View of the favela

Zip line fun!

It was so fun seeing the kids get to use the zipline that our February team helped repair. That team replaced the support pole which had rotted out completely and made the zip line unusable. Our photos looked like raising the flag at Iwo Jima. After lots off mud, tar, and effort, it's great to see the joy it brought!

Greetings from Brazil!

After a several days of hiking through mud we finally got a break and spent the majority of our day either in a building (with a floor), in a vehicle or on pavement. After breakfast our day started with a tour of a couple of Sao Paulo's favelas. These are communities of people coming together in an area where they can build cheaply and inexpensively. Our guide to this world, Tati (pronounced Taw-chee) , shared stories and personal experiences that were heart-breaking. Tati explained to us how Restoration Ministries tries to help the peoples of Sao Paulo's favelas by building relationships with them. Walking through the favelas this morning and visiting with some of the children that were in camp over the weeked really opened my eyes to how fortunate we are in the US. I know I say this after each of my mission trips to Mexico but this was a further opening of my eyes.

Below we have posted some of the children's smiling faces from this past weekend. See how beautiful and happy these children look? This is absolutely the joy of the Lord. If you could see the conditions these children live in day after day you would have no doubt that the Lord is working powerfully in their lives. For the next four days our group will not be merely touring the favelas but actually working in them, interacting with the kids and thier families. Please pray for us that we will be effective ambassadors for Christ, exhibiting His love to everyone we come in contact with. We cannot do this without your love and prayers supporting us. Thank you for all you are dong from home.

posted by Karen J Ruth

God's love :) ..-in from Lauren Jimison

Where do I start? It was a pretty rough trip here. From the long flight, to a frustrating and trying time in the airport, God has shown that our plans aren’t always His. It’s humbling. As we landed in Sao Paulo, Jimmy, Patty, and I had to go through a separate security because of our bags. After over an hour of confusion, frustration, and miscommunication, they took and kept our bags of toys because we did not have any claims that they were donations and they taxed the speakers as well (a lot of money). But, we made it out safe!

Our journey had just begun. We made the trip out to beautiful Camp California. It was rainy and muddy, but we were determined that God would work despite all of the rain. As we pulled up to the dirt road leading to the camp, our bus got stuck deep in mud. We hoped and prayed and did what we could to get the bus up, but a pretty 45 minute walk up to camp was the outcome. And, thankfully, the bus was pulled out later. Hooray! Sadly, because of all the troubles, the kids were not able to come up Friday night. Yet, the next morning, they arrived, after walking the long climb as well, with excitement. We instantly became celebrities. God was and is at work.

The camp was great! It was full of God’s grace and love and His peace flowed from the dewy rain that kept us inside all Saturday. That did not hold back the extatic kids from running around and grabbing our hands and jumping up and down during worship. :) It is incredible the relationship you can build with kids in a day, even with a language barrier. Though it may seem like a barrier, at times, it is not, in fact….it may push us even closer to using love to show God to kids yearning for a heavenly Father.

After walking back down from the camp and the buses getting stuck again, we made it to the hotel ..showered quick, and joined Restoration Ministries for church. It was wonderful!!! Jonatas gave an amazing message and we felt God’s love fill the small, but powerfully loud room. It was great! Well, I could write tons and loads, but I gotta go! Pray that God’s grace and presence fills our tour of the flavelas tomorrow :) We are excited to see what God is going to do.

-Lauren :D

Preparations are almost complete

This morning our Brazil Team met at Lakeside Church to go over our curriculum, crafts, games and music. We shared prayers and laughter as we worked hard to get everything ready for our departure next Thursday. Take a peek at our pictures and video to see our progress.

Tonight we will meet at the Lakeside 6:30 service for our Commissioning. I hope you can come join us.

posted by Karen J Ruth, Brazil July 2009 Team member

Only 10 more days!

We only have 10 days until our departure date. We've been busy planning lessons, music and crafts. We've been collecting support and supplies. Things are beginning to move fast and getting exciting.

This evening we met at PowerHouse Ministries and bagged about 800 bags of candies to pass out to the children in the favelas. Each bag has 4 pieces of candy: a peppermint, a tootsie roll, a dum-dum sucker and a piece of bubblegum. As we packed we discussed curriculum, lessons, crafts, translations and packing. We shared prayer requests, and we sang and laughed together. God has great plans for this trip, that much was evident from our fellowship this evening. Take a peek at our pictures, we were hard at work on our candy production line.

Please continue to pray for us as we get even closer to our departure date. Please pray that we keep our hearts and minds open to God's will for us as we embark upon this adventure. Please pray for those we will be interacting with, the families and children of Sao Paulo's favelas as well as those who work every day with Restoration Ministries, so that we can have a positive impact on their lives. Please pray that God will have prepared their hearts to be open to His message and they will be eager hear the message we have to share with them.

Please also pray we all remain healthy before, during and after our trip. And for our safety as we travel to and from Brazil.

Thank you to all of you who are supporting us in this venture, whether it is financially, emotionally, with practical matters or simply with prayer. It does make a difference to all of us involved in this journey.

Posted by: Karen J Ruth, Brazil July 2009 team member