Projeto Amar Camp

On Thursday, Junior and Cidinha picked me up to go to the camp early. We needed to get there a day early in order to set everything up so that everything was ready when the kids arrived the next morning. We washed all the dusty dishes, pots, and pans; organized all the rooms; put together all the games and prizes; put away all the food; and much more. It was fun to see the adults and get to know them since during the camp we wouldn’t be talking to each other much at all.
On Friday morning, we set up a few more things and then I spent a good amount of time with God. The kids arrived around 10:30 a.m. and went straight to the chapel. We had our first meeting with Pr. Andre from Luz Para Os Povos and it was awesome!
I was given my group of kids. I had five boys that were 8 to 9 years old and one boy who was 11 years old. Their names were Kevin, Charlie, Rafael, Isaias, Guilerme, and Wiclif. I grew to love them so much. At the beginning a few of them didn’t like me because I had an accent, I stumbled on my words sometimes, and I was a little tough on them, but by the end of the camp they all loved me like crazy. Charlie and Isaias gave me the most trouble during the camp, but I learned that they were two of the kids with the worst families in the camp.
Isaias’s dad is a drug trafficker I forget now if he died, left the family, or is in prison. All I know is he isn’t around anymore and it has to do with his career choice. His mother was a crack addict and was in jail for 2 years. She recently got out of jail, but is still a very troubled woman. Isaias also has a growth problem. He is 11, but his body looks like he is 7 or 8 years old. He was the smallest kid in my entire group. So he is very insecure and tries to be tough in order to cover it up. Sometimes he would give me or the other kids an attitude or he would punch somebody, but most of the time he would just wander off from the group for no reason.
Charlie comes from an abusive home and his father eventually left the family too. He is the biggest and toughest of all my kids. He had a big problem with cussing, fighting, trying the other kids, and incessant lying. He was essentially a little bully. After a while though he really softened up and became very sweet with me and the other kids. He would wander off the most without telling me where he was going.
Kevin is totally saved. He is practically an angel. He always wanted to worship God and he loved the chapel meetings. On Saturday night we had a bonfire with worship starting at 1 a.m. and he was one of the only little kids that stuck around to worship. On Sunday morning I asked him if he had slept well. He smiled and told me, “I slept so well. The whole night I dreamed that I was in Heaven!”
Amazed, I asked him, “What did you see in Heaven?”
He answered, “It was full of angels everywhere!”
Rafael was the most obedient of all the kids. He was very sweet, but also really cool. This might sound weird, but he really really looks like me when I was his age. In fact, one of the volunteers saw us together and said “You looks a lot like you.”
Wiclif was also a sweetheart and he never did anything bad during the camp except that he would wander off sometimes. His right arm was broken, but he insisted on playing soccer, volleyball, swimming, and everything else. He never complained once.
Guilerme knew capoiera, knew how to dance real well, and was probably the coolest kid out of everyone in my group. He was a lot of fun, but I was also worried about his salvation. On Saturday night, however, I prayed with him to accept Jesus into his life.
In fact, all the kids accepted Jesus into their lives. It was really amazing!
Oh I forgot to explain. This camp was put on by Projeto Amar, which is basically a free after school ministry that has bases in two of the poorest, most violent neighborhoods of Goiania. They provide the kids with breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, games, sports, tutoring, classes, Bible studies, worship, prayer, and more. Both of Projeto Amar’s bases have birthed a church. It’s really an amazing ministry. Cidinha is the leader of the ministry. Thus, once a year they hold a camp for free for all of the kids from the program. So all of the kids in this camp come from the worst neighborhoods in Goiania and they range from ages 4 or 5 to 16 or 17.
This ministry has been around for 22 years and many of their kids have gone on to become pastors, missionaries, and professionals in other fields.
I loved every bit of the camp. We played tons of games and sports, we had several chapel meetings, we had daily devotionals, and tons of really great food! I fell in love with the kids and at the end Gulierme gave me a hug and said, “Teacher, don’t forget us!”
Throughout the whole camp I was struggling with my calling to raise up an army of itinerant preachers. I realize that I enjoy discipleship so much and it is so natural and easy for me to do. I love evangelism too, but I must confess that I get frustrated with evangelism because you can’t see the results of your work. Even if a person weeps and gets radically saved you don’t know if tomorrow they are really following Jesus or just back in the world again. But discipleship is so rewarding because you see the growth of the individuals. I would rather make 100 disciples than bring one thousand people to Christ who will eventually fall back into the world or live lukewarm Christian lives.
So after being a part of two amazing camps where I discipled two groups of young people and after tasting the joys and frustrations of both evangelism and discipleship for most of my life I was seriously questioning if I wanted to devote my life to evangelism more than to discpleship. Obviously, I can always do both, but at least for the next ten years or so evangelism would be the main thing I focus on.
However, on Saturday night Leandrio, the guest speaker, walked up to me after his preaching and said, “Look man, I don’t consider myself to be very prophetic, but I feel God wanting to say to you to not give up on the dream I have given you because this vision is not your vision. It is my vision and I have called you to fulfill. So don’t stop believing in your dream. It will come to pass.”
That prophetic word so encouraged me. It was amazing! It came at the perfect timing. Now I am 100% certain that God wants me to pour my life into GGM 100%. I will give it my all in Jesus name and it will be God Himself who will empower me and who will ultimately make it all happen! Because, after all, it’s His vision and not mine right?!