Small Steps Forward

Hello to All of Our Wonderful Friends and Supporters!!

I just want to remind you, as always, how great it is to have you guys on our team! You make everything we do possible. Each and every day, as we minister to others in many different ways, you are right there with us. Thank you!


Alpha with the Girls...

One of the ministries that we have had the privilege of participating in is going weekly to pray for the women who work as prostitutes near the beach. Each time we go there, it is always a little bit different. Sometimes, we feel like we are able to really connect with some of the girls in a meaningful way. Other times, it can feel like we are running into a wall. There is always a tug-of-war happening in our hearts as we are both wanting so much to help them, but also having to accept that this is a very slow process.
However, recently, we have been able to take another step forward in connecting with them on a deeper level. Just last week, we started our first "Alpha" on Tuesday morning.
For those of you who don't know what Alpha is, I will give you a brief explanation. Alpha is a program that was started several years ago to help non-believers have a casual environment in which they could ask questions and learn about the basics of Christianity. Once a week, we get together, have a meal, watch a short video, and talk about the discussion questions.
There is a church just up the road from where we meet with the women, and they have allowed us to open up the space to invite these women for the Alpha meeting. We were a bit nervous that we would be the only ones there for the first week, but thankfully, we had 4 girls show up! We served them breakfast, had a short time of worship, and then watched the video together. It felt like a very special moment, and God's presence filled the space.

Watching the video together

Later in the week, Jen and Phil were able to go back again to pray for the women. They heard that word was getting around about our first meeting and how much the girls liked it! We are hoping for even more women next week!
As you can imagine, there is a lot of spiritual battle surrounding these women. The enemy has had so many hits in their lives already. There are so many things stacked against them. Please, join us in praying for them and that the power of the Cross would invade every area of their lives!

Update on Mãevia:

You may remember from a few months back that I told you about a young woman named Mãevia who had successfully left prostitution. At the time, she was still in the middle of battling a crack addiction. Mãevia had gone to a rehabilitation center, but had only remained there for about 15 days. Well, I am happy to say that we are still very much connected to her. She still has remained free from crack addiction and prostitution, but in many ways, her life still a mess.
Mãevia has lived most of her life being traumatized and abused. She has no internal structure to even begin knowing how to live a "normal" life. For us, as we try to walk along side her, it's like being on a roller coaster. There are a lot of ups and downs! Right now, we are simply trying to see, one day at a time, how we can we helpful to her. Next week, she is supposed to start meeting with a therapist. Please pray that she is able to start working through some of her wounds. Our hope for her right now is that she can begin to learn how to calm down her emotions, as she is prone to explosive and defensive behaviors. We are well aware that this will be a long journey. We pray for the wisdom and patience and love needed to guide her along the way.

Moving.....Again

So, I'm sure you have already heard me talk about how much I love our new apartment and our new city and that we are so close to so many wonderful places and we even love our neighbors...... You can imagine that the idea of moving is the absolute last thing I want to do right now. However, we received some news a few days ago that has been a little hard to swallow. Apparently, the owner of our apartment has a son who will be getting married and wants to buy our apartment from her and live here. *Insert big, fat, cry face here* We can stay until our lease is up but they are requesting that we leave a little early. Despite all this, there is some good news in this situation. The tenant upstairs will be leaving at the end of December. That apartment is not as nice as ours and there are many repairs that need to be taken care of, BUT there is the possibility that we could at least stay in the building! We are in the process now of figuring out all the details. Please, please, pray that we can move upstairs and that it can be a smooth transition. I am so weary of moving. Every instinct in my body just wants to settle down in one place for a long while. We are always open to God's will in our lives, even when it is painful or confusing, but please pray that God would give us favor in this situation. Thank you.

Thank you all so much, for your prayers and support. We are so grateful for them. We love to hear your words of encouragement.

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Love,
The Moura Family