Well, today is our day off, and the internet is working realy well, which is a bit of a rarity. We have been into the city, it is so spread out, and there is very little to do here, but it does make relationships more important.
We're very involved in the children's and youth work that the church does, both at the church and it's community center. Saturday was a fun afternoon with the children from the poor area coming to the community center. We did a presentation, shared a message and then had a treasure hunt and some games, it was great, and really helps us to build up relationships.
Josiah is finding it much easier to have relationships with other kids here, and he's very popular particularly with the girls. Both of the boys love it here, which is strange as there is really very little to do in your freetime (we don't have much freetime so it's not really a problem for us)

Today we have been trying to plan some of our activities for this week.....it has been OK, but difficult at times to overcome cultural differences. I'm realising how I like to be very organised, quite a while in advance (my reason is to collect resources). It isn't really normal to prepare too far in advance here.
Last night we had a fun time with our small groups, we are beginning to get used to some of the Brazilian names. We had great fun running around outside playing "prison break"

Well....It does get more crazy!!!!!!
Today we heard about this coming week. On Tuesday nights we lead the children's bible study (5 groups). Wednesday afternoon we are teaching at the women's group. Thursday night we have a service for the community here (we lead worship, we have 1 children's group, 2 teenage groups, and someone to teach the adults). Friday morning and afternoon we are in a school, not sure if it's 1 school or 2 different schools, we think it's just a short snappy program to invite the children to a Sunday service. Saturday afternoon we have a fun service for the children in the community (a bit like a KidzKlub), and in the evening we go to another city to do street evangelism (dramas, dances, preaching and testimony). Sunday morning we do a special children's service, and maybe preach in the evening. We also get to do home visits to families in the community.
It is actually quite funny that things are this busy, thankfuly we all team together and try to help each other, however we cannot do this without God's help. He definitely likes us to rely on Him.

So...how crazy does it get here? Well, this week we had to plan a 2 1/2 hour session for some children in a school for the Brazilian indiginous people and we were told there would be between 50-100 children. We thought that was quite a lot of children for 2 1/2 hours but proceeded anyway to produce the program. When we got to the school we discovered that we had 600 children instead! So, we prayed! It was fairly chaotic but we all had a lot of peace about it and had to improvise as we went along, because the program we had drawn up was simply not suited to so many children. It was great to see God come through in such a situation...thinking about it I'm not sure how we managed it! Maybe more detail on that another time.
We have also been to some meetings with a pastor who is famous in Brazil for his healing ministry and saw many people healed as well as many recieve Jesus as Lord. But, it was a bit strange due to the pastor's showey style...we found it a bit difficult but do not deny the Lord's anointing on His life. I (David) sometimes find it difficult to understand how such self-promoting people have such a powerful ministry. Yet, I am sure it will all become clear soon.

This is one of those sunsets we told you about, we'll probably be clicking some more soon.

The tea is a really traditional thing here, it's a pot of herbs which they add ice cold water to and then everyone passes the cup around as a social thing, it's very rude not to drink or to not down the whole thing when it's passed to you. Gideon loves the tea, Dave quite likes it, Josiah can just about manage to drink it without pulling too many faces and I really hate it. If you know what henna hair dye smells like then this stuff tastes similar but worse.

Here we are in Amambai. It took 29 hours to get here...that is a long time to spend on a bus! The roads here are mainly mud and dust, although most of the houses are richer-looking than those in Belo Horizonte and there seems to be a lot more affluence here but it is still mixed with poverty which is mainly amongst the Amerindians. The people here look different, the sunsets more spectacular and there are more cows here. It is also noticeably quieter...Mmmmmm....sleep.
On Tuesday we will be putting together a program for the net 6 weeks but until then we can relax.....oops - that is tomorrow!
Shortly, we will post more including pictures to give a larger impression of what it is like here.

We are now preparing for our pratical/outreach phase of the DTS, it'e exciting and daunting all at the same time. A bit like coming here all over again. Once again, we're trying to downsize our stuff, thinking about whether we really need everything for the next 6 weeks. We've had some great team times, they're a really good bunch, I feel a bit sorry for the busdriver on our 26hr trip, as they (we) are also a loud, crazy bunch. We're hoping to have internet in Amambai, but we're also not sure how demanding our days will be, I think they will keep us busy!!!!!!

Hey....check this out. It is the video of "Sunday with God" which we were involved in last weekend (30th March). There's a fair bit of Beckie in it, a snap-shot of Gideon and a second of Dave. Josiah does not feature because he was ill that day and stayed in the 'hut'. It is a large file so may not easily play if you have a slow connection - no discrimination intended.

This is a quick update from the previous blog as to how our day has gone. FANTASTIC!
The journey accross the city took 50 mins by bus - from one favela to another. The children were really open and about 100 turned up. We had to go through the favela with our faces painted inviting the children before the event began and once it started they all seemed very excited. I think the oldest was 13 and the youngest was about 3.
After a drama, we split into 2 groups, divided by age, and presented the Gospel to the children in a way which they would understand. They knew a lot about drugs (not surprisingly) but were hooked by my (Dave's) story, which I did not expect. The other, younger group, got really excited about the puppets telling the story of creation, and managed to make 'themselves' out of a balloon and some wool. After this we met back together as a large group.
We then presented 2 more dramas and after the final drama, called choice, we presented the kids with the choice of following Jesus and 2/3 of the children wanted to! Some people from the church which we were working with then invited those children to their weekly children's activities which they put on.
One thing we noticed about these kids was their openness. They loved being hugged and swung around, wanted to play with us and readily shared their lives with us. They seemed different from English children in this way. It made me think that the whole 'child protection' thing is not always helpful when it comes to sharing the Gospel with children wholeheartedly, like when they want or need a hug, or want to be 'thrown' around. A friend of ours took a video of the whole day and we should be able to put it on this blog in the next week or so, so you can see us in action.
Josiah helped with the puppets and Gideon wondered around soaking up the atmosphere. Both children seemed to enjoy it. Thankyou for your prayers. Much appreciated....they make a huge difference.

Just when we thought we'd be having a quieter week....actually there does not seem to be any such thing here. Tomorrow (Saturday), the group going to Amambai (that's us plus 6 other students) are going accross the city to a church in another favela to run a kids program for them. We knew this on Thursday (yesterday) and we had one afternoon plus any spare time we wanted to give it, like when we should be sleeping, to prepare a 2 hour program which we would deliver to about 100-150 kids aged 2-14! We have been given a theme for this by the church which is 'drug prevention' as they want to run an anti-drugs campaigne in the favela, educationg the children about the dangers of getting involved in them. Ironicaly, it is likely that the young children know a lot more about drugs than any of the team.
So, what are we going to do? Why am I writing this blog and not preparing for it? Actually, I am just having a break. Our conclusion was that if these children had a relationship with Jesus then they would have the strength to say no to being involved with these drug gangs, so we have decided to sock them with the gospel instead as the anti-drugs message. I (Dave) will be giving my testimony which has something to do with how Jesus freed me from drugs, but it is nothing like these children experience every day of their lives in one way or another. Beckie is leading the younger children's work with puppets and will be exploring creation and how God has made them and loves them, therefore they need to honour Him by what they do.
As you can imagine, this is a HUGE challenge for us so please pray that this will be fruitfual and that all will go well. May the author and perfector / finisher of our faith finish and make perfect what we do tomorrow for the glory of God.