Yesterday we went to Vila Rosa for our last English Class…

English classes are one of the things my family is helping with while we are here. My mom prepared a lesson on the candy cane and we bring a cake and do a birthday party for Jesus.  The classes have all really liked it.   Plus, it’s their last class of the semester so we also are celebrating all of their hard work.  Some of the kids that have been doing it longer even get a certificate from the ministry.  For the party, we play amusing games, give God verbal gifts, and eat mouthwatering cake. The games we play are minute to win it games, and my favorite one is called “suck it up” (you have to use a straw to suck m&m’s into a cup). 

We give verbal gifts by saying “Jesus you are ____________ and I want to _______________ for you this year” and when we blowout the candles on the cake our gifts go up with the smoke.  

The girls, ages 12-16 usually say things like “I want to stop funky dancing,” (those are really bad clubs they go to) “I want to stop fighting,” or “I want to learn more about you.”  One of the girls said, “Jesus you are my first and only father,” and I thought it was very meaningful.  I bet she doesn’t have a dad, a lot of the kids don’t, or their dads are in jail or something.  She lives in one of the poorer favelas that RM works in, and her home looks kind of like a shack.   (Here we are with her – that’s her house with the green door.

There are about 7 groups of teenage girls that we worked with and one large group of funny adults. With the adults we did a thanksgiving lesson (which you should have heard about in another writing) and a Christmas party (which we will tell about later).   I really enjoy helping in the English classes they are very fun and help the children learn English, which can help them a lot.

We don’t always travel safely. 🙂

Note from mom:

Well, in 6 days Kyle will be arriving and I am so grateful.  We all miss him so much!   Please pray for him as he tries to close off his work year and prepare to leave the country for a few weeks.  Of course, I am not making it easy on him as I keep remembering things I have forgotten to do, and he is having to make up for that.

Right now there is a VERY SPECIAL girl from Brazil in the US.  We raised support for her to come a couple of years ago and after visas being denied, schedules not working, and more – she has finally come!  It doesn’t seem like the best timing since we are here for a few weeks of her trip but we are all anxious to have her in our home as soon as we return.  🙂    For now she is with a wonderful family from our church (The Carr’s) and she is falling in love quickly.  Her name is Deyze and Kyle met her 7 years ago.  He came home telling me all about this sweet girl who he would love to adopt (if she didn’t have a family).  Please pray for her as she is adjusting to the US.  Pray she feels welcome and loved and that her first Christmas away from home will be a WONDERFUL experience for her.   Also, that this time away from all the stresses of home will be a refreshing experience for her and that she would come to know God in a deeper way through it all!

As for me – God is teaching me so much!  It’s not easy being out here but it is good!  I would do it again for sure.  So much as happened and I will never be able to relay it all, but let me just say that God is revealing Himself to me in new ways, in hard ways, and in big ways.  I feel so stretched and I feel like I’m at that point where it’s time to stop pushing BUT I have a bit to go.  My Trainer knows me better than I know myself and I am miraculously able to trust Him.  Thank you for the prayers that must be sustaining me.

I am also ever so grateful for this experience for my kids.  Especially for Adia.  We have to laugh out loud a few times over how obviously God is trying to reach her.  She is an amazing kid and I am so proud of her openness and her heart.  It’s been such a rough year for her and yet she is refusing to give up.  She keeps entering in AND showing up and God is right here with her.  I couldn’t handle all she’s been through if it weren’t so obvious God is holding her hand the whole way!

Just yesterday I was on a walk with Kenyon and we were chatting about the best and worst things about this trip.  I asked of all the things he thinks God is showing him what does he think he will never forget.  He replied with this, “I think God is teaching me how life is just not fair.  I finally understand why you always say that mom.  Like, I get to have everything I need, and a good family, and just everything, and then there are all these kids here.”

I also asked Adison to write about what she is learning and she wrote on a paper – This place can be so sad but Jesus is here and that makes me happy.

THANK YOU JESUS!  Life isn’t fair BUT YOU are JUST and you bring PEACE to earth!  What a gift it is to learn this with my kids and watch them understand things on such a new level.   Thank you that no matter how dark the situation – we can always find your light.  Help us Jesus – Light of the world!

Acts 20:35“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

I think it is helpful that we get to do home visits. Home visits are one of the many things restoration ministries does to get closer to families and bring them to God. There are often hard things you hear about.   The people in the favelas have really sad stories to tell.  I have learned that my life is a very easy life even though it doesn’t feel like it.

Yesterday, we went to visit the home of a boy who was injured.  (picture with him above) He told us the sad story of how he was walking to the store, and he saw that there were two guys fighting, so he kind of hid.  Suddenly one of the guys picked up a glass bottle and chucked it at the other man.  The guy got out of the way, and the bottle hit the kids leg and he began to bleed. His dad brought him to the hospital and the cut was very deep because the glass was stuck in his leg. The doctor just wrapped it in a cloth and sent them home with no glass stuck in his leg.  The next day the boy’s dad went to kill the man who threw the bottle.  He took his gun and a friend.  Thankfully, he couldn’t find the guy.  When the guy who threw the bottle found out about this – he decided to try and kill the dad.  In favelas the mafia and the drug dealers are in charge.  They have a big set of rules and they enforce them.  One of the rules is that if you hurt someone’s child they have the right to kill you.  The drug dealers went and told the guy who threw the bottle that if he kills the boy’s father they will kill him and his entire family.

Wellington (missionary) told the boys father that God protected him by not letting him find the guy.  He explained that if he had, he would probably be in jail and the guys friends who are in jail would have heard about it and possibly killed him.   Wellington told him that if he had been killed or put in jail that would hurt his son even more.

They have a lot of sad stories like that.  Some end good and others that are bad.

The favela, that this family lives in, is a bunch of tall building on a small piece of land.  They did live in another favela an hour away from were they live now but the city built them these nicer apartment type housing and sent them to live there. But the bad news is that it moved them away from everything they knew and Restoration Ministries so now it is hard for RM to get there.

Kaden got to go to his first home visit yesterday.  He was in a man’s home when the man started gushing blood from his nose.  There was a TON of blood.   The man had recently had surgery so this was probably because of that.  William (another missionary) went to the hospital with the man.  I think William was being really nice by going and staying with him all day.  William was supposed to teach at the women’s Bible study later that day and missed it.   Good thing Wellington was there though and he did the teaching instead.

English class

I’m using the candy cane with each English class to share God’s love and practice new vocabulary.

She is doing much better but still – this is SO HARD on her recovering body.  We sleep whenever and wherever we can!  and by “we” I mean everyone but me.  🙂

Women’s Bible Study – led by men.  🙂

During the study the kids have to stay outside and wait for more chances to hang out with the RM team.  My kids had so much fun with them!

Side note from mom:

As we drove away from this favela and children were running with the van, we were in, and  banging on it – desperately not wanting us to go – I couldn’t help but think how precious each one of them is.  How grateful I am that my kids got a chance to play with them and enjoy a taste of friendship with them.  I am so thankful God brought this ministry into our lives and is using it to teach us so much.  I am grateful we get to be a part of bringing joy to their lives – even though i know it is a very very small part.

The visit Avery was sharing about was so odd because they discussed all of the details so casually.  It is so normal for them to discuss people wanting to kill or people who have been killed.  In fact the next day we were in a home and my 3 girls were listening to a mom talk about how her son in law is trying to kill her daughter and they have to keep her hidden.  He comes to their home and bangs on the door, cuts off their electricity and more.   This is just one part of the dark reality they live in.  The favelas seem to take away peoples ability to reason.  The father talked about earlier is a good man.  He is just so deeply entrenched in favela thinking he is convinced the best thing to do is kill the man who hurt his son.  The part where he would end up in jail and his family would ache for his presence and have even less financial resources didn’t seem to be something he had thought about.  I wonder if Wellington pointing that out will make a difference – I believe it will.  I pray it will.  

Another thing that is amazing about these visits are the joy we experience on them.  God has given each of the people who serve in RM an extra large capacity to laugh, to smile and to love.  They have such a good time together and are always laughing and joking around.  They really have fun and experience joy together daily.  The journey from laughing to crying is not long in their work.   They have huge hearts for God and worship Him together to start each day preparing for battle. (pictured above) Then they walk out of that devotion time fully equipped in Christ and ready to have fun sharing God’s love with the people of the favelas, and each other, and anyone God puts on their path.   The people from each favela are so happy when they show up.  I have been told by many how the RM leaders are the only people they ever get to share with, or cry with, or have in their homes.   I’m impressed how well they seem to understand the GOOD NEWS they carry and part of the way they express that is by having a great time and being total goof-offs with the people they love.  

Random pictures:

Here are the goof-offs in action.  We actually pulled over to take this picture.

Several times a week I wake up to see body parts dangling between beds… I love how my kids sleep.

This little girl is a trooper… at first all this drama with her back made me feel this trip was coming at a really bad time.  Soon after i realized that with all the struggles she is having it is perfect that we are now here and she is immersed in the Kingdom.  God is stirring her broken heart and although this is tough on her – it is so good!

Adison brought this paper to me and asked if I could take a picture of it for her dad.  We all miss him so much.

Agita’s are one of the fun things that we get to do here in Brazil. What is an Agita? An Agita is an exciting program that Restoration Ministries does to teach the kids of the favelas about God.  Agitas also help them get close to the children and then get close to the families.  They do it once a week in every favela.  Right now they work in 5, but 2 are so big they have to split them into two.

We all drive there together in a van and Wellington and William, two church leaders, start honking the horn annoyingly loud so the children will come.  We set up speakers, mats for the kids to sit on, and get out balls and jump ropes.  During that time, we play around with the kids, and I mostly enjoy doing jump rope with them. Then after it is all set up we start with worship and sing crazy songs, my favorite songs are Pula Pula (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BEsP2X1JD8) and Chua Chua (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifl6EU65L-8).   Next we start small competitions, and it’s always girls vs. boys.  I think it’s funniest when they have to pop water balloons over the kid’s heads.   After that, they do a message for the kids about God.  William usually does a really funny but sad skit.  They aren’t like how at our church we would say to share or be nice.  Here it’s about not doing drugs, having a family member in jail and violence.

The kids who come are usually about 5 – 14 usually.  A lot of the kids who come have to take care of younger siblings.  Yesterday, there was a 7 year old girl with her 2 year old sister.  Almost all of the kids come without a parent, in a very dangerous neighborhood.  It’s very sad how young children have to take care of their even younger siblings.  I have to take care of my siblings and I am 10, but I would never be allowed to walk out of my home without my parents’ home and out of all of my friends I get left the most and I’m the only one who has babysat before.  

I think the Agitas are really fun to be at because I get to meet kids and share God with them.  I like that the ministry does this for the kids.  They have barely anything and their homes are like the size of a child’s bedroom.  But this is a great opportunity for them to have fun and just be a kid.

Side note from mom:

I have only been to one so far on this trip due to kids illnesses.  When I went I was very proud of my big 3 kids for engaging so well with the kids and stepping out of their comfort zone.  Kenyon does especially well fitting right into the crowd.  Of course.  A lot of the kids remember him from his last trip here and you would think they were best buddies.  It was precious!  Adia helps run things and participates fully.  Avery is genuinely kind and, although nervous, she tries to engage and make conversation.  The language barrier ends up hardly being a barrier.    As for my little 2, they weren’t feeling very well, so they hardly engaged but they were kind, answered questions and posed for lots of pictures. 

I have seen Agita’s being done several times now and each time my heart melts.  It shocks me how young the kids are and that they all show up with no parents.  It shocks me to see the favela.  It shocks me to take in the smells. Mostly, I am shocked though at how loved they know they are by the RM staff, how much fun they have, and how warmly they welcome the “Americano’s.”    

It is such a surreal world. I have so many mixed emotions when I am there.  I look in the faces of the BEAUTIFUL children and I know our Father in Heaven loves them just as much as any other kid I have ever seen.  I know they have done NOTHING to deserve being stuck there.  I know God is in their midst and He desperately wants relationships with each and every one of them.  I know RM is doing a wonderful thing.  

The favelas are such a DARK place.  Drugs, violence, broken relationships, abuse, gangs, prostitution (starting very young) and so much more that is hard to take in.  BUT that is not what sticks with you when you go… the light of Christ is there.  The ministry brings that with them and when they share with the kids you can see drug dealers on the corners, men hanging out in front of a home and some adults gathered nearby – they are hearing the gospel message loudly proclaimed.  They are glad RM is there!  They know what RM is offering (Jesus) brings more joy then the world they feel stuck in has to offer.  It’s beautifully and painfully wonderful.

Lord, forgive me for often pretending this part of the world doesn’t exist.  When we leave here God, show me the “favelas” in my world, where brokenness is so clear and your light is so needed.  I will go.  I know You are there and I want to be with You as you draw people closer to yourself.

Nothing new going on.  I’ve been stuck home for the past 3 days with sick kids.  I’ve been washing dishes, hanging laundry to dry, cuddling sick kids, reading stories, celebrating Advent, and other normal mom kind of things.   Part of me has been so frustrated because I had high hopes for the things I might be able to do for the ministry while I am here.   Instead, I have been feeling like a burden on Tati and Wellington.  But God is good and last night as we did our second Jesse Tree Scripture reading on Creation, God began revealing Himself to me, or at least I slowed down enough to start hearing.

Each time we read I ask the kids to share what they feel like God wants them to “take home” from it.  Adia shared that we are made in God’s image.  Avery mentioned that God created everything.  Wellington mentioned how God created the beginning of the world perfectly and He will choose the perfect time and way to end things.  I on the other hand could only focus on one verse:

“and God blessed the Seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested…”

He rested.  God rested.  Today I keep reflecting on that and realizing that although I wanted to be put to use God knew He needed to slow me down enough to remind me of a few things.  Here are a few rambled things I hear Him saying to me…

“Amy, I see you looking in the mirror every day and I am proud of you for not letting your thoughts get away with you.  Don’t forget that I see your heart and I am still working on it.  In time we can work on your body but right now, it’s the least of my concerns for you.  You are my girl.  I sent you to Brazil for reasons you don’t know and what you look like has NOTHING to do with it.”

“Honey, I watch you go to bed crying so often as you feel like you have failed your kids for another day.  I know you want to lead them to me and I know you are human and that is harder than it sounds.  I am trying to give you some moments with them to show you I am taking care of them.  I have given you several glimpses into their hearts and I want you to think about them.  Reflect on what I am showing you and relax.  They are turning out wonderfully and I have already captured their hearts.  I will continue to pursue them all the days of their lives.  You can trust me with them.”

“You are good at working hard and getting things done.  That is not why you are here.  I brought you here to slow you down and teach you many things.  First of all – I don’t need you.  As much as you have sensed my love these past couple years, you have yet to feel the depth of it I have for you.  The only reason I ask you to serve me and the people I love is because I love you.  Sharing the love I have for you with others will only deepen our relationship and bring your heart more fully into mine.”

“Amy, you are going to be okay.  Whatever happens in Brazil – I am with you.  I am for you.  If I ask you to stay home with sick kids the whole trip, can you please be okay with that?  If I ask you to speak in front of a group, can you please trust I have something to say through you?  If another kid throws up, struggles to breathe at night, or gets hurt, trust me that you are ALL safe.  If you feel like the things you are doing are not helpful – just stop – I WILL BE GLORIFIED! Your weakness is where I am most made known.  Be okay with who you are today.  I am still working on you, and I don’t have to be done to use you.”

Well then, okay God.  I’ll stop.

So, now I rest.  I rest in Him and I choose to be okay with whatever He decides to do with us while we are here.  Maybe I will feel used and maybe I won’t – that doesn’t matter anymore.  I’m just here.  I’m facing things about myself and my desire to “do.” I’m not going try anything now, I’m just going to keep my eyes open to what He is doing.  My biggest prayer for this trip was to experience God here and He has shown up BIG time.  I couldn’t ask for more.  I can hardly hold back the tears as I type and as I accept this gift of rest I have been given.

Less of me God.  More of you!

A few pics from my time of rest…

The Barros family is as crazy as ours – it’s NOT a quiet house!

A bunch of sick kids = lots of opportunities for snuggles!

The triple bunk, that people keep asking about, is from Camp CA (a camp they ministry owns and takes the kids to, to get them out of the city)

The kids feel like celebrities… everyone likes to meet (and touch) the “Americano’s”

Adison on the swing – right before she flew off and hit her head on it.

Walking to the park…

Anytime of any day you can catch a pick up game of soccer – Avery has had a couple chances.  This park is about a 10 minute walk from the house.

The weather has been a bit crazy.  It is hot and humid, then a bit chilly and then a 5 minute storm… you never know what you are gonna get.

First day of Advent… Wellingtons’ brother Everson, his wife Jama, and their 2 precious kids joined the fun.  And yes, they got to watch kids throw-up.  They were very gracious!

It’s what I do here!

This is the kitchen I get to spend lots of time in… no hot water, no dishwasher and several times we have run out of water at night (the water company just randomly shuts it off – so annoying!) so you get to clean of food that has dried on over night.  🙂  Fun stuff!

A dear friend, with much experiences traveling abroad with kids, sent me away with a card for every special occasion or rainy day while I am here.  These have been so encouraging and uplifting.  As have all the comments on here, the e-mails and the messages you all have sent.  THANK YOU!