Growing Kids God's Way Class

Here is our group for Growing Kids God's Way! The older lady (green shirt in the middle) is actually the mother of one of the couples that was visiting last Sunday. We have 2 couples who do not have children yet, two couples that are pregnant, one couple with a baby (9 months), 3 couples with toddlers and lower elemenary aged children, one couple with a pre-teen and 8 year old, and a mom who's husband is not a Christian who has a 18 year old, 11 year old, and an 8 year old. We feel totally incapable each week as we go into the class, but we always leave feeling encouraged that the class is being used of God to reach these families. Please pray for us and for these precious couples...having a method in child-rearing is a totally new concept here, so we are treading on new ground!

Circus fun

Sorry the pictures are not clear! Just so you know, that is a clown next to Maira, not me! We took the kiddos to the circus last Sat. evening. The kids had a wonderful time and we had fun just watching them enjoy it! They had some interesting acts, but this was a low-budget, family run kind of circus....very simple. Perhaps the kind of circus that would come through small-town USA in the 1950s. After the show we took the kids to a hot-dog stand for dinner and they both kept thanking us for taking them to the circus! It was so sweet!

Michael's field trip

I took Michael and Maira to see how pottery is made last week. The shop is tiny, but they have tons of pots in the back. It is a family business...the daughter takes care of the shop, the son is one of the potters, the mom paints the pots, and the dad is the boss. We got to watch the potters at their wheels and see the big wood-burning ovens where the pots dry for 4-7 days, depending on the weather. There was nothing high-tech about it...right next to the potters was a huge pile of dirt and some antique-looking "machines" that made the dirt into workable clay. Do you see the two straws stuck onto that stick with clay in the second picture? That is to make sure all of the pots that he is making are the same size. I really liked this field trip because the pots were less than half the normal price (no middle-man) and I could bring some home!!!

Mini Project "Ide" -- Sept. 16th

Somehow I was assigned to be the coordinator of a Mini Project "Ide" (Go Ye). It is basically what we did in July, only this project was in a town just 45 minutes from here and it was for just one day. We had door-to-door evangelism, a children's program in the afternoon, a talk on drug usage, a talk on teenage pregnancy, a craft class, and we showed the Jesus film at night. The craft class was for 20 ladies in the church that learned how to make a type of ceramic material made from vaseline, corn starch, glue, and some other chemical. This is then used to make refrigerator magnets, decorations for jar lids, and just about anything else you can think of. The teacher's first project was used to teach the ladies how to share the wordless book in hopes that they will use this skill to reach others. Everything went very well, even with all those things that seem to go wrong! The Jesus film got stuck during the presentation so we had to switch to another film that one of our team members happened to bring! His film told the story of Jesus as well, but was animated and had more modern music. This experience might have served to introduce us to a better film to use!

Mime Station

Andrés did a wonderful job as a mime! He did a peice called Manuel which told the story of a "good" man. In the end, the kids discover that being a good person isn't good enough to go to heaven. The kids were put into a trance as they watched him! They also did face painting in this station.

Floride Station

We added the Floride Station this time with the help of our local church, which gave toothbrushes and a money gift. We were able to use the money to have a total of 240 toothbrushes! The gift even stretched enough to buy snacks for all the kids as well as buy material for the craft class that was offered to 20 ladies in the church. Every child that came got a toothbrush, learned how to correctly brush his/her teeth, and received a floride treatment! It might not have been a favorite among the kiddos, but they did like getting the toothbrushes!

Game Station

This was Eliane's first time to participate in a Project (lady on far right). She was excited about her game station and very worried about sharing the story of the wordless book with a small group of children. She tried to get out of it, but I wouldn't let her escape! When the kids had gone through all the stations, she sat down with her small group to tell them about Jesus. She walked away all smiles and full of courage to tell any kid about Jesus that would sit still long enough! The pastor of the church said he wanted a bracelet and someone to tell him the story...so Eliane grabbed a bracelet and told him the story of the wordless book! There's no holding her back now!

Dance Station

Story Station

Daniel and I had the story station again, just like the Project in July. This time we decided that Daniel would be a tourist coming back from a trip to the Holy Land and he brought with him souveniers to give to me. The "souveniers" are the items that tell the story of Jesus, so I acted ungrateful for the straw, cup, bottle of olives, whip, nail, thorn bush, spear, white cloth, and rock until he explained the significance of each.

Entertaining the kiddos

We send the clowns to the streets shortly before the program starts to get the kids to come to the program and then they help with the rotating of the stations. This clown's name is Karyne and she happens to be my babysitter 3 afternoons a week when I work in the office.

Small group with the wordless book bracelet

After all of the rotating through stations, we divided up the 124 children between the 20 children's program workers. In these small groups we presented the story of the wordless book using bracelets with the colors. Then we prayed in those small groups and passed out a snack. This picture is of my small group...a sweet bunch!

Here is Maira and her friend Naomi who will turn 3 this Friday. Naomi is the daughter of Norberto and Jisela who are from Angola. Norberto has completed his training here in Anápolis and they are being sent to the flight base in Manaus for a year before returning to Angola where they plan to serve under MAF-Canada.

Solo

Another successful solo flight...Ruben is a non-missionary student who soloed last Saturday. Since he soloed on a Saturday when the other students were not around, he got his "bath" today when he came back from his second solo flight.

Steve's children's church class

Steve teaches the 6-7 year old class every other Sunday night. They can be a rowdy bunch, but Steve has managed to bring focus into their lives! (smile) This picture is from this past Sunday when they made bracelets with the colors of the wordless book. Steve is teaching on the fruit of the Spirit and this time the subject was love. He explained that Jesus gave the greatest example of love when He died for us, and that we show love to others when we tell them about Jesus. They had a great time making the bracelets...they all wanted to make several to give to their siblings or friends! Michael really enjoys having Daddy teach his class and has gained the self-confidence needed to recite the memory verse in front of the class each week. Michael and Yan (front right) are the faithful duo that always come with the memory verse memorized!

A note of explanation

The first time you read these posts, you need to scroll all the way to the bottom and work your way up. New posts are always added to the top, so if you start at the top you will be working your way BACK in time! Have fun!

New friendships

It is truly amazing to see 340 people of all different ages, backgrounds, and interests come together for 10 days of waking up at 5am, getting to bed at midnight (or later), and sleeping on thin mats all for the common goal of telling others about Jesus and His love for us. We came back exhausted, excited, and full of plans for the next project! Even better than the new friendships formed are the new names in the Book of Life as a result of our time spent in Bahia. We are confident that God had prepared hearts in Bahia. Not so that we could come home and present to our churches large numbers representing people who were saved, but for our own personal growth. He gave us the priviledge to take part in introducing others to Christ. He doesn't need us, but He chooses to let us take part by sharing His love with others. He even chooses to use those who speak with an accent and don't say everything perfect in Portuguese (smile). Thank you to all who prayed for us and for our children during this project. We are forever changed and grateful because of our time in Bahia. P.S. Steve and I have put in the request to be placed on the same team next year!

Medical and Dental assistance

Asas has two medical and dental mobile units and both of them were kept busy during the project. But with only two of them, most people were attended to the "old fashioned" way...sitting in a chair and leaning back!

Lunch time!

We normally had tables to sit at to eat, but this particular day we went to a town about an hour away with the intentions of sleeping at this school. The 4 classrooms available to us were full of our bags and all the desks had been stacked up so that there would be room on the floor to sleep. So, lunch was on the ground outside...all of us trying to stay in the shade of the building! This was a day of being flexible. There were no showers at this school (and we always came back very smelly at the end of the day!) and the kitchen was going to be remodeled the next day. We were all too happy to load up the buses at 11pm and head back to Teixeira for dinner. I did loose my plate, utensils, cup, and sandals in the confusion though!

The story of Jesus

Yes, the picture is crooked, but it is the only one I have that shows that I actually did something! The guy in blue is Daniel who helped me with the story. I used the story of "Benjamin's Box" to tell the story of Jesus. I had a friend of mine paint a big styrofoam cooler to look like a treasure chest. Then I filled it with the items from the story: hay, palm branches, cup, olive branch, leather strip, crown of thorns, spear, white cloth, and stone. Daniel played the part of a boy who grew up in Jerusalem and had put these items in his treasure box to remind him of what he saw. I interviewed Daniel and had different kids come up and pull items out of the treasure chest (with guidance so that the items were in the right order to tell the story!). It went very well and kept the attention of the kids.

Children's ministry

The children's programs included clowns, puppets, dancing, games, and the story of Jesus. We also used the wordless book and bracelets with beads of the colors of the wordless book. In ideal conditions (usually in the schools) we divided the chidren into 4 groups which then rotated between the workshops (dance, games, story, and video). When there was not enough space for that, we kept the group together and used microphones! We had between 150-200+ children each afternoon in the programs...and that was just one team! There were 5 other teams doing the same thing in other communities! The picture on the left is the church that we affectionately called "the oven". The church was quite small with one small meeting room and two small classrooms. We kept everyone together and by the time 220 children plus their curious moms and aunts filled in the meeting room and doorways, the church turned into an oven! No windows and the doors were blocked with sweaty people! Of course we didn't make matters any better by dancing with them! Whew!

Teixeira group

These are the two teams that stayed in Teixeira de Freitas. Do you see me? I worked with the children's ministry, specifically, telling the story. My team (no, I was NOT the leader!) went to a different community each day, always on the outskirts of town. One day we traveled an hour by bus to a different town. I had a fantastic experience that has left images of many special children in my mind, children that I hope to see in heaven again some day!

Steve and his new friends...

Steve was stationed in the coastal town of Caravelas to coordinate his team, but he did manage to get out and evangelize as well. Caravelas is a very poor fishing community. Young girls are often charmed by business men who come into town with the end result being another single teenage mom with no means to support a child.

Steve's team

These are the two teams that went to the coastal community of Caravelas in Bahia. Steve was the team leader for half of the group and Rocindes (president of Asas) was the team leader of the other half. Part of the team went to a little island off the coast each day to provide medical and dental clinics and do door-to-door evangelism. Their lunches had to be sent to them by boat and they would come back at the end of the day to sleep. The rest of the team stayed in Caravelas and neighboring communities doing door-to-door evangelism and ministry through children's. I heard from the cook that these two teams had shrimp almost daily...Steve LOVED it!

Army issue mats...

This picture was taken in front of the church in Teixeira. Just wanted you to see the mats we had to sleep on....can you see those thin things rolled up on top of the bags? Yep, just imagine Steve stretched out on one of those each night! They didn't cushion much, but they did form a barrier between our bodies and the cold floors!

The Parade

All 340 of us paraded through the downtown of Teixeira the morning after our arrival. Steve and I somehow attracted the attention of a town drunk who clung onto Steve and I for half of the parade! Steve already had the reputation for being a "drunk magnet" from last year's project, so this experience just reinforced it!

Jeeps for Christ

We had the incredible support of a group called Jeeps for Christ! They are Brazilian and are based in Goiânia, just 45 minutes from our house. Each jeep was assigned to a team and provided logistical help throughout the week. They were always ready to help in any way, whether that involved driving the jeep or playing a tambourine! Some brought their families along and the jeep owner's son that was assigned to my team had appendicitis, requiring emergency surgery the second day we were there. He was released and in 2 days was along side his dad helping out!

"Projeto Ide" (Go Ye Project) July 20-30

We got home from camping on the afternoon of the 19th. Steve and I got on the bus for "Projeto Ide" at 7pm on the 20th! I had a hard time leaving the kids, but they were just fine. As I was crying, Maira hugged me and said, "Don't cry mamma!"

It took 27 hours on the bus to arrive in Teixeira de Freitas in the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil. This was the base where 2 teams stayed and 4 teams went to neighboring communities. Our bus was just one of 6 that came from various cities in southern Brazil...340 people in all! This is a picture of one of the first meetings of everyone involved in the evangelism project. Projeto Ide targets a different region each year. The primary goal of the project is to evangelize and to train the local churches to do outreach. Other goals include providing medical and dental care in remote regions and awakening young people to the call of missions. Asas coordinates the whole project and I was very impressed with those in the leadership. Everyone has a specific task. From the cooks to the team leaders, everyone took their tasks seriously and worked hard for the ultimate purpose of reaching people for Jesus.