September

A Taste of Minnesota
My fellow-missionaries the Kregness’s and I were blessed to have visitors from Minnesota this month – Dave and Carol Wilson came for a visit, and they were able to see each of my ministry sites and have lunch in my apartment (yes, I actually cooked Brazilian food!). Additionally, Dave spent time preaching and speaking at a few churches and seminaries here. They were impressed with how things had changed at Vila Andrade, and for those of you in Minneapolis, I’m sure they will be happy to share more about their trip here. It was so good to see them and get a boost of encouragement from my mentors who helped get me to this mission field.

LAR

The new directors are the Lar Orphanage have made a lot of positive changes, and there is also a new psychologist who speaks English, which as been a huge (relief!) and blessing to me. The directors have even asked me for private English classes, which we have started. Below are some of my students, a class watching an English video, and photos of some beautiful ballerinas in their ballet class.

September Birthdays

Baby Jasmine celebrated her first birthday at the Lar, complete with the chicken pox! I gave her one of the stuffed animals I received from FBC Guild which she liked very much. My friend Camila (from the Vila Andrade church) and I celebrated her 13th birthday with a trip to the mall where I treated her to lunch and a manicure. We had a fun day!

. . . and the most important September birthday - my dad - Happy Birthday Dad!! I Love You!

August - A Month to Celebrate

A New Roof

The new boys dorm at the Lar Orphanage has had the roof installed and the boys will be able to move in the near future!

How do you clean a book?

Very carefully! Many volunteers helped to clean over 3000 donated books at the Vila Andrade library. It should be 'open for business' very soon!

Grand Opening!

The Telecentro was officially inaugurated on August 22 with officials from the Mayor's office of São Paulo, church members, and people from the community. The kids received T-shirts advertising that their neighborhood has a "Telecentro".

Social Project Fair

The Morumbi Baptist Church held a Social Fair one Sunday to showcase the many social project ministries it is involved in, and to recruit new volunteers to help out. Below are teachers from the Compassion project (where I teach English) and ladies craft group at Vila Andrade.

A Birthday and a Wedding
My birthday was celebrated with my students at the Lar, who were very excited to surprise me and decorate my room and one of the students moms' even made me a cake.

My brother and his bride Lydia on their wedding day, 8.8.08 (yes - they were one of 'those' weddings!).

July

Promifé

After passing through lush green valleys, orange groves, sugar cane and sunflower fields, three buses from São Paulo finally made it to the town of Santa Rita do Passa Quatro. This year was the 25th anniversary of Promifé and a special service of celebration was held with people who helped start and run Promifé from the beginning.

We also had a team from the US visiting who had prepared Brazilian worship music to share, and a group from Angola, who were there to learn how Promifé is run, as the leaders want to spread this outreach event to that country. They also shared Angolan worship music with us, so we had a lot of international flavor, which was fun.

This Promifé had a record number 230 people, and we were split into three teams which went door-to-door, worked with children, presented pantomime and the Jesus video each day. Our presence was noted quicky by the townsfolk, and there was even an article written up in the local newspaper about why we were there. I worked with the children's team, and we presented a kids club each day in a local church with songs, skits, story, and games. We also had the opportunity to share at a 'creche' or day care center, and while at a local park on our rest day, we found a group of 200 kids there making kites in one of the pavillions, so our team asked and was able to present songs and a message to these kids right on the spot.

We wrapped up our week with a victory celebration at a park by the old train station, with the pastors and members of a number of local churches present to receive the records of community members that had been reached that week. These churches will continue the follow-up work in the weeks and months ahead. Keep them in your prayers.

Above photos: door to door, mime, American worship band, and group photo of attendees.

Below photos: kids club

Vila Andrade Festa

The church held a 'Corn Festival', which included numerous food items made with corn, some kids dressing up, and a good time had by all. I helped serve (but did not make!) the soup.

Telecentro

It was lines and standing room only the first few days the Telecentro was open. Now a system has been set up to let people on the computers every hour. It is a huge success!

Kids at the Lar

June

Exodus of Americans
June, I’ve found out, is the month when many Americans leave Brazil for vacation. I am one of the few WorldVenture persons left here at the moment! In addition to vacations, a number of families from the international church I attend have also left for new ventures elsewhere in the world. A special send-off service was held where each family shared about where they were going, what they would miss about Brazil, and prayer requests. Families were going to Dubai, Nigeria, Australia, Canada, and the US. One of those families leaving were my good friends the Riley’s, who have returned to Minnesota after spending four years in Brazil teaching at PACA.

Telecentro
Thanks to generous contributions, the Telecentro has been able to have an antenna, cable and other items installed to bring the internet into the community center. It is now operational – praise the Lord! The library has also been able to have software installed and a person has been contracted to enter the book information in to the database and organize the library.

Activities at Vila Andrade
Two used computers have been set up for the kids and they are enjoying learning how to use the computer and playing games.

Break dance classes have been started by some local youth.

Devotions

English Class

Some of my English students have been learning about favorite things, and got to share in class about their favorite things (in English of course!)

Douglas (11)

Favorite color is green
Favorite food is hamburgers
Favorite subject is English

Fernanda (10)
Favorite color is pink
Favorite food is pizza

Favorite subject is English

Lar Batista
The children recently put on a program for their mom’s, and they continue to be busy with various activities until July, when, even though school takes a short break, the students continue to come for a more ‘relaxed’ program. They also received a donation of clothes, new tennis shoes with wheels, and jump ropes, which they enjoyed looking through and picking out new things for themselves.

Festa Junina
June is ‘Festa Junina’ time in Brazil, and many schools had events celebrating the festival, which is for St. John. The school by my apartment had their celebration last Saturday, so I went down to have a look, as it was difficult to ignore the music playing all day! Below is a picture of the one of the dances the children performed. The "quadrilha" features couple formations around a mock wedding whose bride and groom are the central attraction of the dancing. The men dress up as farm boys with suspenders and large straw hats and women wear pigtails, freckles, painted gap teeth and red-checkered dresses, all in a tribute to the origins of Brazilian country music, and of those who immigrated from the countryside to cities.