Searching for the lost smile!

To sum up last week I'd have to use words such as: love, joy, selflessness, family, and fun! What a week to remember. Can you imagine dressing up as a clown everyday!? Well that is literally what the people at Expresso Riso do, all for God's glory and for the simple and healing medicine of love, joy and laughter! What an adventure to be a part of this ministry :)

The staff and volunteers at Expresso Riso visit hospitals as clowns and bring joy, laughter, and most importantly God's love and gift of eternal life to situations that seem bleak and hopeless. We were privileged with the opportunity to suit up and join them for 3 days of clowning (after an intense clown class, of course)! We didn't visit any hospitals but had the chance to go to a home for senior women who don't have families to take care of them, a school/hang out centre for kids in a favela, and a school for people with special needs.

Something that I will NEVER forget is the smiles [and the booming laughter that accompanied them] I saw on the faces of the people that we interacted with! Last Thursday when we were at the school for people with special needs we got to see the clowns at work in full force! The laughter and love that they spread throughout every classroom caused me to have a permanent smile on my face :) We were uncertain as to what they were saying to the students most of the time [because of the language barrier] but one thing was clear, they were affecting change everywhere they went! I was seriously challenged by this, being reminded to truly put others first and love them with the unconditional love of Christ... All the time!

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."(Philippians 2:3, 4 ESV)

And then to top it all off they shared with us at the end of last week that they were   encouraged and refreshed by our joy! Okay... How about it should be the other way around!? I've just been absolutely humbled and challenged by the simple fact that we can encourage people and affect change just by living each day with intention and with eternity in mind. It doesn't matter what you're doing... Just do it for Him!!

Learning to love as He does,

Julia

Finding a Pastor's Heart while being Lost in Translation

I (Emily) never would have imagined that I would be translating Portuguese since before coming to Brazil I knew zero Portuguese. After spending 3 days being the sole translator for our team in Curitiba because of my limited knowledge of Spanish,I have a new appreciation for people attempting to speak their second language.

The amount that I was able to communicate was truly a blessing from God. During this time of being around people who spoke no English, One experience in particular that really blessed our team was when I was able to spend a car ride talking to one of the pastors from Curitiba named Derrick (see picture below). We spent a couple of days at halfway houses without really understanding what was happening because of the language barrier, but during the car ride I really got to experience the heart of the mission and the passion that these pastors have for the kids and teenagers that they are helping.

These homes that we spent time in are not really halfway homes. They are permanent residences. Many of the girls and boys are taken away from their parents when they are as young as 2 years old and continue to live in these homes until they are 18 years old.

When we were able to go out to a campsite, which is one of the three locations where the children stay, it was amazing to see the connection that the pastors has with the children and teenagera. The entire time the mostly teenage girls and two boys were calling Derick and Emerson "pai" (dad) and clinging onto them as if they really were their fathers.

Derick told me that they have to be very careful because the girls especially want attention so badly, but it often takes months for them to realize that the pastors don't want to take advantage of them or abuse them. He said that the reason that he treats the girls with such love and care is because he wants them to understand the way that their Heavenly Father loves them especially in light of the fact that these girls have no idea what a truly loving father is supposed to look like. These pastors truly invest their lives into these kids. The children call their own sons and daughters brother and sister and their wives mom. It's truly a family and a positive impact that these children have never had whether they entered at 2 years old or were taken in at 16 after a young life already filled with drug abuse.

The pastors are very passionate about the fact that as soon as the now adults graduate out of the program, they are not thrown out in the same way as they are in many government run organizations. They are very intentional about ensuring that the people continue to receive support and help because they are part of a family and community. 

They have had struggles because they are a Christian organization, and they have not received financial help from the government because of this; however, he did say that recently they have started to receive more financial assistance from the government.

The thing that is encouraging about every  project with which we have come in contact is how holistic they are. They are not only taking care of physical needs like shelter and food. They are investing in every aspect of these people's lives from the time they are children and enter the project and then throughout the rest of their lives. 

It is encouraging to see God moving in amazing ways through the way people are volunteering their time to further His kingdom. Pray that these children and people would truly see the love of God and be transformed.

Emily

God Answers

These are 2 journal entries from 2 days last week where I saw God move in crazy ways in a prison outreach that Evan and I took part in. One was an entry of brokenness and the second was an entry of pure joy.

JULY 17, 2013

            Heavy. That’s all I can say about today. I am going to try and unpack what I saw today in this entry, but words do not do justice. In some days on outreach, God will break my heart, I know that, but when He does, I lose my focus on Him. I know I should keep running back to His open arms, but when I see such a broken and sad situation, His arms feel so distant. It brings questions of doubt and anger to my mind. “Why would God let this happen? He is always with us, but why does it seem like He has abandoned this place and these teenagers? Or is it that us humans have distanced ourselves from God, and He is trying to break through but we keep pushing him back? I think it’s the last one. Human nature=frustrating and heartbreaking.

            We had the opportunity to visit a teenager prison today and tour it. I didn’t know what to expect, so I walked in (first time in a prison) and nothing could of prepared me for what I saw. It honestly felt like stepping through the front gate of a zoo. As we walked into the courtyard my eyes shifted left to the left. There stood the “prisoners” inside their “cages”. Their arms were hanging out between the bars and they just looked at us. They were just boys. Only a couple of years younger then me! Yet they were here locked up day after day with hardly any visitors. All they really had was each other. I saw this and my heart was broken. I thought God couldn’t possibly break my heart any more at this point but I was wrong. We had the opportunity to look into a cell and see what living conditions the teenage boys had. The cells were the size of a small walk in closet. All stone, no windows, and no door to keep the cold winter air out! It was 2-3 boys to each cell.

            We finished the tour and I was in a state of shock for the rest of the day. I didn’t know what to think of what I had seen and I was angry with God. I couldn’t believe He had let it come to such a terrible place. I had lots of questions and no answers. I shut myself up so that I could “duke it out” with God, and search for answers.

JULY 18, 2013

“Oh Lord my God, when I in Awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made.” Oh what a BIG God I have. He showed up in huge ways today and he absolutely rocked any doubts and questions I had about Him. A God of mysterious wonders, but in todays case He was definitely a God of answers. After lunch we each split off into the specific projects that we had been assigned to this week. And we were back to the prison. Our group had made activity plans and then we were off to see what we could do to extend Gods Kingdom! Better yet, how God could extend His kingdom through us. I went into the day nervous and worried but with an open mind. “Anything could be better then yesterday”, I thought. God would show me how He moves later that afternoon. When we arrived at the prison I was a ball of nerves. A billion questions were bouncing around in my mind. We entered the prison as the day before and once again the prisoners were just watching us through the bars in the cell. Once again I felt hopeless, but a bit optimistic that we were going to help them scape from their mental and emotional prison- even if it was just for a small time. I counted 18 kids lined up to hang out with us. My nerves were a wreck. But the afternoon went so smoothly. God was definitely hard at work and He made that very obvious. My nerves melted away and unreal feelings of joy replaced them! I was smiling from ear to ear as we interacted with the kids. We painted posters, played basketball, and just hung out with them and loved on them. The kids seemed to have a blast, and they received our activities so well.

            The way God answered my cry, has definitely been a highlight of the trip so far! Seeing God move in such a hopeful way brought me the realization that He is always working and that He is always there! When it seems like all hope is lost, I need to run back to God and trust in Him. 

Praying for God to continue to wreck me in all that I do. The more broken I become, the more reliant on God I will become. Thank you for all of your prayers and support thus far. 

-Darcy

            These are the two paintings that were painted by the teenagers. Each square was painted individually without knowing that they fit together like a large puzzle. The intent of this was to teach the kids that their individuality is part of a greater  body and that they have to learn to work together. The dove was meant to represent the freedom that Christ can offer these young souls. Not just a physical freedom of prison but freedom from their past, from their addictions, and themselves. Some of the captions read, "I Love You", "Praise God",  and "I miss my family."

Truth heals.

Yesterday was special because we were privileged to go with those participating in the missions seminar (that we're serving at) to various locations and projects. Us girls got to go to a home for children who don't have a place to live at the moment (kind of like a transition home). While we were there we did the hair, nails, and makeup of the girls, did hip hop with the boys, ate a snack, and played games. It was a great afternoon! All done with the fun reality that there's still a major language barrier between them and us!! (Imagine us trying to explain "duck duck goose" to a bunch of Portuguese children and adults... Just picture us making loud animal noises and flapping our arms wildly). I hope you're laughing because it's quite the scene! Haha

Anyway, the amazing part was that despite all our differences and barriers, God still did some amazing things. I had my heart locked on the one girl from the moment we walked in (not only was she an adorable young girl, but she had long hair that was just begging for braids :)). She was super resistant though. Didn't want anything to do with us and the activities. This was discouraging; however, throughout the afternoon you could see the walls come down and by the time we were done our activities I had successfully braided her hair! Mission accomplished! Haha... Not quite, God still had more for her. 

Just before we left we had a time of worship and prayer (all in Portuguese of course) and afterwards I told this young girl that she was very very beautiful... "Muito muito linda!!" And she had tears in her eyes. Later I was informed that these simple words of truth broke lies in this young girl who had been called ugly (among other things) all her life. How humbling! That The Lord would use me for such an incredible moment. He's so good and so faithful that all we need to do is speak truth and walk in obedience towards Him!

Trusting the God who heals,

Julia

Getting our hands dirty!

"Como se fala...?" Has become one of our favourite things to say in Portuguese! It means... "How do you say...?" This is just one of the many new phrases we're learning daily!

We are now in Curitiba spending time at a school where they are having somewhat of a 'missions' workshop... Learning to be intentional when it comes to starting up new ministries. And we've been privileged to work behind the scenes! We've truly been getting our hands dirty (and sometimes clean) for Jesus! We've been cleaning bathrooms, preparing meals, cleaning up meals, etc. It's such an amazing opportunity to bless our Brazilian family! 

The language barrier posed itself as a potential threat when we got here... But there has been no lack of communication! We truly feel like family with the people here already. God has blessed us with amazing friends and crazy cool opportunities to see what He has been doing in Curitiba and the surrounding areas.

Stay tuned to hear more about this beautiful place and it's incredible people :) as of right now I've run out of time! 

Take care and God bless you as your get your own hands dirty for Jesus!

Many hugs (and kisses) from Brazil,

Julia  

In Brazil!

After a whole day of traveling we are in São Paulo, Brazil! Thank you for all your prayers thus far :) 

We're in São Paulo for this evening and tomorrow morning and then we'll be on our way to Curitiba for 12 days where we'll be visiting the churches and serving in orphanages and shelters. 

So far we've been very spoiled. The people here are amazingly warm and hospitable! We're so blessed by our new friends already!

God is faithful, 

Julia

On our way...

Last night was the commissioning service for our ACTION teams in Gretna. It was a bitter-sweet evening... I say it was bitter simply because it meant we'd be saying "goodbye" to the other ACTION teams today; however, it was SO sweet because we're all being sent out to different locations to bring the love of Christ and to be His hands and feet! What a privilege :)

Seriously... so humbling!

We leave this afternoon around 2:30... please keep us in your prayers as we embark on this new adventure! And thank you all so very much for your love and support. We will be sure to update you as soon as we are able and let you all know what we'll be doing officially!

Our team had a lot of fun filming a video earlier this week and Evan took the time to edit and put it all together. I've attached it below for your enjoyment!

Serving in Brazil [soon!!],
Julia