Telma Pereira 

Dear friends and family,  In the month of April, we had the opportunity to participate in a Missionary Retreat our Mission (UWM) organized in Peru. The theme was, “Rest and Rejoice”. It was a great time of taking our minds off ministry for a week and for being encouraged with the Bible studies and times of sharing with other missionaries. For the teens and kids, they had special speakers that were very good. Our entire family had a good time and finished this retreat refreshed and encouraged.  One of the Bible studies that was given spoke a lot to my heart. The verse that stuck out was,

‘And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”’ Exodus 33:14

 What caught my attention was the fact that what would bring rest for the Israelites was the presence of God. So many times, I find myself trying to rest and end up frustrated as I wake up tired out the next day. Rest for the world means one thing, for God it means His presence. We often surround ourselves with entertainment thinking it will bring rest but it rarely does. The rest God has for us will be found in the middle of a busy weekday at work, mowing the lawn, doing chores and yes even while sitting in a hammock. It is a rest that will come from within and not from outward circumstances. His presence brings rest in the middle of the storm.

 I found myself realizing that I do not seek the presence of God as much as I ought to since I do need rest. I am now not seeking to rest as much as I am seeking His presence and asking Him to go with me as I seek to live out His will for my life. It is in His presence that we will find true rest.

Trip to Machu Picchu  Since we were already in Peru we could take a couple of days off and make our way to the Archeological Park of Machu Picchu. My mom and dad also went with us. It was a fun time admiring the huge mountains and visiting the many ancient ruins. The boys really enjoyed visiting another culture, and many of the places we visited made us feel as if we were in Tibet.  Telma even had a chance to share the gospel with a young girl from Holland who we met at some ruins on a mountain top one afternoon. She told us she was going to an expensive meditation seminar in that area as she sought to get to know herself better. Telma listened kindly and patiently to her story and then she asked Telma what her spiritual views were. Telma was able to tell her about Jesus and how He had changed our lives and helped us understand ourselves, not religion but Jesus. The seed of the Gospel was planted and who knows what fruit we will see in eternity from this tiny moment.

Online Training   I spent much of March and the first half of April making 8 more video classes for our online camp leadership training program. Dionisio the Mozambican CEF missionary that is doing an internship with us helped me with the recordings. Andrew is now working on getting the classes uploaded along with the study guides and tests. We already have two different online course up and running.

Furlough in U.S.A. end of 2017  Our new furlough dates are now from the beginning of November till the end of January 2018. The kids school made this schedule the one we will have to abide by… We’ll just have to pray for good weather 😊.

We will need places to stay in the following areas;
-Winlock / Toledo /Chehalis
-Bellingham
-Colfax / Pullman

Also looking for a reliable and safe vehicle for 5 people to use during our time on furlough.







Matheus College Exam As many of you know Matheus will not be coming to the USA with us due to his Government College exams at the end of the year. If he is able to pass these test, all college tuition is covered by the Brazilian Government. He is considering studying Psychology or Foreign Relations. There are 3 different Government Colleges that offer these courses within a 4-hour drive radius.

2017 Summer at Victoria Ministries

                  Our summer kids and teen camps were great. We had over fifty kids for each week, most of them from non-Christian homes and many who had never come before. This made for an awesome opportunity for many to come to better understand the Gospel and others to decide to ask Jesus to come into their lives. Matheus was one of the counselors in the first week and had an entire cabin of non-Christian boys which were full of questions about God for him. The Bible teachers for the kids and teens did an awesome job along with the entire staff. The number of participants was a blessing as Brazil struggles with one of its worse years financially amid numerous political scandals involving billions of dollars and unemployment at 11.5%.

            Our Christian camp leadership training programs were also a success. As we are currently switching to part of the teaching being done through the internet and the hands-on training at Camp Victoria. We had fifteen students take our Outdoor Adventures Leadership Training and eleven take our online Camp Leadership Course. One of our students “Dionisio” came from the African country of Mozambique where he is a missionary with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). They want to start using camp ministry as a way of evangelism. As Mozambique is one of six Portuguese speaking countries in Africa all our training material can be used by them.

Online Training Programs

We are starting February off with much work on improving the training website. With the first batch of students that went through the training we could hear from them areas that need improvement and see things that could be done in a more practical and dynamic way.

            One thing is for certain, the online training will broaden the reach of people that can take the courses Victoria offers tremendously.

Fun Saturday.

Fun Saturday

Our staff has started the Fun Saturday Bible Club program in Tres Ranchos again as a way to evangelize and do some follow-up with the children that come to camp in January and July. The results have been great and 50 to 70 kids have participated in this once a month program.

Intense second semester.

This second semester has been full of work as we further develop the training department of Victoria Ministries. We are putting the on-line studies website up and preparing to start recording the basic classes to put them on this new website. This will be a big blessing as it will make it possible for people interested in Camp Ministry to get training from a distance and then only come for the hands on segment. My dad has also re-edited his book on Camp ministry and will be launching it at a Christian Book Fair in São Paulo the end of this month.

Great July Camps.

Our July camp season was great. We had over 130 kids and teens in the two weeks of camp. Many campers on the second week received scholarships to be able to participate. It is always great to see how much fun these campers have and to see many of them hearing the gospel for the first time. 

 The story of Amanda was one that shows us the impact Camp Ministry can have in the life of a child. She came to camp for at the age of 7 (under our camp scholarship program) and accepted the Lord as her Savior. After that she started attending a church in Tres Ranchos. This was not easy for her as the rest of her family were not Christian and were very abusive. When she was 12 years old her mother accepted her invitation and went to church with her also becoming a Christian. Now at 14 she is praying for others in her family to come to know the Lord and plans on becoming a missionary. 

Thanks for all your prayers!

Our theme for July 2016 winter camps for kids and teens will be, "On The Path To Victory". We are going to use this theme as the Olympics are to be held in Brazil this year in August. Not much to celebrate since Brazil just impeached its president and is dealing with the fact that it's budget for 2016 is over 50 Billion Dollars negative! The country has gone into a terrible recession and many have lost their jobs. Odd enough though we expect a good number of campers as families abandone expensive vacations and seek out more price friendly solutions.

We are planning on having two weeks of camps and also our one month Camp Leadership Training Program and our 5 day Adventure Sport Training Program. 

Please pray for all these programs, for God to send the kids and teens that need to hear the Gospel message, for those leaders taking our training programs and for our staff to have the strength they need.

A time you will never forget!

SHORT TERM MISSION TRIP TO BRAZIL

"Life is precarious, and life is precious. Don’t presume you will have it tomorrow, and don’t waste it today."
- John Piper

Hello!!!
How about coming to Brazil for two weeks or more to help us in our
busy month of July?

Our "winter" Camps in July 2016 for kids and teens will be;
11-16 and 18-22

We also have Church retreat rentals on weekends and the 1 month training program for Brazilian Camp leadership going on in July.

There is also the year around opportunity to help in the construction of the Couples and Family Camp.

It is a once in a life opportunity!

Any questions please write:

Alex Rose - Australia

 Holly Rimbey - USA

 Kari Rimbey - USA

Jenny Kallak - Norway

Dear friends and family,
  
Switching Missions… Yep, we have switched missions. We are still with Victoria Ministries serving as Executive Director, yet now have a different sending mission agency. We were with Pioneers Brazil and have now switched and joined United World Mission (UWM).  

Long story made short… All this started in August last year when the head of finances at Pioneers Mission Brazil contacted me and said that we were going to face new tax law problems in 2016. According to their accountant an extra 27% would have to be removed from the total of our support. Because of this the board of Pioneers Mission Brazil suggested I become member of a Mission in the USA, this way becoming exempt from this new tax law.   
So after praying about this, United World Mission (UWM) was our choice for three reasons: - My parents and brother are serving through United World Mission (UWM). 
- Victoria Ministries has a firm partnership with United World Mission(UWM). 
- United World Mission (UWM) has more than 350 missionaries serving in 45 nations.  

Last week Telma and I took part in the orientation meetings in Charlotte, NC, at the headquarters of United World Mission. We were accepted to serve as missionaries through UWM at Victoria Ministries.   



With that being said, there are some changes in the way support is sent in to us. No more support for us can be sent to Pioneers Mission, but instead to United World Mission with our names and account number attached (Marcos and Telma Pereira #31516). We have attached a form that explains how you can continue to send in your personal monthly support. 

We also have to raise our monthly support level by $300.00 to be fully funded. 

Would you consider joining our monthly support team? 

If you have any questions whatsoever about this switch, 

please be sure to contact us with them.

To participate Financially please fill in the commitment form on the link below

 Commitment Form Click Here