Community Miracles Center (ACIM)

08/30/2026

"In Memory of Dolly Parton" – with Rev. Tony Ponticello
Via Zoom - Sunday 08.30.26 - 11:00 a.m. Pacific **

I am guided to talk about the passing the beloved entertainer and entrepreneur Dolly Parton this past week. Ms. Parton was one of those people who always made others smile. Just to think of her usually lightens the mind, literally, as in "fills the mind with light." She was a person of deep personal faith and universally loved by the Left and the Right, by liberals and Conservatives. She brought people together. She was a natural healer.

She was known for having witty saying about life that were often funny called "Dollyisms." These reflected life wisdom, confidence, and perseverance. "Find out who you are and do it on purpose." ACIM talks about our purpose when we realize who we are, the Christ, and totally identify with Spirit. "But choose the Spirit, and all Heaven bends to touch your eyes and bless your holy sight, that you may see the world of flesh no more except to heal and comfort and to bless." (Tx.31.62). I know who I am, the Christ, so I am here to heal, to comfort, and to bless. I do those things on purpose.

Another Dollyism, "If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." This is obviously perseverance. It reminds me of when in the Manual Jesus tells us, "If the way seems long, let him be content. He has decided on the direction he will take. What more was asked of him?" (Mn.22.2) That is a teaching about perseverance.

Dolly was also known for her self-deprecating humor, which to me meant she did not want too much attention put on her ego self and image style. My favorite was, when someone made a comment about her signature "look," "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap." When asked how long it took to get her hair done she said, "I don't know. I'm not there when it happens."

Dolly was married for almost 60 years to Carl Thomas Dean who passed in March 2025. His passing affected her deeply and her own health challenges started shortly after this. Obviously she had wrapped up much of her being and life purpose into her 6 decades long, husband special relationship, and thus she followed him by dropping her own body shortly afterwards. This is something we see over and over again in the world. There are personal lessons to be learned by this which we would all be wise to open ourselves up to.

I'll just close this "teaser" with the title of one of Dolly Parton's signature songs, which she also wrote, "I Will Always Love You." We all will always love you Dolly Parton.

** Sunday Gathering - Sunday
Eastern - 2 p.m.
Central - 1 p.m.
Mountain - 12 noon
Pacific - 11 a.m.
Alaskan - 10 a.m.
Hawaiian - 8 a.m.

Click on link below:
https://zoom.us/j/973303958
Meeting ID: 973 303 958

Full Sunday Gathering stays on YouTube for 1 month after it was live. If you miss the Gathering live go to our YouTube channel and click on the "Live" tab: CMC YouTube Channel

http://bit.ly/cmc_youtube

[Quotation references are all the Original Edition (OrEd) unless otherwise specified]

CMC serving A Course In Miracles Students since 1987.

Full Weekly Announcement on a web page (lots more information.)

https://conta.cc/4x1NQcy

08/29/2026

"The Beauty Secret of the Ages" by Rev. Tony Ponticello
– Miracles Weekly #512 – 08.28.26

I have been sharing this quotation about healing to the CMC Healing Team this week. "The body can become a sign of life .... Let it have healing as its purpose. Then will it send forth the message it received and by its health and loveliness proclaim the truth and value that it represents." (Tx.27.11) I like how it guarantees not only the body's health but also its loveliness (I'm sure this is why I am so handsome! lol) I have occasionally called this the "beauty secret of the ages.”

I think of how Jesus himself is always depicted as a handsome man. His Christ purpose of healing kept his body lovely. I've never seen this idea expressed in any spiritual literature before. Perhaps I've missed it but – I think it is a unique A Course in Miracles thought.

So ... we can put away the "beauty creams." (Such a wonderful name, a cream to smear on your face and make you “beautiful.”) Next time someone asks you what you are doing when you practice your Workbook Lesson, you can tell them you are doing your daily beauty treatment. lol The health and beauty the body now manifests will symbolically communicate to others – “proclaim" as the quotation says – that the spiritual foundation you have embraced is the truth, and has great value.

This appearance of your body, and even the entirety of your whole physical life – communicates important ideas of salvation to everyone you meet, to the whole world. It is a signal or a "sign of life," as the quotation says.

I think this is just an amazing teaching and one I've never heard ACIM teachers of students talk about before. Well – I'm talking now!

Rev. Tony Ponticello
CMC Minister #20 – Executive Minister

[All quotations from ACIM reference the Original Edition published by CIMS unless otherwise specified.]

There's a lot more to issue #511. Click link below. It's FREE!!
https://conta.cc/4y7JiCc

08/23/2026

"Being the Christ Now – Let Go of Traditional Learning" – with Rev. Tony Ponticello
Via Zoom - Sunday 08.23.26 - 11:00 a.m. Pacific **

Learning, the way it is traditionally reflected in the world, assumes a person to be in a state of lack. There is knowledge and experience needed to obtain an ability that they do not have. This perspective in inherently flawed.

"... for all of them look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness and inadequacy." (OrEd.Tx.18.66)

We are not unworthy or inadequate. We are the Christ and the time to declare this and behave like it is NOW!

I admit that there is a lot of material in ACIM about traditional learning. Obviously there is a Workbook for Students designed for learning and training the mind. However also in ACIM there are clues that there is a second state, an advanced state when we leave traditional learning behind

"And how long will this holy face be seen [the face of Christ], when it is but the symbol that the time for learning now is over and the goal of the Atonement has been reached at last? So therefore let us seek to find Christ's face and look on nothing else." (WkBk.WhIs271.5)

Many of us have been working with ACIM for many years now, and even decades. When do we stop learning and start being the Christ? How about today? How about NOW?

** Sunday Gathering - Sunday
Eastern - 2 p.m.
Central - 1 p.m.
Mountain - 12 noon
Pacific - 11 a.m.
Alaskan - 10 a.m.
Hawaiian - 8 a.m.

Click on link below:
https://zoom.us/j/973303958
Meeting ID: 973 303 958

Full Sunday Gathering stays on YouTube for 1 month after it was live. If you miss the Gathering live go to our YouTube channel and click on the "Live" tab: CMC YouTube Channel

http://bit.ly/cmc_youtube

[Quotation references are all the Original Edition (OrEd) unless otherwise specified]

CMC serving A Course In Miracles Students since 1987.

Full Weekly Announcement on a web page (lots more information.)

https://conta.cc/4zuzUKs

08/21/2026

"The Joy of Being" by Rev. Deb Canja
– Miracles Weekly #511 – 08.21.26

Lisa Natoli has written a beautiful book that shows how to end suffering. In it she shares her own journey and the remarkable way her suffering ended. “Healed” might be a word that people use to describe what happened but, in fact, her body’s suffering left when her mind let go of its unforgiving thoughts.

How did she do that?

In Lesson 189 we are told, “Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught nor one belief you ever learned before from anything." (WkBk.189.7)

But how do we do that? In an engaging and personal way, Lisa explains how it happened in her own life, and how it can happen in ours.

Sometimes when we read the words of the Course, we understand the words, but exactly what they mean in everyday life is not always clear. In fact, the Course recognizes this and says: “Yet what meaning can the words convey to those who count the hours still and rise and work and go to sleep by them?” (WkBk.169.9) This is why many find the Urtext so beautiful, because the words come across like a personal conversation that hits differently than typically happens when we read a book with titles and headlines and numbered paragraphs.

Lisa‘s story of her own journey hits differently and brings clarity to the most important message of the Course: that our salvation comes not from trying or effort, but from our “beingness.” And although there is no formula to follow for beingness, we can learn from the stories of others.

Thank you, Lisa!

Rev. Deb Canja
CMC Minister #122 – Associate Minister

[All quotations from ACIM reference the Original Edition published by CIMS unless otherwise specified.]

There's a lot more to issue #511. Click link below. It's FREE!!

https://conta.cc/4gKiH8n

08/17/2026

07.26.26 [Video] "Unprecedented Gathering of People Gladdening Themselves" with Rev. Tony Ponticello

I am not a sports fan. I would never, on my own, think of going to a large sports event or even watching a "big game" at home on television. I have joked for years that I was just not born with the "sports gene." However I am aware of the ability of sports to bring people together in joy and celebration, and I take note of that.

The recent World Cup championship series held primarily in the United States of America but with games also held in Mexico and Canada, right during our celebration of the Semiquincentennial was noteworthy. It was definitely a North American spectacle. Please consider this message a testimonial, a witness to the tremendous joining and world healing that has just completed. "Your witnessing demonstrates your belief and thus strengthens it. Those who witness for me are expressing through their miracles that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation in favor of the abundance they have learned belongs to them." (Tx.1.66)

On July 17, FIFA President Gianni Infantino delivered a speech praising President Donald Trump as essential to the success of the 2026 World Cup. Infantino called the tournament, "... the greatest human, social and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed." I'll leave the politics aside, but I do think Mr. Infantino might be correct about this world cup being the greatest social, cultural event mankind has ever witnessed. Plus mankind witnessed it right here in the USA through our significant 250 year Independence Day celebration, which I talked a lot about while it was happening.

On Sunday afternoon July 19, as the final Spain versus Argentina match was happening, my lady friend and I were looking for a place to have brunch after the Community Miracles Center's Sunday Gathering. As we walked down a San Francisco neighborhood street, restaurants and bars were crowded with people – many outside the doors and on the sidewalks – watching large television screens that had been set up, cheering on their favorite team. Remember, neither team playing was the USA. I've never seen anything like this. Infantino was right. I want note that his name means childlike or youthful – as in "like the infant."

Spain bested Argentina in a very close 1 to 0 match.

Altogether there were 104 games in this year's World Cup championship played to packed stadiums all through out the USA, Mexico & Canada. The championship took place between June 11 to July 19, that's 39 days. The 2026 FIFA World Cup matches were hosted across 16 stadiums and cities: 11 U.S. cities, 3 Mexican cities, and 2 Canadian cities. The sheer size and scope of this event is staggering. 6,810,966 fans attended these games. The average attendance per game was 65,490 fans, for each of the 104 matches. It is estimated that the stadiums were filled to a 99.7% occupancy rate.

"Have you really considered how many opportunities you have to gladden yourselves and how many of them you have refused?" (Tx.4.63) So many glad people decided not to refuse THIS amazing opportunity. Many negatively focused people tend to see the world as in terrible shape right now. However this unprecedented coming together for mutual gladdening, often goes unacknowledged – but not by this Miracle Worker.

[Image: The winning team from Spain. President Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino stand to the right.]

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I am not a sports fan. I would never, on my own, think of going to ...

08/16/2026

"It's in the Job Description – Just Ask Jesus" – with Rev. Tony Ponticello
Via Zoom - Sunday 08.16.26 - 11:00 a.m. Pacific **

You can learn a lot about ACIM if you just look at the titles of the 3 books: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers. Apparently the progression is from: learning theory, to being a dedicated student, and then being an accomplished Teacher of God. For those who believe being a Teacher of God sounds like a "cool" way to live your life, I would guide you to watch the television series *The Chosen*.

While there were aspects of Jesus' life that were amazingly "cool", he was met quite harshly by the Jewish establishment of the time (the Pharisees and the Sadducees) and by the occupying Roman authority. He was persecuted at every turn. Of course he was eventually arrested, tried, convicted, and his body was executed! While all that definitely became historic – I do not think anyone would describe it as "cool."

To start, let's remember that Jesus does assure us that crucifixion does not need to be in our path. "You are not asked to be crucified, which was part of my own teaching contribution. You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive and not to accept them falsely as justifications for anger." (Tx.6.9) However don't think being a Teacher of God is all roses and accolades either. I've yet to have a Palm Sunday experience.

My own experience is that Teachers of God are open targets for criticism, attack – even abuse. In my own case, it has not been physical attack but there has always been a considerable amount of harsh contempt and verbal attack, and it has been constant. It started immediately when we formed the CMC in 1987, and has gone on consistently since then. It was surprising at first, but now I am used to it – same old, same old.

I often take comfort from this teaching from the Text. "You who are sometimes sad and sometimes angry, who sometimes feel your just due is not given you and your best efforts meet with lack of appreciation and even contempt, give up these foolish thoughts. They are too small and meaningless to occupy your holy minds an instant longer." (Tx.6.9) This thought stays with me. When I am confronted with lack of appreciation and contempt I remember this thinking is small and ultimately meaningless. I do not want to think small. I want to think BIG.

The CMC is planning big moves right now. We've purchased many thousands of dollars of equipment the past 2 weeks getting ready to launch a true Hybrid, Zoom and In-Person Sunday Gathering. I bought a new MacMini computer from an Apple store yesterday and took it back to the Center. I also picked up a shipment of studio speakers and other tech items from the local FedEx store, which miraculously was right around the corner from the CMC. It's all coming together.

We've been gathering resources for years to do something BIG. This is it. I'm excited! And I know I probably will NOT get the appreciation I would hope for, and in fact many will be in contempt. The anti-church and negative on religion sentiment in our culture is HUGE. Many people feel they have societal permission to attack the idea of church and religion – so they DO! It's what ACIM calls a "special hate relationship." "Be not afraid to look upon the special hate relationship, for freedom lies in looking at it." (Tx.16.30)

I would like to tell you all that there are ways to avoid the absolute HATE that will be projected at you when you claim your job as "Teacher of God." I don't think there are. There's no avoiding it. You have to meet it head on. It's part of the job description for "Savior of the World." Just ask Jesus.

** Sunday Gathering - Sunday
Eastern - 2 p.m.
Central - 1 p.m.
Mountain - 12 noon
Pacific - 11 a.m.
Alaskan - 10 a.m.
Hawaiian - 8 a.m.

Click on link below:
https://zoom.us/j/973303958
Meeting ID: 973 303 958

Full Sunday Gathering stays on YouTube for 1 month after it was live. If you miss the Gathering live go to our YouTube channel and click on the "Live" tab: CMC YouTube Channel

http://bit.ly/cmc_youtube

[Quotation references are all the Original Edition (OrEd) unless otherwise specified]

CMC serving A Course In Miracles Students since 1987.

Full Weekly Announcement on a web page (lots more information.)

https://conta.cc/4wGlNPO

08/11/2026

"Stand with God" by Rev. David Colburn
– Miracles Weekly #510 – 08.11.26

Pastor James Coates (of the GraceLife Church in Alberta, Canada was arrested on Feb. 15th, 2021, for holding church services that violated the COVID-19 public health rules. When he refused to sign the papers promising that he would obey the government Coates was taken to an Edmonton prison where he was held for 35 days. And if that wasn't enough the authorities seized his church and put two layers of fencing around it to keep the parishioners away. Undeterred, the congregation started meeting at secret locations.

History is filled with many examples of faithful believers who resolutely served God even if it meant they would face severe repercussions. For example, the Apostles of Jesus were arrested and scourged when they refused to stop preaching Jesus's message. Pastor James said that he did not have a choice when it came to choosing between God or government; he proclaimed the right choice is always God.

ACIM Lesson 47 teaches us in paragraph 3 "God is your safety in every circumstance. His Voice speaks for Him in all situations and in every aspect of all situations, telling you exactly what to do to call upon His strength and His protection." In Lesson 76 titled "I am under no laws but God's" to paraphrase Jesus's teaching Jesus tells us that we really do think taking an unproven and untested vaccine, staying 6 feet away from our holy brothers and sisters, wearing a useless mask, and watching your friends and family die alone is how we will stay safe. Jesus tells us that it is insanity to think these things.

Fortunately, in the last 5 years the COVID-19 oppressions have faded away, and life has returned to normal for Pastor Coates and the GraceLife Church. I am grateful to them for their courage and faith.

Rev. David Colburn
CMC Minister #129 – Associate Minister

[Picture is of Pastor James Coates.]

[All quotations from ACIM reference the Original Edition published by CIMS unless otherwise specified.]

There's a lot more to issue #510. Click link below. It's FREE!!
https://conta.cc/4i3kMxk

08/10/2026

06.21.26 [VIDEO] "Have Reasons For Living – Lots of Them" with Rev. Tony Ponticello

This is a healing quotation that I have been sharing with the CMC Healing Team this week. "Healing is accomplished the instant the sufferer no longer sees any value in pain." (Mn.5.2) This idea has been around a long time and has penetrated the general discussion about sickness even at the regular, ego world level. The idea says we actively participate in bringing sickness into our lives because of a pay off. This idea is strongly supported in ACIM. "Who would choose suffering unless he thought it brought him something, and something of value to him? He must think it is a small price to pay for something of greater worth." (Mn.5.2) We believe the sickness buys us something we want.

I don't remember when I first heard this, or something similar, but it was a very long time ago, possibly when I was in my teens. The degree to which people accept this, or even think they can work positively with this theory varies of course, but it is there and seems to permeate many discussions about sickness.

In another place ACIM tells us that we need to have something to live for (in our physical world existence) in order to keep choosing physical life, "... a sudden healing might precipitate intense depression, and a sense of loss so deep that the patient might even try to destroy himself. Having nothing to live for, he may ask for death." (Mn.6.1) There are countless stories about decades together spouses who physically transition shortly after their partner does. Their partner WAS their purpose for living and once their partner was gone ... well ... what was there "here" for them?

In relation to the previous ideas, if we think we need good health to "buy" the things we have decided we want, then we will choose to be healthy. Perhaps maintaining the desirability of things that require good health is a good way to stay healthy. Some obvious things come to mind. I don't hear many talking about this, but it is the direct corollary to the previous idea. Unfortunately I hear many spiritual people talking about how there is nothing in this world they want. They may even quote ACIM, "The world I see has nothing that I want." (WkBk.128) I believe applying this idea in this manner is a misapplication. This can then become the recipe for an all too early physical life exit.

Purposes for living can be profound, meaningful, life defining goals with spiritual significance and I have talked about those in the past. However they CAN also be quite worldly and even casual too. I believe a full combination of both can be very effective in keeping us alive and healthy. If I firmly decide going to Linguaglossa, Sicily to see where all 4 of my grandparents were born is on my "bucket list," then I won't kick that bucket until I take that trip. I will stay healthy enough to make the trip until I do.

I found out recently that in 1967 a real estate developer named Robert McCullouch bought the actual London Bridge (you know the one spanning the River Thames that was "... falling down, falling down" like the old children song said) from the city of London which was planning its destruction. The bridge was disassembled brick by brick, shipped to the USA, and eventually made its way to Lake Havasu in Nevada. Mr. McCullouch was creating a planned community there on the shores of the lake, appropriately to be named Lake Havasu City. The bridge was reassembled there (completed in 1971) and has now become a major tourist attraction complete with an old English village.

The London Bridge greatly increased the success of the original real estate development, and is now the financial boon of the entire city which as of 2022 had a population of 58,926. It is the 2nd most visited tourist attraction in the state of Arizona, with the Gand Canyon being the first. I applaud that level of entrepreneurship and thinking outside of the box. I'd love to give my energy to that. It would increase my own creative entrepreneurship, my own ability to think outside the box. I want to visit. It's just a day's drive from San Francisco.

Remember that the body exists just to be of service to the mind. "The body, valueless and hardly worth the least defense, need merely be perceived as quite apart from you, and it becomes a healthy, serviceable instrument through which the mind can operate until its usefulness is over." (WkBk.135.9) It is the tendency of spiritual people to get lofty about reasons for living, but I encourage everyone to get quite grounded about it as well. Both can actually co-exist easily. Identify and define, with the Holy Spirit's help, some very earthly goals and purposes. The truth is many of these have hidden spiritual implications that are not consciously discernible at this time. Trust yourself. Trust your mind. It is always still connected to its Divine source. If you want to stay alive then have lots of reasons to do so.

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This is a healing quotation that I have been sharing with the CMC Healing Team this week. "Healing is accomplished the instant the sufferer no longer sees any value in pain." (Mn.5.2) This idea has been around a long time and has penetrated the general discussion about sickness even at the regular,....

08/09/2026

"Acknowledging the Patience of the Advanced Teachers of God" – with Rev. Tony Ponticello
Via Zoom - Sunday 08.09.26 - 11:00 a.m. Pacific **

As a Miracle Healer, as a Teacher of God, I have learned that one of the most important characteristics to develop is patience. I was chided in my early life as being very impatient. I know now this impatience came from a high level of anxiety, basically fear, about future experience. The anxiety was so uncomfortable it pushed me to try to force things along, or to be impatient.

In the *Manual for Teachers* we are taught that patience is one of the 10 characteristics the "Advanced Teachers of God" will develop. "All differences among the Sons of God are temporary. Nevertheless, in time it can be said that the advanced teachers of God have the following characteristics." (Mn.4.2) The Manual then proceeded to talk about 10 advances characteristic. I definitely know that I have developed patience. While I won't claim that this alone makes me one of the "... advanced teachers of God," it at least indicates to me that I AM moving in the right direction.

Patience is the 8th of the 10 characteristics listed. "Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and wait without anxiety. Patience is natural to the teacher of God. All he sees is certain outcome, at a time perhaps unknown as yet, but not in doubt. The time will be as right as is the answer." (Mn.4.20) Notice this says we DO know a certain outcome in time and space WILL manifest – we just do not know WHEN. However we also know that the "when" will be the perfect time for all concerned.

I believe this is what Jesus is referring to much earlier in the *Text* when he speaks of the "... time control factor." It's from an early statement in Chapter 1. "The miracle-worker, therefore, accepts the time-control factor gladly ..." (Tx.1.87) Accepting the time control factor GLADLY is what allows patience.

The teaching on patience from the Manual concludes with this, "Patience is natural to those who trust. Sure of the ultimate interpretation of all things in time, no outcome already seen or yet to come can cause them fear." (Mn.4.20) Again, we are assured that even in time and space all things will ultimately heal, or be interpreted, correctly. It is the faith in this assurance which gives the advanced Teachers of God their patience with all healing challenges.

[image: Pacientia (Patience) engraving by Hans Sebald Beham, 1540]

** Sunday Gathering - Sunday
Eastern - 2 p.m.
Central - 1 p.m.
Mountain - 12 noon
Pacific - 11 a.m.
Alaskan - 10 a.m.
Hawaiian - 8 a.m.

Click on link below:
https://zoom.us/j/973303958
Meeting ID: 973 303 958

Full Sunday Gathering stays on YouTube for 1 month after it was live. If you miss the Gathering live go to our YouTube channel and click on the "Live" tab: CMC YouTube Channel

http://bit.ly/cmc_youtube

[Quotation references are all the Original Edition (OrEd) unless otherwise specified]

CMC serving A Course In Miracles Students since 1987.

Full Weekly Announcement on a web page (lots more information.)
https://conta.cc/4zboQBW

08/04/2026

"Twilight Zone Geometry" by Rev. Deb Canja
– Miracles Weekly #509 – 08.04.26

In 2002, a guy named Jason Padgett was brutally attacked and beaten outside a bar. Afterward, everything he looked at suddenly had “pixelated” edges and could be perfectly represented by mathematical formulas, structures, and fractals. Everything: buildings, cars, fish, and flowers.

Think about that. Mathematical formulas and frameworks are what we use to design complex structures like buildings and bridges. Yet he saw mathematical structures are also the framework for trees, plants, people, and animals.

Recognizing that there is a mathematical formula producing our bodies suggests something out of The Twilight Zone, as if maybe we are being stamped out by some machine. Interestingly, it’s not too hard to think of computers soon being able to do that. Artificial intelligence is already being used to create the mathematical formulas that produce humanoid robots, building plans, and everything else imaginable. Many are worried about the implications. Will the world be taken over by AI?

But maybe it has already happened. In Lesson 163 we are told that what the Course considers to be “life” is not material or physical, and that death is anything that contradicts life. “Either all things live or else they die and cannot live. No compromise is possible.” (WkBk.63.6)

We know we create our personal reality with our perception, and we also know that our thoughts manifest physical reality. In fact, the Course tells us that we made the world. The Seth books explain in great detail how we do that individually and collectively. So what are we to make of our elaborate physical world programmed with intricate mathematical formulas made by bodies that are not “life” or truly “alive”?

Artificial Intelligence? Maybe our wrong mind has been the artificial intelligence all along. Is AI already here? And has it been for millions of years?

Rev. Deb Canja
CMC Minister #122 – Associate Minister

[All quotations from ACIM reference the Original Edition published by CIMS unless otherwise specified.]

There's a lot more to issue #509. Click link below. It's FREE!!
https://conta.cc/4xfJDSY