06/27/11
Brazil has an interesting cultural norm that is not so common in the U.S., the existence of empragadas. The U.S. definitely does have a similar practice because a lot of people do pay to have their houses cleaned, usually by Hispanic, lower-class women and the very wealthy have maids or butlers. However, here in Brazil the hiring of empregadas is much more common, much more pronounced, and not paid very well.
My grandmother's embragada is a middle-aged woman named Katiane. She comes to our house every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday to clean absolutely everything. She washes everyone's (currently only 8 people, but usually more) clothes by hand and hangs them all to dry on a clothes line. Once the clothes are dry she irons, folds, and puts away all the clothes. She mops the floors of the entire house each time she comes. Every time she moves all the furniture of the house to mop the floor under it and she mops the two stairways outside of the house and the driveway once a week (carpet doesn't exist in Brazil. All the floors are tile and the house is 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms). She cleans the bathrooms, the kitchen each day she comes. She works each day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. My grandma pays Katiane $450 reals (the name of Brazilian currency) a month, which is a good salary and above average than what she would be receiving somewhere else. Also, my grandma doesn't require her to cook, which most empragadas do as part of the package of cleaning someone's house. Normally, empregadas receive $550 reals a month for working six days a week in someone's house including cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the family. For these kind of empragadas usually they are given a small room in the house to live in during the week and then they go to their "home" on Saturday evening and return Monday morning. $550 reals a month is the national minimum wage in Brazil although I just heard that it was recently raised to $600 reals a month. Thus, as an American I am very intrigued and perplexed by this cultural norm in Brazil that looks almost like having an indentured servant to me.
Last week, Katiane approached me when she was about to go home and asked me if I could pray for her. For about 45 minutes she told me about different problems going on with her kids, in her neighborhood, and in her personal life. I gave her some counsel and I prayed for her. She was deeply moved and broke down crying. I felt from the Lord that I was supposed to visit her 13-year-old son because he was going through some hard times and he had no father or male figure in his life to talk too. So I asked her if the following week I could visit her house to meet her son and hang out with him. She happily agreed.
So this Monday, after she finished her work at 5 p.m., I traveled with her to her house. I felt to do this for several reasons:
1. I wanted God to use me to minister to her and her children's lives because I'm not even sure if they are saved.
2. I wanted to see and experience what an empregada and, specifically, our empragada had to go through in their daily lives.
3. I wanted to learn about true poverty in Brazil and better understand the disparity between the rich, middle class, and poor.
The bus ride to her home took about an hour and a fifteen minutes. We had to stand throughout the entire bus ride, being smashed in like sardines. If you tried to have a conversation the five or six people pressed around you would shamelessly tune in to the conversation and even chime in here and there. So I couldn't talk much with Katiane during our long bus ride. Her neighborhood is in the most dangerous area of Goiania, so my grandma and uncle were worried that I was going to get robbed or killed because it was easy for people to tell that I was an outsider. Even if they thought I was Brazilian, the quality of clothes, jacket, shoes, and glasses I was wearing would be much better than theirs.
Once we arrived to the neighborhood I saw that it really was poor, although it did have electricity and running water, which many poor neighborhoods in Brazil don't have. Her house was the most humble house in the whole neighborhood. The plot of land it was on was all dirt, with no grass and only one small tree. The house was made of brick, but there was no paint or covering over the bricks so they were exposed both on the outside and inside of the house. The house consisted of two small rooms that were each about 12 ft. by 12 ft. The first room was the living room and kitchen combined. There was a small bathroom and then the bedroom where the Katiane, her son, and her toddler slept. I've seen tiny studio apartments in downtown San Francisco that are about the same size. However, her and her kids were all well dressed and well kept.
Katiane is a Christian, but she stopped going to church 5 months ago. She told me that it was because one of the worship leaders was flirting with her and trying to seduce her, so she left the church. Now she's trying to find a new church, but she is limited to churches that are walking distance since she has no car or bicycle. However, Katiane has her share of problems. She is one of the only single mothers in the neighborhood. She has three children and she has never been married, so the women in the neighborhood don't like her and are always gossiping about her. Also, her son, Alan, told me that up until two months ago she had been dating one of the local drug dealers and when she broke up with him the man blamed her son for the break-up because the son never liked him. So after school one day, the drug dealer and five of his friends ganged up on the 13-year-old skinny kid and beat him up real bad. Katiane called the police and the police went to the man's house warning him that if he ever came close to Katiane or her kids again he would immediately be arrested. The only problem is that the man lives 3 houses down from them on the the same street.
I took Alan for a walk to the grocery store to buy some things for his mom because I knew that he wouldn't open up to me about his problems in front of him mom. He was extremely shy, but once it was just him and I he opened up to me and told me about the problems in his family, his school, and his neighborhood. It was all very similar to poor neighborhoods in the U.S.. However I picked up several differences:
1. Here poverty is not a race issue. The poor are black, brown, white, indigenous, and everything in between.
2. According to residents I talked to, cops don't treat people differently because of race.
3. Virtually no one has cars. Most people walk, many have bicycles, and a few have small motorcycles.
4. The "gangsters" here have no colors they wear and they are all super skinny and small. Their only strength is that they have guns and they don't hesitate to use them.
5. Not all neighborhoods have electricity and running water and many of their roads are still dirt roads.
Once I returned to the house with Alan I had a short Bible study with Katiane, Alan, and her adorably 4-year-old daughter Ana Victoria. I encouraged them to live their lives for Jesus and truly follow him and to find a good church to be a part of. I prayed over them and then bid them farewell. The whole family walked me to the bus stop to make sure I left in safety.
My return to my grandma's house was great! I preached the Gospel to one man on the first bus, two people at the bus terminal, and to one person on the second bus. I finally got home around 11 p.m. My grandma praised the Lord that I was safe and sound and that no one had stolen my leather jacket.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
My Birthday! and Poverty in Brazil.
06/25/11
Today is my 24th Birthday and it was definitely an amazing birthday! I have always wanted to have a prayer meeting and evangelism for my birthday and today I got both. Praise God!
At 8 in the morning I met together with Kings Kids at Maranatha Church and at 9 a.m. we left to go witnessing at the Lixao (the city’s garbage dump). We didn’t go witnessing literally at the dump itself, but there is a community of families who work at the dump and live about a mile away from it. Their houses are built out of cardboard, tarps, sheets of metal, and some of them have brick or concrete. All the paths are dirt paths and they have no electricity, sewage, or other utilities.
As we drove into the neighborhood it was so poor and underdeveloped that it looked as if we were driving into a poor, rural village in Africa. All the dogs there looked like the sketchiest street dogs you could imagine, but they were actually pets of the residents there. A couple of the families had ponys or chickens and some had vegetable gardens. All of their clothes were filthy, raggedy, and many were ripped and falling apart. None of them had cars or motorcycles, so I have no idea how they go anywhere because they are several miles outside of the city. They have no supermarket, restaurants, or any other kind of service you could imagine.
The reason neighborhoods like this exist in Brazil is not because the government does not want to invest in development and infrastructure, but rather because these settlements are illegal settlements. Poor people from rural areas of Brazil come to the city and invade private or public properties illegally and build entire neighborhoods there. In this instance, I believe that the land they were on was public property since it was close to the city dump and a huge state prison. If the government doesn’t do anything about these neighborhoods then they form into favelas, which is what has happened in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. By God’s grace, this neighborhood has not yet been taken over by any drug-trafficking group like the favelas around much of Brazil have.
Thus, we found out from the residents while we were there that the government has constructed free housing for all them in a location within the city and that within the next few months all of them were going to be relocated into this government housing. Then the government is going to bulldoze their entire neighborhood, but only after they have successfully moved to the new neighborhood. Surprisingly, it seemed like all of the residents we met had a positive attitude about the relocation and were willing to move.
Once we arrived there it was awkward for the first five or ten minutes or so because all the church people stayed in their cliques close to their cars and all the residents just stood there looking at us from the other side of the road. I decided to cross the street and meet some of the people and, eventually, most of the church people crossed over too to talk with the people while the sound system was being set up.
I first met Joaquim, who works at a construction site at the top of a small mountain that is about 8 miles away. He rides his bike every day most of the way and then his friend gives him a ride for the uphill part until the top of the mountain. He told me how his cousin had been shot and killed there a few months ago while constructing a house by himself. I asked him about his relationship with God and he told me that he is an evangelico (Note: In Brazil, Christians call themselves Evangelicals in order to make a clear distinction between themselves and Catholics because Christians here do not consider Catholics to be saved. So for someone to say they are an Evangelical here is a pretty big deal. It’s essentially saying that “I have given my life to Jesus and I am committed to a Christian church”). However, he told me that he no longer goes to church because the pastor at the church he attended caused him to become jaded with the church. By himself, he built a cistern for the church that was 15 meters long in only two days, but the pastor only gave him half of the money that he had promised to pay him. For an impoverished man with little work, that is a huge crime.
All the workers here only receive minimum wage, which has just been raised to $600 Reals a month. In Brazil, minimum wage is not an hourly pay, but a monthly salary. Also, now that the Brazilian economy is getting stronger and the dollar is getting weaker now 1 American dollar is equivalent to 1.6 Reals, which is really good. Therefore, now the cost of living in Brazil is virtually equivalent to most parts of the U.S. and in some senses it’s more expensive. Land and food are cheaper in Brazil in general, but cars, clothes, technology products, and anything else you could ever find in a mall is much more expensive in Brazil. For example, a new Honda Civic in the U.S. is $25k dollars while in Brazil it is $80k reals. In light of the cost of living in Brazil $600 reals a month is nothing. It could barely pay the rent of a small apartment in a ghetto part of town. This is why South America is the continent with the largest economic disparity between rich and poor.
I later hung out with some of the kids. They told me that a van comes to their neighborhood every day to take them to school.
Moreoever, while we were there one of the residents found a skull in the forest and brought it for everyone to see. He called the police and they took it to investigate the death of the person.
Finally, the Kings Kids group performed several dances and, at the end, performed a simple skit. Maranatha’s head pastor, DJ, gave a short altar call and the majority of the people came forward to receive Christ. We prayed over all of them and praised the Lord for what He had done. Then we served lunch with soda to the entire neighborhood. It was awesome.
Furthermore, Pastora Maria de Jesus from the Pentecostal church Igreja Bom Pastor (Church of the Good Shepherd) was with us also. She is a pastor of a church and head over a drug rehab center and she ministers in this neighborhood weekly. So it was great to have her with us because we knew that she would continue the work after we had left and that we were partnering with her in what she was doing instead of competing with her. This is a miracle because evangelical and Pentecostal churches here hardly do anything in unity, much like in the U.S.
This was an amazing site for me to witness because all the ministry that was occurring in front of me is direct fruit from my grandmother and grandfather’s life. You see, my great great uncle founded the First Presbyterian Church of Goiania. When revival came in the 70’s my family was kicked out of the church for speaking in tongues. So they founded the church Igreja Bom Pastor, which today is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in Brazil. As the church grew it became way too legalistic and the Presbyterian church was seeking to plant a new kind of Presbyterian church that would be more relevant to the culture, so my grandparents decided to return leave the Igreja Bom Pastor after founding it and help found the Igreja Presbiteriana Maranatha, which is now a spirit-filled, modern network of Presbyterian churches.
So here were both of the denominations that my grandparents had founded working together to win a slum to Jesus. Hallelujah!
Even in this small slum of about 70 families there is a huge division between them and one side of the slum does not mix with the other. Thus, we had to go to the other side of the slum and do everything over again. We did the dances, skits, altar call, prayer, and lunch all over again. It was great. I had several more great conversations with the men and kids in the neighborhood there and I had the joy of praying over one of the men there.
I came home around 2 p.m. and ate lunch. Then I spent time with God for my 24th birthday and took a nap. Miraculously, Brooke called me from the Bahamas in the middle of the day. They were in the middle of the ocean traveling from one island to another and they wouldn’t have internet for 3 days. She told me she had been crying all last night and all day today because she couldn’t contact me for my birthday, so her mom bought her a cell phone from the Bahamas and a calling card that was 60 cents a minute for her to call me. Crazy right!? Praise God I have a wife that loves me so much and in-laws who are able and willing to pay money for her to talk to me. So we had a great time talking. I really, really miss Brooke and she really misses me.
At 7 p.m., we celebrated my birthday. It was a very simple birthday for Brazilian standards, but it was great. My cousin Natalia baked a double-layered chocolate/strawberry cake from scratch and we had a good amount of salgadinhos (Brazilian finger foods that you eat at parties). My family has the horrible habit of always watching t.v. while they eat as a family, so to honor me they turned off the t.v. during my entire birthday party. Praise God!
Then I asked my whole family to come to the living room so we could have a prayer and worship meeting. I told them that I didn’t want any gifts from them, but I just wanted to have a prayer meeting with them. I shared a little bit from my heart telling my cousins, uncles, and aunts that we have a great inheritance of revival in our family and that they were being like Esau throwing away their inheritance in exchange for worldly pleasures.
We had a time of worship and then we prayed for about twenty minutes. Then I went around the room, laid hands on each one of my cousins while speaking in tongues, and God gave me a vision and prophetic word for each one of their lives. It was amazing and it was a totally a step of faith for me. But God was faithful to give me a vision for each one of them. As soon as I would lay my hand on them and speak in tongues the vision would come with the interpretation. It was awesome! Thank you Jesus! The prophetic is growing in my life.
Today is my 24th Birthday and it was definitely an amazing birthday! I have always wanted to have a prayer meeting and evangelism for my birthday and today I got both. Praise God!
At 8 in the morning I met together with Kings Kids at Maranatha Church and at 9 a.m. we left to go witnessing at the Lixao (the city’s garbage dump). We didn’t go witnessing literally at the dump itself, but there is a community of families who work at the dump and live about a mile away from it. Their houses are built out of cardboard, tarps, sheets of metal, and some of them have brick or concrete. All the paths are dirt paths and they have no electricity, sewage, or other utilities.
As we drove into the neighborhood it was so poor and underdeveloped that it looked as if we were driving into a poor, rural village in Africa. All the dogs there looked like the sketchiest street dogs you could imagine, but they were actually pets of the residents there. A couple of the families had ponys or chickens and some had vegetable gardens. All of their clothes were filthy, raggedy, and many were ripped and falling apart. None of them had cars or motorcycles, so I have no idea how they go anywhere because they are several miles outside of the city. They have no supermarket, restaurants, or any other kind of service you could imagine.
The reason neighborhoods like this exist in Brazil is not because the government does not want to invest in development and infrastructure, but rather because these settlements are illegal settlements. Poor people from rural areas of Brazil come to the city and invade private or public properties illegally and build entire neighborhoods there. In this instance, I believe that the land they were on was public property since it was close to the city dump and a huge state prison. If the government doesn’t do anything about these neighborhoods then they form into favelas, which is what has happened in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. By God’s grace, this neighborhood has not yet been taken over by any drug-trafficking group like the favelas around much of Brazil have.
Thus, we found out from the residents while we were there that the government has constructed free housing for all them in a location within the city and that within the next few months all of them were going to be relocated into this government housing. Then the government is going to bulldoze their entire neighborhood, but only after they have successfully moved to the new neighborhood. Surprisingly, it seemed like all of the residents we met had a positive attitude about the relocation and were willing to move.
Once we arrived there it was awkward for the first five or ten minutes or so because all the church people stayed in their cliques close to their cars and all the residents just stood there looking at us from the other side of the road. I decided to cross the street and meet some of the people and, eventually, most of the church people crossed over too to talk with the people while the sound system was being set up.
I first met Joaquim, who works at a construction site at the top of a small mountain that is about 8 miles away. He rides his bike every day most of the way and then his friend gives him a ride for the uphill part until the top of the mountain. He told me how his cousin had been shot and killed there a few months ago while constructing a house by himself. I asked him about his relationship with God and he told me that he is an evangelico (Note: In Brazil, Christians call themselves Evangelicals in order to make a clear distinction between themselves and Catholics because Christians here do not consider Catholics to be saved. So for someone to say they are an Evangelical here is a pretty big deal. It’s essentially saying that “I have given my life to Jesus and I am committed to a Christian church”). However, he told me that he no longer goes to church because the pastor at the church he attended caused him to become jaded with the church. By himself, he built a cistern for the church that was 15 meters long in only two days, but the pastor only gave him half of the money that he had promised to pay him. For an impoverished man with little work, that is a huge crime.
All the workers here only receive minimum wage, which has just been raised to $600 Reals a month. In Brazil, minimum wage is not an hourly pay, but a monthly salary. Also, now that the Brazilian economy is getting stronger and the dollar is getting weaker now 1 American dollar is equivalent to 1.6 Reals, which is really good. Therefore, now the cost of living in Brazil is virtually equivalent to most parts of the U.S. and in some senses it’s more expensive. Land and food are cheaper in Brazil in general, but cars, clothes, technology products, and anything else you could ever find in a mall is much more expensive in Brazil. For example, a new Honda Civic in the U.S. is $25k dollars while in Brazil it is $80k reals. In light of the cost of living in Brazil $600 reals a month is nothing. It could barely pay the rent of a small apartment in a ghetto part of town. This is why South America is the continent with the largest economic disparity between rich and poor.
I later hung out with some of the kids. They told me that a van comes to their neighborhood every day to take them to school.
Moreoever, while we were there one of the residents found a skull in the forest and brought it for everyone to see. He called the police and they took it to investigate the death of the person.
Finally, the Kings Kids group performed several dances and, at the end, performed a simple skit. Maranatha’s head pastor, DJ, gave a short altar call and the majority of the people came forward to receive Christ. We prayed over all of them and praised the Lord for what He had done. Then we served lunch with soda to the entire neighborhood. It was awesome.
Furthermore, Pastora Maria de Jesus from the Pentecostal church Igreja Bom Pastor (Church of the Good Shepherd) was with us also. She is a pastor of a church and head over a drug rehab center and she ministers in this neighborhood weekly. So it was great to have her with us because we knew that she would continue the work after we had left and that we were partnering with her in what she was doing instead of competing with her. This is a miracle because evangelical and Pentecostal churches here hardly do anything in unity, much like in the U.S.
This was an amazing site for me to witness because all the ministry that was occurring in front of me is direct fruit from my grandmother and grandfather’s life. You see, my great great uncle founded the First Presbyterian Church of Goiania. When revival came in the 70’s my family was kicked out of the church for speaking in tongues. So they founded the church Igreja Bom Pastor, which today is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in Brazil. As the church grew it became way too legalistic and the Presbyterian church was seeking to plant a new kind of Presbyterian church that would be more relevant to the culture, so my grandparents decided to return leave the Igreja Bom Pastor after founding it and help found the Igreja Presbiteriana Maranatha, which is now a spirit-filled, modern network of Presbyterian churches.
So here were both of the denominations that my grandparents had founded working together to win a slum to Jesus. Hallelujah!
Even in this small slum of about 70 families there is a huge division between them and one side of the slum does not mix with the other. Thus, we had to go to the other side of the slum and do everything over again. We did the dances, skits, altar call, prayer, and lunch all over again. It was great. I had several more great conversations with the men and kids in the neighborhood there and I had the joy of praying over one of the men there.
I came home around 2 p.m. and ate lunch. Then I spent time with God for my 24th birthday and took a nap. Miraculously, Brooke called me from the Bahamas in the middle of the day. They were in the middle of the ocean traveling from one island to another and they wouldn’t have internet for 3 days. She told me she had been crying all last night and all day today because she couldn’t contact me for my birthday, so her mom bought her a cell phone from the Bahamas and a calling card that was 60 cents a minute for her to call me. Crazy right!? Praise God I have a wife that loves me so much and in-laws who are able and willing to pay money for her to talk to me. So we had a great time talking. I really, really miss Brooke and she really misses me.
At 7 p.m., we celebrated my birthday. It was a very simple birthday for Brazilian standards, but it was great. My cousin Natalia baked a double-layered chocolate/strawberry cake from scratch and we had a good amount of salgadinhos (Brazilian finger foods that you eat at parties). My family has the horrible habit of always watching t.v. while they eat as a family, so to honor me they turned off the t.v. during my entire birthday party. Praise God!
Then I asked my whole family to come to the living room so we could have a prayer and worship meeting. I told them that I didn’t want any gifts from them, but I just wanted to have a prayer meeting with them. I shared a little bit from my heart telling my cousins, uncles, and aunts that we have a great inheritance of revival in our family and that they were being like Esau throwing away their inheritance in exchange for worldly pleasures.
We had a time of worship and then we prayed for about twenty minutes. Then I went around the room, laid hands on each one of my cousins while speaking in tongues, and God gave me a vision and prophetic word for each one of their lives. It was amazing and it was a totally a step of faith for me. But God was faithful to give me a vision for each one of them. As soon as I would lay my hand on them and speak in tongues the vision would come with the interpretation. It was awesome! Thank you Jesus! The prophetic is growing in my life.
Drug Rehabs in Goiania
06/24/11
This week I have had the privilege of ministering in two Christian drug rehab centers: Jovems Livres and PROAME.
Jovems Livres is the first drug rehab center ever established in Brazil’s history. It was founded by and is still being led by my grandma’s first cousin and my third cousin. I visited their main center in Goiania on Wednesday of this week and spent the whole day there. I got there around 10 a.m. and they had me lead a time of Bible reading with the men there. We read a couple chapters from the book of John and we commented and explained as we went along. I also sang some worship songs with them.
We had lunch together, a one-hour siesta, and then we split up into groups to conduct our cleaning duties. I helped water the plants. I interviewed the leader of the ministry and a couple of the men in the program.
The leader explained to me that they have great facilities, a great amount of funds, and lots of young men who want to be rehabilitated, but what they are lacking is workers and volunteers to help them do the work. They have so few workers that they are only able to have about 15-20 men at a time in their center, while they can be helping 60-80 men at a time if they had the workers.
In the afternoon I was asked to preach to the entry level men who had only been in the program for a month. I preached about the two greatest commandments of loving God and loving our neighbor. I urged them to passionately fall in love with Jesus because He is the only One who will set them free from drugs and sin permanently and give them an abundant life. I sang a song for them and I prayed for them. They told me that my message was one of the best they have heard since arriving in the center.
Finally, Jonatas, the leader of the ministry, gave me a ride home on the back of his motorcycle. It was pretty wild because I had a backpack and my guitar with me, so I had to carry my guitar in my hand while we rode through the insane traffic of Goiania. It was really fun.
On Friday, I went to JAM (Jovems Adultos Maranatha or Young Adults of Maranatha) expecting it to be a hang out time for the young adults of the church. It ended up being a full-blown church service with food at the end. What was awesome though was that the drug rehab center PROAME brought over 40 men with them to the meeting.
When I first arrived I had no clue that a drug rehab was bringing their men to the meeting. I came early cause my uncle was in the worship team and the rehab group was already their too sitting around doing nothing. I thought to myself, “Man, these are some rough looking guys. They are definitely not from Maranatha. Sweet!” I immediately sat next to one of them who’s name was Guillerme and we started talking about Jesus. I ended preaching the Gospel to and having glorious conversations with five of them before the meeting started.
Four of the men I talked to were from the neighboring state, Minas Gerais, and only one was from Goiania. All of them had only been in the program for nearly two months and all of them had first given their lives to Jesus at the beginning of their time at the center. They were all former crack addicts and/or drug dealers who were at the end of their rope and needed help. Even though they had already given their lives to Jesus and were being discipled I still spoke to them as if they were not saved because I am sure that they are still struggling with their addictions.
I encouraged them in their walks with Christ, explained the Gospel to them, and challenged them to transform their neighborhoods when they returned. We had a great time talking and they were really encouraged.
Lastly, I sang “Holy Sacrifice” at the end of the service. I broke a string and my finger started to hurt in the middle of the song. At the end of the song I looked at my finger and it was covered with blood and blood was splattered all over my guitar. That’s when you know that you play guitar passionately. ☺
This week I have had the privilege of ministering in two Christian drug rehab centers: Jovems Livres and PROAME.
Jovems Livres is the first drug rehab center ever established in Brazil’s history. It was founded by and is still being led by my grandma’s first cousin and my third cousin. I visited their main center in Goiania on Wednesday of this week and spent the whole day there. I got there around 10 a.m. and they had me lead a time of Bible reading with the men there. We read a couple chapters from the book of John and we commented and explained as we went along. I also sang some worship songs with them.
We had lunch together, a one-hour siesta, and then we split up into groups to conduct our cleaning duties. I helped water the plants. I interviewed the leader of the ministry and a couple of the men in the program.
The leader explained to me that they have great facilities, a great amount of funds, and lots of young men who want to be rehabilitated, but what they are lacking is workers and volunteers to help them do the work. They have so few workers that they are only able to have about 15-20 men at a time in their center, while they can be helping 60-80 men at a time if they had the workers.
In the afternoon I was asked to preach to the entry level men who had only been in the program for a month. I preached about the two greatest commandments of loving God and loving our neighbor. I urged them to passionately fall in love with Jesus because He is the only One who will set them free from drugs and sin permanently and give them an abundant life. I sang a song for them and I prayed for them. They told me that my message was one of the best they have heard since arriving in the center.
Finally, Jonatas, the leader of the ministry, gave me a ride home on the back of his motorcycle. It was pretty wild because I had a backpack and my guitar with me, so I had to carry my guitar in my hand while we rode through the insane traffic of Goiania. It was really fun.
On Friday, I went to JAM (Jovems Adultos Maranatha or Young Adults of Maranatha) expecting it to be a hang out time for the young adults of the church. It ended up being a full-blown church service with food at the end. What was awesome though was that the drug rehab center PROAME brought over 40 men with them to the meeting.
When I first arrived I had no clue that a drug rehab was bringing their men to the meeting. I came early cause my uncle was in the worship team and the rehab group was already their too sitting around doing nothing. I thought to myself, “Man, these are some rough looking guys. They are definitely not from Maranatha. Sweet!” I immediately sat next to one of them who’s name was Guillerme and we started talking about Jesus. I ended preaching the Gospel to and having glorious conversations with five of them before the meeting started.
Four of the men I talked to were from the neighboring state, Minas Gerais, and only one was from Goiania. All of them had only been in the program for nearly two months and all of them had first given their lives to Jesus at the beginning of their time at the center. They were all former crack addicts and/or drug dealers who were at the end of their rope and needed help. Even though they had already given their lives to Jesus and were being discipled I still spoke to them as if they were not saved because I am sure that they are still struggling with their addictions.
I encouraged them in their walks with Christ, explained the Gospel to them, and challenged them to transform their neighborhoods when they returned. We had a great time talking and they were really encouraged.
Lastly, I sang “Holy Sacrifice” at the end of the service. I broke a string and my finger started to hurt in the middle of the song. At the end of the song I looked at my finger and it was covered with blood and blood was splattered all over my guitar. That’s when you know that you play guitar passionately. ☺
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Praying for the Sick
06/23/11- 06/24/11
Today I decided to finally visit my Tio Jose Jehova and Tia Raquel. I haven't visited them at all because I was sick for nearly ten days and I didn't want to pass my cold to Tia Raquel since she is deathly ill. She has had diabetes for 15 years and about 11 years ago her diabetes developed a new disease in her that constantly attacks her nerves in her entire body. Thus, she has been in constant pain every day for over a decade. She lives off of pain killers, yet she is one of the sweetest, kindest persons I have ever met. Even though she is in constant pain she still is always smiling, giving me hugs and kisses, and being very hospitable towards us every time we visit her.
I went over to their house on Thursday afternoon to visit them and pray for her. First, my uncle Jose Jehova asked me to help him with his English. He showed me a book he was reading in English and he read it aloud for me to correct his pronunciation. Amazing, his pronunciation was almost flawless and he had never visited an English speaking country in his life. Then we hear Tia Raquel wake up and she was groaning in pain asking God to have mercy on her. We sat next to her and talked for a while, but then the pain became unbearable for her. She laid down, constantly groaning and asking God to have mercy. It was one of the most horrible feelings I have ever felt in my life; to see my aunt writhing in pain, knowing she has been experiencing this pain for a decade, and not being able to do anything about it. I began praying in tongues over her and asking God to heal her for a good while and her husband joined me.
She asked her husband "for the love of God" to please get the new prescription from the doctor's office and buy her the pain killers she needed. So my tio and I went to the hospital to get her prescription. My tio Jose Jehova is a formidable, strong man with a beautiful, deep radio voice. He is 82 years-old but he still walks and talks as a man of authority and anointing. He told me that he prays literally every single day for Brooke and I, for Brooke's family, and for all of our relatives. Every day he prays for each one of our relatives by name; he prays for Brazil, the U.S., and all the continents; and he prays for the lost to be saved. Every single day. He said that he spends hours in prayer every day.
So as we walked through the hospital every single person we walked by he would come right up to them with zero hesitation and tell them that they all need to give their lives to Jesus, read the Bible, and pray. That they needed to focus on the eternal world and not on the temporal world and that God wanted to change their lives. It was definitely not a form of evangelism that I was used to, but it was still very powerful. Everyone listened and respected him because he spoke with authority and confidence, but was still extremely respectful and humble. Also, no one dared reject or disrespect him since he was such an elderly man and respect for the elderly still exists in Brazil although it is also fading. I was deeply challenged by Tio Jose Jehova's boldness and authority to preach the Gospel. In the two hours it took for us to get the prescription and medicine for his wife he had preached to well over 20 people of all ages, sexes, and backgrounds.
God give me that Boldness!!!
He later said something to me that convicted me. He said, "Many people try to serve the Lord without living a life of prayer. They become weak, intimidated, and too scared to preach the Gospel and even when they do preach there is no authority because they don't live lives of prayer. We have to pray a lot and preach the Gospel a lot. You can't have one without the other. I always say we need to pray, pray, pray, and we need to preach the Gospel!"
OH God!!! May I and your church hear the counsel of this 82-year-old man of God. By the way, he also founded an orphanage in his lifetime and was a public high school teacher for over 30 years.
We returned to the house and Tia Raquel's sister, daughter, and grandchildren were there visiting her. We gave her the medicine and she was finally able to sleep.
06/24/11
The following day Mirinha took me to Goiania's cancer hospital to visit Gabriel, a 10-year-old boy with brain cancer. He is the nephew of a close family friend of ours. Mirinha hates going to hospitals, so as we walked into the hospital she was already believing that Gabriel was going to die soon because his cancer was so bad. I stopped us both in our tracks and began to pray together with Mirinha for faith to believe for a miracle and binding every spirit of doubt and death. Jesus hated when people with unbelief and pity were around the sick, so I didn't want to visit Gabriel just to give him some more pity and comfort him in the midst of his disease. I wanted to see him healed.
So we walked into his room full of joy and faith. I met him and his aunt who was with him and we talked with him for a while to see how he was doing. I brought my guitar and my Bible, so I sang a worship song in Spanish and in Portuguese for him. Then God spoke to me to read Revelation 21 for Gabriel, so I did. It was a really amazing chapter. I grabbed a lot of beautiful truths from the passage and shared for about twenty minutes with Gabriel. Then I told him the testimony of John G. Lake and how God used him to heal thousands of sick people in the U.S. and Africa. For those of you who have never heard of John G. Lake I encourage all of you to look him up on Google and read some books about him. He is one of the greatest revivalists in American history and the founder of the healing rooms movement. Thus, after worshipping, reading the Word, sharing from the Word. and telling testimonies of healing today the room was charged with faith and Gabriel was full of faith too. So Mirinha, his aunt, and I all laid hands on Gabriel and prayed for him with faith and I know he is going to be healed whether today, in a week, or in a month, but he will be healed in Jesus' name.
Please pray for God to heal Gabriel and my Aunt Raquel. Please only pray for them if you have faith. If you only have pity then you don't need to pray for them. Only faith is able to produce miracles.
Today I decided to finally visit my Tio Jose Jehova and Tia Raquel. I haven't visited them at all because I was sick for nearly ten days and I didn't want to pass my cold to Tia Raquel since she is deathly ill. She has had diabetes for 15 years and about 11 years ago her diabetes developed a new disease in her that constantly attacks her nerves in her entire body. Thus, she has been in constant pain every day for over a decade. She lives off of pain killers, yet she is one of the sweetest, kindest persons I have ever met. Even though she is in constant pain she still is always smiling, giving me hugs and kisses, and being very hospitable towards us every time we visit her.
I went over to their house on Thursday afternoon to visit them and pray for her. First, my uncle Jose Jehova asked me to help him with his English. He showed me a book he was reading in English and he read it aloud for me to correct his pronunciation. Amazing, his pronunciation was almost flawless and he had never visited an English speaking country in his life. Then we hear Tia Raquel wake up and she was groaning in pain asking God to have mercy on her. We sat next to her and talked for a while, but then the pain became unbearable for her. She laid down, constantly groaning and asking God to have mercy. It was one of the most horrible feelings I have ever felt in my life; to see my aunt writhing in pain, knowing she has been experiencing this pain for a decade, and not being able to do anything about it. I began praying in tongues over her and asking God to heal her for a good while and her husband joined me.
She asked her husband "for the love of God" to please get the new prescription from the doctor's office and buy her the pain killers she needed. So my tio and I went to the hospital to get her prescription. My tio Jose Jehova is a formidable, strong man with a beautiful, deep radio voice. He is 82 years-old but he still walks and talks as a man of authority and anointing. He told me that he prays literally every single day for Brooke and I, for Brooke's family, and for all of our relatives. Every day he prays for each one of our relatives by name; he prays for Brazil, the U.S., and all the continents; and he prays for the lost to be saved. Every single day. He said that he spends hours in prayer every day.
So as we walked through the hospital every single person we walked by he would come right up to them with zero hesitation and tell them that they all need to give their lives to Jesus, read the Bible, and pray. That they needed to focus on the eternal world and not on the temporal world and that God wanted to change their lives. It was definitely not a form of evangelism that I was used to, but it was still very powerful. Everyone listened and respected him because he spoke with authority and confidence, but was still extremely respectful and humble. Also, no one dared reject or disrespect him since he was such an elderly man and respect for the elderly still exists in Brazil although it is also fading. I was deeply challenged by Tio Jose Jehova's boldness and authority to preach the Gospel. In the two hours it took for us to get the prescription and medicine for his wife he had preached to well over 20 people of all ages, sexes, and backgrounds.
God give me that Boldness!!!
He later said something to me that convicted me. He said, "Many people try to serve the Lord without living a life of prayer. They become weak, intimidated, and too scared to preach the Gospel and even when they do preach there is no authority because they don't live lives of prayer. We have to pray a lot and preach the Gospel a lot. You can't have one without the other. I always say we need to pray, pray, pray, and we need to preach the Gospel!"
OH God!!! May I and your church hear the counsel of this 82-year-old man of God. By the way, he also founded an orphanage in his lifetime and was a public high school teacher for over 30 years.
We returned to the house and Tia Raquel's sister, daughter, and grandchildren were there visiting her. We gave her the medicine and she was finally able to sleep.
06/24/11
The following day Mirinha took me to Goiania's cancer hospital to visit Gabriel, a 10-year-old boy with brain cancer. He is the nephew of a close family friend of ours. Mirinha hates going to hospitals, so as we walked into the hospital she was already believing that Gabriel was going to die soon because his cancer was so bad. I stopped us both in our tracks and began to pray together with Mirinha for faith to believe for a miracle and binding every spirit of doubt and death. Jesus hated when people with unbelief and pity were around the sick, so I didn't want to visit Gabriel just to give him some more pity and comfort him in the midst of his disease. I wanted to see him healed.
So we walked into his room full of joy and faith. I met him and his aunt who was with him and we talked with him for a while to see how he was doing. I brought my guitar and my Bible, so I sang a worship song in Spanish and in Portuguese for him. Then God spoke to me to read Revelation 21 for Gabriel, so I did. It was a really amazing chapter. I grabbed a lot of beautiful truths from the passage and shared for about twenty minutes with Gabriel. Then I told him the testimony of John G. Lake and how God used him to heal thousands of sick people in the U.S. and Africa. For those of you who have never heard of John G. Lake I encourage all of you to look him up on Google and read some books about him. He is one of the greatest revivalists in American history and the founder of the healing rooms movement. Thus, after worshipping, reading the Word, sharing from the Word. and telling testimonies of healing today the room was charged with faith and Gabriel was full of faith too. So Mirinha, his aunt, and I all laid hands on Gabriel and prayed for him with faith and I know he is going to be healed whether today, in a week, or in a month, but he will be healed in Jesus' name.
Please pray for God to heal Gabriel and my Aunt Raquel. Please only pray for them if you have faith. If you only have pity then you don't need to pray for them. Only faith is able to produce miracles.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Preaching in a High School and Projeto Amar
Today was amazing!
Antonio, who is one of the leaders of YFC (Youth For Christ, here it is known as Mocidade Para Cristo or MPC), is also a Presbyterian pastor and a teacher at a Baptist private school. The school is open to all students, so many of the students are also Catholic or are unbelievers. He teaches the religion class for the school and he asked me to teach all three of his periods today.
I stayed up late last night writing an outline for the class since I would be teaching three 50-minute classes, but I ended up not speaking on what I had prepared at all. I was completely surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit and in all three classes I shared completely different messages. In general, I would introduce myself and let them ask me whatever questions they may have about American culture, politics, or economics. Then I would sing my song “Holy Sacrifice” in English and after the song God’s presence was always so tangible that I would just go with what the Spirit was leading me to say that very moment. Each class seemed to be deeply impacted. I asked all of them very penetrating questions and they gave me very honest, real answers. It was amazing. I really think I want to be a teacher for my tent-making job.
Moraes, a rapper from YFC, met me at the school at 12:30 and Antonio took us both to the YFC base in downtown. There we met up with Welson, the leader of the YFC chapter in Goiania, and we went out to an awesome restaurant to eat. Our conversation was all about the state of the church in Goiania and in Brazil. I was surprised to hear that the fastest growing denomination in Brazil right now is one where all the women have to wear veils. I asked them why that is and they said that one main reason is because the church never takes up offerings, never preaches about money, is very united, and doesn’t have any paid pastors. All the church leaders are voluntary. It was a very interesting conversation.
Then Moraes and I went together to Projeto Amar (Project Love) by bus. The bus was so crowded that during the entire one-hour bus ride we stayed standing. During the entire ride Moraes respectfully told me why he loves the American people, but does not like and is even fearful of the American government because of their use of violence in order to complete their missions in the world. He explained to me why he knows that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan were all about oil and control and how he deeply disagreed with the war policies of America. He praised Fidel Castro for providing free education and the best health care in the world for the Cuban people. He also praise Lula for all that he did for Brazil and the doors he has opened for the nation. He expressed that he was scared of the U.S. because he knows that Brazil is a nation that is growing in influence and power and he fears that one day in the distant future the U.S. might use force to use Brazil’s resources since Brazil has the largest water supply, river, forest, and swamp in the world.
Also, later on in our conversation Moraes calmly stated that he was a socialist
and that he loves socialist philosophy. This is something hard for an American to grasp. How can someone be a Christian and a socialist at the same time? However, here in Brazil it’s actually quite normal to meet radical, on fire Christian who have a socialist philosophy. For Brazilian Christians it is hard to grasp that there are American Christians who passionately support war, own guns, are antagonistic towards illegal immigrants, and believe in free-market capitalism with little to no limitations. It’s funny to me we Americans view the word “socialist” as virtually demonic and atheistic because that is what the American experience with socialism has encountered, yet many Christians in Brazil view the word “capitalist” as being synonymous with worldliness, exploitation, and injustice.
Once we arrived at Projeto Amar I interviewed Cidinha, the leader of Projeto Amar, and I filmed the entire facility, the kids, and the activities of the ministry. It was amazing! This ministry is based in the most violent neighborhood of Goiania where murders happen almost daily. I think I might make a mini-documentary film with the footage I got of the ministry.
I fell in love with the kids there even though I only spent a short amount of time with them. We got there pretty late because of the long bus ride. They invited me to a camp they’re going to have next weekend, so I’m going to go for sure. Also, they reminded me that YFC is going to have their national convention in Brasilia this weekend and I decided that I want to go to that also.
Lastly, I met four Germans at Projeto Amar. It was super awesome and super random! They have been living in Goiania for a whole year serving with Projeto Amar and Videira and now they all speak fluent Portuguese. It turns out that Germany requires their youth to either serve in the military or spend one year doing community service in another nation before entering college. I think that is the coolest requirement ever! So they decided to come here. We talked for a long while and became good friends. They were so happy to speak English with someone again.
After our one hour bus ride back where I was so dizzy, dehydrated, and felt like I was going to vomit, I finally arrived at home.
Also, today was officially the first day of winter in Brazil and in Goiania it was in the upper 80’s.
Antonio, who is one of the leaders of YFC (Youth For Christ, here it is known as Mocidade Para Cristo or MPC), is also a Presbyterian pastor and a teacher at a Baptist private school. The school is open to all students, so many of the students are also Catholic or are unbelievers. He teaches the religion class for the school and he asked me to teach all three of his periods today.
I stayed up late last night writing an outline for the class since I would be teaching three 50-minute classes, but I ended up not speaking on what I had prepared at all. I was completely surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit and in all three classes I shared completely different messages. In general, I would introduce myself and let them ask me whatever questions they may have about American culture, politics, or economics. Then I would sing my song “Holy Sacrifice” in English and after the song God’s presence was always so tangible that I would just go with what the Spirit was leading me to say that very moment. Each class seemed to be deeply impacted. I asked all of them very penetrating questions and they gave me very honest, real answers. It was amazing. I really think I want to be a teacher for my tent-making job.
Moraes, a rapper from YFC, met me at the school at 12:30 and Antonio took us both to the YFC base in downtown. There we met up with Welson, the leader of the YFC chapter in Goiania, and we went out to an awesome restaurant to eat. Our conversation was all about the state of the church in Goiania and in Brazil. I was surprised to hear that the fastest growing denomination in Brazil right now is one where all the women have to wear veils. I asked them why that is and they said that one main reason is because the church never takes up offerings, never preaches about money, is very united, and doesn’t have any paid pastors. All the church leaders are voluntary. It was a very interesting conversation.
Then Moraes and I went together to Projeto Amar (Project Love) by bus. The bus was so crowded that during the entire one-hour bus ride we stayed standing. During the entire ride Moraes respectfully told me why he loves the American people, but does not like and is even fearful of the American government because of their use of violence in order to complete their missions in the world. He explained to me why he knows that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan were all about oil and control and how he deeply disagreed with the war policies of America. He praised Fidel Castro for providing free education and the best health care in the world for the Cuban people. He also praise Lula for all that he did for Brazil and the doors he has opened for the nation. He expressed that he was scared of the U.S. because he knows that Brazil is a nation that is growing in influence and power and he fears that one day in the distant future the U.S. might use force to use Brazil’s resources since Brazil has the largest water supply, river, forest, and swamp in the world.
Also, later on in our conversation Moraes calmly stated that he was a socialist
and that he loves socialist philosophy. This is something hard for an American to grasp. How can someone be a Christian and a socialist at the same time? However, here in Brazil it’s actually quite normal to meet radical, on fire Christian who have a socialist philosophy. For Brazilian Christians it is hard to grasp that there are American Christians who passionately support war, own guns, are antagonistic towards illegal immigrants, and believe in free-market capitalism with little to no limitations. It’s funny to me we Americans view the word “socialist” as virtually demonic and atheistic because that is what the American experience with socialism has encountered, yet many Christians in Brazil view the word “capitalist” as being synonymous with worldliness, exploitation, and injustice.
Once we arrived at Projeto Amar I interviewed Cidinha, the leader of Projeto Amar, and I filmed the entire facility, the kids, and the activities of the ministry. It was amazing! This ministry is based in the most violent neighborhood of Goiania where murders happen almost daily. I think I might make a mini-documentary film with the footage I got of the ministry.
I fell in love with the kids there even though I only spent a short amount of time with them. We got there pretty late because of the long bus ride. They invited me to a camp they’re going to have next weekend, so I’m going to go for sure. Also, they reminded me that YFC is going to have their national convention in Brasilia this weekend and I decided that I want to go to that also.
Lastly, I met four Germans at Projeto Amar. It was super awesome and super random! They have been living in Goiania for a whole year serving with Projeto Amar and Videira and now they all speak fluent Portuguese. It turns out that Germany requires their youth to either serve in the military or spend one year doing community service in another nation before entering college. I think that is the coolest requirement ever! So they decided to come here. We talked for a long while and became good friends. They were so happy to speak English with someone again.
After our one hour bus ride back where I was so dizzy, dehydrated, and felt like I was going to vomit, I finally arrived at home.
Also, today was officially the first day of winter in Brazil and in Goiania it was in the upper 80’s.
Healthy at Last!
06/20/11
Today was the first day of my trip in Brazil that I was actually healthy. I still have the sniffles and my throat is only slightly irritated, but I am doing great. I felt God directing me to fast today, so I did and I spent a great amount of time in His presence. I prayed a lot for India today through Operation World.
After prayer I was going to go to Recanto das Minas Gerais again to visit my nine guys from the YFC camp. Unfortunately, however, I wasn’t able to reach any of them except Betinho and Alexander. Alexander is on vacation and is with his aunt in another city for a week and Betinho was very sick. So my plan to meet with them again today fell through. On Sunday, I had talked to the leader of Projeto Amar (Project Love) and she had said that she was going to pick me up this morning to take me to their ministry site. However, she never showed up today, so I gave her a call in the afternoon. We scheduled for me to come to the project tomorrow afternoon.
Thus, I decided to hit the streets and preach the Gospel. I ended up leaving around 3:30 or so and I preached almost until 8 p.m. I went to the Praca Universitaria (University Plaza) because there are several universities there and many youth who hang out there.
Once I arrived there I was somewhat intimidated because there was a good amount of young people there, but all of them were in groups. I always like to approach one or two people at a time when I evangelize, especially when I am first starting out in the day. I prayed and listened to some worship music on my IPOD to gain some strength and then I went up to a group of four college guys. I had no idea how I was going to start the conversation, but God gave me the words and it went really well. They were extremely open and honest with me.
They were all nominal Catholics and they all claimed to be saved, pray daily, and live good lives. However, when I asked them if they followed Jesus with all of their hearts they all admitted that they don’t follow Him at all. One of them started preaching to the rest that it isn’t right for them to just believe in God, but not follow Jesus. It was great! I asked them why Jesus died on the cross and three of them had no clue. One of them gave a surprisingly good response. He said, “He died to set us free. So that we could be forgiven of our sins and be free.”
I shared the full Gospel message with them and challenged them to truly love and follow God not just with their lips, but with their lives. They were extremely convicted and listened reverently to everything I said. They weren’t ready to give their lives to Jesus on the spot, but they did allow me to pray for them. I passionately prayed for them and then let them go. It was awesome!
Also, the fact that I’m American and was born and raised in the United States really fascinated them and they asked me a bunch of questions about the U.S. It was a great ice breaker. In fact, the opening line I used today was, “Hey what’s up you guys! How you guys doing? My name is Joshua. I’m from the United States and I’m just visiting Goiania and I’m talking with the people here encouraging them to have a deeper relationship with God.” I found that when I introduce myself in this manner people are immediately fascinated with me being from the U.S., they like my accent, and they listen with a lot more respect. Also, they’re always impressed with my Portuguese until I tell them that my parents are Brazilian. Yet it’s good to tell them I am American because then they have a lot more patience with my slower pace of talking, grammatical errors, and accent.
Afterwards, I went up to two guys a Pitch-dog. A pitch-dog is a Goianian phenomenon. They’re essentially outdoor hamburger joints, but they’re super amazing. They sell burgers with filet mignon meat and you could order crazy things like eggs, corn, potato chips, sausage, ham, etc. to go inside your burger. They also have the best smoothies ever!!!
So I met Eliezer and another guys who had a really difficult name to remember. That’s another thing about Brazil. They names here are so different and hard to pronounce, so it’s really hard to remember people’s names. So I preached the Gospel to them and it turned out that Eliezer had just been radically saved about a month ago at Videira. He was in love with Jesus, faithfully attending a cell group, and soon to go to an encounter. He told me all about his life and his walk with the Lord now. He seemed like he had been a Christian for at least a year because of his maturity. The other guy goes to an Assemblies of God church with his mom, but he is not as committed.
Then a girl overheard our conversation and she joined us. She is also from Videira and has been saved for four months now. She was on fire for the Lord and was about to start school of leaders in order to open up her own cell group and she started encouraging Eliezer to go through School of Leaders. She told us her testimony of how she grew up in an orphanage all of her life and just two years ago her biological mother decided to take her back because the government was going to take her stipend away for having a daughter.
We talked for at least an hour and by the time we ended it was already getting dark. There was one big group left of about 18 young people hanging out together at a bench. I was going to go up to them, but I hesitated because I was somewhat intimidated. I prayed some to gain strength, but once I was going to approach them a drumline from one of the colleges arrived at the plaza and began playing. They were super amazing, but they were so loud that it was difficult to have a conversation just with one person let alone 18 people. Also, most of the young people left once the drum line started.
So I decided to just enjoy the drumline for a bit because it was definitely a worthwhile cultural experience. I enjoyed hearing them for about thirty minutes and eventually people started sitting on benches close by to listen to the group. Evantually, there were two drumline groups from different colleges playing completely different songs at the same time and they were only about 100 feet apart from each other. It was pretty impressive.
I sat next to a cool looking young guy who was nearby and we started talking. Wt chit chatted at first and then I brought in Jesus to the conversation. From then on we began our conversation about God, Jesus, and eternal life, but he a humanist who didn’t believe in religion. He only believed in humanity and saving the planet. He expressed to me his anger with the church for exploiting people for their money and for their sound pollution. It was an interesting conversation, but it didn’t really go anywhere because every time I said something about God he would say something against the church and for the environment and also it was very loud being in between to drumlins.
Around 7:30 p.m. I decided to go home and I arrived at home around 7:50 p.m. I was going to go to the Gideons meeting with Vovo, but then Andre told me that tonight was the follow up YFC (Youth for Christ) meeting for the camp we had two weekends ago. So I went with Andre to the YFC meeting.
The meeting was really great. We read several of the letters that the kids wrote back to the YFC staff and it was really funny because more than half of the letters mentioned how awesome I was as a camp leader. It became the joke of the meeting that I was the most liked person of the camp. We talked about following up with the students and gave suggestions with how we can make the camp better for next time. Then we had some bangin’ food to break my fast.
Today was the first day of my trip in Brazil that I was actually healthy. I still have the sniffles and my throat is only slightly irritated, but I am doing great. I felt God directing me to fast today, so I did and I spent a great amount of time in His presence. I prayed a lot for India today through Operation World.
After prayer I was going to go to Recanto das Minas Gerais again to visit my nine guys from the YFC camp. Unfortunately, however, I wasn’t able to reach any of them except Betinho and Alexander. Alexander is on vacation and is with his aunt in another city for a week and Betinho was very sick. So my plan to meet with them again today fell through. On Sunday, I had talked to the leader of Projeto Amar (Project Love) and she had said that she was going to pick me up this morning to take me to their ministry site. However, she never showed up today, so I gave her a call in the afternoon. We scheduled for me to come to the project tomorrow afternoon.
Thus, I decided to hit the streets and preach the Gospel. I ended up leaving around 3:30 or so and I preached almost until 8 p.m. I went to the Praca Universitaria (University Plaza) because there are several universities there and many youth who hang out there.
Once I arrived there I was somewhat intimidated because there was a good amount of young people there, but all of them were in groups. I always like to approach one or two people at a time when I evangelize, especially when I am first starting out in the day. I prayed and listened to some worship music on my IPOD to gain some strength and then I went up to a group of four college guys. I had no idea how I was going to start the conversation, but God gave me the words and it went really well. They were extremely open and honest with me.
They were all nominal Catholics and they all claimed to be saved, pray daily, and live good lives. However, when I asked them if they followed Jesus with all of their hearts they all admitted that they don’t follow Him at all. One of them started preaching to the rest that it isn’t right for them to just believe in God, but not follow Jesus. It was great! I asked them why Jesus died on the cross and three of them had no clue. One of them gave a surprisingly good response. He said, “He died to set us free. So that we could be forgiven of our sins and be free.”
I shared the full Gospel message with them and challenged them to truly love and follow God not just with their lips, but with their lives. They were extremely convicted and listened reverently to everything I said. They weren’t ready to give their lives to Jesus on the spot, but they did allow me to pray for them. I passionately prayed for them and then let them go. It was awesome!
Also, the fact that I’m American and was born and raised in the United States really fascinated them and they asked me a bunch of questions about the U.S. It was a great ice breaker. In fact, the opening line I used today was, “Hey what’s up you guys! How you guys doing? My name is Joshua. I’m from the United States and I’m just visiting Goiania and I’m talking with the people here encouraging them to have a deeper relationship with God.” I found that when I introduce myself in this manner people are immediately fascinated with me being from the U.S., they like my accent, and they listen with a lot more respect. Also, they’re always impressed with my Portuguese until I tell them that my parents are Brazilian. Yet it’s good to tell them I am American because then they have a lot more patience with my slower pace of talking, grammatical errors, and accent.
Afterwards, I went up to two guys a Pitch-dog. A pitch-dog is a Goianian phenomenon. They’re essentially outdoor hamburger joints, but they’re super amazing. They sell burgers with filet mignon meat and you could order crazy things like eggs, corn, potato chips, sausage, ham, etc. to go inside your burger. They also have the best smoothies ever!!!
So I met Eliezer and another guys who had a really difficult name to remember. That’s another thing about Brazil. They names here are so different and hard to pronounce, so it’s really hard to remember people’s names. So I preached the Gospel to them and it turned out that Eliezer had just been radically saved about a month ago at Videira. He was in love with Jesus, faithfully attending a cell group, and soon to go to an encounter. He told me all about his life and his walk with the Lord now. He seemed like he had been a Christian for at least a year because of his maturity. The other guy goes to an Assemblies of God church with his mom, but he is not as committed.
Then a girl overheard our conversation and she joined us. She is also from Videira and has been saved for four months now. She was on fire for the Lord and was about to start school of leaders in order to open up her own cell group and she started encouraging Eliezer to go through School of Leaders. She told us her testimony of how she grew up in an orphanage all of her life and just two years ago her biological mother decided to take her back because the government was going to take her stipend away for having a daughter.
We talked for at least an hour and by the time we ended it was already getting dark. There was one big group left of about 18 young people hanging out together at a bench. I was going to go up to them, but I hesitated because I was somewhat intimidated. I prayed some to gain strength, but once I was going to approach them a drumline from one of the colleges arrived at the plaza and began playing. They were super amazing, but they were so loud that it was difficult to have a conversation just with one person let alone 18 people. Also, most of the young people left once the drum line started.
So I decided to just enjoy the drumline for a bit because it was definitely a worthwhile cultural experience. I enjoyed hearing them for about thirty minutes and eventually people started sitting on benches close by to listen to the group. Evantually, there were two drumline groups from different colleges playing completely different songs at the same time and they were only about 100 feet apart from each other. It was pretty impressive.
I sat next to a cool looking young guy who was nearby and we started talking. Wt chit chatted at first and then I brought in Jesus to the conversation. From then on we began our conversation about God, Jesus, and eternal life, but he a humanist who didn’t believe in religion. He only believed in humanity and saving the planet. He expressed to me his anger with the church for exploiting people for their money and for their sound pollution. It was an interesting conversation, but it didn’t really go anywhere because every time I said something about God he would say something against the church and for the environment and also it was very loud being in between to drumlins.
Around 7:30 p.m. I decided to go home and I arrived at home around 7:50 p.m. I was going to go to the Gideons meeting with Vovo, but then Andre told me that tonight was the follow up YFC (Youth for Christ) meeting for the camp we had two weekends ago. So I went with Andre to the YFC meeting.
The meeting was really great. We read several of the letters that the kids wrote back to the YFC staff and it was really funny because more than half of the letters mentioned how awesome I was as a camp leader. It became the joke of the meeting that I was the most liked person of the camp. We talked about following up with the students and gave suggestions with how we can make the camp better for next time. Then we had some bangin’ food to break my fast.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
My First Cell Group Meeting in Brazil
Today I had my first cell group meeting with the guys from the camp. It was awesome! After lunch my uncle Adolfinho took me to the neighborhood of the guys, but we couldn’t find any of their homes. They gave me their addresses, but we were lost for nearly an hour. Finally, Adolfinho gave up and said we should go back home. About 10 seconds after he made that statement one of the camp counselors walked by our car. I yelled out at him and it turned out that he was in the neighborhood to visit the kids too. So I got out of the car and followed him to the guys’ high school. God is faithful. He came through at the last minute.
We weren’t able to enter the high school because the students were practicing their dances for the Festa Juninha, a harvest celebration dedicated to St. John. It’s only celebrated in country areas with traditional country music called fojo, somewhat like bluegrass or Cajun music.
Somehow Alexander and Betinho found out that I was here and they showed up on their bicycles. They get out of school at 12, so they were free, but the other guys get out of school at 5:30. I have to explain this glorious reality. You see, Brazil is a student’s paradise. Every day school starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 12 p.m., so that everyone could go home and have lunch with their families since lunch is the main meal of the day in Brazil. Once the morning session is maxed out, the rest of the students have to come to school from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. No students attend both sessions. You either go to school in the morning or in the afternoon. Also, they have half-days just like we do in the U.S. and on those days they get out at 10:30 a.m.
That is why Alexander and Betinho were out of school while the other guys were still in school. Once the other guys got out of school some of them came to hang out with us, but the rest had to go to work or home. In all, I got to hang out with seven guys, two of which were not at the camp. We all went over to Alexander’s house and hung out. We talked about God, life, soccer, and many other things.
Finally, I asked the guys if they would be up for reading the Bible together for a little bit. They all agreed, so we went to Alexander’s room and had our first cell group meeting. We talked a lot about girls and sex because that is the main vice that plagues these guys even though they all say they love Jesus. One of them just got a girl pregnant. Some of them have girlfriends, but they still flirt with and holler at any pretty girl regardless of whether they are in a relationship or not.
We then read the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. I emphasized Elijah’s statement when he said “How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then worship Him, but if Baal is god then worship him.” I urged them to choose who they were going to worship, Jesus or the world. We had a great time together and they interacted quite a bit. I prayed over them and we ended the meeting.
Then I met Alexander’s parents and they thanked me for what I was doing even though they are not Christians. They were grateful for any wise guidance given to their kids.
The guys put on some music and asked me to do “the worm” because I had done it at the camp. I did it for them and then they tried to learn it for a while. It was fun.
It was already dark, so they walked me to the nearest bus stop. I bought a bus pass and a filet mignon “spetinho” (i.e. shish kabob) for one dollar and then hopped on the bus.
On the bus I talked with a man who was a Christian, but wasn’t going to church because his work hours overlapped with all the church services. Then I met Lincoln, who is a member of Videira, the largest church in Goiania and the church I want to work together with. He works recycling trash. We talked for a while and he told me that they have cell groups in the neighborhood where my guys live. So I’m going to meet some of the cell leaders from there and connect my guys with them. Praise God! He is faithful.
Finally, I reached Maranatha Presbyterian Church where I met up with my cousins and a bunch of young guys to play indoor soccer. It was awesome! I actually scored a goal! Playing soccer with these guys is like playing basketball with some big black guys in the hood. In other words, these guys were soooo good.
The championship game for the Copa Libertadores was tonight, so right after playing soccer we went over to Andre’s friends’ house to watch the game. It was Santos, a Brazilian team, versus a Uruguayan team. The final score was 0-0. It was a good game though. We had pasta and caldo de frango (chicken soup, only better) while watching the game. The game ended at midnight and we went home. What a day!
We weren’t able to enter the high school because the students were practicing their dances for the Festa Juninha, a harvest celebration dedicated to St. John. It’s only celebrated in country areas with traditional country music called fojo, somewhat like bluegrass or Cajun music.
Somehow Alexander and Betinho found out that I was here and they showed up on their bicycles. They get out of school at 12, so they were free, but the other guys get out of school at 5:30. I have to explain this glorious reality. You see, Brazil is a student’s paradise. Every day school starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 12 p.m., so that everyone could go home and have lunch with their families since lunch is the main meal of the day in Brazil. Once the morning session is maxed out, the rest of the students have to come to school from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. No students attend both sessions. You either go to school in the morning or in the afternoon. Also, they have half-days just like we do in the U.S. and on those days they get out at 10:30 a.m.
That is why Alexander and Betinho were out of school while the other guys were still in school. Once the other guys got out of school some of them came to hang out with us, but the rest had to go to work or home. In all, I got to hang out with seven guys, two of which were not at the camp. We all went over to Alexander’s house and hung out. We talked about God, life, soccer, and many other things.
Finally, I asked the guys if they would be up for reading the Bible together for a little bit. They all agreed, so we went to Alexander’s room and had our first cell group meeting. We talked a lot about girls and sex because that is the main vice that plagues these guys even though they all say they love Jesus. One of them just got a girl pregnant. Some of them have girlfriends, but they still flirt with and holler at any pretty girl regardless of whether they are in a relationship or not.
We then read the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. I emphasized Elijah’s statement when he said “How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then worship Him, but if Baal is god then worship him.” I urged them to choose who they were going to worship, Jesus or the world. We had a great time together and they interacted quite a bit. I prayed over them and we ended the meeting.
Then I met Alexander’s parents and they thanked me for what I was doing even though they are not Christians. They were grateful for any wise guidance given to their kids.
The guys put on some music and asked me to do “the worm” because I had done it at the camp. I did it for them and then they tried to learn it for a while. It was fun.
It was already dark, so they walked me to the nearest bus stop. I bought a bus pass and a filet mignon “spetinho” (i.e. shish kabob) for one dollar and then hopped on the bus.
On the bus I talked with a man who was a Christian, but wasn’t going to church because his work hours overlapped with all the church services. Then I met Lincoln, who is a member of Videira, the largest church in Goiania and the church I want to work together with. He works recycling trash. We talked for a while and he told me that they have cell groups in the neighborhood where my guys live. So I’m going to meet some of the cell leaders from there and connect my guys with them. Praise God! He is faithful.
Finally, I reached Maranatha Presbyterian Church where I met up with my cousins and a bunch of young guys to play indoor soccer. It was awesome! I actually scored a goal! Playing soccer with these guys is like playing basketball with some big black guys in the hood. In other words, these guys were soooo good.
The championship game for the Copa Libertadores was tonight, so right after playing soccer we went over to Andre’s friends’ house to watch the game. It was Santos, a Brazilian team, versus a Uruguayan team. The final score was 0-0. It was a good game though. We had pasta and caldo de frango (chicken soup, only better) while watching the game. The game ended at midnight and we went home. What a day!
Thoughts on my first week in Brasil
Brasil…a nation in need of God. Brasil…a nation saturated with the Gospel and a vibrant, multiplying church. Brasil…a nation that has more fun than any country in the world, always finding a reason to party and be joyful. Brasil…the most sensual nation of all. Brasil…a people who know how to live in community and truly love one another. Brasil…a nation raging with crime amongst the poor and corruption amongst the rich.
Brasil is a nation of polar opposites. The rich are very rich, the poor are very poor, yet there is a growing middle class. The church here is booming and the Christians are full of zeal for God and evangelism and live holy lives, but those who are not Christians are extremely sinful. Crime is a daily reality amongst citizens of all classes and murder and kidnapping are normal events whether you live in the rich part of town or in the ghetto. Just this weekend, I heard statistics that 80% of murders in Brasil are unresolved and just in the city of Goiania 500 cars are stolen every month. Furthermore, spiritism and witchcraft are so normal here that it’s frightening. They have spiritist mega-churches here and the witchcraft forms of Macumba, Umbanda, and Kandomble are practiced in the open with no shame.
No nation parties more than Brasil. This is both a blessing and a curse. The righteous here are the most joyful, festive Christians you could ever imagine who know how to worship incessantly, while the unbelievers here are known around the world for having the “best” (i.e. most immoral and excessive) parties in the world.
Community is amazing here. People here don’t even seem to understand how it would be possible for any human being to live an individualistic life. Independence, individualism, rebellion, and being “different” than everyone else is shunned upon by almost everyone I meet. The only people I know who value the latter traits are people who’s lives revolve around American music, movies, and culture. Family and friends come before everything. Work, errands, responsibilities, and completing tasks never are more important than spending time with a family member or friend.
What shocks me the most every time I come to Brazil and especially during my time here in this trip is the rampant sexual immorality here. I once thought that the United States and Europe were the most sexually immoral nations in the world, that is, until I came to Brasil. The women here dress more sensual than in any nation I have ever seen. The men act like savage dogs whenever they see a beautiful girl walk by and what shocks me the most is that the girls love it and they lasciviously encourage the men in their savage behavior. The t.v. shows, soap operas, commercials, and billboards are so graphic here that it is practically pornography.
This brings me to my experience here in the last three days. I arrived here on Thursday night and on Friday afternoon I was off to a Youth For Christ Camp. The camp had 90 young people, all of which were in high school and none of which were Christians. YFC of Goiania has been visiting two public high schools for the past two years and teaching them biblical principles and ethics. They are not allowed to talk about Jesus, the Bible, or the Gospel, but they are allowed to teach morals and ethics to the students. However, the schools allow them to have one day at the end of each semester where they can have a rally at the school and openly preach the Gospel with an altar call. They did this in two high schools and then invited the young people to this camp. Thus, 90 students showed up for the camp and this is where I fell into the picture.
My cousin Andre and his friend from church were leading worship for the camp and they asked if I could come and be a part of it. They appointed me as one of the cabin leaders where I was put in charge of 9 young guys. Their names were Alexander, Thiago, Louanderson, Betinho, Lucas, Aliff, Marcos, Israel, and Romario and they were some cool cats. They all loved me and had great respect for me. They loved the fact that I was from California and they never stopped asking me questions about America and how to say things in English. For them, English is the coolest language in the world and it’s the language you use to romanticize women.
Alexander and Thiago were naturally the leaders of the group since Alexander was the funniest and most charismatic and Thiago was the tallest and the best looking. By God’s grace, they were also the ones who loved and respected me more than any of the others, so the others naturally loved and respected me too. We had lots of fun hiking, swimming, playing soccer, wrestling, and square dancing, yet we still had several great chapel services, small group devotionals, and Bible studies. All of my nine guys gave their lives to the Lord by the end of the camp and virtually all, if not all, of the youth in the camp gave their lives to the Lord by the end of the weekend. It was truly an amazing weekend.
However, I was greatly frustrated at the end of the camp because although the youth gave their lives to Jesus in tears and seemed to be completely genuine their behavior afterwards was still as sinful and worldly as when they first arrived. The guys were still acting like wild animals whenever they were near the girls and the girls were still dressing and acting like seductive Jezebel’s when they were near the guys. Both guys and girls were equally flirtatious, seductive, and sexually-driven. Even though the entire camp revolved around God and we were constantly engaged in fun activities, what absolutely dominated the thoughts and desires of the young people of both genders was the opposite sex.
Thus, I have concluded that for a Brazilian to come to Christ is not a difficult task, but for a Brazilian to be a strong Christian is truly a miracle. Evangelism is absolutely necessary here, but what is needed much more is discipleship because the people easily get “saved”, but they still live very sinful lifestyles. In fact, I think that Brazilians are some of the easiest people to bring to Christ.
At the end of the camp I got the phone number and address of all nine of my guys and I have now committed to discipling them during my time here in Goiania. I am going to visit their homes, meet their families, and witness to people in their neighborhoods. My hope is to form a cell group out of this group of 9 and many of their friends and family members. Then I would give them over to a local church with a local leader to take charge of the cell group. Thus, in a few weeks time I would have planted a house church in Goiania.
Please pray for me concerning this mission because we all know that “it’s not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit” that souls will be saved and discipled and a house church planted in a few weeks.
Brasil is a nation of polar opposites. The rich are very rich, the poor are very poor, yet there is a growing middle class. The church here is booming and the Christians are full of zeal for God and evangelism and live holy lives, but those who are not Christians are extremely sinful. Crime is a daily reality amongst citizens of all classes and murder and kidnapping are normal events whether you live in the rich part of town or in the ghetto. Just this weekend, I heard statistics that 80% of murders in Brasil are unresolved and just in the city of Goiania 500 cars are stolen every month. Furthermore, spiritism and witchcraft are so normal here that it’s frightening. They have spiritist mega-churches here and the witchcraft forms of Macumba, Umbanda, and Kandomble are practiced in the open with no shame.
No nation parties more than Brasil. This is both a blessing and a curse. The righteous here are the most joyful, festive Christians you could ever imagine who know how to worship incessantly, while the unbelievers here are known around the world for having the “best” (i.e. most immoral and excessive) parties in the world.
Community is amazing here. People here don’t even seem to understand how it would be possible for any human being to live an individualistic life. Independence, individualism, rebellion, and being “different” than everyone else is shunned upon by almost everyone I meet. The only people I know who value the latter traits are people who’s lives revolve around American music, movies, and culture. Family and friends come before everything. Work, errands, responsibilities, and completing tasks never are more important than spending time with a family member or friend.
What shocks me the most every time I come to Brazil and especially during my time here in this trip is the rampant sexual immorality here. I once thought that the United States and Europe were the most sexually immoral nations in the world, that is, until I came to Brasil. The women here dress more sensual than in any nation I have ever seen. The men act like savage dogs whenever they see a beautiful girl walk by and what shocks me the most is that the girls love it and they lasciviously encourage the men in their savage behavior. The t.v. shows, soap operas, commercials, and billboards are so graphic here that it is practically pornography.
This brings me to my experience here in the last three days. I arrived here on Thursday night and on Friday afternoon I was off to a Youth For Christ Camp. The camp had 90 young people, all of which were in high school and none of which were Christians. YFC of Goiania has been visiting two public high schools for the past two years and teaching them biblical principles and ethics. They are not allowed to talk about Jesus, the Bible, or the Gospel, but they are allowed to teach morals and ethics to the students. However, the schools allow them to have one day at the end of each semester where they can have a rally at the school and openly preach the Gospel with an altar call. They did this in two high schools and then invited the young people to this camp. Thus, 90 students showed up for the camp and this is where I fell into the picture.
My cousin Andre and his friend from church were leading worship for the camp and they asked if I could come and be a part of it. They appointed me as one of the cabin leaders where I was put in charge of 9 young guys. Their names were Alexander, Thiago, Louanderson, Betinho, Lucas, Aliff, Marcos, Israel, and Romario and they were some cool cats. They all loved me and had great respect for me. They loved the fact that I was from California and they never stopped asking me questions about America and how to say things in English. For them, English is the coolest language in the world and it’s the language you use to romanticize women.
Alexander and Thiago were naturally the leaders of the group since Alexander was the funniest and most charismatic and Thiago was the tallest and the best looking. By God’s grace, they were also the ones who loved and respected me more than any of the others, so the others naturally loved and respected me too. We had lots of fun hiking, swimming, playing soccer, wrestling, and square dancing, yet we still had several great chapel services, small group devotionals, and Bible studies. All of my nine guys gave their lives to the Lord by the end of the camp and virtually all, if not all, of the youth in the camp gave their lives to the Lord by the end of the weekend. It was truly an amazing weekend.
However, I was greatly frustrated at the end of the camp because although the youth gave their lives to Jesus in tears and seemed to be completely genuine their behavior afterwards was still as sinful and worldly as when they first arrived. The guys were still acting like wild animals whenever they were near the girls and the girls were still dressing and acting like seductive Jezebel’s when they were near the guys. Both guys and girls were equally flirtatious, seductive, and sexually-driven. Even though the entire camp revolved around God and we were constantly engaged in fun activities, what absolutely dominated the thoughts and desires of the young people of both genders was the opposite sex.
Thus, I have concluded that for a Brazilian to come to Christ is not a difficult task, but for a Brazilian to be a strong Christian is truly a miracle. Evangelism is absolutely necessary here, but what is needed much more is discipleship because the people easily get “saved”, but they still live very sinful lifestyles. In fact, I think that Brazilians are some of the easiest people to bring to Christ.
At the end of the camp I got the phone number and address of all nine of my guys and I have now committed to discipling them during my time here in Goiania. I am going to visit their homes, meet their families, and witness to people in their neighborhoods. My hope is to form a cell group out of this group of 9 and many of their friends and family members. Then I would give them over to a local church with a local leader to take charge of the cell group. Thus, in a few weeks time I would have planted a house church in Goiania.
Please pray for me concerning this mission because we all know that “it’s not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit” that souls will be saved and discipled and a house church planted in a few weeks.
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