It's hard to believe I'm home! I must say Brazil was an amazing trip...much more than I could even describe. It was the hardest trip I've been on - physically and emotionally - yet the best. I would love to give you a day to day recap...but I also know people are busy and don't want to read every last detail!
We ran 2 weekend camps for about 80 kids. The camps were held at Camp California...a very beautiful area! And once you know where the kids come from, you realize how much the camp means to them. At camp we had fun time where kids swam and played, games, crafts, and Bible stories. Our theme was the Olympics and I did puppet shows with Rauel for the bible stories. What was soooo wonderful was sharing the good news of JESUS at camp with the kids! Even "the professor" came to camp and did a magic presentation. I think camp to them is much like Hume Lake to many kids here in California...it can be a life changing experience. For my ending chapel, I spoke to the kids about running a race...they had 2 choices how to run it... they could have a ball and heavy metal chain tied around their race and run over the hurdles all the way to the finish...or...they could have an Olympic athlete runner run with them who would untie the chain, pull them as they ran, and help push them over the hurdles. We wrapped up by showing them how the ball and chain are sin and life without God and the athletic runner is Jesus who can release them of their chain and run with them...the hurdles (difficulties in life) are still there, but Jesus will help them through them to the finish. Camp was wonderful and amazing and I fell in love with so many of the kids I wanted to take them home with me in my backpack!
The rest of my time there during the weeks were spent at the favelas. It's hard to explain the favelas. People who live in favelas are lower than poor, low cast citizens. There are no laws or rules in favelas and they are all run by drug lords. The kids are constantly exposed to drugs, sex, and violence. As on example, I saw a cute little boy playing with a dog. He was, I thought, trying to get the dog to play tug. So I asked someone to translate for me. The boy was actually saying, "Come on dog. I'm going to shoot you. Put this in your mouth so I can shoot you." Another girl, age 13, is a prostitute and uses the money for drugs but last year used part of the money for underwear to attend the camp. This year she came and has a new baby. She is a very troubled girl and without going into major details, became enraged at a boy at camp and wanted to kill him. In fact, she took a knife at camp and hid it to return to later during our night game of "Monge" to retrieve the knife and kill him in the dark. Luckily, it didn't happen. Another girl, age 9, told me she was going to have her "honeymoon" later that day. This is normal life in a favela. I thought I had seen the worst on my Africa trips, but I must say that the Brazilian favelas are worse. Not only are the people extremely poor, but the violence and drugs are so ridiculously out of control! One member of our team was mugged while downtown our last day there.
I would love to write about everything, but I don't think most people want to read a novel on a blog! I can sum it up by saying that it was the worst yet the best. Living conditions are awful, but loving the kids and sharing Jesus with them was amazing. I am so excited that I could share HIS MESSAGE clearly with them and I hope and pray that it touched the life of at least one child there because then it is all worth it.
Please continue to pray for Restoration MInistries. Many of the workers are overworked and underpaid. Many of them grew up in the favelas themselves. They are beautiful, loving people, with a heart for God!
I had special kids I bonded with if you could pray for them... Bruna, Joa' Paulo, Alvaro, Danielo, Camile and Giselle. Please lift them up in your prayers.
Thank you so much to my supporters. You really can't imagine all it has meant to me to be able to go to Brazil and share Jesus with these dear children. They really need love. They need Jesus. I know this was an impact to many of them. I'll try to put up more pictures on utube in the next few weeks that will fill in more of the story!
Choi and Obrigada!
