November 2011 Newsletter

Calvary Chapel Mocamba and Cate Family Update.

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Brazil! We wanted to take a few minutes to catch you all up on the latest happenings on our side of the world in both the ministry and in the Cate family.

Church -

4 months ago the church body had to move out of the building that we had been renting. Since then we have been meeting in different houses and in spite of the many difficulties that have come with that we have seen the Lord use this time for good. It has been so awesome to see the people committed to showing up no matter where we are meeting and we are excited to be seeing growth in the body spiritually, in maturity, in our relationships with each other and even in numbers. It is truly something that only Jesus could do and while we are still praying to find a building soon we are thankful that the Lord is using this time to bring glory to Himself.

We are continuing in the book of Romans on Sundays and in Exodus during our midweek service. In addition to the Men’s Group on Tuesday mornings we have added a Women’s Bible Study on Friday nights. All of the women have been so blessed during this time together and it is very needed during this time of not having a church building because most of the moms are not able to come to the services because no one in the church has a house with room for the 17 kids that are now in the body.

We are in the process of planning a group for married couples and we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for that.

Ministry -

Surf School is still going great. The kids always have such a blast and the guys that are teaching are so excited to be given the opportunity to show these kids the love of Jesus in such a fun way.

The last few weeks we have had to cancel / take fewer kids to the beach because our car has been broken for some time. We are always sad to have to cancel but because we were not financially able to fix the car we just had to. Anyway, this week one of the little boys that goes to Surf School came to tell Nathan that he asked his mother if she would ask his uncle who is a mechanic to fix our car so we could have Surf School on Saturday. The car has not been repaired yet but they did come and look at it and more importantly the whole situation gave us a chance to see how much this time spent loving on the kids means to them. It was the little boy’s idea to find a way to fix the car and he is only 9 years old. So sweet! Please be praying for the Surf School and the car situation. While we as a family have had to learn to live without a car (being that our car only had 5 seats and we are a family of 9) it would be a blessing to be able to someday have a van both for the family and the ministry.

Family -

Our family is also doing well. We have been having such a fun time getting used to being a family of 9! We had all forgotten how much fun babies are. Little Isaiah Douglas (or “Dougie”) who is 4 months old now is growing like a weed and probably the world’s most spoiled baby. He absolutely refuses to be sat down but it works because in such a big family there is always someone who wants to hold him.
Ezekiel (2) and Jeremiah (3) have been potty training lately. They seem to be taking to it well and with 3 boys in cloth diapers we could not be more excited at the thought of only having ONE baby using diapers!
Lilliana (3) and Grace (3) are doing great. The enjoy spending their days playing "Laura Ingles and Baby Carrie" in the sun and hauling around their beloved cat Meow - meow.
Hope (5) and Josiah (7 ) are growing up SO fast. They are now in the first grade and doing great. They are both reading and writing in cursive beautifully. They also continue to be our big helpers around the house and with the younger kids. They both truly are a blessing.
Nate has been very busy studying, teaching, taking care of the church, and the family. He still has to help around the house until I am able to have the surgery to repair the hernias. I laugh a lot because since he has taken over most of the house work just about every machine that we did have has broken. I don’t know many husbands who would attempt washing clothes by hand for 10 people (including cloth diapers!!) but he somehow does it all and he has been such a trooper!!
As for me I still have days that I am in pain but I manage to stay busy and keep going most days. I spend my mornings bouncing between homeschooling the older kids, chasing the younger boys, taking care of the baby and cooking. We have all been blessed to have Nate’s sister Koyah here helping for the last 3 months and we are really going to miss her when she leaves next week.

Prayer Requests for the church -

- A building that meets the needs of the body.

- Opportunity for evangelism, and vision for outreach.

- Continued growth and unity for the body

- Vision and direction for an upcoming missions trip

Prayer Requests for the family -

- Dani’s health, and financial provision for her hernia surgery.

- Wisdom in raising our kids in a Godly way.

- Daily refreshing from the Lord that we may have the grace to minister to others.

- Jeremiah’s appointment with the neurologist on Nov. 25th. (He has hydrocephalus and a VP shunt on the right side of his brain.)

Thank you all for your continued support whether financially or in prayer. Missions is a team effort, and we are very thankful for the “team” that helps us continue in this work.

- “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ,

assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” -(Mark 9:41)