May

Lar Projects
The Lar orphanage is in the process of building new homes on site for the boys and girls. The roof needs to be installed on the boys home in order for them to move in. Below is a picture of a current dorm room and the new house.

Here is Tiago smiling in front of the new tiles for the roof; wood is needed to finish the roof. Brothers at the Lar.

Vila Andrade

The children's project received new tables for the lunchroom and the kids love them!

Rehal (from USA) working on the library books.

Mothers's Day

The children from the Compassion project and the church children from Vila Andrade all prepared songs to be presented to their mom's on Mother's Day. Some of the mom's also sang during the evening service, and prayer was given for each of them and their children. Below kids are learning their song with "Reggie the Clown" and giving their presentations.

Music Program

Another project run out of the Morumbi church is music. Children from three different locations come and are given free instrumental and choir lessons. They recently presented a recital.

English Classses

My students continue to plug away at English. Recently I had a day of "stations" at the Lar, where the students moved from one activity to another during the class period. They listened to a book on CD, read to me, looked up words in the dictionary, and did phonics sheets. They had fun! I also have a brilliant new seven-year old student named Jennifer (below left) who is a joy to have in class (and she can barely reach the top of the desks!)

Students at Vila Andrade

Girls will be Girls
New friends Juliana and Rehal at my apartment on one of the Brazilian holidays, and Rehal and I in front of a Barbie (yes, Barbie!) display at one of the malls.

Passion World Tour
Brazilians love to have a good time, and having a good time praising Jesus is even better. Here are some pictures from the Passion World Tour in São Paulo, with crazy, loud Brazilians!

April

Friends at the Lar

It is quite easy to make friends quickly at the Lar Batista orphanage. Below are photos of Nanci from Minnesota, who helped out in the sewing room and visited with the kids, "Tio" or uncle Curt (Kregness), who had a difficult time parting with some new little friends (as they did him), the co-director of the Lar, Maura, with the youngest child here, whose mother sadly is in jail, and me with my buddy Kaique.

Speaking English at Vila Andrade

English classes have begun at the Vila Andrade Project, and I also teach some of the girls from the church that I met when we went to camp together in February. They are a fun bunch of kids to teach!

Sites arounds São Paulo

My friend and fellow-missionary Elisabeth and I visited a neighborhood in São Paulo one Saturday afternoon called 'Liberdade.' It is a one of the larger Japanese communities in the area, and this year is the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil.

"Marching" On

Improvements Continue at Vila Andrade

The upstairs area of the Vila Andrade church is nearing completion. The computer lab is set up and classes are being held there. The library room has shelves and books, though help is needed in getting it in order. The Pastor and staff have new offices and there is additional classroom space, along with new bathrooms. The improvements are making a positive impact here. I am starting English class at this site for some girls who attend the church, as well as two classes at the Compassion sponsored project.

Easter at the Lar

The story of Easter was presented to my English classes using the 'Resurrection Eggs' . The students were eager to find and open the eggs, make a craft and decorate cookies (something they don't do here in Brazil!) for an Easter 'Festa'. And they learned to say 'Jesus lives' and 'Happy Easter' in English as well!

Easter in Brazil

Easter seemed to be a less celebrated holiday than others celebrated here; many Brazilians consider Good Friday a somber day, but Easter Sunday I didn't see much celebration. The big Easter item that is found in stores is the giant chocolate Easter egg. Inside these eggs you can find more chocolate treats or toys.

I was blessed to celebrate Easter at a wonderful service at Calvary International church with friends!

A short but busy month

Vila Andrade Camp

Carnavel stars the month of February off, and many churches go to camps out-of-town to escape all the madness. I was invited to join the Vila Andrade church at their camp about an 1 1/2 hours outside of Sao Paulo in the beautiful town of Atiabia for four days. Each day consisted of morning worship followed by personal quiet time, recreation, and following dinner was another time of worship. This was my first venture alone for such a long period of time without an interpreter, so I had a few challenges, but everyone was very helpful with me. At the end of the camp there was a communion service. We had a special time of praying for all the children there, and myself and the other adult in my dorm room prayed individually for each of the 24 girls there, which was very special.

Back to School time

Following Carnavel is back-to-school time here, and there is a school right next to my apartment buildings, so the noise level has grown a little louder since then. They also don't use a bell for classtime, they use a siren. I thought perhaps there was a fire somewhere close on the first day, but then kept hearing the siren, and figured out it was for the school! So no longer need an alarm clock, the siren goes off at 7 am each day!

English Classes Begin

I have finally begun teaching English classes at the orphanage! The first week there weren't as many kids, but as word spread, more students signed up. Now we are dealing with overflow classes and trying to fit them all in. But I have yet to have a consistent class of the same students at the same time. I am working out these issues with the staff. Discipline is also an issue with these students, and made worse by the fact that I only know a few portuguese phrases to try to get them to listen! But I do have a number of students who are very eager learners and taking notes of all the English words around the room.

Ringing in 2008

New Year, New Home

I rang in 2008 with friends the Rileys, and we sat atop their roof and watched fireworks all over the city. There were so many that soon the air was thick with smoke and our view became obscured! Earlier in the evening, we attended Calvary International Church, where the book of Revelation was read through out loud, interspersed with worship songs. It was a meaningful way to bring in the new year, and as Rev. 1:3 say, "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."

The new year brought the blessing of a 'permanent' place for me to live in the form of an apartment close to both ministry areas I am working at. The owner of the apartment is a Brazilian woman who was also working at the orphanage for many years, and decided it was time for a rest. She was praying for someone to rent her place, and I was praying for a place to rent. She left it furnished, which was a huge blessing. Below are some pictures.

Promife'

Another blessing I was able to take part in this month was attending Promife', an evangelism outreach event that was held in two towns north of Sao Paulo. There were approximately 120 attendees plus staff, and each day following breakfast was a time of worship and teaching, then in the afternoons, teams went door-to-door telling people about Jesus and inviting them to the "Jesus" film held in different parks in the cities each night. There were also children's ministry teams, which I was a part of, that included a time of singing, a skit with a message, small group time to talk about the message, games and snacks. I spent time in both cities with each of the teams, which was a great experience.

Below are pictures of the children's ministry time in the smaller town of Ibiraci, which started out with 50 children, and ended with close to 100!

These are pictures of the children's ministry time in the larger town of Franca, which averaged around 60 children each day. This group of kids included some 'break dancers', which gave a little performance at the end of each day, including some 3 years olds, who were absolutely adorable!

At the end of the week, there were victory celebrations in each town for all that God had accomplished. Because the numbers were given in portuguese, I didn't catch them all very well, but large numbers of households were reached each day, there were also between 100-200 people each night attending the Jesus film. With all this outreach, there was a good portion of people who accepted Christ as their Savior from sin. Each of these towns has their own issues to deal with, including a lot of drugs and drinking. But God is more powerful than these and we know His Word does not return void. These towns were covered in prayer while we were there, and I would ask that you join me in continuing to pray for the churches who are now following up on all the people visited. They have a big job ahead of them and 'the time is near'!

The January 2008 Promife' team!