I'm Engaged!!!

Kristy's first day in Brazil started with me bringing her breakfast in bed and ended with me putting a ring on her finger.  The story in her words:

After being delayed 12 hours in Chicago, Stephen woke me up with breakfast in bed. Later that day, he took me on a "fancy" date for my first night in Sao Paulo. Dinner was on the 41st floor of a building that overlooked the city known for its "endless sea of skyscrapers." There we enjoyed the sunset and were serenaded by the piano after dark. We were picked up by Stephen's friends in a '70s style VW Van who said we were going to a party in the favelas (slums). We were laughing hard as they rowdily played the guitar and sang in portuguese the whole way. When we arrived in the favela, I was meeting everyone from Stephen's church and the whole group wandered down the street and stopped in front of this wall. We were really overdressed and everyone was taking pictures of us, so I didn't know what was going on until Stephen said, "Hey look at that wall!" It was my name grafitti'ed on the wall and something written in Portuguese at the bottom. In Portuguese it says "Kristy will you marry me?" I had no idea, so I turned to Stephen and said, "What does that mean?" As the 100+ people circled around us, he bent down on one knee. I was in pure and utter shock! Crying, jumping up and down and screaming, I grabbed my mouth, turned and started walking away. haha. He says, "Hey come back here!" Stephen grabbed my hand, said some very sweet romantic things (which I dont really remember), and then as he opened up the box he asked, "Will you marry me?" I enthusiastically said, "YES!!!" As he put the ring on my finger, we were showered with red, white and yellow rose petals. About a minute into the hugging he pulled me close and said I needed to do a ring exchange with him. In Brazil its very rare for a woman to wear a ring with diamonds, thus a little more dangerous to do so in the favelas. So the pictures you see are the fake elastic band, diamond studded ring...$5. The night was completed with a party in the church that included food and Guarana (a Brazilian soda), slow dancing and Brazilian-African chanting. That part was fun, a little overwhelming but a necessity for a Brazilian engagement. The night was perfect...everything I could have ever dreamed of.


Enjoy the Slideshow



Or View the Album in detail and see on a map where everything took place:
Steve and Kristy's Engagement Album

Feliz Natal!

My quarterly newsletter/ Christmas letter is out, get it while its hot!

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Happy Camping

Here are some pictures from Camp. Me and my friend Marcelo (Chocolate) had lots of fun pranking people at night, but during the day, it was all about the kids. I got to swim, play soccer, dance, sing, play dodgeball with the kids, and got to build a much stronger relationship with many of the kids that came. Something about the camp experience brings out a sense of trust and love for everyone involved. The kids call Camp California, "a little piece of heaven", its a place where they can escape the concrete walls and all the pressures that suffocate their childhood. Yuri had an amazing camp as he got the chance to escape all the drugs, fear, violence and pressures that come with that lifestyle. He got to be a kid again. And I tried to take a lot of photos of him doing just that...being a kid. Because of the drugs, you wont believe this kid is 13 by his size, but he told us that he has been off drugs for 2 weeks, since he was beat by the police so gruesomely. Praise God. We are still trying to convince some rehab centers to let him in, since he's only one year too young. I got to hang out with him quite a bit and build that relationship, we laughed a lot, played a lot, and had a great weekend. He's in the process of turning his life around, but we still need to be covering this young guy in prayer as he returns back to the favelas where his life fell apart.

Camp

This will be my first camp experience at the wonderful Camp California since 5 years ago when i was last here.  The boy I spoke of in the previous post, Yuri, is doing well, but there is still no clinics that will accept a 13 yr old.  So we invited to camp this weekend.  It will be difficult for him I'm sure, he will be without any drugs for 3 days, but we're praying for an amazing experience for God to really open up his heart and change his life.  He asked me if I was going before he said yes to the invite.  So it made it clear to me that he's starting to trust me, and I hope to build on that this weekend.  I'll be sure to post plenty of pictures and updates after camp. Check back on Sunday evening or Monday.  Much love to all, I thank you in advance for your prayers for all the kids, but especially Yuri.