A frequent update from Merlyn and Mario Milhomem

Lucas' Birthday and some pictures of Christmas!

2012-01-08T18:07:00.000-08:00

January 2nd was Lucas' First birthday! We had a fun time getting all the preparations together. With Christmas a few days prior and New years just the day before, it felt like one long on-going celebration. But we wanted to make sure Lucas' birthday was a special event for him and friends and family. Here is a picture with the whole family (including Jonas)

The theme was "the farm" which seemed to fit well for Lucas' first year of life, so I made a bunch of cupcakes which I decorated as pigs, cows, sheep and chicks…he enjoyed eating a sheep cupcake!

January 1st it rained all night long and in the morning it was still raining. I prayed asking the Lord to stop the rain, but still it kept raining….and raining….around 3 pm it stopped and we were all relieved, but about a half hour later it started to rain again even harder and I remember thinking no one was going to show up! But at about 5:30 the rain stopped just in time for the first guests to arrive!
Everything continued on as planned, everyone that was invited came and the kids had fun running around. The sun even came out for a few moments before we sang Happy Birthday and when everyone dispersed again my dad suddenly called us to come and see the huge double rainbow in the sky! When I saw the rainbow just over the setting sun, I seemed to hear the Lord saying to me as He did to Peter, "oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Then my next thought was the promise He made Mario and I when we were first married (long before we even dreamed of Lucas)
from Isaiah 61:9
"Their descendants will be known among the nations. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed."
What a wonderful birthday present from the Lord!!!

This picture is just to show what a funny little guy Lucas is…here he is "playing dead" (or maybe he really was just "dead tired" from all the partying! =)

It has been such a joy to see our little boy grow and develop this past year. He has developed faster than many other kids we know his age. He is already running around, climbing on to furniture and getting into everything! He has also won over the heart of everyone who has had the privilege of knowing him with his charismatic personality….this was evident by the generous amount of gifts he received!

After looking through all the presents he went back to play with all the wrappings…I wonder if he was looking for more...

Is this for me?! No way!!…That's awesome!!!

brummmmm...

My brother Jeyson made this wagon for my parents and it was a great success with the kids during Lucas' birthday. Some of the adults took the kids on "hay rides" (the hay was imaginary). They had a lot of fun. Wagons don't exist here in Brazil, so they thought it was awesome!

Where's the "baah" ?

Every time we go over to my parents house Lucas asks his grandfather (Opa) to take him to see the two "baahs" (sheep), what's funny is that when he calls out for them they come running to see him too! It's quite cute!

Little drummer boy...

He loves eating oranges with his "papai"

Argh! This orange is so sour!

The next few pictures are actually of Christmas which was before Lucas' birthday, but I just couldn't let you miss out on those!

This was our Christmas present for Lucas…a cow shaped musical piano….

My mom cooked up a wonderful Christmas dinner with turkey and all. It was also my brother Jeyson and wife Stephanie's son's first Christmas, Elijah Wesley. He was born a day before Mario's birthday, November 16th.

Pam pamram pam...

And just some cute shots we took at the end of the year...

Banana eating contest with the neighbors…Lucas wins every time! (Samuel 3 and Nicole 1.5)

Mission Conference in Caldas Novas

2011-11-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Mario and I spent a week in Caldas Novas (about 3 hours from Goiania) for a Missions conference (there were about 900 people participating nationwhile, and many of the missions in Brazil were represented (including YWAM).

This is a well-known Brazilian anthropologist and missionary named Leorardo Lindorio. He is always very profound in his preaching.

I actually did not participate directly because I went along just to rest and get away a little bit, my parents also went, which was really nice...they kept Lucas entertained and I got to relax! Unfortunatly, because I wasn´t there, we didn´t get many pictures of the event. Sorry!

Lucas playing in the suitcase in Caldas Novas...

... and literally getting into everything!

Here he is at the pool enjoying himself and Grandpa very much!

It was such a nice relaxing week! Praise God for times of rest like these that renew our strength!

And back at home...just some cute pictures so show how cute he is every day!

...a little stroll in the wheel barrel to the neighbors to buy some plants for the garden...

He is already showing signs that he will be a great helper in the garden!

....but if not, at least one other talent is starting to stand out...his love of music!

Our vacation in Miracema, Tocantins (Mario's home)

2011-09-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

September 7th is Brazilian independence day so it is a major holiday here. We took this opportunity to spend a week visiting all of Mario's family who came together in Miracema in the State of Tocantins where Mario grew up. Here are some pictures of our fun week. Of course the whole week revolved mainly around Lucas!

This is Mario's mom, Rosa (Rose). Lucas is the first grandchild on both sides of the family, so he gets a little spoiled! (Mario's father passed away in 2007).

This is "Tia Katharina (aunt Katha), Mario's older sister, she is a dermatologist.

and this is her husband Peter who meet Lucas for the fist time that week. He is also a doctor. This family is full of doctors!

This is Mario's youngest sister Thayrine, she is in her first year of Med. school in the state of Acre, close to Bolivia. Mario's youngest brother Marcus and his wife were the only two missing that week. (Marcus is a lawyer).

Lucas also got to take a delicious bath in the Tocantins river with his aunt and uncle. Later on mom and dad did not resist and plunged in clothes and all. It was a lot of fun!

As you can see Lucas spent most of the time in the water. It is always very hot in Miracema (in the 100's) so he enjoyed splashing in the water several times a day!

Happenings at the base

2011-08-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

In May we started a new DTS on the base.

A couple of weeks ago the students had a week of history class about the generations and at the end they decided to make our usual Thursday night worship service a "generation service"where everyone had to dress up from a generation, like "baby boomers, generation "X"or "Y", etc. It was fun...

Mario and I also had fun participating. For some reason the "hyppie"generation was very popular!

Look at Mario and Jonas!

Last week the Terceiro Espaco kids had a party…the kids always enjoy a good swim on those days! Especially now that it's so hot and dry here.

Lucas also had a great blessing! Many months ago when Mario was preaching in a missions conference in the state of Cuiabá. We went out to lunch with a young couple who had a two year old son named Eduardo (Dudu). They shared with us that next year (now this year) they wanted to get pregnant again and that they were hoping to have a girl, they said that if they got their wish all of "Dudu's"clothes would go to Lucas! I was still pregnant at the time!

Well, guess what?! They are having a girl….and Lucas got a whole suitcase full of new baby clothes!!!
They came just in time too cause a few days prior I had told Mario that I would need to buy Lucas new pants because his were all getting small! God is so faithful!

Speaking of God's wonderful faithfulness…I have to mention that we have also been experiencing the same miracle of the widow's oil that never went out with Lucas' diapers! He is already 7 months and can you believe we have never had to buy him a single bag of diapers??? It's true look...

Last week I took Lucas for his first swim in the pool! The cute little speedo and hat were in the "blessing suitcase"

He was a little scared at first…but over all I think he had fun…I sure did!

It's very hard to Lucas to fall asleep on someone else's lap besides his mommy's…but he must feel very confident with Jonas 'cause look here:

This past weekend we had about 70 people on the base for an arts seminar, featuring circus, dance and theatre. We had professional teachers come to teach each of these areas. Young people from many different churches came to participate.

The opening worship service...

My good friends Dayse and Adriana. Dayse and her husband are missionaries in Angola (but they are back because she is pregnant) and Adriana and her husband just returned from India with their 2 kids. They were missionaries in Goa for 5 years.

The official opening of the seminar was Saturday morning with another worship time...

Circus...

Theatre...

Dance...

The girl in the wheelchair is from the Terceiro Espaco ministry on the base. She fractured her hip in a dance practice the week before! She was so sad that she could not participate in the seminar! Pray for her!

This is "Guida"she just arrived from Angola to do our leadership school (ETD). She is our first international student in many years to come to our base!

We praise God for the many 'happenings"around here. It sure is keeping us busy!

Not the best of weeks

2011-07-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

This has not been the best week for Lucas. He had a fever for two days and now diarrhea has set in! Poor baby. I think his upper teeth are coming in now!

It hasn't been too fun for mommy either. I was supposed to be in São Paulo right now with Mario and my parents to attend the annual ACTION retreat…but instead I am here alone with my sick boy. Not too fun! And daddy won't be home until Friday! It's going to be a long week!

Yesterday I changed 7 poppy diapers. Today Lucas got up at 4am with his first diarrhea diaper. It's 10:30am and he's already on his 3rd! This one here came out the top and there was poop all over his back.

And as I went out to take him for a little stroll around the base (which he loves)…I saw that the ants got to my flowers last night!

Look at the destruction! They took the only blooming flower too! NOT a good day at all!

And judging by this face, I don't think Lucas enjoyed his stroll too much today!

Help!

But just as we were going back home, look at the beautiful Toucan I spotted in a tree (there were actually two of them- they usually fly around in pairs).

Yeah, things will get better soon!

Jonas' 15th Birthday!

2011-06-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe "little"Jonas is already 15!!! On June 22 was his birthday so we had a little party for him in our home. My mom made a beautiful cake and most of the staff were there to sing Happy Bithday. I think it was very special for him.

Mario gave a word of encouragement and we prayed over his life...

Since we just returned from Europe we were able to buy him a really nice set of goalie gloves (he is a goalie) and a pair of cleats which he loved.

"You take good care of those Jonas!"

It is always fun to watch Jonas play with Lucas. Jonas is really filling in the "older brother"role well!

We pray that the Lord will continue to transform this young man's life into a beautiful vessel for His glory!

Milhomems in London

2011-06-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

This year Mario had the opportunity of participating of a YWAM base leaders training seminar in London with Lynn Green in the YWAM base of Harpenden. We decided to take the trip as a family so we could spend some quality time together and take the chance to see sights that we always dreamed about in Europe. We haven't had a real vacation in over 2 years so we decided this would be it. How exciting it has been! This has been Lucas' first international trip and we are amazed at how good he has been during all the flying and driving and change of places. He is such a people person and goes with anyone and everyone that wants to hold him. This is him at the airport in Rio de Janeiro before embarking on the long trip to London.

We stayed in the guest house at the YWAM base in Harpenden. The base used to be an orphanage and has some beautiful old buildings. We were treated really well and enjoyed our stay very much. Mario had classes all week morning, afternoon and some evenings.

I was not able to do the seminary at this time because Lucas is too small still (4 months-well, 5 on the 2nd), but I enjoyed getting to know a lot of people and going on chilly walks around the base

The day we got there I participated of a breast-feeding support group for moms of the community. It was interesting to see how moms do things in England and I think they enjoyed hearing about how things are done in Brazil.

This building is where all the offices are. There is also a coffee shop called The Oval that I spent some time in drinking coffee and getting to know people.

I love how the English are so invested in cultivating beautiful flowers. Everyone's yard is full of them, usually hanging by the door or growing in wines on the walls of their homes.

Lucas taking an afternoon nap. Looks just like an angel

This old church building is where the seminar took place every day.

Mario in a discussion group. There were 40 base leaders from many different nations represented there.

We had a nice walk in the woods by the base one afernoon

We also participated of the chapel one evening...

and since I was not able to participate with Mario of the seminary because Lucas is too small, I took every chance to get to know people and get involved in the culture. I enjoyed an afternoon of exercise with the "Fit Mums"which is a ministry for moms of the community, most of them not believers.

Lucas enjoyed his baths in the sink!

We were surprised how much he enjoyed his walks outside even though Mario and I were both really cold, Lucas didn't seem to mind the weather at all. If he was crying we just went outside with him and he would calm down immediately!

This picture is in honor of my brother Johnny and his wife Krista, who gave Lucas this shirt. Look how handsome he looks in it!

Lynn Green teaching the students

On the closing day we had a BBQ at the Green's home with all the leaders and their families.

Lucas was very popular at the BBQ with all the ladies!

After we left Harpenden we spent a few days at a Brazilian couples home in another town in London called Brigeston. Pr. Fabio and his wife Natalia pastor a Brazilian church there. London is full of Brazilians! Lucas is close to 5 month now and seemed very eager to eat real FOOD… I gave in and have started giving him some fruit and yogurt which he is just loving!

Pr. Fabio invited Mario to speak at the monthly missionary service. It was great for him to be able to preach in Portuguese.

We meet many families who have lived here for years and raised their families in this foreign land.

Of course being in London, we did not miss the opportunity to be tourists also. We spent a whole day walking around downtown London and seeing all the famous sights!

Brigeston is fairly close to Stonehege, so today in the afternoon we borrowed Pr. Fabio's car and had a pleasant drive to that interesting place. Lucas slept the whole way there!

Pr. Fabio and his wife are graciously lending us their car for a couple of weeks so we can drive down to Italy where we will be spending a few days with my good friend Letitia who was my room mate for a couple years in college. On the way we will be stopping by two YWAM bases in France and Switzerland.

the Family in Porto Velho

2011-04-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

From April 2-7 Mario, Lucas and I spent a week in Porto Velho (north Brazil) to attend YWAM the yearly leadership meetings. It was Lucas' first time on an airplane! He was such a good boy!

After about 3 hours of flying plus to layovers we finally arrived at the YWAM base in Porto Velho. Just recently YWAM added to their property by buying the land that belonged to Wycliffe. The base has a big focus on work with indigenous tribes and includes a small airplane. They also work in partnership with MAF (mission aviation fellowship or Wings of Mercy, my brother's mission). It was also the base where the documentary about infanticide "Hakani" was filmed.

Lucas meeting some of the other MK's who came to the meetings with their parents.

The base also has a school...off they go!

This is the building where we had the meetings. Luckily it was air-conditioned because it sure was hot there!

and this is the house where we stayed with 2 other families. It used to belong to two Wycliffe missionaries.

I'm not sure what insect made this, but I thought it was pretty interesting...

We had meetings every day...morning and afternoon.

The leader of YWAM Mozambique was with us for the week and I had the privilege of translating for him one of the days.

Lucas spent a good amount of time like this under the fan to cool off from the sticky heat.

I was able to participate of most of the meetings when Lucas was sleeping or "talking" happily in his baby car.

I took along his sock bunny that I made for him. I am trying to get him used to it so that he has something familiar for when he is not home. It's kind of ugly, but it's something I can just throw in the wash real quick and it doesn't matter if it gets ripped and tortured to shreds because I can just sew him up again.

We had some wonderful times of prayer for some of the leaders the Lord showed us needed some encouragement.

Mario, Lucas and I also went out one day for lunch to have some of the North Brazil's amazing amazon fish! Delicious!!

Here are some pictures we took around the base...

This is a very popular amazon fruit called "Cupuacu". It's great blended with milk and sugar!

Mario was able to share about what God is doing in Goiania. We were so happy to share that in February we were finally able to pay off the land!

is the leader of the Acre base (extreme north of Brazil). He has worked for almost 30 years among an indian tribe in that state. During this occasion some of his disciples (who were teenagers at the time they became believers) were present and shared a bit of their testimony and prayed for him in their native tongue. The lady speaking in the mic. is the leader of the Porto Velho base who hosted us.

Gilberto (in the Jesus T-shirt) and Wellington (next to him) are the national directors of YWAM in Brazil. They are amazing men of God and have been with YWAM since it's beginning in Brazil 30 years ago.

We felt led to wash their feet to honor them for all they have done during the years they have served the Lord in YWAM.

On the last day the cooks that were serving us all week prepared a wonderful meal of fish, rice, salad and yucca root...it was wonderful!

Fried...

Baked...

It rained several times later in the week and it was like going off-roading with Lucas in his baby carriage.

Another fruit there was alot of at the base was "Jambo" it grows on the branches of the tree and looks a lot like an apple but in a pear shape and has a unique taste and texture...something like dense cotton soaked in water with some sugar....not bad.

This used to be a Wycliffe school.

By this picture, nobody can say that he is not getting enough milk!

It was a great time! Thank you for your prayers, especially for safety against mosquitos. We praise God for window screens, fans and some air conditioning who were our greatest allies against those nasty bugs. Even when we were outside there didn't seem to be that many. I did get some bites on me, but somehow Lucas didn't get a single one! Yeah!!!

English School and Carnival Evangelism

2011-03-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

This year we began a 2 month English school at the base for staff that is interested in learning the language. We had a great turn out of staff from our base and also from a base in Brasilia. There was even one girl who came from the north of Brazil for the course. Stephanie Braun ( my sister-in-law), Matthew (from ACTION), and Loy (from Angola) were the teachers. Loy, who is a new staff to our base was the coordinator of the school and has been doing a great job.

The first day there was an oppening party that Mario, Lucas and I participated in...

We also payed for Jonas to do the course since he was interested, but unfortunatly he quit after a week. He thought it was a bit much for him (although we all disagreed). Maybe when he is a little older he will realize what a great privilege it is to learn another language.

Here is Matthew with his two sons. I think he is showing 3 fingers because he was talking about his wife Elsiene who was going to give birth two days after this party (they now have one more boy).

Eliana is one of our oldest staff. She was been a missionary with YWAM since the early 80'sn (she started at the base in Belem in the north of Brazil where she is from).
She has helped me a lot with Lucas.

Stephanie has done a great job teaching. The students have caught on really well. She drives all the way from Anapolis by herself every Monday and stays with us to teach her class on Tuesday mornings.

She is very patient and enthusiastic with the students.

Diego (pictured in the foto below) has been the most dedicated student. He is a former drug user who recovered at our drug rehab home and has been a staff at our base for about 4 years. He is working very hard at learning the language and spends hours outside of class teaching himself more vocabulary from a dictionary. I believe God is going to use Diego in missions internationally very soon!

Marcello just returned from South Africa recently and was a substitute teacher for Matthew one day when their newborn baby was in the ICU with a very bad cold (he is ok now).

This last Saturday Stephanie and Eliana put together a special American breakfast for the students which took place at our home. It was a lot of fun!

We had Stephanie's fluffy pancakes with syrup, hash browns, bacon, cereal and fruit salad with coffee and milk from our YWAM cows!

Everyone was only allowed to speak in English and the students did really well (with some sign language and lots of laughter they all communicated just fine).

From March 4-8 we were in Uberlandia in the state of Minas Gerais (about an 5 hour drive) to do evangelism during Carnaval. We rented a bus for all the staff and students (including the English students) and Mario, Lucas and I went in our car because of the car seat for Lucas.

Diego (you may recognize him from the Africa Mobile Team that was in Zimbabwe) and Daniel are pictured here. Daniel is the leader of the evangelism team and were in charge of the planning for this evangelism.

We worked in parnership with a local church that has worked with us in years past. They prepared all the food for us. Everyone slept on the floor of the church on mattresses, except for Mario, Lucas and I who had the honor of staying in the pastors home.

Jonas also went with us and enjoyed himself a lot.

Church service on Sunday....

and after that we all went out to do evangelism on the streets.

Spitting fire is one of the strategies to gather people.

Dancing...

and Mime...

After that we approach people to ask them if they understood the message and usually have many opportunities to share the gospel and pray with people. This time was no different. In the days we were there, close to 50 people either made a decision to receive Christ for the first time or reconciled with Him. It rained every day but that didn't stop us from being there and ready. Everyone gave their best.

Praise God for these changed lives!

New year....New DTS...New staff...

2011-02-06T04:01:00.000-08:00

Last week we started a new DTS at the base. It is a smaller group than normal (10 students) because the leader of the DTS got married at the end of last year so she is still technically in her honeymoon!

It seems like a fun group of students.

We had the privilege of having Jeff from the YWAM base in Oregon teach the students and staff some dynamic team building games. He came to visit us in order to see the space we have available to build a ropes course (we have a great forrest in our land). We feel his coming is an answer to prayer for our land! We hope to raise the money and embrace this project for next year.

Below are some of the pictures of the group games...

This is Jeff (on the left) and Salomon leader of the ropes course project in Curitiba (on the right)

And here I am with Lucas...I had to find a way to be able to hold him for a long time without carrying all his weight (he likes to be held all the time).

I think he likes to be bound up nice and tight!

This is Daniel (leader of the evangelism ministry on the base) and his two kids, Samuel and Nicole

This is Sueli (Susuka) she is the financial director on the base. She just came back from Angola after spending a year there. It's good to have her back!

Jonas and Lucas.

Sorry for the bad quality photo, but I couldn't leave this picture out. Jonas loves kids and it's fun to watch him interact with Lucas

This week we also began our training for new staff. Mario was talking about staff policies with them here...

I am staying mainly indoors these days, but occasionally (when Lucas is calm) I go for a stroll with him around the base...

until he realizes he's desperately hungry....and then I have to feed him quick!!

and here are some of the latest of him just so you can see how fast he's growing!

So happy to get that dirty diaper off!!!

and back to sleep!...

More pictures of Lucas

2011-01-22T13:44:00.000-08:00

Lucas is 20 days now....and growing quickly! His favorite thing to do in the whole world is breast feed and he can´t seem to get enough. Luckily he is already sleeping practically all night. He goes to sleep around midnight and wakes up around 6-7am...eats and goes back to sleep till around 9am.

He is truly a gift from God and we can´t imagine our lives without him anymore!

Here are some of the latest pictures of our sweet boy...

Uncle Jeyson and auntie Stephanie meeting him for the first time!

He is starting to be able to see something...I think!

Oma Braun (Grandma Braun) giving Lucas a bath for the first time. He didn´t even cry this time!

Look at that handsome boy!

Our little angel!

Meet Lucas Asaph Braun Milhomem!

2011-01-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

Lucas is finally here!I went into the hospital around 8am on Sunday and had medication put into my IV to induce labor shortly arter. It took a couple hours for the contractions to begin, for next couple hours they came at around 2 minutes apart, but were berable, but then my water broke and the contractions were increasingly more painful. At one point the IV started to drip too fast (I think it was bent at one point and wasn´t dripping much so it got reajusted, but then it got unbent and doubled the speed), so I had about 30 minutes of constant strong contractions, so when my doctor came in to check again, I asked for an epidural, which initially I hoped to do without.

The other doctor took about 30 minutes to come to the hospital to administer the epidural and I was already at 7.5 inches....after that I didn´t feel any pain! About 1 hour later at 6:15 on January 2nd Lucas was born. Both my doctor and the pediatrician that was present at the birth are believers and right after Lucas was born we all laid hands on him and dedicated him to the Lord. It was a beautiful moment!

I praise God that He allowed everything to go really well. The maternity was almost empty so the doctor spent pretty much all day exclusively with us. He did a great job at delivering Lucas and keeping us calm during the whole process!

We were relased to go home the next afternoon with a healthy baby boy!

Thank you for your prayers1

Christmas cookies and Babies

2010-12-18T06:46:00.000-08:00

This year my mom and I decided to restore an old family tradition making and baking Christmas cookies. My favorite cookies are Gingerbread men so we made some of those...

And my mom pulled out my great grandma´s German cookie recepy, and we had fun with those too...

Look at all those cookies!!

Here´s me at 9 months with a belly full of flour!

rolling out the dough...

The cookie cutters are from the States, because cookies are definitely not a Brazilian tradition, but I am sure my neighbors will enjoy getting them anyway!

Ready for the oven...

Yummy!

and some sugar cookies just for variety...

The first ones came out nice, but by the 50th cookie I decorated, I was ready to be done!

And this is our Christmas tree. We are planning to plant it in our garden later...

my mom made this center piece, which we put on our brand new table! After 6 months living in our new home, we finally we able to get our table! Lol

``Let it Snow``...it´s kind of a joke because it´s impossible in the hot December summer of Brazil!

Everything is ready for Christmas now...including Lucas´ room...just waiting for him to arrive any day now!

My mom had this old sofa bed at home, which we painted white and she covered with new fabric to match the room (I made the pillows)....looks perfect!

I also made this mobile with felt animals. It doesn´t play music or spin, but it looks nice over the crib...

Grandma Braun also made this blanket for Lucas...

and I made this sock bunny out of an old sock...There aren´t that many options for baby stuff here in Brazil, so you kind of have to be creative...

The staff of the base also planned a baby shower for us. It was actually a ``diaper shower`` (so all the presents were diapers, which I hear, you can never have too many of!). To deserve the presents, Mario had to prove he is ready to be a dad (Rodolfo, who has a 6 month old little boy, gave him some pointers).

and the diaper was actually full!!!.....

of chocolate cake that is!

and to show he is prepared, Mario demonstrates what to do after the baby eats...

Rodolfo´s wife, Viviane, planned the whole party for us, and at the end blessed us with a prayer for Lucas...

It´s going to be a wonderful Christmas!!!
Maybe the best of all time!

Zimbabwe

2010-11-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

After 36 hours on a bus comming from South Africa, the Africa Mobile Team finally arrived at their destination- Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The mission? To train yet another African street evangelism team...

Earlier this year Mario was able to make a contact with a local church in the city and we began praying and planning to train another team there. Unfortunatly I (Lika) was not able to go on this trip because I am close to 8 months pregnant now, as is Lorena (Junio's wife, another member of the Brazilian team). This time only the men went on the trip.
Everyone was surprised at the size of the church and it's structure and were encouraged to find such enthusiasm in the young people who were already selected by the church and were eagerly waiting for the guys to arrive in order to be trained by them.

During the service the guys presented a couple of our skits to the congragation...

They were received with open arms...

They arrived on a Saturday and after getting settled in began planning for the training as a team...

13 young people (including two young at heart ladies in their 50's) received the training which usually lasts at least a month, but they were able to successfully accomplish the task this time in just 15 days!

Prayer and Bible study are also essential parts of the training...

The first day they were already introduced to some of the skits, and trained hard every day!

Each of the guys took turns giving important principals and Bible study. Below is Junio giving his lesson...

It was very interactive as many of the Zimbabwean's had questions...

God moved tremendously among them, especially with emotional healing and forgiveness...

Marcello spoke about how God is our Father. It was one of the most emotional lessons, as many of the young Zimbabwean's had deep wounds from their earthly fathers. It was a time of forgiveness and restauration for many of them...

It was a time of great fellowship and sharing among the two cultures...the Brazilian team had the privilege of trying some typical Zimbabwean food...

Another day of training...Marcello was the main choreographer...

And at church there were services several times during the week...

Mario preached 3 times the last Sunday they were there...

Here the trainees made their first presentation to their own congregation...

The BIG test was on the last week when the team was ready to make their first public presentation on the street...

Over 200 children and some 100 adults gathered around to see their Zimbabwean brothers present...

The skits and dances work as a tool to gather people, but the real objective comes at the end of each presentation when the message of Christ is shared and the invitation to receive Him is given...

Back indoors for some debriefing and prayer...

On the last day each of the Brazilian team members received a gift of gratitude from the Zimbabwean team, which was named "EXTOL"

Mario said that it was not easy to say goodbye...even though the time was short, he tells me that this is possibly the best team they have been able to train in Africa so far! Praise God!

Congratulations to all 6 Brazilians who worked hard to successfully plant the 5th African Evangelism team!

And here you have EXTOL...1st Evangelism Team, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe!

Please pray for them!

To see videos of all the teams that have been planted in Africa since 2006, please check out the side bar (Africa Mobile Team- Our ministry in Africa). Enjoy!

It´s rainning again!

2010-10-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

This year we had one of the worst and longest dry seasons in many years. The hummidity in the air was down less than 20% some days, but 3 days ago we were blessed with a wonderful refreshing rain that came down during the night. It is amazing that in just three days the grass that seemed to be completely dead, is now sprouting all over and things are starting to look green again! Praise God!

This was the field just a couple weeks ago...

After just two rains later the green is already showing!

But the first rains do have some down falls here in Goiania...the morning after the first rain, we had millions of flying termites that here are called ironically ``Halleluia`` bugs. You can see them flying around the roof of our house in this picture:

After they come out of the ground flying they loose their wings and go back to the ground, leaving millions or billions of pairs of wings for us to pick up...it´s quite annoying!

and even with all the doors and windows closed, the wings somehow creep into the house and land on everything...

But luckily it only happens during the first days of rain...I managed to clean the house and everything is back to normal.

Along with the newness of rain, God has brought a renewal in our strength and joy through some recent events.

Among the most exciting was Talita´s baptism which took place last night at the girls home where she is living. Several other girls from the home and a couple boys from another home were also baptized. It was such a joy!

Talita and her baptism certificate!

After the baptism there was a wonderful meal with rice, beans, chicken and salad.

Here is a group foto of all the kids that were baptized...

This morning (Saturday) we also had a soccer championship here at the base with the kids from the Terceiro Espaço and two teams from a local school. We had two divisions with older boys and younger boys. Both of our divisions won!!! whohooo!!!

Our team is the one in blue...I was not able to get any pictures of the older boys because it was pouring down rain when they were playing!

Roney (the guy in yellow) is one of our staff for the Terceiro Espaço (he and Ceará organized the championship).

While some played soccer, others enjoyed a swim in our freezing cold pool just after the rain (kids...who understands them?!:)

Jonas (in the red shirt) also watched and cheered our teams on...

This is Jonathan (they call him ``Zoinho`` which means ``little eyes``). He is one of our oldest Terceiro Espaço members (he´s been with us from the very first day). His father passed away just a couple weeks ago. Pray for him!

As Lucas grows inside of me, I have been going into ``nesting`` mode and have been organizing Lucas´room. Here is the curtain I made for him...

I also got an idea from the internet to make baby felt shoes...here are a few I made for Lucas and all the babies that have been born to friends recently...
These are for Davi, Junio and Lorena´s little boy who will be born in January in South Africa.

These personalized ones are for my Lucas...

and these too...

These ones are for our neighbors daughter, Beatriz who is now 4 months old...

and for these ones are for Caleb, our other neighbors son (5 months old)

Next week I hope to paint Lucas´ room with Mario´s help. He promised to help me with this task before going off to Zimbabwei where he will spend 15+ days.

YWAM 50 year celebration in Curitiba

2010-09-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the privaledge of participating of the 50 year celebration of YWAM in Curitiba. It was a 3 day celebration and YWAMers from all over the country were gathered together to hear what the Lord had to say through Loren and Darlan Cunningham (founders of YWAM) who were present at the event. We rented a bus and were able to go as a base! Everyone that wanted to go had a chance to go! It was the first time that we took the entire base (staff and students) to participate in an event together!

We weren´t quite prepared for the cold weather we encountered!

We traveled 22 hours by bus (with only an occasional stop to eat and use the toilet). I confess it was an incredibly loooong and unconfortable trip at 6 months of pregnancy, but it was worth it!

We had great times of sharing and it really brought us closer together as a base.

Mario and I had the privelege of participating of a leadership lunch where Loren and Darlan asked us questions about what God is doing in YWAM Brazil and what ministries each of our bases had. He strongly encouraged us to focus this time in Bible distribution along with our current ministries.

John Dawson was also present and gave us an encouraging word as well....

Each region represented was able to give the Cunningham´s a small gift to simbolize our region of the country....oxen cars are a trademark for our state Goias...

We were all challenged by the words that these amazing leaders gave us and by the times of worship where God brought us together as a body...

One of the symbolic acts that took place was the signing of the Cristian Magna Carta which Mario and I both signed...

The last night at the closing ceremony the title was ``the flame goes forward``. This flame started in Loren Cunningham´s hand and spread one by one to all the people in the auditorium...It was beautiful!

We also took Jonas along with us so he could understand on a larger scale what missions is about...and see things from a new perspective. I think it was a bit overwhelming for him, but I know it was important to him because he later blurted out to me out of nowhere ``I can´t wait until I´m 18 do I can do DTS!``

The whole event took place at the YWAM base in Curitiba- here´s us...

This is the way Brazilians from the south make BBQ! It´s something else. This man in the middle is the ``Barbequer``. He is called a ``Gaucho`` and is dressed in traditional clothing

Since we were in Curitiba, we could not miss the opportunity to take the whole gang to the famous ``Botanical Garden``...this here is a giant great house that is often seen in postcards of the city...

They have blooming flowers all year round!

and we had fun taking pictures...I´m the one in the middle. I couldn´t jump very high because of my heavy belly!

and here´s just a fun shot of Mario with 3 other staff in front of the green house building.
What wonderful memories!

King´s Kids Camp 2010

2010-07-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

We began planning this camp in January. We chose 20 kids from the Terceiro Espaço ministry to participate, but in the end only 9 ended up comming, but on the last day we received several phone calls and ended up having many kids we did not expect, half of them were poor and some showed up in fancy cars with fancy luggage and lots of stuff. We wanted to have 40 kids with us, and to our surprise we began the opening night with 36....half rich and half poor...just as we had hoped at the beginning!

Looking back, I see that God chose each one very specifically! About half of the kids were from broken homes, regardless of their family´s finacial situations...and I believe that is what brought them together in such amazing unity!

Every day we had times of prayer and worship...

Since our goal was to include many non-believers, we invited ``Aunt Eunice`` and her puppet ``Zoca`` to share the plan of salvation on the first day.

Kids, teens and adults all loved ``Zoca``.

We had about 10 kids give their lives to the Lord that day! Praise God!

We also had other presentations during the camp. One of the most important ones was about drugs and bullying, which are huge problems kids face in schools here in Brazil.

Darlan did a great job presenting and also answering the kids´ many questions...

We served the kids 3 hearty meals and a snack each day. In 15 days the kids ate 910 loaves of bread!!

After breakfast they had an hour alone with God and meditated on a specific passage each day. This was something very new to many of them.

We divided all the kids into 3 ``families``. Mario and I were the mom and dad for one of the families (we had 12 kids!). The kids even called us ``pai`` and ``mae`` (dad and mom). My daughters loved kissing my stomach, which has begun to show (at almost 4 months now)! In my opinion we had the best kids ever! I loved discipling them and having family time together. We were surprised to find that for many of them, the family time was their favorite event of the day too!

Every day the kids had to do a small chore to keep things in order...

We received a lot of beans as a donation,

but they came full of sticks and rocks so the kids helped pick these out...

Jonas made lots of new friends...

One of the things that filled my heart with joy was to see how he brought kids from two different worlds together. This is a picture of two of our kids Luisa and Zé (you may remember Zé from a posting from the last King´s Kids camp). Luisa is from an extremely rich family (her dad is my doctor since I got pregnant, and that´s how she ended up comming when I went for my last check up two days before the camp started) and Zé is from the neighborhood next to the base, which is a slum. They got along like true sibblings!

The kids also learned dance (choreography)...

...and Drama...

Notice Jonas´arm! He broke it two days into the camp, but did not refuse his important role as God in one of the skits. He is resilient! He did a great job too!

The last day of the training (before going out to do evangelism) we did some team-building dynamics in which they had to learn to help each other in order to win.

We began our evangelism strategy with a soccer tournament. We invited 4 teams (6 with ours) from the surrounding neighborhood and competed with them.

We told our kids that the objective was not to win but to be a good example, something they had a hard time accepting at first,

but in the end everyone was in good spirits as our team of under 12 years old lost 12 to 0!

Since Jonas couldn´t play because of his broken arm,

he cheered the team on and entertained us with his humor and `´rapping``

and of course, Mario (who loves a mic. too) helped out as a good dad should!...

At the end of the games the kids presented some dances and a skit

Jonas did a great job as God in his first public presentation !

These three kids are all kids at risk (the two on the sides are brothers)

Some of the kids from the other teams looked on with interest while others chatted on...

At the end Mario did and alter call and prayed for all the teams.

The next day we rented a bus and took all the kids to a really big and fancy church here in Goiania where they presented two dances and a skit, for which they received a standing ovation!

The next evening we all walked two miles to present at one of the adjacent neighborhoods to the base (called Primavera).

The first half of the presentation no one seemed to notice us or care to stop,

so be gathered everyone in and prayed...

...and of course the Lord answered bringing many lives to himself that evening!

Notice in the picture below, I took this shot just as one of our participants in reaching out to pull the cigarette out of a young man´s mouth.

That is one thing I love about kids doing evangelism, they are fearless and persistent!

The girl praying for the young man below is only 11 years old and has epilepsy!

The next night we walked the other direction to Palmares

(where most of our Terceiro Espaço kids are from) and presented at the street fair...

There too the Lord used the kids in a mighty way to reach out to other kids...

To teach the children a different approach to evangelism

we walked to another neighbhorhood (Paineiras) to offer our HANDS...

We divided the kids into small teams and they went to different homes to wash clothes (by hand as they all do here)...

Take care of the overgrown grass...Hang up the wet clothes on the line...

Or do whatever services were needed at the house

(my group washed dishes, swept the house, and also washed clothes)

...all to show that Jesus cares about them!

The last place we went was an old folks home. We had to take 4 trips in 3 cars there and then back to get everyone there!

Many of these dear old people hadn´t received visiters in months!

We went from house to house inviting them to watch the presentation...

The last night we had a closing party that had the theme of ``kids``

(we all had to dress up as little kids).

It was also a talent show where the kids had a chance to show off their giftings...

there was singing and lots of funny skits!

Jonas doesn´t miss a chance to be in a skit...

Please enjoy the best hightlights of the camp video below!

Our New Home

2010-06-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

Remember this old house we started remodeling back in December?

Well, look at it now!! It´s finally finished and we´ve moved in! What a joy and privaledge to have our own home. It was a lot of work, time, energy and money, but it´s our! Praise GOD!

Please...come in and have a tour...!

This is our new living room...we are now saving up for a new couch, cause if anyone comes over to visit there is no where for them to sit (our little couch only fits the two of us!)

This is our lovely bedroom, complete with a wonderful new bed (thanks to my dear friend Letitia! You´re awesome!) and our new closet!

In this room we get a nice breeze from the window...but also lots of dust since we still don´t have a lot of grass to cover the dirt yet, so I have to mop the house a couple times a week since Mario has allergies!

Now we also have our very own bathroom! Sooo nice!

And this is the guest bedroom...but not for long because we want to turn it into the baby room! But don´t worry, there is always room for guests in this house!

You can´t tell in this picture, but the walls are actually a soft green.

and guests also get their own bathroom!

We also took advantage of a nitch that the old house had (it was a dark walk in closet from the guest bedroom) and made it into a very useful office space...this is where I am sitting right now as I post this!

and next to the kitchen is our laudry room...

and on the other end of the kitchen this storage space we call the ``mess room``

Here´s my favorite space...the kitchen! It´s my own design! I still don´t have my bar stools or any cabinets...but they´ll come- eventually I hope! For starters I remodeled and old crate and turned it into a shelf for plates and a few pans.

My favorite is this window space where I can put my violets...a tradition my mom started when we lived in Ecuador.

This ceramic pot (with the violet) is almost 30 years old. My mom bought it the first year couple years we moved to Quito and, get this, kept the SAME violet for almost 20 years in it! She gave the plant away to a friend in tears when they left Ecuador (but luckily she kept the pot, which I now have...I hope I can keep this violet alive at least 10 years!

Last weekend we had a very special guest come stay with us...Talita! It was the first time she came to visit again since she went to the girls house. It has been a joy to see the tremendous change in her life. She is now a profesing Christian and is not ashamed to tell everyone about it...especially her family!

That Sunday I took her to visit her old house....this is the condition that she and Jonas lived in (Jonas is also living at the base again!)

Here´s one of the bedrooms, good thing you can´t smell this picture, because it sure would stink! I spared everyone a picture of the bathroom, which is that dark hole in the wall you see there in the corner of the room...

One big victory in this visit, was that Talita was able to convince her granfather to take that image of the black Mary you see on the wall. She is called Mario Aparecida and is worshiped in Brazil by both Catholics and Spritists. It is not the image of Mary mother of Jesus, but of some other black lady which the slaves brought to Brazil long ago. It is supposed to bring good fortune ...but look what she has done to this house!

and this is the living room, I guess...

The kitchen...

The holes on the cabinet were punched out by her cousin Carlos who also sort of lives in the house (mainly he watches TV and sleeps there). Carlos is 18 and already deeply addicted to crack. Mario and I have prayed for him and tried to convince him to get help through our drug rehabilitation house, but he just doesn´t want to hear it! Pray for him too! ¨

But there were also some fun moments...we took Jonas, Talita and Paulo (Ceará) out for pizza!

Ceará (that´s the state Paulo is from and it´s his nickname) is one of the staff at the base, but we have also taken him under our wings because of his story. You know those street kids you see sniffing glue and living off the garbage...that was Ceará before he was rescued by a couple from the YWAM base in Fortaleza (state of Ceará). He was living in their home for boys since the age of 11 and last year when he turned 18 he came to our base to do DTS and now he is helping me with the Terceiro Espaço ministry! He is a joy to have around because of his submissive heart, but he has some obvious hurts from his past and a terrible temper that sometimes gets the best of him....but anyway, we consider him almost like a son too!

So here is the whole family, Mario, Talita, Jonas, Ceará and baby on the way!!

and just to finish off, I wanted to show you some pictures of this last weeks prayer meeting on the base. It was the last meeting with this semester´s DTS students.

We had a special breakfast to welcome back the students from their outreach in Bolivia.

The students will be graduating tomorow! But Mario and I won´t be there because Mario´s youngest brother is getting married tomorow! and actually, Mario has been gone all this week attending a YWAM leadership meeting in Belo Horizonte! He arrived tonight! Whohooo!!!

Gotta go get ready!...

2010-05-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

Today is Johnny´s birthday. For those of you who don´t know. Johnny is my oldest brother. He lives in San Berdardino, California...reason why I only get to see him every couple of years. Last time we were together was in May of 2009!!! Way too long!...and I sure miss him! I wanted to post some pictures of him to honor him on his big day!
This is Johnny and Krista, his beautiful wife:

Johnny works at this big company that fixes all kinds of airplanes. He was always an excellent mechanic and loved airplanes as long as I can remember...I think this job was a perfect fit for him! Next time we visit I would like to get a tour!

Looks pretty intricate!

and look at the size of this thing...

On our last visit (which was also our first as a couple) Mario got to see Jonny working on his car (an old Mercedes he picked up at the junk yard and fixed up like new)

Mario also got to ride on the new fixed-up bike

Mario and I have great memories of out time with Johnny and Krista. They took us all over the place...Disney Land, Six Flags, Hollywood...

Here´s us at Disney:

And at China Town...

and Johnny making BBQ at his in-laws

Anyway, These are just some snippets of my older brother (I also have a wonderful little brother, but luckily he lives in Brazil and I get to see him more often).
I wish you all the best Johnny. You are dearly missed and dearly loved.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

We´re Pregnant!

2010-05-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I took a pharmacy test because I was a bit suspicious that I was pregnant...and to our joy, my suspiscions were confirmed! Yesterday I had my first ultrasound and we got the see his or her little heart beating> It´s so exciting to know a little life is forming inside of me.

From the doctor´s calculations I am 7 weeks along! So our baby looks something like this:

Soon we will be holding a bundle of joy in our arms....!

But meanwhile I have been feeling terrible sleepy, noscious and thinking a lot about Ecuadorian food!!! How I wish there was an Ecuadorian restaurant in Goiania....

Among my favorite dishes are:

Ceviche de Camaron. A cold dish prepared with cooked shrimp, lots of onions, tomatoes, lemon and orange juice served chilled and accompanied by popcorn and...

Patacones! My ultimate favorite snack! Fried green bananas (but it´s a special type of banana that I haven´t found here in Brazil)

Another Ecuadorian delicacy are ``Llapingachos``...mashed potatoes stuffed with cheese and lightly fried on each side! They are awesome!

And then there is ``Locro de Papas`` Yummy potato soup with cheese and a bunch of other good stuff! It´s no regular potato soup!

So I guess I have been craving a lot of banana and potatoes....It´s what is plentiful in Ecuador and what I grew up eating!

I hope to get inspired in the next few days to cook some of these favorites. I am sure Mario will appreciate them too!

Some snippets of the last two weeks

2010-04-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago we finally got a chance to visit Talita. In just a month she has changed so much! Not only is she a few pounds heavier and looks healthy, but there is a wonderful joy that was not there before!

When we got to the girls home she came running to see us. She has written us about 10 notes which she handed me in a pile, instructing me to read only later. It included a note to her mom saying she is praying that God would help her give up drinking and that she wanted her family restored another for her grandfather asking him to please stop smoking because it was bad for the body God gave him, and a third for Jonas saying she loved and missed him...and another 5 were for Mario and I!

In one of the notes she wrote me asking if she could call me mom. It had hearts all over and was signed ``your daughter``. I almost cried when I read it!

What joy to see the change in her. This smile says it all!

At the girls house they are learning to make jewelry and these

beautiful flip-flops which they sell to help support the ministry.

When Mario asked her if she had made new friends, she corrected him saying, they are my sisters! We can´t wait to visit Talita again!

Last week we had what I think are the last rains of the season...

and look at what this last rain did to our road!...No it´s not a river!

The guys helped to dig out several cars from this situation!

And look at how deep the water dug in just a couple days of rain!

And here´s some of the latest pictures of the Terceiro Espaço kids...

Last friday one of our missionaries (Darlan) shared a special presentation about drugs with the kids.

The DTS students also did two skits which the kids loved.

Usually it is hard to get them to pay attention for more than half and hour, but the presentation was 2 hours long and the kids paid attention the whole time! It was great!

Here Darlan is explaining about the use of crack and what it does to your body...

Last Saturday was little Samuel´s first birthday.

He is the first MK (missionary kid) born on the base since we have been here.

And Saturday night my dad came to do an introductory course on Scatology (end of times). We had great times of learning and discussion about this very neglected, yet super important theme!

Come quickly Lord Jesus!

Youth Retreat

2010-04-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

This past Easter weekend, Mario and I participated of our church´s youth retreat. Mario was invited to speak to the youth about missions!

Belive it or not, It was the first time that this subject was ever addressed at a youth retreat at this church! We stayed at a beautiful farm from Friday to Sunday. Our room was the one you see below in the balcony of the building.

There were times of worship before every word...

Mario was greatly used by the Lord to challenge the young people about missions.

...and many responded in tears to the call!We also had great food......times of sharing...... and lots of games...

For the guys, soccer is a daily event here in Brazil, and it wasn´t different at this retreat!

I enjoyed the nature all around and took several walks during those days...

Mario shared about missions 5 times that weekend...

I also shared a bit of my testimony.

God gave us some wonderful new friendships during that weekend. This is Pr. Guilherme and his wife Alexandra, they are the ones that invited Mario to be the speaker at this event. Since they assumed the youth of our church about a year ago, they have been working hard to teach the youth about missions

...and now the fruit are beginning to appear!

We praise God for the wonderful, fruitful weekend He gave us!

Impacting our neighbors

2010-03-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

Last night a 16 year old boy was shot six times in the head by the local drug lords, many of us heard the gun shots ecoing in the night.

Last month a 13 year old boy ran away after stabing his 25 year old neighbor numerous times in the back, a young mother who was holding her baby.

Another man ran to us for help after seeing his friend fall next to him from two gun shots that were fired directy at his head. His crime? Owing drug money! The killer threatened the man saying: you didn´t see anything did you?...Then you better run. He only excaped because he didn´t owe any money. Today he is at our drug rehabilitation center...

This is the kind of news we hear almost every week from our neighborhood Palmares. Drugs, especially crack, are killing dozens every month. There is no mercy for those that owe and no justice from those that should bring justice. Last year the police theselves were killing one drug traficant a week in Palmares....

In the past year we have sensed the Lord moving us, and all the ministries of the base, more and more toward mercy ministries. It is urgent!...and we have already begun to act! Two weeks ago we took the DTS students to do house to house visit in our neighborhood. The picture below was taken after our visits where we did a survey to know the kinds of problems they are facing so we can better serve the community as a whole.

I have learned that we fist need to know what questions people are asking so we can give the right answers...so the survey was our way to listen for the questions.

The Terceiro Espaço ministry (me and the 5 other members) planned out the weekend...

We talked with the pricipal of the local school to use a couple rooms where we could give a workshop on drugs...We visited about 100 homes for the survey and we also invited the families to come to the free workshop and we even rented a loud speaker car to promote the event for us.

In the end we had only a hand full of parents and some youth. It was hard not to be discouraged...but I believe that reflects the hoplessness that people in Palmares are feeling. They have lost all hope of a better future...but this is just the beginning!

I know those that came, were educated and impacted... so much so that the parents begged

us to come back to continue the workshop and promised to call their neighbors.

This was a skit about drugs that 3 of the DTS students put together.

It was very powerful and had a great impact.

This is not a great picture, but it shows the man God used to give the workshop - his name is Darlan. He is the father of 4 and a very enthusiatic and prepared teacher. His life testimony is one of the most amazing I have heard. Darlan had a story of drugs since he was 13. He has a scar on his left cheak left by the bullet that he fired into his own mouth in a failed suicide attempt. Today he ministers to parents and in schools,

using his testimony and the amazing gift of teaching God has given him.

Three of the DTS students dressed themselves as clowns and presented the gospel in a fun way to the younger kids in the separate room...

Early on Sunday morning we headed to the streets to do evengelism next to the local Palmares street fair.Faces painted and ready to go!...

The students prepared some dances and skits...

...And Mario shared with many the Good News - There is hope in Jesus Christ!!!

Many understood and we watched as heads bowed down

to pray and give their lives to the Lord! Praise God!

This man was wiping away fresh tears!

After the prayer we all approached those around to ask them questions, affirm their decision, or help them understand more clearly their need to seek the Lord....

After a break we did a second round of presentations...this time the ones who presented were children from the Terceiro Espaço Ministry who had been practicing for a few weeks before

with Aurea (the lady sitting before them, with her two kids). She is one of the Terceiro Espaço staff.

It was so wonderful to see these kids courageously present before their own community!Another drama...

And this time Roney (also one of the Terceiro Espaço staff) made the altar call in the middle of the street..

At the end of the hard work we had a debriefing and gave thanks to the Lord for the new lives that were brought into the kingdom, but we also felt the tension of heavy spirtual atmosphere around us. The enemy was not happy to have us in his territory... but he is defeated already!

The following week we also had a beautiful event happen at the base. Juarez (we call him Coquinho which means little coconut), the former drug addict who just finished his term and was helping us to build our home, decided to get baptized.

He passed through a short one month course on baptism and last week he was submerged

in the waters of baptism! What great joy!

The Terceiro Espaço continues to grow and take shape. We are dreaming with doing more family visits, more events, more workshops, and being more present in the community. Today the children (about 70 of them) come to us three times a week at the base, but we are praying for the Lord to help us incease our staff so that we can have more ``arms`` in this minitry.

One of the things we are dreaming for next year is to open a community center where we can assist families with counceling, classes, worshops and where people can seek help and council in general. We know of women that are being battered, young girls abused, and familes who have no where to go for help. We want to be the go between them and the local government so they can get the help they need.

Another arm we want to deveop is a day care center for young kids, where working mothers can leave their chidren in our care and where they can grow up hearing about Jesus...

Please pray for this important ministry!!!

Talita!

2010-03-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

God answers prayer!!!

In my last post I talked about how Mario and I were desperately looking for a place to put Talita, to take her away from drugs and the whole destructive atmosphre she was in and give her a new chance in life. Well, shortly after I posted the last blog someone from the base gave me a phone number for a home for girls that belongs to the MCM Mission called ``Menina dos Olhos de Deus`` - Girls of God´s eyes (also translated as the ``apples`` of God´s eyes). I immediatly contacted them to ask about the possibility of them taking Talita and they agreed! We had a nice talk with Talita about it and she agreed to go.

Here she is at our home the day we took her with the new stuffed animal that I gave her. She loved the dog ever since she lived here with us last year and called it Lika....lol...don´t know how I feel about that, but I guess it´s for a good cause. The day before I gave her and new hair cut and picked a ton of lice out of her hair...yuck!

I sneaked the camera on her in the car...I think there was a lot going through her mind.

This whole thing was very emotional for her...she kep holding back tears the whole time we were there in the interview with he MCM lady that was helping us with the paper work.

Even though Jonas and Talita don´t get along, it´s clear that they care about each other...We didn´t have to ask Jonas twice if he wanted to come with us to take Talita to the home...I think the sunglasses hid something he didn´t want to show. In the end they just shook hands to say their fare wells....but I know the moment meant a lot to both of them.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for Talita. Do continue to pray that she will adapt quickly to her new home, in the company of 19 other girls who also live there, all sexually abused and rejected by their families. My prayer is that Talita will have a true encounter with her creator and make peace with those who have hurt her so much.

Of course we plan to continue visiting her and being part of her life....

``Meninas dos Olhos de Deus`` home in Trindade, Goiania