One Month Under My Belt

I have been here for one month already, sometimes it seems like more, sometimes less. Overall, my time here has been wonderful. I have made some great friends, the church is very young because of its focus on children's ministry, so there is a plethora of young guys my age and they are a very tight knit group. Italia (pictured below) is a guy that I met 5 years ago when I was here.  He's become my closest friend here and a huge encouragement to me on a daily basis. The ministry is very much the same as I remember from five years ago, yet more developed. The family that I live with is hilarious and very hospitable, and the two guys my age both speak very good English. Speaking of English, I am able to talk to a few staff members in English just enough to figure out what's going on, and my Portuguese is coming along quite nicely. Definitely still a barrier, and its obviously frustrating at times, but I feel like I am improving every day.

Communicating with people back home has been a blessing thus far. I have been able to talk with Kristy more than expected, although the internet here is very spotty which makes communication very frustrating at times. My parents are close to becoming experts of webcams and skype. I got to watch the Twins make the playoffs on TV here, while being on skype with my dad and cheering with him. I even got to watch the Vikings-Packers game with all my closest friends back home via skype. It was telecast here on ESPNBrasil, but announced in Portuguese, so during commercials I would get to visit with my friends about how bad the Vikings were killing the Pack...sorry Lance.

The Lord has for sure blessed me in my time here, and besides missing a certain someone lots, I have made a near seamless transition into Brasilian culture. They love to joke with people, they love to laugh, and they are very carefree (especially with time). Probably the most difficult thing has been trying to curb my desire to always be efficient, and waiting on people everyday for one reason or another.

Thank you for your prayers, they are very much needed as I continue to minister here in Brasil. There is definitely a battle being waged to make my time here a failure, please come beside me in prayer.

Love to all, Steve

Children's Day Fiesta

We had 420 children bussed to the Day Center on Saturday for our annual Children's Day Celebration.  About 80 volunteers in all showed up to help with the days events, including a Chinese-Brasilian Church that lent a helping hand by sending 45 volunteers and supplying all the end of the day prizes for each child.  The children had their own special "red carpet" type of an entrance into the church and they rarely were caught without a smile on their face.  We had two separate sessions for the kids that came from 5 different favelas.  First they enjoyed a program, much like our regular program during the week, Agita.  They dance, sing worship songs, play games, watch a skit and listen to the message at the end.  After the program, they were split up by age group and sent to one of three stations:  Lunch, which consisted of 2 brasilian-style hot dogs, brasilian soda called guarana, and ice cream for dessert;  Crafts was necklace and bracelet making.  While the girls went fashionable with colors, the boys strictly stuck to their favorite soccer team's colors;  Games was outside with a trampoline, fooseball, a game like fooseball that I've never seen before, a ball pit, and it was highlighted by a surf machine (which is much like a mechanical bull)...the kids loved it!

*One special note is that Raphaelly is a little girl you will see in these pictures a few times.  She is the grand-daugther and niece of two of our staff members.  She has a rare type of lukemia, and a week and a half ago things were very scary as she was in the ICU for about a week.  A few days ago she was transferred to a regular hospital room after her body's reaction to the treatment improved.  She was allowed to leave the hospital for a few hours to come celebrate her day with the other kids!  God is so Good!  Please be in prayer for her.  If you want to read more about her story and latest updates, you can find it at Restoration Ministries' blog: http://restorationministriesbrazil.wordpress.com/2009/08/

Please Pray for Children's Day

This Saturday, October 10, there will be somewhere between 400-500 children filling our Main Day Center to celebrate Children's Day.  Like our Mother's Day and Father's Day, Brazil has a holiday to celebrate children.  Restoration Ministries takes full advantage of this day with an annual party for the children they minister to year-round.  This year there will be great food and games, including a surf machine in the parking lot.  Also, it became apparent that I will be volunteered for every embarrassing thing until I learn Portuguese enough to know what exactly is going on in our staff meetings.  I am going to be playing the part of Sampson in the skit, and its going to be goofy, and I have to learn my lines in Portuguese of course.  Please be in prayer that through the fun, excitement and the laughter (at me playing the part of Sampson) that these children will feel the love of Christ and the Lord will speak to them through the Gospel presentation.