Yesterday, Dave had the opportunity to preach in a local church. We really like the pastor of this church and his vision to reach the community and unite with other believers. He is always faithful at the pastors' breakfasts, enthusiastic about foreign teams doing mission events and came and worked with us at YWAM too. When Dave first told me about going to preach in this church I thought he must be mad to accept the invitation, when we are already somewhat overwhelmed with handing things over, clearing out our stuff and Dave dealing with leading the house issues. When would he find time to prepare a preach - especially preparing it in Portuguese (it's still tricky to prepare something of a higher level in Portuguese).

However, Dave accepted and it was really cool what he ended up speaking about. He challenged the church to reach out to the unloveable in the community. For the last few years Dave has spent many afternoons with the 'down and outs', loving them and showing them Jesus. Isn't that a great way to finish off somewhere? Passing on the vision that God gave you? I thought it was great that he had the opportunity to share this message with a local church.

Last session of group 2011
I had so much planned for this last afternoon - how can you possibly do everything? What is most important when you know you won't be spending time, investing in their lives anymore after this day?
First, we had our swimming session, very important to them. These last weeks we have been battling with an algae problem that has meant that some weeks they have been unable to swim. As you can see, the pool doesn't look very nice (green once again), but they were thrilled to be able to swim. These girls are having a go at doing somersaults in the water - one more box to put a sticker on in their swimming acheivement certificates. Somersaults were quite tricky for them, and anyone who could see me at the side of the pool giving instructions would have laughed.
Then, we went to the classroom for our bible study. I wanted to briefly recap on some of the things we had been teaching. Obedience, honesty, serving, perseverance, self control, love and courage. We talked about things that are still hard for them. Then, they had to pass certain challenges to 'earn' their party. They did quite well, 1 girl nearly managed to lick her own elbow, but of course ultimately they failed. I wanted to share with them about grace - that although we try we will fail, yet God's abundant grace means that we can have a relationship with Him, not based on what we can do, but on what He has done. The girls then wrote a bible verse in their books.
After this, Kelly led a time of worship, I love to see their passionate singing and dancing. It also gave an opportunity to get the pizzas (which they had made in the previous session) cooked.
Now, time for the pinata. I had half made it and they finished it off and decorated it. This proved somewhat tricky to break and I did wonder about the safety of a blindfolded, excited girl waving a rolling pin wildly around.
Food time! Pizzas, crisps, savoury snacks, cake and fizzy drink. Some of them brought along a contribution for our party.So, we got through the year. I loved being with them, they touched my heart and my prayer is that God touched theirs. Such a precious bunch of girls, each with their struggles, yet each totally loved and treasured by God. I am grateful for this opportunity, for who God is and what He did in our lives during this year.

Just wanted to share how God is in control (of course, we never forget that do we?) and how He doesn't always resolve things how we expect Him to. As I have already written, the situation with the house finances has been difficult. Expenses are very high and it has seemed impossible to be able to cover them. Each month I have been thinking that it will be the last that we can pay the bills. I have wanted to have faith and trust it totally in God's hands, knowing this is His work. I have been able to do this to an extent, but still found myself wondering how we would get through this year.

I also had 2 situations with the money that were annoying me. The first was a wrong payment that we made in January, meaning that we had overpaid our water bill by about £275. Every time we had contacted them they made excuses and said we would recieve the discount sometime in the next few months. We almost forgot about this money and then decided to phone again, this time we were told they could only do something if we visited in person - which we did. The second thing was a delayed payment, we were expecting to recieve it in July, they had deposited the money, but as we didn't have it. We contacted many people to try to find out where the money was (sometimes a bit tricky with money that comes from one country to another). This remained an annoying mystery for a few months.

This last month has been even more difficult financially, yet I've managed not to worry. I had a collection of bills to pay and wondered how it would happen. I was also awaiting the dreaded water bill, whenever this comes we know that it will clear us out. However, the payment finally came through and the water bill with the discount only cost £24 (normally it can be up to £1000). How amazing is our God? It felt like He held onto this money until we really needed it. Why do I feel the need to try to work out how He will do it? It is good for me to learn this lesson. He IS faithful.

This week and next we my group is having an art focus. We have a visiting artist from UK who has planned all sorts of activities to get them expressing how they feel about their environment. It is great for me, as she is doing most of the planning, giving me more time to get other things in order before leaving. It's also really great for the girls as they are trying out new things (scary things for some of them) and thinking about their environment. We have given them 3 specific rules for these weeks

• respect one another (no teasing each others work)
• there are no mistakes (therefore erasers are NOT allowed - this caused a big gasp from the girls)
• try new things

They have already tried out different mark making ideas, including expressing emotion, sound and flavour. Then, we looked at how maps can portray many things and created works of art using old maps, they have drawn using a pencil on a stick (much frustration at the lack of precision) and we will move onto printmaking and model making. It's nice to be doing something different. It's also nice to celebrate what they can acheive - even if they are unable to draw the most beautiful flower, which is what they previously thought was most important.

Yesterday, we had an amazing day. A church brought it's youth group to do an outreach event here, after several months of construction and maintenance here. The day began with teaching for the young people, about missions and how to reach out to those around you. Followed by lunch (cooked by some members of their church) for 160 people and then preparing for the activities - different things for kids and adults all over our grounds.
The gates opened and the kids went running to find the trampoline and one eldery man ran to the jumble sale ( things were free - they just limited what each person could take). it was wonderful to see the place so full and everyone having a good time, this was followed by a service for all with dramas and a good message. Eventually, the afternoon ended with a thank you and a snack for the visitng team.
Today, I am exhausted, but it's a good kind of exhaustion, knowing you've worked hard and worked as a team. I am thankful for the church wanting to get involved, for their ideas and their heart to reach this community.

In all the fun, difficulties, frustrations, successes, failures, hard-work, relaxation, enjoyment and impossibilities God never changes. He is always good, always faithful, perfect in every way, beyond our understanding, holy and righteous, never lying, and ever present with us through all of the above.
We are now in the process of leaving here. Yes, I know we still have many weeks until we actually, physically return to England (December 21st, we touch down) but it is a process and it has to start way before we leave because of our responsibilities to YWAM and to our family (each other).
Beckie has been writing up what she does with the money so that the next person can take it over in the beginning of December. Our 1970 VW Beetle is for sale and I will be going to sell a few other things next week. I am looking for work for next year - maybe still a little early for that at the moment, and we are praying for God to reveal what is next, in many aspects.
One challenge for me is to ensure that The Lighthouse is able to keep running into next year as financially, it is struggling and it is something that we, as a team, are working on.
So, in all of this God is there.....and will continue to be.

Faith vs. Being prepared

I have recently been wondering where to find the balance.... or if there even is a balance. My thinking tells me that faith is always a good thing, but maybe I sometimes get confused as to what is actually faith. You hear a lot of people talking as if something will happen, but not really worrying if it doesn't - is that faith? Or is that pretending to have faith? Is that having a little bit of faith? What kind of faith do I have? I want the kind of faith that is CERTAIN of what I do not see.

How does faith co-exist with reality? Maybe this is a silly question.... let's get back to my title, what am I thinking?

Well, I am responsible for paying the bills at the community centre at the moment and we have a lot of bills. In fact, we have more money going out each month than we have coming in (as we all know that can't carry on long term, the savings we had have almost gone). This particular job is one that has caused a lot of stress to people in the past and when I took it on I made a deal with God (if you can actually do such a thing) - it went a bit like this "OK God, I'll do the finance stuff, but, I am NOT responsible for the money coming in - that is your job, OK? I can just pay the bills that have to be paid, receive the money that comes in and document everything - You have to provide and I will NOT worry about it!"

Maybe that's easier said than done, but I've tried to keep my part and when I begin to worry then I have to remind myself that I only have to do my part. So, where is my faith? I have been doing all I can to budget well and to 'be prepared', I believe that is one way I can be a good steward. However, my biggest question is do I allow my desire to be prepared cause me to stop the house from doing things (because they would cost money that we don't have at the moment) when really I should have faith that God will provide? To what extent do we carry on as normal, with the sure conviction of faith that God will provide? Or is this mere foolishness and not accepting our responsibilities in administering well? I'm not talking about doing ridiculous things e.g going out with a credit card and buying nice new furniture saying that I have faith in God to pay the bill at the end of the month. I'm talking about little things, meat in the menu, chlorine for the pool (this is a pool used for swimming lessons for the kids and women in the community, rather than a leisure pool). Are these the kind of things we can expect God to provide for us? What constitutes our needs? When is it that I'm pulling back because I'm being wise or because I'm afraid of the next bill?

Lots and lots of questions, not sure how to answer any of them. Any suggestions?

So much to write, so little time to write about things.
Lets start with today......This morning, I (Dave) helped a Dutch volunteer with his new project which involves using a room in a local church to spend time with some of the addicted people in the community - people mainly addicted to alcohol but also crack cocaine. We provide cheese bread, coffee, art materials, fizzy drink, a guitar and our prescence. This is the first week of the project and it went well. Two ladies attended, one for about 1 hour the other for around 15 minutes. We were able to talk and pray with the first lady who shared about her husband dying and about her mother leaving her alone in te house when she was a child (She is now in her 50s). When she shared about her childhood she cried alot and it really made me think about how many people carry scars with them that affect them throughout their lives, never having the opportunity to talk about them, process them and recieve healing.
The other lady came to paint. She arrived, refused coffee and cheese bread, saying that she wanted to paint a picture. She painted a house, a tree and wrote her name. She was so child-like during the activity (although she is in her 30s) and very focussed which was a completely different side to her that I had never seen before. She normally works for the drug traffickers as a 'watcher', nearly always 'on edge' and also trying to entice people to buy drugs. It was a time of escapism for her that she neeeded. This project provides simple opportunities for people like this and I believe it will grow into something bigger as word gets around.

This afternoon, we did some house visits and walked in the community for a while. The visits were complicated, needing an intervention from God to make a difference in one of the households, which had some involvement in child trafficking as there were many issues that still had not been resolved from a long time ago. Sorry, but I will not post more about that here.

Human traficking is a BIG business and happens everywhere, it seems, but often goes undetected or even ignored as sometimes it has implications on the price of the goods that we buy. I will endevour to write a post about this soon when I have collected my thoughts together a bit more on the subject.

Once again, I am shocked by how much time had passed since we wrote anything. Not that nothing has been happening, we just got out of the rhythm of updating the blog.

The base that we work for (YWAM Belo Horizonte) is celebrating 25yrs, so this last week and this week we are joining in this celebration. Instead of just organising a party or a special service they have decided to raise awareness and action against human trafficking. We all know that even though slavery has long been abolished it is still ramant in our world. This campaign is particularly relevant to Brazil, as the up coming world cup will see many people wanting to import slaves and prostitutes for this time. Our base leader invited government officials to participate along with all other contacts.

The teaching has been great, some statistics (not so many as to overwhelm me), some bible verses sharing God's heart and tips on how to make a difference. The organisation that is doing the majority of the teaching is called not for sale - check out their website to discover more, another interesting site (through them) is free to work which shows you a rating of how good or bad a company is with regard to human slavery, helping us to avoid buying from companies that don't care about human slavery - just like people gave up sugar many years ago to make their stand, it worked!

Currently, Dave is attending a 3 day seminar which addresses other ways of getting involved and how we can make a difference. He can then update on other ways to bring about change and be a voice for the voiceless.

Dangers of dog TV but God is powerful....

In Brazil there are many chicken rotisserie machines, particularly on a Sunday, they jokingly call these machines 'dog TV', as all of the street dogs hang around them drooling.One Sunday recently we decided to buy a ready roasted chicken from our local bakery, when I went to put my name down I saw that the lady who owns this bakery had burnt her arm, very badly, on the chicken rotiserrie. The skin was literally hanging off. I went home and couldn't stop thinking about her, so when I returned to buy the chicken I offered to pray for her. She accepted gratefully and we prayed at the cash desk of the bakery, me standing one side and her the other, with tears pouring down her cheeks.

Today, when someone bought some bread she asked them to tell me that she has new skin on her arm, soft like a babies, she was praising God. God is good!!!!

In 5 months time we will be stepping onto a plane again, flying back to England. This time however we will not be flying back to Brazil after our Christmas break. We have taken a long time to make this decision and it wasn't an easy one. For sure we have no intention of giving up on missions and fully believe that God will show us a new mission field, be it in Dereham or somewhere else. We have 2 excited boys who are really looking forward to a life in the UK again and of course our family are pleased to have us nearby once again.

For Dave and I, we are excited and nervous - what is it really like to live in the UK? How much have we changed, how much has England changed? What will it be like to live a "normal"life again?

In the meantime we are trying to run the race so as to win the prize in this community. We know that the work continues here and we want to finish off or pass on some of what we are involved in. We also want to keep our focus on being obedient to God, not missing opportunities because our minds are elsewhere.

Thankyou guys for the gifts for the groups! We had a 'fun session' in the pool with lots of new inflatables. Of course it meant that they complained and whined wanting the inflatables for themselves all of the time. One of the unfortunate disadvantages of doing things that are 'super fun'. Despite the frustrating moments it was really great fun and the girls LOVED IT!

I just had to post about a piece of work a girl in our group wrote. The title is 'my important person'
Here's a translation - Beckie is very important to me, I cannot leave you Beckie, you are my favourite person. I love you, you speak English and Portuguese, but I can understand you. You have beautiful skin and hair. I like your way, you are very beautiful. You help everyone who needs help in YWAM and she is an adult.

This piece of writing really made me smile, what a sweet encouragement.

Just wanted to share one of our sessions with our girls. We have been trying to teach them about who they are and who God says they are. Eleanor (my co-leader) really wanted to do a session about how we are a success, not just the things we do but who we are! So, she actually prepared the whole of this special afternoon. She shared about what it means to be a success, how God delights in us for who we are and we presented each of the girls with a medal, which they then decorated.

Our girls love doing crafts, they might be noisy or distracted at other times, but during craft time they work almost silently.
Eleanor also made some yummy food, so that we could really celebrate with them. When they saw the table spread with party food they all asked who's birthday it was. After much guessing, we eventually told them it was because of them, that we are celebrating who they are.

The girls are all indulging - YUM, YUM

These are a few of the girls, we also asked Felipe (one of the great photographers here) to come and take some photos, so we can do a special craft with them another weekThis is Eleanor and I - We are successes! We had a fun afternoon affirming these girls and sharing God's pleasure in who he made them to be.

WEEKENDS
Living and working in the same place is quite interesting, it's very convienient, no traffic problems with getting to work, also it makes it much easier to organise a few things from home and for Dave and I to be flexible with our duties and time. On the whole it's a great experience, but one thing is you never really know is what's going to happen next. Weekends can be very quiet or they can be crazy. As there are many of us living here and our area is quite big, including great physical resources (e.g. park, pool, sports court, classrooms) often special things happen at the weekend. A meeting for parents, a quick game of football, visiting kids from another YWAM house to use the pool, pastors' breakfasts, parties, weddings, a church using the facilities, baptisms or even pre-funeral gatherings. This is great as we are really able to bless the community, there is no other space quite like this one here.

This weekend has been a bit crazy, on Friday night there was a football group here and another group having a campover for the weekend. Saturday there was a swimming group and the camp continued. Today, as well as the campover still happening a church of about 30 people appeared wanting to get to know the house and find out about what we do. These sort of unexpected things can happen and it's great that the community is interested in what we do as working together is definitely the best way. Thankfully, someone was willing to show them around, they brought their own picnic breakfast and had a good time. But what is strange is the way that we never know if a weekend will be quiet or noisy, if the doorbell will ring constantly or if we'll see nobody. With all of the crazy stuff happening today it made me think back to our weekend camping away 2 weeks ago. It is always very nice to get out of the city (I don't think I'll ever be a person who loves the city) and relax somewhere else. We went to one of our favourite places called Serra do Cipó (about a 2hr drive away). It has beautiful views and waterfalls.
Gideon and I appreciating the fresh air and the view (and having a bit of a rest after a steep climb)

We had a great walk, going up river, climbing over the rocks and finding a way around the waterfalls. Our goal - to reach the source...... we didn't make it, but we had an awesome time trying.

Just one of the smaller waterfalls along the way. We are very thanful that we had a brief time away, helping us to re-charge and appreciate God's creation. We also enjoy the 'unexpected' nature of the work here, knowing that God uses these things and we never want to get to the stage of blocking out what he wants to do so that our agenda remains undisturbed.

I (Beckie) love being busy, love juggling a few things at the same time and am often very willing to say "yes" to most things. Just occaisionally I stop and think about what I'm doing and then I worry that I won't be able to do it all. I am currently trying to learn how to do the finances of the house / community center, it's a big thing!!!! Every day that I learn a bit more I am aware of how much time it will take. I'm OK with numbers, thinking a few different things at the same time but learning all of this in my second language and on a computer (Josiah would laugh at this point as I always ask for his technical help with the smallest computer problems) is stretching me!!
I'm sure that once I've actually learned how to do this it will be fine, please pray for me to learn quickly and to manage to get extra help when I need it. Thanks.

BUILD A BEETLE / BISCUIT

Last week we did a fun activity with the girls, we played the 'build a beetle' game using biscuits, icing and various sweets for body parts.

At the beginning the girls all desperately wanted a 6 to get the biscuit to start. Some were getting a bit frustrated, also an opportunity to learn some patience. I was actually the last to get a 6 and some of them began to feel sorry for me.
The biscuits are partially made.... most girls were still excited to complete them.

When everyone had completed their biscuits we took them to the park to eat. It was a fun afternoon, nothing profound, but a great way to build our relationships with them.

Time I posted something, I think.
We always face challenges here, in various forms. Sometimes we do not know what to do when faced with certain situations and we are challenged to pray and then pray some more to affect change. Sometimes we face language challenges and occasionally we face tough, physical challenges.

Just over a week ago 3 guys (including me) went on a visit to a house which is in a place very near to where drugs are sold. This particular house is a house where people use the drugs once they have been bought. The lady that lives there asked us to pray with her when I met her earlier on that day. So, at 8pm we arrived there and entered while some people were smoking 'crack'. They got a little embarassed and then stopped smoking during our time in the house. We prayed for them and Evan (a guy from Israel) shared some Bible verses for them. Also, Isaac (United States chap) had a word of knowledge for one of the men there which we then shared with him outside the house. While we were praying, another person called for the house owner but she said that we were talking about God and if he wanted to join us he could but he chose to come back another time. I love it when God interrupts a drug taking session and turns it into a prayer and Bible study time. Afterwards, 2 of them said that they will go to church now and one of them gave us his address so that we can help him - he did not want to go back into prison for stealing so that he could buy the drugs. It was a great time and the presence of the Holy Spirit in that place was strong during that time. Praise Jesus.

FISH AND CHIPS

Maybe this seems like an unusual thing to write a blog post about. However, since Josiah has been in England I think he has had fish and chips 3 times (it's his favourite). We don't have a local chippy and all of this talk was making us miss it a lot, so we planned to make a traditional fish and chip supper (the first time I have ever battered and fried fish). We invited another English girl to share it with us as she is also really missing this treat.
lots of potatoes chopped and ready....
hot sizzling pan....
yummy, fish is ready....

Time to eat!
It was something so memorable for all of us that we had to take a photo. Strange how some small things can bring pleasure. Yet also annoying that something as simple as food can make you really miss a place.

Next time you eat fish and chips I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!!!

It's been planned for ages. More than 15 months in fact, when Josiah first said he would like English qualifications we had to think about how that could happen.

However, now it's no longer a 'plan', it's real, Josiah is on a plane (I hope) on his own, heading to England for 3 months. I feel like part of my heart has left. He's very mature and able to take care of himself, but I want to be there for him. Maybe he doesn't need me, but I am used to being available if he does, not so easy in 2 different continents. Do parents ever feel ready for their children to leave?

This morning Eleanor and I went to visit a Mum of a girl in our group. This girl (let's call her Ana) waited behind after one session to talk privately to us about the fact that her parents are separating. We really wanted to talk to the Mum (let's call her Vitória), to find out the truth and to see if there is some way we can offer hope for her marriage. Vitória was very happy to have a visit, she was very open to share about the story of her family. She got married when she was 15 and after 7 months of marriage big problems had already arisen. 20 years later their problems are unresolvable. It seems like they share the same house, but nothing of their lives. He works, goes out and sleeps. He doesn't spend any time with his children nor give any money to their needs. A sad example of this is when their son was bitten by a dog and needed to go to a hospital for treatment (it was during the time that buses were not working), he refused to give his wife money for a taxi, even though his wallet was full. What I really admired in Vitória was the way she tries to teach her children to love, honour and respect their father, I sensed no bitterness in her for the way she had been treated, just a sadness. Vitória has very little support from family but does have a church that encourages her.
It seems that actually this marriage is beyond help and that it is in their best interests to separate. Now, we need to seek God's wisdom in how to help Ana cope with this. She is a delightful girl, who loves to go to church (she goes 4 times a week). Ana was very touched by a talk given on God as our Father. Eleanor shared about how our earthly fathers can let us down, but how God has chosen us to be His children, Ana was honest enough to say that she doesn't like her father. Please pray for us to have wisdom when dealing with sensitive and difficult issues like these.

CARNIVAL
Once again this year I (Beckie) went to carnival alone, we discussed as to whether Dave should go or we should try to go as a family, but decided against it (which was probably wise as it is extremely tiring and this year we had constant rain, much more difficult to keep children entertained).
It was a great, exhausting and fulfilling experience. I was quite amazed at how much my confidence and ability in Portuguese has grown. It was great to be able to translate for other people and understand so much better what people were saying. We had a fairly full program, of prayer and worship in the mornings, parades in the afternoon and evangelism at night. The night-time evangelism was divided into 2 parts (10pm-2am or 2am-6am). I particularly liked to do the early morning shift, as some of the people had already dispersed and it made it easier to know who to speak to (rather than being overwhelmed by choice). Also, these people seemed more open to longer, deeper conversations.
I noticed that we had a few conversations that kept repeating themselves with a variety of people

• Catholics - usually they said how much they loved God, often spoke about other bizarre things they had been taught, but also felt that they could carry on living however they wanted (the catholic church here accepts many things that the evangelical church doesn't)
• "everybody can find God for themselves" - all believed in "God", but wanted to be able to find him in their own way, often they were disillusioned by hypocrisy in Christians and the Church
• Backslidden Christians - these people had left the church a while ago, but usually wanted to return, some were waiting for a better time, others were trying to follow Jesus but getting hung up on certain "rules"
• Teasers - who wanted to ridicule what we believed or make us feel uncomfortable by their lifestyle choices. After the initial confrontation they usually wanted to have a good chat and often asked deep questions
  

Although many of our conversations repeated themselves we needed to rely upon the Holy Spirit to really direct us to the real issue. One lady seemed like a typical backslidden Christian who wanted to have a bit more fun before returning to her heavenly Father, on talking more we discovered that she left the church when her husband was murdered and she just doesn't know how to find her way back to God.

Most people were very open to receive prayer in the street, some were hungry for someone to be interested in them. To be able to share with these people and offer them hope made the lack of sleep worthwhile.

I (Dave) went out last night with 6 other people, including Josiah our 14yr old son. We spent some time playing football on the street with some boys (I watched) and then climbed the hills to the top of the favela (slum) where a lot of the trouble had been over this last week. The aim of our presence was to do some evangelism amongst the people that frequent the bars. Traditionally, Christians do not go into bars here and keep themselves very separate from the bar culture but there are so many people in these places that we thought it would be a good place to build relationships and minister to the people that the churches normally don't reach.
We spent the majority of our time in one particular bar which we had been in before, played a few games of pool and table football and chatted to some of the locals. There was a group of ladies who were particularly interested in us foreign guys and they started off by trying to chat us up but we ended up in a small circle praying for them in the middle of the bar. Excellent.
Another guy approached me asking to talk with me about Jesus and we arranged a time for him to visit Luzeiro (The lighthouse) for this to happen. It was a good night.
The police presence was fairly high with a bus full of armed police patrolling the bus route and police stationed at various places along the street. The atmosphere was a little tense but generally ok.

Well, it's Friday evening. The week has continued fairly calm, but with a heavy police presence and regular helicopter flyovers. One police officer was arrested for the murders of 2 innocent people (the deaths occurred last Saturday in the early hours), people said that he was also being accused of other murders in similar circumstances. This officer committed suicide in prison today. Who knows how this affects the community feeling of justice. I imagine the police will be on extra alert over the weekend, as this is the preferred time to create upheaval / make a protest.
Tonight, Dave is taking out a small group of people to evangelise in the streets and bars (or maybe just pray if that is how they are led). Josiah is also going with him, we were surprised when he asked if he could go. I know that some of you reading this will be afraid to think of what they might encounter. Honestly, I don't know what they will experience. However, the area near us is generally safer and quieter, getting less so as you go further up the hill. I know that Dave will be watchful as to whether it's OK to continue. I also know that my heavenly father keeps good watch of us.

Firstly, thank you to all of you who have been praying for the situation in the favela.

At the moment, things seem to be more peaceful, no night-time protests or bus burning the last 2 nights. It's hard to say if it's a peace that will last, or if the rumours of drug dealer planning something "big" are true. We keep praying and asking God to shake up and expose what goes on here, whilst protecting those who live here.

The situation is continuing to worsen in the favela. Last night there were more confrontations between the residents and the police. At 9.30pm another bus was torched (the little yellow one that serves the community), plus 2 cars and another car thrown into a ravine.

There had been reports that everything was peaceful after the police had arrested someone for the bus burning, but buses are continuing to be burnt and the police presence is causing chaos. There are protests and people crying out for justice. The police have come in, trying to disperse groups with rubber bullets, but the residents are stoning the police cars. People are being wounded, many people are very angry or afraid.
It is crazy,even in the news they are reporting that a witness disagrees with the police testimony of how the 2 guys were killed, and now this witness is being protected.

As a result, we have no buses here now (taxi's will also refuse to come here), people are unable to get to work, at least one crèche is unable to open because the electricity is off (due to things being burned), police presence is high and everyone has to carry ID and be prepared to be searched. I have just heard that we won't have any fruit or vegetables delivered (11am) as the police are blocking anyone from coming up into the slum.
How does this improve things for those who live here? Is this just a big power struggle between the police and the drug lords? Are both sides expecting that they will win?

Please pray

There is tension in the favela. This is not new, but it's very clear now. The police entered with force on Friday evening, and there was a shooting battle. 2 people were killed, some are saying they are innocent, others are disagreeing with this. People were arrested, but much more is going on. Helicopters have been hovering over the slum for a lot of the weekend, particularly early hours of Saturday morning, most of Saturday and now again Sunday evening.
Yesterday, as a mark of outrage against the police 2 buses were set on fire, nobody was in them, but it caused a complete strike of buses to this area.
It's hard to know who is most at fault in all this, it seems like the police are trying to assert their authority, but also that the drug traffickers are trying to tell them to keep out. We hear slightly different things all of the time, which isn't helped by the slum 'rules' of keep silent. I can understand when so many people from the community end up saying things like"God knows" as a way of avoiding responsibilty in it all.

What do you think of when you hear someone is a missionary? I used to think of people living in mud huts and trying to start churches, especially in places that had never heard of Jesus. Now, I can see that there are many ways of spreading the gospel.
We have a team with us at the moment, for an outreach part of their training, their desire is to really reach the lost. This is great, it means that along with some of the more usual day to day work of the community centre, we're going out with a sole purpose to tell people about Jesus and pray for them. Many times though, this isn't exactly going according to plan. We've had great times, with over 170 children one afternoon, but then we've also spent a whole morning inviting a town to a street drama (bearing in mind it seemed like nothing was happening in this town), only to wait and not one person came. We pray before, and we wait and sometimes it seems strange that if the fields are ready for harvest, why can't we find them?
We've also had the pleasure of working alongside nearby churches, who are so thrilled to have us that they bless us with amazing hospitality. Yesterday, was one of those days. We were ready for a full-on ministry day, but at times we couldn't find anybody. In the evening though, I really sensed that the dramas and talks by the team encouraged the church members. One man shared that God really stirred his heart when Matt was talking about God's calling and the roles we have to play in the body of Christ. So, we really need to just listen and obey and make sure we're fulfilling the role that God has called us to, whether it seems big or small.

This week is team week. We are planning lots of our work and continuing to build relationships. We have quite a large team doing many diverse things, so it's really good for us to be united in our vision and support for one another. Today, in our family everyone is busy. Dave is leading a team building exercise (planning and making a protection packet for an egg, which will protect it when the egg is dropped from a height)


(this poor unfortunate egg didn't survive)
Meanwhile, Gideon has been using every free moment from school to help a builder here, he has really enjoyed learning how to do new things. (He has almost enjoyed it too much, as he really doesn't want to do any school)
And finally, Josiah is busy doing experiements that count towards his GCSE science. As for me I'm trying to plan my timetable for my group this year, as the groups will be starting soon. This January has been very busy though, doing lots of extra programs for the community and evangelising with the team.

Had an adventure today. Every month I'm responsible for buying the house food, this month when everyone is back from their holidays and with the new students and the team we have 50 people for lunch each day. I took a new member of staff who was quite amazed at how much we were buying. 5 BIG trolleys later, we struggled to load it all into the kombi, especially as the trolleys wanted to roll down the slopes and onto the road or into parked cars (fortunately we grabbed them before they hit).
For the first time ever our beloved kombi was unable to get up the hill.... some of you who have visited us can understand this, sometimes I feel unable to get myself up these hills. So, the spare people got out....but it still couldn't do it. As we were close to home Dave was called to bring the VW Beetle to clear out some of the weight. Finally, all of the shopping was put away.
Phew, another 4 weeks before we need to do that again.

As you have already read, we meet a lot of desperate people here, some with a genuine desire to change and many without hope. We try to offer them a hope that is in Jesus, but sometimes even we feel without hope.

One day, between Christmas and the new year I (Beckie) was walking back home from the community, I was stopped by a very drunk man with a cup of cachaça (strong alcoholic drink) who clung onto me. He looked into my eyes intently, with his bloodshot and desperate eyes.
He asked, "are you a Christian?" "Yes," I responded, then he pleaded for prayer. He said he used to go to church, but now he can't stop drinking, he wanted God to help him quit. I offered to pray for him in the street, but he wanted to know where I lived. As the community center was close by I took him there, thinking that Dave could help me a bit. This man was truly a mess, he was barefoot, dirty, his face was slightly puffy and he was unable to remember any of what he had previously said to us, he even asked our dog if it was his girlfriend.

We threw away his drink and talked to him, we prayed for him with as much faith as we could muster. He said he was hungry, so we offered him food. Then he asked for money and we said no. After repeating the conversation a lot, we eventually managed to send him out (this was a bit difficult and Dave gave me a top tip to not let drunk guys in here again).

Why am I telling this long story? It is so typical of some of the people who live here. Well, on Saturday a group of us were walking back home through the slum. A man called out to me, I didn't know who he was. I looked closer, then he said, "I'm much better!" I realised it was this man. He was clean, smiling, totally able to focus...... I could barely recognise him. I am so thankful to God for hearing our prayers and also for showing me the difference he made in this man's life. Now I just have to leave him in God's hands and trust that God can do the impossible.

The English team that are with us are doing the practical phase of their Discipleship Training School, the mandatory YWAM school that has to be done before being able to be a staff member with YWAM. It involves a lecture phase and a practical phase built around knowing God and making him known.
Yesterday, we went out into the community with invitations for a kids event (which is happening as I type this), an afternoon for adults (to happen tomorrow afternoon) and an invitation to collect the forms to fill in so that they can participate in the groups we have here. With these invites was some cake - so we handed out cake, invitations and talked to people in the community. But, what about this constitutes a blog post?
On our walk we encountered some of the local drug gang, selling drugs and what struck me as strange was that we were handing out cake to them in the middle of a few drug deals. It just seemed bizarre. We wanted to give life and freedom while they were dealing out death and destruction (Or certainly encouraging it). It was a good relational exercise with them though and we hope to return to them next week to offer them something a lot more valuable and sustaining than cake.

January 2011

Well, the new year is here, whether we're ready or not. The team arrived on the 31st and have experienced the Brazilian rainy season, probably not the best welcome for them. However, today, the sky has cleared a little, enabling the first walk through the community. It's exciting for us to have a new group of people here working alongside us for 2 months, full of passion to evangelise and transform this community. Sometimes we get stuck in our ideas and traditions and although we really want to see God move and show his power we are a little scared of doing things differently.
A new year is a great opportunity to recommit and truly welcome Jesus back to the centre of it all, to recognise it's not through our abilities, talents or great ideas, but it all comes through Him. I'm looking forward to how the Lord is going to lead me, lead us. I'm looking forward to seeing what He wants to do, and yet a little scared of the challenges there will be along the way