Missionaries

One evening, after worship services a few years ago, I approached Jeff Kreiser, Lakeside's Pastor of Outreach and Extension. He was in conversation with a small group of men, I believe they were a delegation from a Korean church. As I approached him Jeff swung around, opened his arm towards me and pulled me into the conversation.

"This is Karen," he said as he introduced me, "one of Lakeside's missionaries."

I was taken aback. I had never thought of myself in those terms before. I knew I wanted to be a missionary, by that time I had been on two or three mission trips to Mexico, but had never really considered myself to be a missionary. My view of myself changed that evening. Just as it changed again during this recent trip to work with Restoration Ministries in Brazil.

If you read my Facebook profile it describes me as a full-time missionary. When I wrote that I believed I was qualified to call myself a full-time missionary, not only because of my commitment to going to Mexico and building homes for the homeless but also because of the things I do here, in my own backyard. They're not big things, they may even slip under the radar unnoticed, but that's okay by me. I'd rather be a tax collector than a Pharisee (Luke 18:10-13). However, what I do want to be is a lamp shining from a lampstand (Luke 8:16). After working with Restoration Ministries for 11 out of the past 14 days I believe I have added substantial fuel to my humble little lamp.

The majority of the ministry workers at RM are young adults, in their teens through their 30's. Each and every day they immerse themselves in the lives of the peoples of Sao Paulo's favelas. I have great admiration for them all. Walking alongside of them for a week showed me the depth of the faith, hope and love they all contain. It also showed me the depth of their commitment to Jesus. I know the only way I would have the strength to do what they do everyday is by leaning heavily on Jesus. It is very evident through their lives and ministry that that is exactly what they do.

Lakeside's Brazil team walked alongside Tati, Wellington, and the rest of the RM teams for just over a week on this journey. We went on tours of the favelas, learning about the daily lives and living conditions of the poor in Sao Paulo. We met people, young and old, all sizes, shapes and colors. We met them in their homes, on their streets and at Camp California. We hugged them, we laughed with them, we prayed with them, we cried with them and we worshipped with them. Oh how we worshipped with them! I was fortunate enough to participate in three worship services in Sao Paulo and will never forget the faces of the people as they sang and prayed and listened, rapt, to the messages. In the midst of poverty, crime, drugs, alcohol and other diseases I saw people worshipping the Lord with unrestrained joy and passion. I saw people young and old lifting their arms and voices, singing their hearts out to the Lord. I saw people whose life circumstances would break me living their lives for the Lord.

Wednesday evening I worshipped in a home church with a woman whose daughter was killed when the drugs lords walked into her home at night and took her away. The daughter was murdered because she was dating a cop, one of Sao Paulo's few honest cops. Years after his daughter's murder this woman's husband does not sleep nights. Instead, he spends them vigilant, watching over his surviving family members, including his orphaned granddaughter. At that same service was a woman whose husband works in another town. He works there because there he is able to make enough money there to support his wife, children and extended family (about 14 people in all, plus a baby on the way) but he does not make enough money to come home more than once every few weeks. Recently, he has not come home at all and and she worries that he has found another woman in the other town. Both these women and their families were at this home service. I watched their transformed faces as they worshipped the Lord. The depth of their worship left me feeling lacking in the depth of mine.

Those are just two of the many, many stories I heard these past few days. I had my heart broken over and over again for the poor of Sao Paulo. And because of who I am I did not want to leave Sao Paulo until I had fixed the problem. But in reality, there is no quick and easy solution for the poverty and other problems of Sao Paulo. Neither is the problem isolated to Sao Paulo. Poverty, crime, addictions and disease are prevalent throughout our world. As a Christian I am called to be a witness to the world. Jesus expects me to embrace different standards from the world's standards. He expects me to love my neighbor and my enemies. He expects me to forgive those who have wronged me. He expects me to lift up the poor and downtrodden. He expects me to fight for social justice and and to live a life of sacrifice for Him. He also expects me to be a light, a shining example to those who have not yet fully embraced His expectations of them. He expects this from everyone who proclaims that they follow Him. For although we have been saved by grace through faith and not by works, we have been saved for works which God prepared beforehand, for each of us individually (Ephesians 2:8-10). What is your mission? It can be as simple as pulling out your checkbook to support worldwide missions, it can be as simple as raising our next generation of missionaries or it can be as complicated as taking the steps needed to go on a mission trip such as the one our Lakeside Team just returned from. We are called to obedience to Matthew 28:19. United together, in the body of Christ, we can do it! United together, with the strength of Christ, we will do it! Jesus has promised to be with us, "even to the end of the age." He is calling us right now. I know how I am responding. How are you responding?

On a lighter note... after some not very extensive study, I have determined that toilets south of the equator DO flush in a counter-clockwise direction. You are now free to study north of the equator flushing...

posted by Karen J Ruth, Brazil July 2009 team member

LAST DAY THOUGHTS ON BRAZIL from Diane

Thoughts, feelings, emotions all run together and bring such an impact that it almost knocks you to your knees…wanting to bow before a God who loves us so much…and loves these kids even more powerfully than we possibly can. How I want to bring all of these kids back to the US where their opportunities for a good education and a better life would be so much\uld bridge the language barrier and really understand the individual situations….but we hugged and cried and prayed with kids anyway.
Yet they have a certain joy through it all that we can admire. They seem happy in the simple things. Saturday night at camp, we gave out glow sticks. They played with them for an hour, swinging them around in the dark…having fun dancing to crazy music we had brought along…until we finally chased them off to bed. And they also seem to have a closeness to God that we don’t see in a lot of our US kids. At church on Sunday evening (where the music is INCREDIBLE!!!) they sang with a passion…hands raised…voices lifted…little kids, youth, young adults, older people. One song they often sing that has become a favorite for me (and I love that they sing it in Portuguese and add a verse in English)…"My Life is in Your Hands.”
“You don’t have to worry…..you don’t need to be afraid.
Joy comes in the morning. Troubles they don’t last always.
But there’s a friend in Jesus who will wipe your tears away.
And if your heart is broken, just lift your hands and say.
I know that I can make it. I know that I can stand.
No matter what may come my way, my life is in your hands.
With Jesus, I can make it. With Him I know I can stand.
No matter what may come my way, my life is in your hands.”

So would these kids be better off with us? Yes...no….but it’s a mute point. We can’t bring them home anyway. So we come, do what we can, share the love of God, the good news of Jesus, pray lots for them now and when we return home, and be thankful for Restoration Ministries and the on-going everyday work they do with these beautiful kids. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers while we have been here. It has been a blessing to be able to serve God once again in this place I have come to love so dearly.

God's Children-from Lauren

1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 says, "You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory."

And so, we went to camp with the older group of kids this last weekend, loving and encouraging them as if they were our own children. They are God's children. We are God's children.
I was excited for camp this weekend. Although, I was not excited for the walk up to camp..in the dark. Because of the rain, we were going to walk up to the camp after a full day of beautiful home visits and playing with the kids. Yet, we were more than thankful that we were still going to have camp. The rain held off long enough for God to say, 'Alright Lakeside group, my love is pouring out for these children...take them to camp and love them like I do."

As the bus headed to the dirt trail up to camp, it was pitch dark. But, as we reached the road, the bus kept going..and climbing..and pushing. That night, we did not have to walk in the dark. God was gracious and good. We prayed that we would be able to go to camp despite the rain. Not only were we able to go to camp, but we did not have to walk up in the dark. Somehow, on that dark night up to camp, God's light shown bright and brilliant.

The next morning (on Saturday), I got up and ran around camp. It was a beautiful morning and beyond perfect weather. Though we had a week of rain and trials, God's love was showing through that sunshine. And as the older group of kids arrived at camp for the weekend, they greeted us with hugs and kisses. After a full day of playing and hanging out, we had a beautiful service where young teens accepted Christ and cried with pain and joy. As I looked around the room, I prayed that these teens would see and know Christ. And some, for the first time that night, said, "God, please be my heavenly father." We are His children.

I can not explain in words all that has happened on this trip, because it is unexplainable. We have had so many tests and trials on this trip, that by the end of the day on Sunday night, after another small mishap (we have had more than plenty), we just laughed. We laughed with joy because God has done so many great things over this trip and over this past weekend. We smiled with joy because God can and does get us through every mishap, every frustration, every language barrier. He is soooo good.
And like a child, we come to him and say..
"Here I am Lord, Send me. I want to live a life worthy of you."

Beautiful faces

Just some faces of the beautiful kids here. Enjoy. Pray. Also, this evening we will attempt to go back to Camp California. The road has not improved since we have had even more rain all week. This is the rainiest winter in Sao Paulo in 66 years...figures. Satan doesn't want us here.....which means even he knows great things are happening here in the lives of these kids!! Pray for the children since they will bring them in the morning and we will
definitely be walking in and out of camp (a hilly, muddy 5 km. road). Please pray for their hearts to be open to the lessons they will hear. Pray for stomachs and hearts to come away full. For lots of fun, laughter, hugs and love.

CAPOIERA!!

This is an example of Brazilian martial art. Kids in the US go to karate or tai-kwan-do. Kids in Brazil do capoiera....a unique combination of martial arts, dance, gymnastics and music. We all got a turn making fools of ourselves "sparring" with Antonio, the teacher. He is also one of the Restoration Ministries pastors. It is beautiful to see his heart for these kids. He shares about God's love for them, encourages them to stay away from bad behaviors (drugs, smoking, etc), to develop self-discipline and to value education.

Rain Rain Go Away!!!

Please pray for it to dry up. There is a possibility that we won't be able to have our second camp this weekend because of the roads into the camp. After the problems getting stuck last weekend....and the fact that it has been pouring pretty much every day...we need a couple of dry days. We know that if we don't have a camp, God will use our team in other ways. But there will be many disappointed kids. Please please join us in prayer!!
Posted by Diane

Posted by Lauren

“When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You’ll drive for hours to be together, even it it’s only for a short while. You don’t mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, not annoying. You’ll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you’re crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it’s painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together.’- Francis Chan, Soul Cravings

What would happen if we fell in love with God’s people? What would happen if we went to great lengths to serve others or drive for hours because we knew if was going to impact someone for Christ?

As the rain poured down today, we had to cancel the morning kid’s program, and instead do home visitations. It was powerful. Maybe God sent the pouring rain for a reason…because just maybe, someone needed our prayers and love today. I am not talking about conditional love, but Christ’s unconditional, everlasting, persevering, capturing, all-consuming, passionate love. The first visit that my group (Jonatas, Robin, Rodaine, and I) went to was family with eight children. As we sat and listened to the woman through her tears and the sound of rain, she explained her family’s needs, struggles, and pain. Her fourteen year old daughter has drug problems and because of this, the drug dealers have been showing up at their home demanding money. Because of this issue, the parents have had to pay off the dealers, and now have no money to buy food or fix their roof leaks—leaving their children cold and wet at night. Drugs and abuse have hurt her family deeply. She was thankful that we came to pray with her and offer her help. She needed us to come today. After the storm from last night, and leaks all through her house, she was in need of encouragement and God’s love.

The kid’s program went great! Though the rain poured hard, and the streets flooded, we still had about 30 kids or so come. We sang and danced and played goofy games. We ate candy and gave our stickers, and love, and hugs. We took pictures and video taped joyful faces. As we sang, the neighborhood invested with drugs was filled with God’s presence and brought curious faces to hear and see the even. Restoration Ministries has a way of impacting kids, which leads to impacting families and reaching people for Christ.

Nothing can stop God’s love, grace, and hope to spread.

Continue to pray for the people here, for the team, and for Restoration Ministries!! God is doing some great things!