Another "Mini" Project under my belt!

I am in the process of changing the name....I don't like the name "Mini" Project! There is nothing "mini" about souls being saved! Not to mention that we are expanding with each project, so what is "mini" about that? This project was in a poorer neighborhood of Anápolis. In the morning we had free pap-smears offered, free vacinations for children, free HIV tests, floride treatments, haircuts, a talk on drugs, and door-to-door evangelism. In the afternoon we had the children's program, more haircuts, a talk on child-rearing, games and hip-hop for youth, and more door-to-door evangelism. As soon as it got dark we showed the film "Help" in the middle of the street beside the church. There were 39 haircuts during the whole day, 150 children in the program, and 109 people watching the film at night. There were 15 names added to the Book of Life and many seeds were planted! I only have one complaint....now that I am coordinating these projects, I don't get the contact with the people or the kids! I am stuck with putting out fires and making sure everything comes together. I could go on and on with all the frustrations that I experienced in being responsible for this project, but the rewards outweigh them every time. Of course, I see this much clearer once the project is over! (smile) I must tell you that the kids in general where the most rebellious kids I have encountered so far. I had to kick out 3 of them from the children's program for refusing to cooperate. Even the 1-3 year olds had attitude! Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures! Thank you so much for your prayers!

Hip Hop Evangelism

I asked a group from Goiânia (about 45 min. from where we live) to join us on the project as a way to target the youth in the neighborhood. They were very willing to help and were a big hit! They sing/rap Christian hip-hop and you would not believe the crowd they attracted! They have very powerful testimonies...one having been shot as he was stealing something and trying to get away. I hope they can continue to join us on other projects! The only problem was when we started the kids' program, the 10-12 year old group only wanted to go back out on the sidewalk at listen to hip-hop! I ended up letting them go and listen, and after about 20 minutes the kids wanted to come back and participate in the children's program again.

1-3 year olds

We had a separate area for the 1-3 year olds this time. This worked very well since we could present a story to them on their level of understanding. They played a lot with toys that I brought from home, but the teacher taught them the story of Creation as well.

Games

In the game station the children played two games that were popular when Jesus was a boy. This picture is of the children playing with the dreidel. The dreidel is a type of spinning top with with 4 flat sides and 4 different Hebrew words painted on each side. Depending on which side the top falls on, you either have to put beans in the middle or take beans out of the middle. When time is up you want to have the most beans! The older kids liked it, but I'll have to come up with something else for the younger ones next time. One of the sides says to take "half" and the younger kids didn't know how to figure out what half was!

Jewish History

At this station the children made "Lulavs" (look it up!), learned about the Jewish spice box, and learned to write a few words in Hebrew! The kids loved it!

Jewish Dancing

Story

Candidates from El Salvador

This is Ricardo and Monica Hernandez from El Salvador. They stayed with us from Tuesday night until Thursday noon for a brief "candidacy". It is really amazing how God worked this all out...

A few months ago I got an email from the recruitment man at MAF telling me about a pilot in the El Salvadorian Air Force (Ricardo) who just got back from a 6 month assignment in Iraq and is interested in missions. I emailed Ricardo, introduced Asas to him, and asked if he was interested in serving with us in Brazil. He was immediately interested and we started all the paperwork process. Ricardo is at a critical point in his military career and will be starting a 2 year course in January that will allow him to be promoted and such. He is also #3 in the El Salvadorian Cuscatlán (like the Blue Angels)! All the pilots here were oooing and aaahing! (And his brother is the commander of the Cuscatlán) It is at this point in their lives that they feel God calling them to full-time missionary service. Just from this little bit of information (and there is much more), you can see just what a servant's heart Ricardo and Monica have to even consider a life change right now. Anyway, Ricardo sends me an email about 2 weeks ago saying that Monica would be in Rio de Janeiro on business (she is an industrial engineer and the Secretary General for the Archery division of the Pan American Games) for 10 days. Well, how could we let her be in Brazil and not meet her! So I asked him if there was any chance of him coming for a few days too and both of them coming to Anápolis for us all to meet and do some evaluations. They had to juggle schedules and pull strings, but they managed to come! The time was short and we kept them busy, but I believe it was enough time for them to see what Asas is all about and for us to get to know them. He was able to get in one flight with Steve, but the second flight had to be cancelled due to weather. Now we wait to see how God leads! I am sure they would appreciate your prayers as they will be making the critical decision in the next few weeks about giving his notice to the Air Force.

Saying good-bye to the Carvers

Darrel and Lee Carver joined Asas de Socorro 6 years ago after retiring from CitiBank. They have traveled the whole world and have lived in more countries than I can remember. They have been working with our flight base in Manaus, flying the Caravan. Darrel was a Navy pilot before working in banking and never lost his love for planes and flying. They heard about Asas de Socorro when they lived in Brazil some years ago and the Lord lead him to set aside some money in a fund that he could some day use to buy an airplane for Asas. He was thinking a small airplane, but when the time came to withdrawal the money from the fund, God had blessed it to the point that he could buy a brand-new Caravan! The whole mission has been blessed with their generosity and their life-example. The are now heading back to Texas in order to take care of Darrel's aging parents who are needing their support now. It is hard to see such a wonderful couple leave, but we are so thankful for the time they gave to Asas. They will continue to support Asas as they will be representing the mission in the US. The pictures are from the farewell ceremony we had here on Wednesday when they were presented with this model of the Caravan...complete with paddles and a stand made of Brazil wood. How that is going to get in a suitcase and arrive in one piece is another issue......