The Wards in Brazil

2011-12-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-02T21:55:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-11-29T10:45:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-11-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-11-06T04:12:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-11-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-10-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-07-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2011-07-20T05:26:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-06-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-06-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-06-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-05-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-05-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-04-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2011-04-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-03-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-03-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-02-26T05:07:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-02-25T14:13:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-02-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-02-21T05:15:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-20T15:48:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-02-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-02-01T04:49:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-01-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-01-10T05:24:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-01-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-01-02T05:03:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Laura and I (Beckie) were able to visit this boys family, it wasn't easy, but I'm glad we went. It felt like we were able to grieve with those who are grieving. Check out Laura's blog where she shares of our experience.

2010-12-08T04:57:00.000-08:00

At the moment it seems like we are only hearing sad news. A lot of things are going on here, some things to do with drug gang tension, others are purely accidental.
Yesterday evening, the little yellow bus was doing it's normal (very full) run through the slum, on it's descent the brakes failed. As far as we've heard the driver tried to avoid crashing down the hill full of passengers and swerved into a wall. Unfortunately a young boy who was crossing the road was badly injured. The driver was seen a bit later running down the hill, distraught, trying to get help, covered in blood and having just been threatened by some people in the community. The boy died a bit later.
Today, I discovered it was a boy from my group last year. This is very sad for me, he was a sweet boy, with a difficult background, who lived with his grandmother. However, I am consoled by the fact that he was here, he did hear about Jesus and his Father God's love for him. We would like to visit the family, to see if we can help in any way, maybe offer some of the photos we have of him.

2010-12-04T02:26:00.001-08:00

Many times it's easy to forget that we live in a slum here. We have a nice house, trees in the garden, even a swimming pool. Of course, we sometimes hear the crazy loud music, have kids jumping the walls and at times hear gunfire in the middle of the night.
Dave has had more experience of the reality of the slum in his many walks and talks in the community, but I have had a more sheltered experience here. Even when the drug traffickers here have been at war with the neighbouring slum (which is happening now), we have heard about what is happening, sensed the fear, but continued the same.
However, last night was the first time I felt afraid. At 1.50am a helicopter arrived, quite a strange time for a helicopter. The police send helicopters when they are looking for someone in particular. Normally, they pass over the whole favela and circle in a few places. Last night, they were incredibly low and circled mainly around our area of the community center. It really felt like they were going to land here. This circling continued for 25 minutes, which felt like an incredibly long time as we were lying there, wondering why they were here. Had a bandit jumped the wall to find refuge here? This is one of the best grassy areas here and has great places for hiding. I began to hope that our dog wouldn't notice anything, because if he started to bark, what should we do? Normally I send Dave out to have a look, but I didn't want to send him out to meet a nervous armed bandit on the run from the police. Would the police want to enter here? When would it end? Even after the helicopter left I couldn't sleep, wondering what had actually happened.

2010-12-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the Lighthouse team. This was taken last week. Gideon didn't want to be in the picture, unfortunately.

2010-12-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I (Dave) last posted anything here and Beckie has convinced me it is about time. The thing is, I get so used to certain things being 'normal' that I do not consider them worthy of a blog so I only tend to write about things which are extraordinary for me. Anyway, here is what I did yesterday afternoon:
I ate lunch with my lovely family at 12pm. We had rice, beans, lettuce mixed with a kind of shredded spring-green type vegetable, green raw pepper and meatballs with gravy. It was delicious.
At 12.30 I walked in the heat of the day to collect a volunteer from his house in another part of the city just the other side of this favela and walked back with him so he would know how to walk to here on his own next time. This took about 45 mins.
At 1.20 the volunteer, Maarten and I met together to pray before going out into the community and to explain about our work to the volunteer. Just after 2pm we left .
As we were walking through one particular alleyway, a lady who we didn't know, stopped us and asked if we could go to her house to pray with her. So, we went. We discovered that she had suffered a trauma about 4 years earlier and had been living a difficult, medicated life since that time, suffering from profound depression among other things. We do not have any expertise in this area at all so we did the best we could do and that was to pray for her and her mother (who was also in the house) and share with her what God put on our hearts. We stayed there a while and drank some sweet, strong coffee.
Next, after a bit of a climbing ramble through alleyways and across roads, we visited a pregnant lady and her children. One of them is not going to school and the consequence of that for her is that she would lose the government allowance that is given for this. This was made clear to her and we were also able to pray for her and see the kids in their home to better understand their life. Then we left and continued our walk.
In the 'shopping area' we met a homeless friend of ours who was selling records to make a bit of money. He even had an Isaac Hays 70s album! We had a good chat and are trying to get him into an old peoples' home, which is what he really wants, so he can get off the streets and live the rest of his life in peace.
When we arrived at the praça (A kind of village square) we asked the owner of the vegetable shop there if he could give us the address of a lady addicted to drugs which he asked us to visit on a previous occasion. Instead of giving us the address, he showed us the house. So, we talked with this lady and it seemed that she is motivated go to a drug rehabilitation center as she does not want to end up like her 2 sisters who died as a result of using drugs, leaving her mother all alone. At the same time, we met a lady who had been badly beaten by her husband (2 black eyes, a cut elbow) who fondly talked to us about an Englishman called Matthew who set up a dance school for street girls in 1999. She also told us about her first child that she used to dance with at that time, holding her in her arms. But the child only lived for 1 month and 15 days. She was very much a lady trying to live in the fond memories of the past to escape from the present. Again, we were able to pray for them and hopefully we will be able to help the first lady to go to a rehab house.
Back to the Lighthouse! We prayed, thanking God for our afternoon.
10 minutes later (5.10pm) I took Gideon to his weekly drumming lesson, which went really well. The tutor let him play for an extra 1/2 hour after the lesson which Gideon loved.
That was my Tuesday afternoon......quite normal for me.

2010-11-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I (Beckie) am amazed at how hard some people work. Today, as I was out walking up one of the many hills near here (not the crazy steep one I'm pleased to say), I saw a lady (about 40) with her horse and cart. She travels all over the city collecting rubbish (to recycle) and old vegetables (to eat / feed the animals with). Many times the whole family is involved. Today it was just her and the horse. The horse isn't strong enough to get up the hill with the full cart on it's own, therefore the lady has to help push the cart.
I was on the other side of the road, I could have passed her and kept walking, I wanted to. Yet, I had a niggle, telling me to help. How can I really help? Sometimes it feels almost impossible for me to get myself up these hills. I wanted to keep walking and pray that God would strengthen her. I couldn't. So, I asked if she needed help. She didn't know how to respond, and found it difficult to accept my offer, but did accept.
So, we were both trying to push up the cart, resting frequently when the horse couldn't keep going. All of the time, through her panting breathing the lady was saying it was too hard for me, I should leave her or I would get very sweaty. She was saying that only God can help her, enable her to keep going. When we got past the worst bit she told me to go and that she would be OK then, and really asked God to bless me for all that I had done. I was rather pleased as I felt unable to continue. I only helped her for 20 minutes, she does this all day, almost every day.

2010-11-06T04:23:00.000-07:00

Today, it is raining, and when you walk out in the streets the atmosphere is quite different. Nobody likes the rain, so you see very few people. Just a Mum and her daughter hurriedly walking under an umbrella. Two more people huddled in a shop doorway, waiting for the bus. Otherwise the streets are deserted. However, I really noticed the bars, they (2 opposite one another) were FULL. It was 8.30am and the bars were full of people (mainly men), downing many beers.
It seems that these are people who work Monday to Friday to get enough money to spend the whole weekend drinking. There has to be more for their lives than this, yet they seem quite content.
How can we reach them? Is their a way into their lives to show them a God who loves them deeply? Does anyone have any ideas?

2010-10-26T08:14:00.001-07:00

A Celebration for the parents

We like to organise parents meetings, but through experience we have learned that very few parents will come to a "meeting", so we organised a celebration. We started planning about a month before the date. When we had decided on the snack we wanted to offer (based on budget, numbers and what we have available), we asked the food bank (a place from which we receive regular donations) if they would be able to separate fruits for our celebration, so we could make fruit salad.We received 6 BIG boxes of fruits, and most of it was pretty good. So, at 9am we started preparing, mashing bananas for cake and then peeling and chopping a LOT of oranges. We had a team of 7 preparing the food (thankfully, as there was a lot to prepare)

This is the finished fruit salad, we made A LOT!!!
Also, the small court was prepared, and decorated with the childrens' artwork.
However, the clouds were building, and as our activities we wanted to do were based on being able to fully use our outdoor space, we were praying that the rain would come quickly and leave quickly too. It sure did rain a lot, so we all hoped that the afternoon would go according to plan A (dry plan).

Unfortunately, the weather couldn't decide what it was going to do, at 2pm, we had very few parents (probably because it was raining a bit). It seemed like nobody was going to come.
Eventually we almost filled the small court (about 120 people) and the first part of the programme began, including a preach, some hip hop dancing and presentations from the groups. All of this time we are wondering "plan A / plan B"? The rain started and stopped, then started again.....Plan B

Some of the children went with their parents to do puzzles and play games
Some did group games and songs.
At moments it felt like a disaster, it was POURING with rain, to the extent that families were almost trapped in their room, and nothing felt very organised. However, for those not organising it, they had fun.
Everyone was very happy at the end when it was time for the snack. This is the part that the children and their parents particularly enjoy. Some of the more hungry children were trying to sneak up to the table as often as possible. At last, we got to taste the delicious fruit salad that took all morning to prepare.

2010-10-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

Today, I (Dave) went for a quick trip to the centre to buy a few things. I parked the car in the usual spot and walked the rest of the way. Part of the walk involves crossing a main road on a foot-bridge and on this occasion there was a beggar there asking for money. She is often there and it seems it is her regular spot. I gave her some money, had a quick chat and continued my walk into the centre. On return I saw her in great distress. She was handcuffed to the railings and some police were going through her things. I approached and heard her shouting that they were stealing her money, which they were. She had accumulated a lot of money - she had bags of it - and they were accusing her of stealing it from people and therefore confiscated it. It was a sad sight to see her in such distress and I felt helpless as this injustice went on right in front of me. It is normal for beggars to hoard the money they get from begging...they have no other means of looking after their money and a lot of the time they do not know what to do with it. They are easy targets for exploitation and, in this case corrupt justice. I prayed as I passed.....God is the God of justice.....but wondered if there was more I could have done.....

2010-10-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

Just want to post a quick link to our friend's blog. They have written a post with photos about something Josiah did here.....but you will have to read it on their blog to find out what it was :-)
Click HERE to see it or, if you prefer to do it manually have a look at: http://www.thematiasfamily.blogspot.com/

2010-09-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

Gideon had his first proper drum lesson last night.....it went really well.
Here's how it happened:
We went for a walk in a nice area of the city and decided to pop into a music shop. While we were there, Gideon convinced me to let him have a go on a kit in the shop and during his playing I asked the shop assistant if he knew a good drum teacher. He gave me the number of a guy called Jimmy.
We called this guy about a week later and managed to arrange the lesson. Turns out he is an American....and we found out on the internet that he is quite famous here in Brazil, even being endorsed by a drum company called Gretch. On top of all this, after a conversation with him at the end of the first lesson about what we do here in Brazil and how we are supported, he decided to give us a discount so that Gideon was able to have a lessen every week!! Also, we have been invited to hang out with him at his studio next time he has some folks round for a recording session. Gideon really enjoyed it too and it looks like this will continue.
It could not have gone better....Praise God.

2010-09-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

I (Dave) am feeling sad. Today I received the news that my Grandma has died.
It is a strange thing living so far away from England at times like this, when I would really like to go to the funeral of this extraordinary lady but simply can't because of distance / money / time etc.
I have not seen her for many years as she has been in a nursing home and has had dementia for nearly the last 23 years but I have fond memories from my childhood of her.
She is the only person I ever knew that has lived through 3 centuries (yep...not kidding). She was born in 1899 and lived until 2010. She was 111 when she died. Now that is an innings!

2010-09-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Are you like me (Beckie)? I want to continually hear the confirmation of God in what I do, where I am etc. Many times I wonder if God has directed me in something else and I've failed to hear it. I seem to have a problem of a mid-year slump when I wonder if I'm doing what God wants me to do. That said, I'm not miserable or depressed, I just find myself questioning what I do and where I'm going. I also realise that sometimes, I put too much focus on 'doing' and not enough on 'being'.
I ask questions such as "is what I do able to make a difference?" "is what I do actually making a difference?" "will these children grow up to know who Jesus is?" "will the families be reached?" "is there another way?" "is the cost of being here worth it?". I get anxious to know that God is at work in the lives of these children and their families. I want to see more results.
I found myself telling God how I was feeling, that I needed Him to say to me again exactly what I should do, or to show me more results. I know I shouldn't demand God do things the way I want Him to, or respond when I want Him to, but I asked.
I have recently been reading the book of Isaiah, always fascinating (particularly as I'm trying to read in Portuguese), but many times I don't understand. At the weekend I read:

Isaiah 49:4 (New International Version)

But I said, "I have laboured to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand,
and my reward is with my God."

It confirmed to me that many times we don't know how we are being used by God, many times we think it's about our own effort, many times we get frustrated (even Isaiah felt this), many times we won't see the fruit. Yet, I clearly felt God wanted me to be at peace with this, that the work I do (and the results I see) are in His hands.

A bit of a long post, I'm afraid, but maybe you too have wrestled with some of these thoughts.

2010-09-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

My group has been learning about their 5 senses, I thought it would be fun to incorporate some activities using their senses. They had great fun playing with cornflour 'gloop', something that is quite common in nurseries in the UK, but not something any of these children had experienced before. They thought it was something magic.

2010-08-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, August has been a busy month (and July in fact), but it's been great. We've seen 2 teams come and go, both very different and both contributing to the work that's going on here. I have particularly enjoyed chatting with them about their impressions of this place and the way that God has been revealing himself to them. It has also been a pleasure to have fellow tea-drinkers here (both teams from England), and being able to enjoy 'tea fellowship'.Then, after the busyness we had a family holiday, our first real opportunity to travel (for more than 3 days) and see some of the beauty of Brazil.We went to Ilha Grande, not far from the coast of Rio.

We really were very blessed to be able to go to this tropical island (it has to be one of the perks of living in a foreign country). It was a perfect opportunity to rest, spend quality time together as a family, switch off from 'work' and enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

2010-08-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

So, time has flown by, we've been very busy and we've had a great time. The first team (from our home church) has actually been and gone, and as I type, we are waiting for the second team (also from England). At the lighthouse, we had 2 weeks of slightly different activities, hopefully giving a flavour of the community and the vision of this place to the team. We opened up to a schools holiday program, visited families, climbed and prayed on mountains, ran a crazy "olympics" week (for the children from the groups here), among other things. The team also helped us to embark on 2 major painting projects, both finished after much hard work (and paint in hair).
Here is a photo of the finished mural, just before the entrance gate. It's visible from far away in the slum, because of all of the bright colours.

2010-07-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

In 3 days time the first team from England will arrive here.....and they are from our church. Nearly everything is ready for them with just a few little things to iron out, if possible.
We, with the exception of Josiah, have been ill this week and hope to be fine and dandy by Saturday (tomorrow would be better, of course).
May they discover more about God in their time here as they see him at work in a different culture and also may they have a lot of fun too......it is quite different to England here....

2010-07-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

An update on the humming bird
The bird was with us for 2 days and 2 nights, occasionally flying a little and then falling or getting stuck somewhere. It did not know how to feed itself. Then one lunchtime we were sitting at the park with the bird on our finger. It was chirping and we heard the sound of other birds too. Suddenly the hummingbird flew to a nearby tree and immediately it's mother swooped over and started feeding it. It was really beautiful to see, she seemed very pleased to find it again.

2010-07-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Josiah found a baby humming bird that had fallen out of a tree, isn't it beautiful? We are now trying to work out what to do with it, one advantage is that the humming birds cannot smell, so the mother shouldn't abandon it, but where is it's nest.
Josiah has fed it and is now going to research a bit more about what to do.

2010-07-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

PASTOR'S BARBECUE
Once a month we normally have a Pastor's breakfast here, the idea being to promote unity amongst the Churches in the community, for them to get to know and support one another.
It was decided to try a "Pastor's BBQ", a more informal time, to invite their families as well, to bless them and to have fellowship together. We had more then 50 people book up (the numbers kept going up in the week leading up to it), plus also the team who were preparing the food.

As you can see, the barbecue area is not very big, so it was quite a challenge to cook SO much meat, but Dave and Tijs did a great job. It was even ready before everyone came. We had a team chopping in the kitchen all morning preparing salad and fruit salad (and then washing up all afternoon). This was made even more challenging by the fact that we had no running water (the house had been without water entering for 2 days and the tanks had run out). However, there was such a good atmosphere as we served together, with joy in our hearts.
The food was wonderful, many Churches were able to meet together, eat together, share a word together, pray together and (for the children) play together.

A tiring day, but SO worthwhile.

2010-06-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Funny the little miracles that God produces sometimes.....
I, Dave, went to a meeting with some others in a taxi and on the way there I was asked if I had any money because the person in question had forgotten to bring any to pay for the taxi. I rooted around in my pockets and produced a R$5 note (kind of bluish in colour) and I searched all of my other pockets but to no avail. We needed R$11. The person sitting next to me found a R$1 coin in their pocket so I decided to search my pockets again and the R$5 note had turned into a RED R$10 note!! So we had just enough to pay the driver. Cool, huh?

2010-06-30T04:58:00.001-07:00

Often we learn most from when we fail, miss an opportunity which we know we should have taken, or simply have a hard time. It is during these times that the true nature of who we are gets exposed and we get to see our weaknesses.....often not a pleasant experience. But, also, it is an opportunity to grow, to ask God to continue to change us in specific ways so that we can be more effective in demonstrating love to those around us.
2 days ago I, Dave, went to take a DVD back. It was due to be back on Saturday but the shop was closed so I had to take it there on Monday. I had my excuse prepared in advance so that I did not have to pay a "late" fine. When I got there, I asked the owner why he was not open on Saturday because I wanted to take the DVD back but he was closed. He then told me that he had had some problems and needed to go to hospital. I asked him more and he said, in a quiet, embarrassed way that he has epilepsy and suffered from a seizure. I then said I know what it is like because I too have epilepsy and, as a result of this, we had a really great conversation about struggles and difficulties with the condition. He had fallen and hurt the entire left side of his body.
It was at this point that I missed the opportunity. I was in the shop on my own with him. I wanted to pray for him but didn´t because of 1) I did not feel confident enough with Portuguese to pray exactly what I wanted to and 2) It is difficult for me to pray for someone who has epilepsy when I have not been healed from it. These may seem rational and good excuses to the reader but to me, they are lame and pathetic. The focus of these excuses is ME. God is powerful and able to work in greater power through my weakness, when I can´t do it than when I think I am able. It was the IDEAL opportunity.....but has now passed.
I will ask God for another opportunity with this guy so I can offer more to him than empathy.
It showed me that there is still too much fear inside me resulting in a lack of faith. May God rip it out of me so I can be a more useful tool.

2010-06-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I (Beckie) messed up an opportunity to give Jesus some clothes.
I had been out for an evening with a friend from another house here, we both popped into the bank to get some money out, as we climbed the steps there was a homeless woman huddled on the steps.
I thought she would ask me for money on my way out and had begun to wonder how I would respond. As I left (without money as the bank often doesn't allow us to withdraw money), I already had my answer. Then she asked me, "Can you give me some trousers or a jumper?". This wasn't what I had expected, of course I couldn't give her trousers, you can't get home without trousers, can you? A jumper? I had a thin jumper with me, it is one of my favourites, you know the sort that goes with everything? I didn't want to give her my jumper.
I left, and walked on, but I had such a conviction of Matthew 25:34-46....I had an opportunity to clothe Jesus, and I had walked away, because of selfish motives, I liked my jumper, but she needed it.
I had to return, I still didn't want to, but sadly when I returned, she had gone.
I pray that God will continue to expose my selfish heart, so that I can change.

2010-06-13T15:28:00.001-07:00

Can you imagine the world cup in Brazil? I can't.... I'm waiting to see what it will be like for the game on Tuesday.... everyone is getting ready for football fever

2010-06-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

We are still waiting for a permanent answer for the boy I mentioned. He is spending every day here, playing lots with Gideon and occasionally hindering the groups (he really doesn't manage well in a group setting). Many people have spoken to his parents, but they genuinely have thrown him out. It seems so crazy to me that social services are unable to do anything, because they have a lack of resources/ people. They know the situation of this family, but have not intervened.
Please keep praying for him, he seems to really feel at home here as is open to receiving the love offered by the staff here. Please pray that he will receive the love that his heavenly father has for him.

2010-05-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

I don't really know how to write about a very sad situation that is happening here. A young (14 years old) boy is currently spending his daytimes here, and returning to his aunts house to sleep at night. Why? Because nobody wants him. His mother left him with his father, his father returned him to his mother, she gave him back, he ran away..... (this story goes on like this over a course of many months). On Friday, his father pushed him out of the house and said not to return, he came here. Some other workers here have contacted his mother, hoping for him to return to live with her, she refused to accept him. The social services doesn't work at weekends (or if they do they are very difficult to get hold of). This boy is just hanging around, flying kites with Gideon and Josiah, he doesn't seem particularly upset by it (maybe he is numb to it all), yet he is hardly talking at all.
It could be very easy to judge these parents, yet we also know how difficult this boy can be. He has caused many problems in his family, he can be extremely aggressive and has some type of personality disorder. I can understand that they are unable to cope. Yet, here is a boy, completely abandoned, how does he feel? What is his future?
I am very thankful that because of the work of the community centre here he feels that he can come to us, he must feel safe here. In the past, several people have worked alongside this family, maybe they have failed, maybe there is still something that God will do. Where else would this boy be? On the streets? Being used and abused by the older boys?

2010-05-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

As part of our work with the children we go into the community to visit them in their homes and get to know the families. It is always interesting to see, and a few times I have been pleasantly surprised to see homes that are clean and presentable. However, this week I really saw a needy home. It was small, most of them are, however this family has 8 children. They have an entrance with a shower and toilet, plus a sink for washing clothes, then they have 2 rooms. Both of these rooms has bunk beds (not enough beds for the 10 people that live there) and one of these rooms also serves as a kitchen (it has a cooker and gas bottle in it). I cannot imagine living there.
The mother was very happy to chat us, she invited us in to see her house, but then we returned to the alleyway to chat. This family has had links to our community centre for many years, how can we make a difference to this family? What is God wanting to do here?

2010-05-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here at casa Luzeiro, we have been blessed with a new life! Laura and Felipe (2 of the leaders here) are now the proud parents of beautiful Sophia Grace. Today, I had my first cuddle, she is just perfect.
When I look at a tiny baby, so perfectly formed even down to the tiny fingernails I see our God the creator. I cannot possibly believe that evolution could ever have formed life like this, so complicated yet so well designed. There are far too many things that could have gone wrong along the way of all of those millions of years (as they say), which would have ended life.
WOW, isn't God amazing? Gideon is also totally blown away but her beauty and her tininess.

2010-05-02T09:42:00.001-07:00

This Saturday we had a party to celebrate 18 years of the lighthouse community center. It was also an opportunity to get to know the new students on the "foundations in community development" course. To do something a little unusual we all had to dress "brega"/ ridiculous.

These are other photos which the fashion police would happy to get hold of, plus some ridiculous dancing.

2010-04-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the burnt house and of the single mum whose house it is (these were taken 1 day later, after it had been cleaned out):

The picture below is of the actual entrance to her house.....the door was completely burnt as well as the roof. The ladder up the the door remained intact though.

2010-04-24T06:08:00.001-07:00

Do you sometimes find the contrasts in this world hard to get your head around? Many times I (Beckie) see it here. Yesterday, Dave and Maarten were painting the new sports cupboard, it was built with donations from a Dutch guy, who really wanted to facilitate the work we do, particularly with sports. What was so surreal was that this cupboard was slightly larger and much nicer than the house of the lady in the previous post (house burnt down). It's hard to see these 2 worlds right next to each other. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the many blessings we have. I am also very aware that this world isn't fair, what is my responsibility in this?

2010-04-20T15:21:00.001-07:00

I don´t know about you, but sometimes when I (Dave) think about moments in my life certain images come to mind. Yesterday, I saw something which I think I will always remember. Maarten, a Dutch volunteer and I visited someone who we normally spend some time with and while we were there we were told about a house which was burnt down so we decided to go and see if we could help in some way. What we saw was a house (more like a room than a house) with no roof and a thick layer of burnt stuff on the floor, including a melted fridge and some fragments of burnt cloths. In the house was a lady who was searching through the items looking for anything which was salvageable with tears in her eyes.....it was as if she was looking for hope. For me, this was a really striking image.....seeing this lady who was poor anyway but had lost EVERYTHING in the fire and all she had left was the clothes on her body. No-one was hurt in the fire. Another part of the image was the onlookers. They did just that - looked. We were able to pray with her and are now in the process of getting some building materials to her so her house can be rebuilt.

2010-04-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

FLOORBALL......

After the last post, when I briefly mentioned "floorball", I now realise that I need to explain a bit more. It is a type of hockey, played on a smooth court, with a lightweight ball. I think it´s a bit like uni-hockey (maybe even the same thing with a different name, but actually I don´t know).
We have been having a great time learning control skills, passing skills and shooting skills. The techniques have been practised with our staff team and with all of the various groups that come here. We even learnt about how we can use elements from the game to give a bible study.
Today, we finished our 4 days with a competition, a Brazilian team (which Gideon joined), a Dutch team (which Josiah joined) and the Swiss team (the pros). It was a friendly game, they teased us somewhat.....but of course, they won!

2010-04-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

Quite a bit of time has passed, and we have had 2 different teams visiting us. One was a team of 50 (they were housed locally, but ate here) from São Paulo. They came to do an evangelism event in the slum, using hip hop, dance, DJ´s, graffiti and other cool unusual ways to attract attention.
The second team are only 5 people from Switzerland, who have come with a passion for floorball. Teaching us how to teach it and teaching it to the kids. It´s great having different people and exciting things happening, but always requires some extra work and organising. It has made me think about the work that we need to do to prepare for the 2 teams coming from UK in the summer.

2010-03-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

We have been getting to know the new children in our group. One little boy, Leo* has refused to swim for the last 6 weeks. He has run away from us, forgotten his clothes, put on his swimming clothes and refused to enter the pool area. He has just been really scared of the water and worried the swimming teacher would throw him in. We have been trying to gain his trust.
On Monday he told me he was once thrown in a lake and nearly drowned, which made sense. We managed to persuade him to bring his clothes and just sit at the edge of the pool with his feet in the water for the next swimming lesson. This he did, and also decided to get in. When he decided to put his face in, I was amazed and thrilled to see the look of triumph on his face when he stood up.
Funnily, later on in the day he sneaked back into Luzeiro, I found him at the park. As he ran away (because he knew he shouldn´t be here) he shouted "I want to go swimming".
I am so happy that he was able to overcome this so quickly, we thought it might take the whole year to get him into the pool.

2010-03-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

We have recently heard that a local boy that many of us have worked with had a nasty accident. He was trying to catch a free ride, holding onto the back of a bus when he fell off and smashed up his head. He is currently in intensive care, showing some signs of improvement, but still in a coma. This boy is one of the first that I got to know here, I really love him, even though he gives a lot of work and is somewhat unruly. We have been praying for him and several have been to visit.
One thing his mother has been pressured to do is get 16 people to give blood to replace the stocks that he used. So, several of the team went to give blood yesterday. I was quite surprised to discover that English people (or anyone who lived in the UK before 1996) are not allowed to give blood in Brazil because of the risk of CJD (mad cow disease). I was quite disappointed to be unable to donate.
Please pray with us that he will make a full recovery.

2010-03-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of quick blog updates...

Firstly, the guy we took to the hospital (see blog post November 19, 2009) about the foot that was run over by a car is fine and doing well. His foot has completely recovered. He still lives mainly on the streets in the favela and still collects rubbish to scrape some money together to buy alcohol.

Secondly, the guy we took to the rehab place has left it and has returned to the community where our cook saw him still sniffing thinners. (see post March 5, 2010) I´m sure we will see him again at some point. What has come of this is that there are now a few people who have approached us for help to come off drugs and alcohol so it could be that we will be making more trips to the rehab farm over the next few weeks. Watch this space.

2010-03-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Mothers Day in Brazil
(It´s actually quite nice because we can celebrate the English date and the Brazilian date)
We went to our favourite place for breakfast, a nice café and bookshop with a buffet breakfast that lasts from 9am until 2pm.

Whilst we were having our delicious breakfast, it began to rain, and then it really poured (Brazilian style). We started the drive home and the rain kept getting heavier. Gideon and I were a little nervous about how difficult it is to see, and the road became a river. However, Dave loved driving the little VW Beetle up and down the river. When I got out of the car I stepped in a puddle (it was inevitable, as the ground was one BIG puddle) that came halfway up my calf.

2010-03-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we went to our local nature park, to show to 3 Dutch volunteers. It is quite a walk, we all ended up exhausted, but we also had the opportunity to see some awesome creatures. God really is incredibly creative.The monkeys were very hard to photograph, they move SO fast.

We were also unable to photograph the "golden orb" spider, so we found a photo on the internet. This spider is incredibly beautiful, and weaves a shimmering golden web.

The other beetle like creatures, I have no idea what they are (?!?),maybe someone who reads this knows.Dave and Gideon also liked the tightrope walking ants.

2010-03-05T04:53:00.001-08:00

When you walk with someone, how far do you walk? How much time, money etc do I invest into the life of someone else? I do not know. I think the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10v30-35 is challenging enough but in practice it is a bit more difficult.
There is a guy from this community who has been addicted to thinners for many years and he came to us for help. After a couple of weeks with him we managed to take him to a rehabilitation house (more like a farm, actually) 1 1/2 hours from Belo Horizonte. For this to happen, we had to invest a lot of time into his life, meet with his family, buy him medication, give him food, give him some things which we will never see again, be shouted at and verbally abused by him and then take him to this place. He was glad to get there but did not say thankyou. Also, he had been to 2 rehab places before and not succeeded in their programmes, only lasting a few days in these places. He is HIV+ and does not take his medication, homosexual, has lived in the streets, has been shot in the head, fallen twice into the main city drain which is about 10 meters deep (normally people die when they do this), has been burnt but got no sign on his skin of this and has also thrown a brick at a drug trafficker (they would normally kill you for this). Knowing this history and experiencing his nastier side, we still chose to help him because he is so loved by God. He is not a nice person but God´s love in us is bigger than that. It has to be. His rather colourful life story also gives me hope that he is well protected because he is still alive after all he has experienced.
In contrast to that, 2 days ago a lovely lady in this community fell down some steps and died, leaving 3 children. She got no second chance, or third, or fourth......just the one. Sometimes it does not seem fair but that is the reality and contrast of life here. There is a funeral for her in the basement of casa Luzeiro as I write this (someone has just come to our house to borrow a fan to keep the flies off the body).
I heard some teaching this week about Spiritual Warfare. It was very good. One of the things the preacher said was that God will put people in your path....one or 2 at a time, sometimes more....and they are the ones you are to love, take care of because he is entrusting them into your care. More than that we cannot do. Sometimes even that is difficult enough.

2010-03-04T15:18:00.001-08:00

Just a quick promotion....Josiah has posted some new drawings on his blog. Go on, take a look HERE

2010-03-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

I (Beckie) just wanted to post some of the things I was thinking about and challenged by, when our laptops were stolen.
At first, it was very weird to think that someone had entered our house during the night and I heard nothing (I am now glad that I heard nothing), in not very much time I didn´t worry about someone having been in the house as I realised that his sole intention was to grab something he could use to pay off a debt. It wasn´t to case up the house or to harm us in any way, purely a desperate act.
We also always have worship with the team on Friday mornings, it was great to readjust my focus back onto God and not to worry. However, some of the songs have so much more meaning during these times, e.g "Blessed be your name" (praising God in the good and bad) and "All that I have is yours".
There were a few times when I was quite annoyed by the inconvenience, and one of the things that really bothered me was that he had taken both of the laptops, including the broken one (which maybe we could have used for a few things in an emergency).
God really brought my attention to the verse that speaks about when someone wants to take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. Wow! Jesus says some hard stuff. It was hard enough to be gracious about the loss of one, let alone both. I am thankful to have them back, but I certainly want to learn a lesson about not valuing things too highly, and really taking seriously what Jesus says.

2010-02-27T02:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had 2 laptops stolen during the night while we were asleep in our house, so when we got up they were missing. By the end of the day the laptops had returned. This involved waiting around, conversing with people who you do not normally want to meet and praying. I´m unwilling to post the details on a blog where everyone in the world can read but it was a strange and interesting day and even as I write this I am unsure what to make of it. What I did hear during the day were 3 testimonies from 3 completely different people as to what they are now doing with their life, several years after spending some time at the Lighthouse (Luzeiro).

1) The first I heard was from a Judo / Ju Jitsu instructor who came to the house to ask if he can use some of our space to hold some classes . He said that he was here 16 years ago and was telling me about how he climbed up the pylon. He also told me about how this place was during his time, without swimming pool, without sports area and with more fruit trees. He is not a Christian.

2) The second was from a drug trafficker who said he was here 14 years ago. Also not a Christian.

3) The last testimony I heard was from a guy who learnt to play guitar here several years ago and now he travels Brazil playing and singing in churches and he also has 3 CDs to his name. He attributes his success to his time at Luzeiro. A Christian.

When seeds are sown into someone´s heart, it is difficult to know what the result will be but the Bible does give us some insight in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13, Luke 8) about the possible outcomes. In the Western church we seem to be more like the seeds which are sown among the thorns as we worry about so many unnecessary things and produce little or no fruit. But here you can see a complete mixed bag of results in a lot clearer way when you start hearing peoples life stories....at some point they have had some connection with church or Christians but what is the result of this - transformation or nothing or something in-between which also amounts to nothing in the end?

2010-02-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

I (Beckie), have just returned from carnival in Ouro Preto. I went with a few people from our house here and loads of other people from YWAM bases and Churches to evangelise during carnival.
Carnival is a big party, a celebration and also an excuse to indulge your flesh before lent begins.
What were some of my observations? (I could write a LOT)

noise
rubbish
devils horns and pitchforks
people leaning out of windows to look
shouting
dancing
Brazilian JOY
old poor men collecting cans to recycle
transvestites
beer
loud drums (day and night)
sweat
lust in eyes
bright colours
drunks
Catholicism
young girls inappropriately dressed
desire to find entertainment somewhere
beer glasses on necklaces
street sellers
REALLY loud drums
people walking in a daze
beer
SO many people

We spent a lot of our time as a team together, seeking God before going on the parades and chatting to people in the streets. It was amazing and exhausting. God has so much love for His people, how good it was to try to share that with people who feel condemned and alienated from God.

2010-02-11T05:44:00.000-08:00

Saw this caterpillar the other day too. Thought I´d put it on the blog for all of you caterpillar lovers out there. :-) Again, you can click on the image for a bigger version of the picture. You can probably guess by now that I like them.

2010-02-11T05:32:00.000-08:00

One thing that Maarten and I (dave) concluded about our work at the end of last year was that, although we prayed with people and shared some of the Bible with them, we wanted to bring Jesus even more to the forefront of what we do. We aim to be more practical in our assistance in this way too.
Yesterday was our first afternoon back in the favela. We started by visiting a dear elderly lady who lives in the most apalling conditions - wooden, single-roomed house (no bathroom), borrowed electricity from a neighbour and it is located near a stream which doubles up as a sewer. Her son was also in the house at the time recovering from being beaten up over a dispute with a woman. He had a swollen jaw but did not look too bad. We were able to encourage them to think bigger than their circumstances dictated, during which her son read Psalm 23 to us and we prayed for them. She has bad health and is unable to do much for herself and her son does not help much either. It is another one of those situations where we find ourselves in need of a solution bigger than ourselves...and there is only one - Jesus.
After this we visited our crippled friend and he was glad to see us after 2 months absence. He seemed quite low and not much had changed for him although there were promises of him learning to read from his mother. He also has not left the area here in our time away so we plan on taking him out in the car some time soon so he can see another part of the city.
Life is so difficult for some people here and it is very easy for them to live defeatist-type lives, unable to look out from where circumstances or choices have left them. Giving hope to these people is so important.
We got given some money to buy a new camera over the Christmas period which we spent in England and it is really good at taking night-time shots. Here´s one of part of the favela at night:
(Click on image for bigger version)

2010-02-10T07:22:00.000-08:00

This week has been a time of training, discussing ideas for the coming year, getting together with people we will be working with this next year and planning. Also, making timetables for areas such as the big sports court and swimming pool (both very popular).
We have been beginning every day with intercession (as normal), although trying to do it a bit differently. Sometimes it´s easy to always pray in the same way, we were trying to get more creative with our prayer for the community...here are some of the photos (cafezal is the name of the favela where we live)

2010-02-04T12:53:00.000-08:00

Today (during homeschooling), we discovered some interesting things about the weather (us Brits just LOVE the weather).
You know we always say that it´s always raining in England? Well....
In Belo Horizonte the average rainfall each month varies between 1.5cm and 32 cm
In Norwich the average rainfall each month varies a little around 0.5cm
Isn´t that crazy? Even in our dry season we get more rain here than in the UK. Which explains why every time my Mum told Josiah and Gideon it was pouring with rain, they responded that no it wasn´t really raining. Although, I do know from living in UK most of my life that persistent drizzle is pretty annoying, I´d much rather have an infrequent blast of real Brazilian rain.
(information found in the world weather information service website)

2010-02-02T11:54:00.001-08:00

Here is one of many things that I think is really great about where we live. The wildlife. Often I take it for granted because I seem fairly used to the exotic bird calls and the amazingly coloured butterflies but as we were gardening today Maarten discovered this caterpillar. It is beautiful, poisonous but not deadly, and one of the largest caterpillars I have ever seen. Click on the image to see a larger, more detailed version of this photo.

2010-02-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

It is strange to be back, everything is the same (more or less) as when we left, but different to how I (Beckie) remembered. I had forgotten the frustration of not understanding everything that is said (particularly when lots of people are talking at once). It´s strange to stand out as a ´gringo´all of the time. However, it was lovely to be enthusiastically greeted by the girls in my group from last year, the boys that I´ve seen just look up and say "tudo bem?" (you alright?).
I think it will take me a little bit of time to get back into everything.

2010-01-29T08:18:00.000-08:00

We are now back in Brazil after 2 months in England spending time with family and friends. We had a fantastic time in the UK but I have to say it is good to be back.

Our journey back here was pretty awful though - it took 25 hours door to door and as we had so many changes, with the long flight during the day, we had very little, if no sleep in that time. It is the first time we have done the long day-flight thing and I would heartily urge against it. A night flight is MUCH better. When we arrived at 2.30am (local time) we were greeted by our enthusiastic dog, who initially was very wary of us and tried to wake up the entire staff team with his barking but he soon recognised us and all was well again.

The weather here is HOT and sticky - we got off the plane at São Paulo at 10pm to a welcoming wall of heat (26 degrees) and humidity.

A lot of much-needed building work happened here at Luzeiro during our time away, especially the work on some drains and a new staff bathroom. We came back to a leaking toilet and 2 rooms without electricity in our house.

I (Dave) went to get some milk from the local fruit, veg and metal-trading shop and loved briefly chatting to an old man on the way there as well as being offered to sample some kind of weird, exotic fruit, which I had never even seen before, in the shop.

2010-01-03T03:33:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY

Recently, I (Beckie), have been thinking about some of the things I really like in the UK, and some of the things I'm looking forward to in Brazil....

Things I am enjoying in UK

spending time with special people, and catching up again.
having deep conversations with good friends
a selection of English books to read
snuggling under a thick duvet
putting my card into a cash machine and KNOW that it will give me money
a cup of tea in bed
puddings
the beauty of snow
understanding everything I hear
baths
soft, fuzzy scarfs
a walk at the beach
babysitting being readily available
driving on easy roads

Things I am looking forward to back in Brazil

sunshine
warm, friendly people
an enthusiastic, lively, loving puppy
Brazilian bananas
singing in Portuguese
praying in small groups everyday
floaty dresses

These are just a few of the things that I love, whether I be in England or Brazil. How easy it is to takes things, people or experiences for granted.

2009-12-20T05:41:00.000-08:00

I think there is a difference between "culture shock" and "cultural shocks". Let me explain.
Since returning to England, I (Dave) have struggled with a few things like the plenty that is available here and the sheer amount of stuff that people have but do very little with. A culture of hoarding, greed and materialism, maybe. It can sound harsh expressed in this way but seeing your own culture from the outside is an interesting, and not always pleasant, experience.
I have experienced a few, what I call "mini shocks" since being here too. For example, in church today it was announced that someone not only did not need an emergency operation any more but has completely recovered from their serious illness, praise God. I wanted to shout "woohoo" and clap to acknowledge what God had done but it quickly moved on to something else before I was even able to make a noise....strange. This is not a criticism of the church or the person leading, just an observation and a reality check for me in this culture.
Also, I got so used to greeting almost everyone on the street in Brazil that when I came here I really noticed how English people do not like to make eye contact or even say "hi" to the person walking the opposite direction to them on the path. Now I try to deliberately do it with the intention of bringing a smile to a downcast face.
The weather here is cold at the moment.....maybe the culture is too.
In contrast to this, I have been warmly greeted by loving friends and family and I am so thankful to my Lord for this and also thankful to those people too.

2009-11-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

A few thoughts from Dave:

Brrrr....it's cold. 30 degrees C colder than Brazil at this time of year.

It's amazing what you get used to living in a slum....isn't England beautiful? And wow, what a LOT of nice things people have here. More than enough to go round.

It's strange to be back at the moment (having been here only 24 hours now)...

2009-11-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we fly to England (via Amsterdam) for a 2 month "break". We have been tidying, cleaning and packing and all of us feel a bit apprehensive. We have spent nearly 2 years living in an international community in a slum in Belo horizonte, Brazil and that will have affected us, so how we will see England now is an unknown thing.

Anyway.....last weekend I (Dave) climbed up the local mountain for the last time to guide a bunch of volunteers and see some of the local nature, and we came across this snake:
It was quite thin but very long. I have not done any research on it so do not know if it is poisonous but it looked beautiful and just slithered away when we saw it.

2009-11-19T04:37:00.001-08:00

We have been for a walk around this community with a camera. Not the wisest of things to do but to show people back in England what it is really like here is difficult, even with photos, because they only appeal to our visual sense, and the noise and smell is difficult to portray. When I greet someone with a handshake and feel their rough skin against the soft palm of my own hand I have wondered how to describe how that actually feels.....I can´t!
When taking the photos of people we said that we would print them off to give to people in the community so they can have a photo of themselves to cherish. Not many people here have a photo of themselves so this is quite sort-after. You may think that a huge gallery of photos should follow these quick comments but I do not intend to "blog" many of these pictures, rather reveal them in a church presentation or 2 in the UK.
Taking photos here is dangerous and there are many places which we would not photograph but here´s one quick photo of the community where we live:

2009-11-19T03:56:00.000-08:00

This unassuming character had his foot run over by a car as he lay drunk beside the road. Someone took him to hospital 2 weeks ago, when it happened, and in this picture it does not look too bad. He is one of the guys we regularly talk to on one of the squares in this favela. He is always there, drunk most of the time but likes to talk alot about the type of work he does (construction) and about his life in another part of Brazil.
Yesterday, we took him to 3 health posts followed by a hospital because his foot had gone bad. He had been walking on it, was dirty, infected and looked really nasty.
The first 2 health posts did not want to help him - he has no documents (technically does not exist according to Brazilian law) and lives in a house with others, so does not have his own place. They did not want to assume responsibility for him but did say that if his foot does not get treated soon it will have to be removed from his leg. The last health post we tried were very helpful, even to the extent where they told us how we can "get round" the law to enable him to have medical care. But more than this, one of the nurses came in the car with us, showed us where the hospital is that would accept him and then went to the front of the line to get him admitted. One moment it looked like this lovely man would die from an infected foot because no-one wanted to take responsibility for him, the next moment, God enabled someone to have compassion for him and got him to the front of the line. Isaiah 25v4 says this: "You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress..." We get to see God, the Defender of The Poor, in action when we work with people like this. It is exciting and every bit worth it, even if it takes many hours. Personally, I could not see that man lose his foot or even die when I could do something about it myself. Sometimes if we are aware of a problem we need to pray but a lot of the time we need to be the answer even if it means using our own time and money.

2009-11-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

9 days to go...... I´m trying to keep focused, and make sure that I communicate all that I want to with my group. Dave is also busy visiting people in the community, explaining that he will be away for a while, giving out some photos (of the people he has met, hardly anyone in the favela has a photo of themselves), and saying he will keep praying for them. Josiah wants to finish school now, and Gideon is a bit sad about how few days of school he has left.
It´s quite a strange feeling.....

2009-11-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from our parents day

This is a photo from the beginning, when we were worshiping together, it´s great to see it so full.

These cute kids are from my group, dancing. Some loved it, others were a bit embarrassed, but danced anyway, I was very proud.

Many parents (and children) filled up their bags with fruit from the trees.

We hoped that the parents would want to play football with their children, but they seemed to really enjoy watching and chatting together.

The pool was very popular, with a big queue waiting for the group to change and for it to be their turn.

All in all, I loved this afternoon, it was really worth all of the hard work that went into it.

2009-11-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

Today, we have had an afternoon for the parents, we wanted to have a fun time with the families to share with them some of the many blessings we have here. The program began with presentations from the children´s groups and a word of encouragement for the parents. Then we had a fun free time session, the children and their parents could use the pool, the sports court and the play area. We finished with a nice snack, "feijão tropeiro", a typical dish from this area of Brazil. I was responsible for the food, thankfully everything went really well, we didn´t really know how many would come, so we guessed to make enough for up to 250 people.
The morning was spent preparing the food, chopping many kg of bacon, smoked sausage and pork. In the end about 130 people came (maybe more, it´s hard to tell). When we have some photos we´ll put them on the blog. Here is a photo (from the internet) of feijão tropeiro

2009-11-06T05:56:00.001-08:00

Often, one of the complicated things in staying here can be the visa process. Well, today we went to the federal police to begin the second phase of the process (the first phase involves parting with a lot of money and asking a lawyer to put together the correct papers for us) and it was....EASY!!! Praise the Lord. We now have a piece of paper granting us a further 180 days to stay here while the visa is centrally processed in Brasilia. We have requested a further 2 year extension, which is the maximum time we can request. Please pray for this.

2009-11-03T14:43:00.000-08:00

Hey!!!! I received a book today...... it looks really interesting, but I´m not sure who it is from. It´s always exciting receiving a parcel, this one is a bit mysterious too. So, if it was you who sent it "THANKYOU!!!!"

2009-11-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

It´s November....and I´m getting excited. Josiah and Gideon have begun a day countdown, only 23 to go. Dave and I are still a little nervous, about how different it will be, but I´m really looking forward to some time in England with family and friends. Every time I see the date my heart gives a little skip and I think "woo hoo....not long now"

2009-10-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

The group of children that I´ve been working with this year, have been learning a bit about other parts of the world. Many of them never travel, and have no idea about the diversity in our world. We have wanted to teach them about how other children live and also inspire them to pray for other people. This week I shared with them about India, they listened in fascination about how the rich and poor live. I think this is something they can understand, but hopefully also made them thankful for their homes and families (India having more extreme poverty, orphans and homelessness). It was beautiful at the end to hear 2 girls praying heartfelt prayers asking God to put the children in families and enable them to go to school and also for the Churches that are being persecuted. We also tried some Indian food, though many of them didn´t like it, it´s quite different from the rice and beans we eat here every day.

2009-10-28T04:35:00.000-07:00

Today is a very sad day, yesterday we discovered that the house dog, Lady, has an illness called Leishmaniasis. It is transmitted by mosquitos and is very dangerous if passed to humans. Therefore she had to be put to sleep today. Many people loved Lady (many others also disliked the dogs), she was a wonderful gentle dog with the children that should be here and a wonderful fierce guard dog for those that shouldn´t be here. The children in my group found out about this yesterday and they were able to lavish her with love and play lots with her at the park yesterday. many of them were picking flowers for her, to put in her collar, so she had some flowers when she died. Both Josiah and Gideon really benefited from having a dog here when they came, dog´s have a way of relating that goes across languages and cultures. Here is a photo of Gideon chilling with Lady

2009-10-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the mountain near us. We took a few volunteers up there, for them to see the view and the favela (slum) from a distance. This was a rare opportunity to have a camera at the top of the hill. Many times it is not recommended as it could be stolen on the way through the favela.
Both photo´s are the same shot, with one enlarged so you can see where we live (Casa Luzeiro) in relation to the slum and the city. It always amazes me how big the favela is.

2009-10-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to my co-leader´s blog, she is really good at putting lots of photos on her blog. So, if you want to see how our group celebrated "100 day", take a look......