Thurs night 7/29/2010

Hey! Brazil Mission Partners

From: Ed

It sure was a long trip (We left our house about 12:15 Thursday morning. We arrived in Sao Paulo at about 2:20 am your time on Friday. Then it took about 2 hours to get through customs (several flights arrived within minutes of each other). We went straight out to the camp (that took about an hour). On Saturday, Jody did crafts with the kids and I helped with bible lesson skits. The evening program was followed by the old “find the staff in the dark” game (a few kids were crying during the “festivities”!). We left camp on Sunday early PM. Went to church on Sunday night, a 2-hour service. They are very enthusiastic in their worship and we could learn something about fellowship from them judging by the post-service visiting among the attendees. This whole trip has involved a lot of hugging. The Brazilians appear to be big time huggers. It’s great.

Monday we toured some of the favelas (slums) we will be working in the rest of the week and had a get acquainted meeting with the Restoration Ministries staff. We’ve had one dinner out, so far, at a Brazilian BBQ. Food was very good. Food at the camp and at the church has been simple but very good, so we are not losing any weight. Lots of pictures have been taken and are posted on the blog site. None of the pics I’ve taken are there because I haven’t turned them in for posting yet. Mañna! (Maybe.)

Tuesday we did home visits/prayer with some of the people in Favela Igatami (Outward appearance is similar to “projects” in the US, a multistory building, each apartment appears to be about 800 sq.ft., constructed by the government. Although they were constructed about 6 years ago, they look like they are at least 15+ years old.). The team does Bible lessons including games and skits at 3 PM. Lots of drug use and prostitution issues for children of about 13 on up. VERY few families with a father living in the home. Many (it seems like most to me) of the mothers had their first child at about 15 or 16. The young kids are great, but when you hear about their home/family life…it is heartbreaking. Their reality is just not something most people I know have ANY idea about, except for a report on the TV news.

Wednesday we visited Promorar Favela. These homes are mostly one and two story buildings made from the cheapest, lowest quality, building blocks in existence. Adobe may be stronger. The response from the kids was similar to Tuesday – very enthusiastic. We did have what appeared to be drug dealers observing from a distance. Maybe something of our message will start to germinate there, too. We are definitely learning a lot.

Today we went to Vila Rosa Favela. We are told that this is the worst of the worst here. We made a few home/prayer visits. One in particular is an incredible example of a person's faith. Elena has to go in for dialysis 3X/wk. She has some kind of back injury, and the Docs think she has had a minor stroke sometime in the past. (Ministry staff say this is all true.) Her husband left her years ago with a little boy (now approx 14) to raise. She has not had any other children. She has a home that she maintains as well as she can. It was clean, but needs paint. She lives in this slum, surrounded by drugs, prostitution, and whatever else. She has to make her own way to see doctors. Her sister, who lives nearby, helps some. But this is the really uplifting part: She loves Jesus, and no matter what happens to her, and she is in ALOT of pain, she is going to continue in that faith, looking to the day when she sees Jesus. There was joy and tears in her face when she talked about it. The Ministry staff say that this one person is what gives them the strength to continue in this work. This one person is a Christ Follower in the truest sense of the words. What faith!!

Tonight we had a demonstration of a martial arts exercise form known as capioiar (spelling?). It looks like a combination of Tae Kwon Do and gymnastics. The idea is to do karate moves very fast, like in a fight. The moves are choreographed and you are supposed to get as close to hitting each other as you can, without actually hitting each other. As skill level improves the participants get closer and closer to each other. It is very aerobic! The pastor teaches this class to kids at the RM Day Center. Speaking of the pastor, Antonio, he holds services on Sunday nights at the RM Center and services on Saturday night at the Pomorar Favela as well as teach this class. He does not receive any payment for any of his time. He holds down a full time job to support him and his family.

Tomorrow afternoon, Friday, we will perform the Bible lessons and skits for the last time in the slums, then go back to the camp and do that program again.

Thursday night - what a day!

From Diane: Today was a whirlwind of emotions and experiences. We did morning visits at Vila Rosa...the roughest of the favelas that Restoration Ministries works in. These visits tear your heart and your soul. People who are desperate for jobs, health, safety, crime, depression, loss of hope....and others who in the same circumstances can praise the Lord for what they do have. One young lady who at 16 has a 2 year old little boy. He has been in the hospital a lot. She is an orphan and lives with 2 of her brothers. One of them is using and selling drugs. Their home was clean but totally bare. I'm not sure they had any food at all. Some of us went together and purchased them a "necessary box"....something the grocery store here has put together to feed a family for 3 or 4 weeks...rice, beans, sugar, oil, flour, etc. I costs about 40 Reais...about $22 of our money. We also got some diapers for her little boy. This girl loves God and acts as a missionary to those around her. They have a Bible study and she makes sure she brings others to that and to the street Agita program that RM does on Thursdays. Her face just shone with her love for her Savior. Wow!

Before leaving Vila Rosa, I finally got to see Tevas...the little boy that many of you have heard about that I have grown so close to over my trips here. He isn't doing so well. He wants to hang out in the streets all the time and won't mind his mom. She threatens him that if he doesn't behave, she is going to sign over guardianship to the lady from the US (me)....don't I wish. He just clung to me. I talked to him about staying out of trouble, trying hard in school, coming to the program, doing what he knows God wants him to do. I hope some of it sinks in. I assured him that even if I hadn't been able to see him for a while, I never forget him and pray for him continually. Do you think they would notice if I fit him in my suitcase?

In the afternoon, the rest of the group went back to Vila Rosa and did the Agita program. Jody and I got to go back to Promorar (the favela we ministered in on Wednesday) and teach another quilt class. We had a smaller group this time...only about 6 or 7 ladies. But it was well received and a lot of fun to see them get excited about making prayer quilts.

But this evening, I got to go to the hospital and visit Italia!!!! I went with a couple who work in the ministry. I wish I could describe better the whole hospital....dark corridors, confusing security (even for my friends who spoke Portuguese)....and then scrubbing and gowning up....and finally getting to hold Italia's hand. I would like to say that he responded when I talked to him but I didn't see that. I talked to him in English and William translated. He appeared to just be sleeping though. His vital signs were good, swelling and bruising way down (from what they had described before)....but he is gonna have one nasty scar across his skull from the surgery. I did assure him that chicks dig scars...but I didn't even get a reaction to that. Please keep praying. He is by no means "out of the woods" and there is a long road still for his recovery. But we are all trusting God to bring Italia through this and stronger and better on the other side. After I left to trade with Priscilla (Williams's wife....only 2 of us could be in there at a time)....they said he was moving his legs more and his head around. Even these little movements are encouraging. Pray, pray, pray!!!

Tomorrow we will be back off to Camp California for our 2nd weekend camp. We won't be able to update until we return on Sunday.

Thanks again for making this trip possible....for us to serve and be God's hands and feet here in Sao Paulo!

hello all. Tyler again.

I just finished teaching an english class while the other went and did the home visits in the favela. It was kinda awkward at first but once we finished the material, we tried having conversations and that seemed to be easier for the students. talking about their names, ages, favorite color, animal, food, song, band, etc. then they had the opportunity to ask me some questions and i think they liked that too. Now i'm just excited for lunch. the last two meals, the loves of my life, a.k.a. the cooks, didn't make rice and beans with it, and i feel a little ripped off. the food was still great, but i'm hoping they make me my new favorite meal today.

Prayers and Squares of Sao Paulo!

July 28, 2010 - from Jody

Wow, what a wonderful day. We started off doing home visits and praying with some of the families in the Promorar Favela. The group Ed and I were with had finished visiting the homes we were assigned when we met a young boy walking home from school (half the children go to school in the morning and the other half go to school in the afternoon). The young boy was asked if he knew where an old neighbor of his had moved to. He told us no but we could follow him home and ask his step-dad. Sounded good to us until, we realized we were in the middle of an adventure. You see he used to live where a road is now being put and we had to walk through all that construction to the other side of a valley. We walked past dump trucks, earthmovers, sprayers, and ground rollers all working with treated sewer dirt. When we finally got to the young boys home, no one was home. He said Mom was in Japan with youngest brother (not too likely), an older sister was at grandmas caring for a child grandma didn’t want to care for and he didn’t know where his step-dad was because he has been without a job and it is easier for women to get jobs than men (right). We prayed with this young boy and walked back past all that stink being moved around with all that heavy equipment.

After lunch Diane and I went off with Tati to the police station where one of the ministry staff works at the community Computer and Craft Center. This is where we got to share the prayer quilt ministry with about 20 women. We went there not knowing what to expect since this a public center, but the women were very open to prayer and got very excited about the quilts. We had so much fun sharing, with these ladies, the processes we use to make one of the quilts. Tati, our translator, had absolutely no idea how to translate some of the processes but the ladies educated her.

We had several stations set up so the ladies could learn whatever areas of the quilt making they were interested in and it was amazing how well we got along with just sign language. We got almost three baby quilts made (the squares were already cut). Since we only had two sewing machines several of us sewed a quilt together the old fashion way, by hand, imagine that.

Now comes the part that makes my heart soar. Have you ever known a group of women to get together and not have a snack and social time? What wonderful goodies these women shared with us and it was at this time the group decided to establish themselves as the first official Prayers and Squares group in South America. They even came up with a name for the group: "Mulheres des Mantas e Oraçoes" (Women of Quilts and Prayers). The excitement was so contagious that it brought tears to my eyes (not a surprising thing to those who know me). Two of the quilts have found homes. It is always such a blessed moment when a group of women get together and pray. These women feel so much for each other and put so much of their heart into the prayers. Diane and I got kissed and hugged by each woman at least three times. I wished that each of the ladies at Bayside Auburn Prayers and Squares could have experienced the appreciation these ladies had for the gift you gave them.

Many, many thanks for all of your prayers. What awesome results we are seeing from them. We continue praying for all of you and are so appreciative for your support which has made it possible for us to experience all of these blessings.

(Note from Diane....I found it wonderful that even on the "baby quilts" (several of them weren't really going to babies), they wanted the ties in the quilts....they wanted knots to be tied so they had those prayers over the quilt!)

Another Day

A blog update from Ryan.

Today the sun came out and was warm. We toured another slum area in Sao Paulo. Today was different from yesterdays. This area didn't look "nice" from the outside. We visited some houses and one lady was pretty meaningful. She has gone through many struggles with her family. She hasn't lost hope that God is good. She lost her daughter to the gangs in the slum. She prays for her grandchildren to know Jesus. I found her story uplifting because no matter the darkness that she has encountered she never lost sight of the light that is always there.

After the morning home visits, we put on another Agita program. The kids were super excited to see us and to see the program. The kids enjoyed what we and the Restoration Ministries team were there to do. It is awesome to think that the Restoration Team is this involved in the community around them. They are engaged in helping those around them and that is an awesome thing.

That is all for this blog update.

Italia Update

Good (but guarded) news! Tati went to visit Italia today. The doctor was able to take out his breathing tube and Italia is breathing on his own! What a wonderful praise and answer to prayer!! The doctor said though to know that he may not be able to maintain the independent breathing. If he does not, they can re-position a breathing tube, but at that point, they would most likely do atracheotomy. His skull injury has caused a lesion in the front part of his brain. This part of the brain controls behavior which is also controlling his breathing. It is also mixing up his nights and days where he is sleeping most of the days and is more awake at night (unfortunately when no one is visiting). He opens his eyes some but does not "track" but seems to react to family and friends/prayers and song. Another praise: the lung infection is completely controlled.

The doctor will continue watching the lesion for the next few days. We are not sure what they will do at that point. But we continue to pray for Italia to become more alert and start reacting to his environment. He is not out of the woods. But God is good and in control! Keep up the prayers, dear friends.

First day of Agita

Hello all, Tyler here. We just got back from our first day of the street program. the favela's were not quite what I expected. each apartment was a little bigger than i expected. not by much, but they also sometimes had a lot of people in them. Once the clouds went away the kids came pouring outside to come dance and hang out with us! That was very cool. They were a lot of fun! They seemed to like the games and OF COURSE my acting was fenominal during the presentation. Just kidding! it was embarrassing but thats what they like. I've been discussing with John the last couple days about how it is that we can do what restoration has done. we really like it here. The people are friendly, as you've heard, THE FOOD IS AWESOME!!! John and I have decided that we would like to marry the women who cook the meals. Just kidding (Addison)!!! but either way it would be really cool to start some sort of soccer ministry here. thats what they like and if you build the field, they will come. The staff here are all super nice! I really like all of them, they belong here! this is what they were meant to do! Anyways it's almost dinner time, but hopefully I will have time to fill you in tomorrow.

Tyler

Photos of the day

Glad some others are writing too.....so I'll just download some photos of our day!

Church in Brasil

Hello all! John here. We just returned from the Brasilian BBQ place... Wow. But that story is for a different time. All the food here is really delicious though, and our cooks are amazing. Anyways.

One thing I've learned here, probably the first thing, is that they really love each other. People greet each other with cheer always, as well as a hug and kiss. Italia, one of the staff members here was recently injured in an accident and is currently in a coma. And the way they talk about him and pray for him and love him is simply inspiring. They really love each other.

Also, something I've noticed from doing Church in Mozambique and here in Brasil... The actual church buildings are located smack in the heart of the neighborhoods they minister to, and they always keep their doors open, literally. I like that. Brasilians are also similarly animated and excited during times of meeting, worship and prayer. Dancing, in a word. I like that too.

Favela Tour and Brazilian BBQ!

Today was interesting and full of new experiences, some hard to face others hard not to laugh at!

We started off with a tour of the favelas. We walked around one of the neighborhoods we would be working in and got to see what exactly were some of the conditions the kids live in.

The favelas we saw today were made from brick and cement. The "houses" were crammed literally on top of one another with some of the steepest staircases I've ever seen. The corners that didn't have scraps of wood, metal, or other materials we used for trash, clothes lines, or in one case, a sort of side yard for a dog. It's funny how much their property values are like those in the US, except these are blatant night and day illustrations of fluctuation. You would see a series of brick and cement rooms and right around the corner or sometimes right next door would be what is considered a middle class home: a house with tiles, cars, garage doors, painted walls. It was kind of mind boggling.

After the tour we hung out the ministries Day Center. It's a building the ministry owns that they use for church services and Sunday school as well as English classes ad crafts for the kids. We attended a staff meeting and got to know some of the leaders who run the ministry and camp. It was interesting to hear why they the came to this ministry or on this trip as well as what God has done in their lives. It got a little emotional towards the end when we prayed for one of their staff members, Italia, who is in the hospital after being hit by a motorcycle just last week before we arrived. He is in ICU and two of the ladies on the team made what is called a prayer quilt. Everyone said a prayer and ties a knot on the quilt to show they've prayed and there are several different bible versus in the pattern. He can't have it with them in the room, but we're hoping it will bring his family and friends some comfort and that he might be able to have it once he stabilizes...

We came back to the hotel afterwards and got ready for some Brazilian BBQ! Can I just say this needs to be more popular in America and that it was pretty much the best food I've ever had? Can I? Yes? Okay cool, because it was and I would be lying to you if I even attempted to omit the awesomeness of it all. There was a salad buffet, a pasta buffet, and they came around carving pieces of all sorts of different kinds of meat for you to eat. Oh and the desserts! Heaven in my mouth if I've ever experienced it! There were so many "Oh. My. Gosh."'s and laughs shared with the entire table (umm party of 23, please?) Lindsey drooled, Jacey fell over laughing, Ryan and I found out our legs are the same length, John almost cried he was so happy, and Tyler basically had his phone stolen for two hours as the kids played with the "Fat Photo" app on his iPhone, illustrating what we would all probably look like tomorrow morning ;)

It was an awesome fun filled day and the real work begins tomorrow with our first day of VBS! Kind of nervous but mostly excited! Excited to tell you more!!

Love you and miss you!

-Karli

Hey all!!!

I hope everyone is doing well and are having a great week/weekend! First off I want to thank God so much or this amazing opportunity. All your support, love and prayers have been a major blessing and I as well as my team would not be where we are without them, so Thank You!!! I'll try to give you the "day by day play by play" since we left home, can't promise I'll remember everything. And I will post the videos here as well as on Facebook as soon as I can!

Day one was filled with a little over 24 hours of travel. I slept for about 19 of them haha! I went through three different time zones and never really got a grasp on any of them until this morning. Our drive to San Fran was dark because it was so early- I slept. I can't tell you about the take off or the safety procedures of the first flight or if we even had any- I got on the plane and fell right asleep... classic. We got to Sao Paulo around 5:30am Friday morning and after a long line of customs and passport checking we met Tati (pronounced Tachi) at the airport and took their bus to Camp California. We got to camp, settled in, I slept for 3 1/2 hours, ate dinner (the food here is AMAZING!), went over lesson plans, and hung out waiting for the kids. They were about an hour late, but still full of energy. We didn't get to go to bed until about 12:30am Brazil time and Karli only slept 4 hours.... no good...

Day two was our first full day of camp. It started out with breakfast (again, extremely amazing), followed by the kids being sorted into three groups which rotated to three stations: Games, Bible lesson, and arts & crafts. I was stationed at bible lessons where my acting skills were really put to the test (I had to play God for one of the skits!) After rotations was free time where we could play with the kids. The language barrier was a challenge, but I think it ended up being more frustrating for us that it was for them! We all wanted to be able to just speak Portuguese! There were translators, but not always on hand, so we made due with pointing and hand gestures (nice once of coarse ;] ). After free time we had lunch, another set of rotations and free time again. The e24 kids watched these little boys play soccer who literally took their clothes off to play in their chonnies- for whatever reason it was absolutely hysterical. We ate dinner and then had a whole camp bible lesson, worship session, competition games, and a skit. The kids had fun, but were most excited when we busted out the s'more materials! Pretty sure every one (including myself) had about three each. Lindsey won best marshmallow roasting, but I am quickly learning her ways ;) . To top off the night we did a camp game in the dark. It was basically hide and seek where the leaders hid and the kids came looking for us. If you were found you gave the kids however many glow sticks you had. I had seven and probably had the best hiding spot, aside from Jody and Tyler. I hid in a pine tree in my dark, dark blue jeans, a black sweatshirt and an inside out black shirt to hide my bright yellow CalPoly Long Beach logo, and my hood over my head which I tied so tight that all you could see were my eyes. Oh yes, I was ninja. I was never found. I also fell asleep and Tyler and Eddie had to come get me out of the tree. Then, as we were getting ready for bed, I made my "Cecilia" video, which I may or may not post due to the embarrassment my retainer would cause me, haha! After Jacey and I talked for two hours while Lindsey passed out in about two seconds, we followed suit after being told to be quiet :)

Day three, which leads me to today, was long, but everyday has been long since we've arrived- we're on Brazilian time! We got some breakfast, did one set of rotations, had freetime (where Karli got thrown in the pool- NOT COOL Tyler and Beanyo) (PS: Pretty sure "Beanyo" is spelled wrong, but that's how it's pronounced. After the pool incident, however, I started calling him "Bean-O" ["Take Bean-o before, they'll be no after!]), lunch, and then said goodbye to the kids which proved harder to do than I thought. We left for the hotel shortly after and stopped at a place when translated is called "Corn Palace" or "Corn Castle". Every food they have there is literally made from or made with corn; corn pudding, corn bread, corn ice cream and milkshakes, corn pizza, corn tamales, corn milk, it goes on and on. I tried the milkshake (we got chocolate), bread, tamale, and pudding (it had cinnamon on top!) All I ended up liking was the corn bread and pudding... go figure-AMERICAN! We arrived at the hotel shortly afterward where we hung out for a couple hours and then got ready for church. (Mom, you'd be proud of me- I didn't wear a T-shirt and workout shorts, even though I really wanted to.) The service was really cool to listen to and was (thankfully) translated for us as the pastor spoke. We were asked to come upfront and introduce ourselves- kind of embarrassing, but they could tell we were American the second we walked in so I guess it was OK. The music was great too and the singer, Wellington, literally has the voice of an angel. Wellington is also one of the lead counselors at the camp and it has been really cool getting to know him over the passed couple days. Now, I'm not sure how observant you, the reader, are but if you know me well at all you may realize I haven't mentioned much food since the corn palace. We didn't have dinner until 9:30! We were kind of crabby about it too haha, but it ended up being some of the best pizza I've ever had- who knew? Now I'm in bed writing to you at 7:40pm your time, if you're a Californian. And I would really like to go to bed now, so I'm gonna, haha! Thankfully we don't have to be at the day center until 10am tomorrow so we get to sleep in a bit and a breakfast we get fruit! YAY!!! I'll keep you all posted over the next few days!

Already God has given such an amazing outlook on this trip, the people I'm with, the people I have met and the people I have yet to meet! Keep it coming, God!

I love and miss you all!!

-Karli

Return from Camp California

We have returned from an awesome but tiring weekend at Camp California. There we ran a camp for 45 7 - 10 year olds (although those lines blur.....definitely some younger and also a few older kids). Along with the Restoration Ministries staff and volunteers, we provided meals, love and hugs, and plenty to do. We taught Bible lessons based on the theme: Have Questions? Ask God! (from James 1:5). We had 4 Bible teaching times, enhanced by skits; 3 recreation and 3 craft times; time for competitions and singing; and lots of free time for fun on the playground, pool and soccer field. Since I have been to Brazil and done the camp before, I really want to get some of our new team members to write about their experiences. Hopefully that will come later tonight. Off to church service....in the meantime, enjoy these few pictures (of the literally hundreds already taken!)

Diane

Thoughts for the journey

We are off. While on the flight from SFO to Houston, I was catching up on my daily Bible readying (ok....I admit, I had gotten a couple of days behind!) But actually that was good, because the first section I was reading really hit me and I think I needed to read that particular passage today! In Ezra 1, it talks about the Jewish people who are called to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Not everyone was given this call. In verse 3, it says "Anyone from his people among you (may his God be with him!) may go...." and then in verse 4, it says that "...he must be helped by his neighbors with silver, gold, equipment, and animals, along with voluntary offerings for the temple of God....". That is what we are doing on this trip. We may not be rebuilding the temple but we are building God's kingdom. All are not called to go but we could not be here without the gifts from all who have supported us...crafts supplies, quilt supplies for teaching, recreation materials, financial resources....the list is huge. And most of all, without your prayers, we could not be here at all.

Muito obrigada....many thanks (in Portuguese). And actually by the time I was able to post this, we are already in Sao Paulo after our first weekend at Camp California. We will write about our camp experiences and post pictures later tonight. Off to get ready for church service now.

Diane

Pre-trip preparations are in full swing!

Trip preparations are almost complete. These pictures show 7 of our 9 team members. We had a great day Saturday going over our Bible lessons, packing supplies, and spending time in prayer for our up-coming trip. We also were thrilled to be prayed for by both churches represented by our group: Lakeside of Folsom and Bayside Auburn. We will be leaving VERY early Thursday morning...arriving in Sao Paulo about 24 hours later. We will immediately be off to Camp California to prepare for receiving our first group of about 50 kids for a weekend camp.
Specific prayer requests: for God to be preparing the hearts of the kids that we will be bringing the good news to...both at the camps and in our ministry opportunities throughout the week; for God to be working in the lives of our team members to grow us more like Him in all that we say and do; for finances to continue to come in (several of our team members are still way short of the funds they needed to raise); for family and loved ones left behind; for safety in our travels and during our ministry times; and for the people and staff of Restoration Ministries that we will be working with: that we can bring them encouragement and times of joy and refreshment. A very specific request for the ministry....one of their staff members, Rodrigo (better known as Italia) was in a VERY serious accident on Friday late afternoon. He was with a team from Arcade Baptist, also from the Sacramento area, and as they were returning from their afternoon street program, he stepped off the bus to cross the street to buy something. He was hit by a motorcycle. He was helicoptered to the hospital (not so uncommon in the US....very rare in Brazil) and is intensive care, in a coma with severe skull and spine injuries. He is an outstanding young man and a very vital part of their ministry staff. Please be praying for miraculous healing...but that God's will be done in the situation. Sometimes it is so hard to see how God can bring good out of situations like this. But we know that He promises in His word that is exactly what He does. "All things work together for His good"....we sing that song but need to actually let the words sink into our lives.
To all of you, thank you for your support and your prayers. Please feel free to comment back on this blog and the postings while we are gone. Our first updates on the trip will come on Sunday night when we return to Sao Paulo from the camp. We will try to update as often as possible and to post lots of pictures.
Muito obrigada (thanks very much in Portuguese). God bless.
Diane Slusher