It’s Over

Well, Spring Mission 2013’ is finished. A group of students and adults from Crossroads Church (from Monroe, Georgia USA) was here in Brazil for a week and are now back in the US. They were here ministering alongside of us and a small church in Curitiba. It was such an encouragement to our entire family having them here with us. Typically I would’ve posted pictures and blog updates every day, but with our internet (or lack thereof) it made that impossible. Today I’m in Curitiba at a friend’s house (and he has internet) so here’s a quick breakdown of how the week went.

Day 1

When they landed we helped take them to the place where they were going to stay for the week. It was in the city of Curitiba. They stayed at a church (and a small parsonage adjacent to the church) that Crossroads planted a few years ago. It’s a new facility for this church and it’s exciting to see what God has done for Pastor Jorge and Lucie (the pastors of the church) by giving them such an amazing property. It’s smack dab in the middle of an area of the city that has literally tens of thousands of people living within walking distance of the church. And, to top it all off, there’s a community park right across the street from their building! 

The parsonage adjacent to the new church building

Here's the park right across the street from the church (at night)

Day 2

We spent the day at Encontro Com Deus (Encounter With God) and ministered to the kids that are a part of the day program there. Over the last 15 years Pastor Patrick Reason has put together a great ministry that reaches out to the children from this part of Curitiba and we love partnering with him by bringing mission teams there.

The front of Encotro Com Deus

Anna (one of our translators) translating for Sam, as she gave her testimony

4-way tug of war is always a hit with the kids

Kris talking to the kids about salvation

Ruan watching as some of the kids were trying to play his guitar

4 of the kids right before we had them attempt to eat a banana through pantyhose: ) 

The view from the top of the new building, overlooking the neighborhood, at Encontro Com Deus

Day 3

Lar Herminia is an orphanage located in Columbo. We’ve grown really close to the kids (and house mothers) that live there. Over the past year we’ve been able to have all the kids out to the camp twice and we’ve been able to bring ministry teams there several  times as well. These are an amazing group of kids that we feel like we’re suppose to disciple and we love spending times with them. And the ministry that was done there on day 3 helped us continue with that. 

The way that this facility is set-up is that there are 5 homes with 8-10 kids per home with one house mother per home. It also has common areas that have meeting rooms, a rec room, classrooms, a sports field  and offices. All this is inside a big compound that’s probably on around 30 acres. The mission team was able to split up in two’s and hang-out with all the kids in there homes and even have lunch with them there to see how they live. Then we played games with them and just loved on them the whole day before we had time of worship and ministry at the end of the day. Then, to top it all off,  we threw a big pizza party for all of them at the end of the night. It was a great day for everyone: )

Some of the structures on the property 

Some of the team hanging out with the kids at the sports field

Josh and a couple of the kids

Our ministry time consisted of worship, testimonies and a short Gospel message

We finished the day with a pizza party with all the kids

Day 4

We spent the whole day out at the camp on Day 4. This was a good opportunity for all the students and adults to see how we live and to see how much we’ve done at the camp over the last year and a half. After touring the property we separated all the guys and the girls. 

The guys spent the afternoon helping build another part of the obstacle course (a giant 20’ tee pee/pyramid) that is being constructed out of timber from the jungle. They got to help us drag giant logs out of the middle of the jungle with ropes and then set them up by hand (because we don’t have machines, haha).

The girls all spent the afternoon baking cupcakes for people on the mountain. This is something that Maryssa and one of my nieces started doing several months ago as a way of reaching out to people in the community, and the response has been great, so we decided to do it with the girls on the mission team.

In the late afternoon the guys did some home visits on the mountain to see some of the construction projects that Brad and the boys had done and to meet some of the people that we minister to here on the mountain. 

After the home visits the guys held a bible study for some of the young men that live here on the mountain while the girls delivered cupcakes to homes of some of our neighbors.

We ended the night with a time of fellowship and worship on our front porch... it was a long full day, for 

sure.

Taking the group for the tour of the camp

The place where we built the new climbing tee pee

The structure after we put up the frame

The tee pee is approximately 20' tall and, when finished will have
ladder rungs so that it can be climbed from all 4 sides

Some of the girls starting to make the cupcakes

Day 5-7

The final days were spent helping Pastor Jorge promote the new church. This was done by passing out information door to door and hanging out with people in the park across the street from the church. 

Handing out invites for the new church

Cheyenne trying not to get bit by the dog at one house

It seemed like every house had a dog in this neighborhood. This one sat high upon his perch barking at us

Me and my friend Victor as we were handing out invites

There was so much that took place that there’s no way to write about it all here, but bottom line is this... the Kingdom of God was strengthened, Jesus was glorified and we believe that the students who spent the last week with us here in Brazil will never be the same. Thanks to everyone who allows us to be here and facilitate mission teams like this. It’s truly an honor, Praise be to God!

Love Ya!

Jim and MJ