Now here's something you do not see every day! A spider eating a rat. The spider actually dragged the rat up the wall, ate some of it then continued to try and drag it into it's hole. It was a big spider but we have seen bigger...I just did not know that they actually caught and ate rats! Here's the proof:

Last Wednesday (19th Nov) I, Dave, gave my first Bible study to my group of 12-14 yr boys in portuguese. Sounds good, doesn't it! However, it went really badly with them not understanding what I was trying to say, me getting confused with words and ended up with a fellow group leader bailing me out with rough translation. All in all it was not enjoyable but looking back was a good experience. I think it will be a while before I attempt it again but I will have another go.

Last night there was a gun battle just up the hill from us but it has not affected us here on the JOCUM base.

For me, it is strange getting reports from friends and family about snow in England and here we are in Brazil feeling rather warm with the days getting longer. It does not 'feel' like November to me and thinking about Christmas seems almost alien at the moment. It is weird how we get used to the hype leading up to Christmas along with the seasonal changes which makes us feel a certain way. I do not know what it will be like for us this year so far away from family and friends but I do know it will not feel the same.

I (Beckie) have been doing home visits today, and it is really interesting. There are many complicated families here, as people change partners and have more children, some of these children are being passed from mother to father and back (or to grandparents and aunties) when having children is inconvenient. It's hard to imagine how the children get used to this, and how they cope with this type of rejection.
We also visited a genuinely happy family, maybe the second that I have seen here. This family was so thankful to God that they had managed to move into a new apartment because their old house was structurally unsound. There are many other families who are still living in dangerous accommodation who are waiting for the government to rehouse them, some have already been waiting for years. At times it's hard to know how we can make a difference, but I know that God wants to show His love to these people, so we wait for Him to show us how we can do this more and more.

One thing Josiah has liked about being in Brazil is that he has had more free time (as homeschooling is more concentrated he gets the work done quicker). This has really helped his drawing ability, as he has been practising how to draw cars. We have one wall that is almost wallpapered with his drawings of cars. This wall often attracts the attention of the boys in the groups, so a few times he has given classes to the groups to teach them how to draw cars. The last class was given 2 days ago, and at the time he was a bit discouraged as they were not listening well, and seemed to be messing around (this is normally quite a challenging group for 'sit down and listen' activities).
However, yesterday one of the boys (who didn't seem to listen) came running up to Josiah and said (full of enthusiasm) how he had managed to draw a car. Josiah was really encouraged and then another boy came running up and told him how he had drawn a car at home and would bring it to show him tomorrow. This has been so encouraging for Josiah, and it also shows me that sometimes (maybe often) what we see is not what is really going on. Many times children are learning far more than we realise.

Just a quick video clip of Gideon and Andreia (his Brazilian sister) having a 'jam'.

I (Dave) have been walking around in the centre of the city quite a lot this last week, having to replace our laptop (twice!) and do various other things. In my wonderings, God often opens my eyes to the homeless and poor who are begging but somehow I never seem to have enough time to stop for them and sit with them, even though I get a conviction to do so. So I just give them some money and move on. But I believe God desires more from me (and maybe you too) than that. Is that what showing God's compassion is about?
Last week, when walking to Gideon's school from the centre, about 25 mins walk, I decided to take a different route which I thought was less hilly. Sometimes walking up and down the steep streets can be exhausting, especially in the heat of the day. I was walking down a road I had not been down before in a 'nice' part of the city when I was approached by a lady who was probably in her early 40s, dressed in fairly revealing clothes...actually more like rags...and looking very thin. She told me that she was hungry and offered me her body in exchange for some food. I told her to come with me and bought her some food from a nearby snack bar but did not take her up on her offer!
For me, it is incredible when people value themselves so little. She thought she was worth a couple of 'salgados' - snack-things - but God's value on her life is so much more than that...so great is his love for her that he paid for her life with his. It was quite a heart-wrenching experience seeing the desperation of someone's heart. It is so easy to get embarassed and walk past people like her or try and make my (our) conscience(s) clear by tossing them some loose change but God's desire is for me (us) to spend ourselves for these people like he did, to value them higher than ourselvesand to actually STOP for them.

This last week I (Beckie) have been challenged about my heart for this community. We have a mango tree right next to our gate, and it is currently growing some mangos. This attracts a lot of attention, particularly from some of the boys who love mangos so much that they will eat them whilst they are small and green. Our house is the only building near this gate. So, this last week every afternoon we have had groups of boys jumping the wall and trying to get mangos. I have been getting so fed up with chasing them out and listening to their many excuses. However, these are some of the children I am here for, yet my heart is annoyed by their behaviour. I was really made aware of it when the gate was banging and I reluctantly answered it. Standing there was a lovely lady who had left her Bible here and wanted to be able to read it again as soon as possible. I was not very keen to help, and then I realised that my heart was cold, I really had to repent. How do I expect the people here to really know who God is when I am so quickly irritated, and lacking in love as I speak to them.
Maybe next week I will have another opportunity to deal with them in a way that allows God to give me His love for them. I am reminded of the Bible verse (Prov 4.23) which says "above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life."