The timing of God is... perfect!!

I have some good news for you!!! I'm sure you remember Rafaela from a previous blog... well she was pregnant and on Friday she had her beautiful baby boy, Mateus, he is just perfect! She is doing well and he is doing well but vomiting a lot, good considering that the entire pregnancy she continued to use crack - Praise God that so far he doesn't seem to have been affected...

So.. how did I find out that she had her baby on Friday... a situation like this is not like the norm at home.. you get a phone call or a text, or you read about it on facebook... no, she lives on the streets - no family with her, no number, no way of contacting! so how did I find out...

as you know I was travelling and didn't return until 17th November. The day I returned I had such a desire to see her. All week I waited patiently to find a spot in the work schedule to visit the street where she lives/hangs out. Didn't work out! Each day I got more frustrated thinking she probably had the baby when I was away and I wanted to see what happened to it and how she was. The only time I could go was on my free time on Friday. Thankfully a part-time worker in my house, Paulo Silas kindly agreed to stay later to go with me. We went to the streets she sleeps on (she has been staying on one street now).

We arrived, and the other drug addicts told us she had gone the day before or two days ago to have her baby (they didn't remember when). They told us which hospital she was in and so Paulo Silas and I went straight there. It was a long process to explain who we were and why we wanted to see her. Eventually we were told we could go see her but would have to stay a minimum 2 hours (wrong information). We hadn't had lunch so we decided to go home and have lunch and then get together a few basic things - clothes, soap, toothbrush, comb etc for her and someone had donated clothes for the baby. Then we returned after a bit later....

God's perfect timing!!! It was again a long process to get in to the hospital and then to actually find where she was... but we made it.. we found the room.. she was sleeping peacefully. The nurse told us she had had the baby just that morning and had JUST ARRIVED on the ward not a day or two before!!!

GOD'S PERFECT TIMING!!! If I had visited an earlier day that week and saw she still had not had the baby, it would delay at least another week until I go to visit her again other kids to visit).... I would not have known in between she had the baby... but I arrived ON THE DAY THE BABY WAS BORN!!!

Because we were given wrong information and so decided to return later it meant we arrived at the exact right time!!! God loves us so so much and he is really revealing His love for the human race through Rafaela. If you remember aswell from the previous blog about how I bumped into her at the exact right time for her to spend her birthday with us rather than on the streets alone. Now God is showing his love for her through us arriving at exactly the right time. She has no other visiters - her family don't know she was even pregnant.

I went again today with Paulo Silas who stayed another day to go with me, and she was so pleased to see us, even the nurses were saying how pleased she was. God uses us in amazing ways and I am so glad that he is using me to bless her life.

PRAY... PRAY ... PRAY...

* she is now talking about caring for Mateus, this can only happen if they can make contact with her family and someone agrees to be responsible (because she is from the streets she isn't allowed).

*pray that this little perfect baby boy is the PUSH she needs to come off the drugs and off the streets - pray the desire will supernaturally disappear

*Thank God that so far Mateus is well... pray against any other effects that drugs may have on his tiny body

THANK YOU for following our story - mine and Rafaela's... and on behalf of us both - thank you for praying

A knock on the door is so much more than a knock on the door at times!!!

It was about 3pm on a wednesday afternoon, I was in the house alone doing my afternoon chore (the dishes and cleaning the kitchen), the door bell rings. No!! could it be? would it be? Noooo! I spoke on the intercom "Quem é?" (Who's there?) IT was.... it was Erick!

Erick is a street boy we have been working closely with.. over the last months he has shown real signs of a desire for change in his life. As he is 18 years old, he is the age to go to an adult rehab. We visited one with him and then we challenged him. "There is a place for you, but you need to show us you want it. If we just pick you up from the street and take you this doesn't show a real desire. So you must come to our house knock on the door and tell us you want to go." He had promised many times he would come, always 'tomorrow.' But today was today and Erick was at the door!!

Let me tell you a little about the destruction that is his life. Erick has three brothers, two older and one younger. His older two brothers just got out of prison about two months ago. The oldest brother was there because he murdered their father. In March they also lost their mother to cancer in the throat.

Not only has Erick lost both parents, because of the trouble the older brothers entered straight back into when they got out of prison, Ericks oldest brother was shot dead about about a month ago. And his other older brother since leaving prison has spent two more short spells in prison. And even though he is out at the moment he is hiding, afraid for his life as there are gang members from his community searching to kill him. This has also put Ericks life and his younger brothers life at risk. And Marlon, the younger brother (who is someone I asked the kids in Junior Church to pray for in 2010) is still on the streets, takes a lot of drugs, and the lastest news is he too has gone to prison (this is more than likely for stealing and he will stay in prison for about 40 days).

Marlon sleeping on the streets

Erick (black tshirt) and Marlon (red tshirt) went on the first trip to the adventure camp, outside Belo Horizonte 

When I said 'destruction' of a life, I am sure you weren't expecting that!! Erick started to realise this is not the life he wants to live anymore, he not only wants to change his life for himself, but he has a real desire to take care of his younger brother too.

So when I heard his voice on the other end of the intercom, I ... did a little dance!! I was so pleased. He entered the house and s pent the night in our house as we gathered together all the things he needed - clothes, soap, tooth brush etc. We went shopping in town for a few of these things, including searching for a brand new bible. Erick had a smile on his face all day.

Then after lunch the following day, myself, Helen and Paulo Silas another worker in our house took him to the rehab. It is about 50 minutes from our house, so handy enough to visit. We are allowed to visit every other Sunday, and Erick has marked these visits on a calendar that I printed out for him.

praying for Erick just before we left

most of our team with, so pleased with the decision he made

We already made a visit there, and he is doing really well. Seems happy and settled. The staff have called him a 'Blessing.' So that's good news. Please pray for Erick. It's not easy to leave behind your old life, as awful as it was. He doesn't get to see his brothers or his 'friends.' Pray that he makes new friends, and feels 'at home' in the rehab - it is called 'Comunidade El Shaday.' Pray that he really has an encounter with God there because only this can really change a heart, heal the hurt and break the chains of addiction in his life.

Pray also, that we as a team will meet the challenge to continue supporting him in prayer, visits and supplying his needs (monthly offering and basic needs such as hygiene products etc).  Thank you for your continued support in the work I am doing here, I couldn't do it without each of you.

Dorton...

We bang on the tin door, no answer. we shout out a few names from the family, no answer. We bang and we shout... finally the door opens. The smell of damp hits you like a wave. There is water flowing down the steps and out the door - its not coming from their house but the house above theirs... flowing out of a broken pipe, wetting everything they have in the open space where we enter.

Doing some school work during a visit (sister Ruth helping)

They step back, and let us enter the first space, in front of the door to their home, we greet them with a hand shake and a few hugs. The kids (ages 14 to 18) are pleased to see us, its hard to tell whether their mum is as happy - her hand shake to greet us is barely contact skin to skin. She says hello and then makes excuses to disappear back into their home. Where we are standing is in front of 3 doors and between them is one bathroom - shared by all the families living behind the doors and up the two sets of stairs. Behind each door is one room, where a whole families lives, sleeps, eats etc.

The harsh reality of the family we are visiting is that behind their door is a room that I know is smaller than most peoples 'spare bedroom.' It is tiny. Here lives Dorton's family. Dorton: 14 years old has lived on and off the streets for 4 years. His two sisters are aged 16 (Ruth) and 18 (Jessica). Jessica has a 7 month old baby. And their mum lives there too. The family are very closed and so we only ever entered their tiny room when only Dorton was with us, apart from our last visits there when the mum finally invited us in... our entire visit is usually spent standing in that vacant area, that smells, has water pouring out of broken pipes and has dogs running around.

As you walk into their "home" it takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to the dim light of one bulb, it takes a moment for your breathing to adjust to the stuffy air with no windows in the house. Before your eyes adjust you see the devastation that is before you, you can feel your feet sticking to the dirt on the floor. Then you see- by the door is a fridge and a freezer... grimed with dirt. Beyond that is a stove - sitting on top are many dirty pots and pans, with flies flying around and bugs creeping all over them. Then there is a set of shelves piled high with more pots, pans, kitchenware - all dirty. Beyond this there is just mounds of things... everything piled high, mixed with each other, these mounds go right up to the door - the only space in the house is when you close the door there is enough space on the floor for the mattress... single mattress for all 4 and a baby to sleep. Thankfully a few weeks ago the oldest sister moved and piled some things up on the other side of the room and made room for the single bed to sit on the floor.

This is a disaster zone. This is where Dorton's family is living.

Let me tell you a bit more about Dorton that I know.... he is 14 years old, as I already mentioned, but he looks about 8 years old. His family consists of his mum, and two sisters and a little baby nephew. We have no idea where his dad went.

Dorton left school about the age of 9 or 10 because of some bullying and he never returned. He ended up on the streets. So for the last 4 or 5 years he has lived on and off the streets.

2010 - first time in Brazil and on the streets - Dorton (and Gustavo and Bimbinha -
all the boys in this picture are still on the streets)

I found this photo above and it was taken my first time to Brazil in 2010. I didn't know Dorton then, but there he is in one of my pictures. This year getting to know him and his story and his situation has been very sad. The first day I specifically remember him was the day we entered the abandoned house the kids had taken over, and he was there having slept there the night before (if you scroll back to the other blog you will see his picture there). On this day, we took him for a snack and asked if we could visit his family... normally the kids say no. But he said yes. Since then we have been working a lot with this family.

Dorton with his two sisters and nephew

In April, Helen (my room and work mate) had a dream to take a group of street kids to 'New Destiny.' This is an outdoor adventure camp outside the city. The dream happened and for one day 4 street boys went to this camp. They got to play football, swim in the pool, row boats on a lake, go on the zip line etc etc. Dorton was one of the boys who went. They LOVED it!!!

Since this day Dorton has been living more at home than on the streets. Every time we saw him on the streets we encouraged him to go home. Sometimes we took him home. It has been about a month now since we saw him directly on the streets but we found out instead he is hanging out at one of the street boys' homes in the same slum as him. There is a group that are staying there and it is basically 'street life' but with four walls.

So, to encourage Dorton to stay at home and not go even to this guys house we took him again to New Destiny with two other boys. (This will be the next blog.) It's been four days and he hasn't gone to the other house.

We also took the family to the zoo. Unfortunately the mum went out of the house early on this day and didn't return - She didn't want to come. That was sad, but we took the kids and the baby, and they LOVED it!!! The lion even did an impressive roar for us and Dorton wanted to steal a few turtles to bring home with him, thank goodness we stayed close and he didn't have the opportunity to do so!!! It was a great day. 

Dorton wanting to steal the turtles!!!!

Anyway, as we have been working with this family we have realised a few things that they need: specific prayer requests. They need a new home. Its not human the way they live. They have a bursary from the government to rent somewhere but they and us have had a lot of difficulty to find a house/apartment for them. Pray God will direct us and open the doors.

Dorton needs a distraction from the street life. He wants more for his life, he wants to change, but when he has nothing to do he goes to the other house or he sniffs the thinner. Pray for a space in the school to open for him (and that he will have the strength to go... he will enter in a much lower grade than where he should be because he missed so much) and pray that he will attend the groups we have arranged for him to go to in the community centre in the slum (football, basketball etc).

The mum goes to church, but doesn't seem to 'walk with Jesus,' so pray for a real encounter with Jesus, for each family member! For the mum to meet with Jesus and then see herself and her family through Jesus' eyes.

Pray for wisdom for us as we visit each Tuesday afternoon. For what to do. what to say. where to go with them.

Thank you

Thank you for your patience in reading this long post. Thank you for your faithfulness to conitnue to be interested in what God is doing here in Brazil through me and around me. Thank you, in faith for the prayers that you will give to God for Dorton and his family.

Mum and Dad on tour in Brazil

Well, I cannot even to begin to explain the shock that I encountered when I discovered that my parents were thinking of coming to visit me, yes thinking of visiting me... and then a week later they booked their flights! It was really happening... I cried... pure joy! What a blessing... my parents were going to come to Brazil to visit me, to see where I live and see the work I do!! I cannot describe my excitement! And they came... made it safely here without any hitches!

They arrived on the 12th of July and stayed until the 30th of July... sufficient time to see my city and work and also do a bit of site seeing. So they started off in Belo Horizonte for 10 days. The got to experience a bit of daily life with me and to see the work I do. I absolutely loved introducing them to the kids and families we work with. 

And a specifically favourite day of mine was when we gave the kids curly wurlys (a chocolate bar from United Kingdom). The boys were super excited to have some chocolate that they cannot buy in their own country and that came so far for them to try. Mum and dad had a laugh asking the boys to say 'Curly Wurly' ... also made the boys laugh a lot!!

After 10 fantastic days in Belo Horizonte we got on a bus and headed for Sao Paulo ... 8 hours on a bus! I don't know how my Dad managed it with his sore back.. but it was all good. We spent 3 days with Gary (a missionary from our church at home) and his wife, Claudia and their son, Nicholas. We got spoilt by them; my favourite was a typical Brazilian BBQ they made. We enjoyed resting and spending time with them and seeing the area where they live. We even went to their church although mum and dad didn't understand much!!

Our final destination was RIO DE JANEIRO!!! I was super excited to get here... for the beach!!! We had a great week chilling and relaxing! We had some beach time, some eating time, and some walking, and of course we couldn't miss going to see the statue of the Christ. Pretty impressive!

(for more photos click: 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151330940801124.565176.509796123&type=3 ) 

What I most enjoyed though was having my parents with me for my birthday... my 30th birthday! Everyone has been telling me it's a big one... I am now in the 30's club... and I think I got to celebrate it in style - with my parents in Rio!! I was super excited to have so many presents and cards to open on the day - totally unexpected! And I loved all the pressies I received - Thank you.

As I wrote in a previous blog - God cares about the details and I wholeheartedly believe this. He gave me a fantastic time with my parents. I am truly blessed by him and in many ways especially through you, my supporters. Thank you for continuing to be faithful to Him in supporting me. 

Phillipians 1: 3 

"I thank my God every time I remember you."

NEW challenges!!

This picture is of the translators who went to Porto Seguro from Belo Horizonte, and yes, thats me... part of the group!!! So the story goes like this; the three guys in the photo are part of a 'mission trip' that happens every year in Porto Seguro. They go to translate for the group of Americans that come to Porto Seguro for 10 days to evangelise there.

This map shows you where Belo Horizonte is and where we went - Porto Seguro, looks close right? Well by bus it would take 17 hours, thankfully we flew!!

Anyway, I have no idea how it actually happened, that I agreed to go, how my bosses liberated Helen (my room mate) and I to go and how it all turned out. But we went!! And it was a challenge of a different sort.

The mission that the americans do each year is choose a church to work with there in Porto Seguro (with the help of a missionary there; Eduardo). With the church, they work in the community evangelising through house visits, dramas, giving kids trainers and toothbrushes and the adults glasses, they have a construction team too. Each person they meet they give a bracelet and through it tell the story of Gods love: 

Gold: Heaven - Gods wants us all to go there... but we can't because of...

Black: sin! We are all sinners and therefore separated from God.

Red Heart: But God loved the world so much that he sent his only son to die on the cross for our sins.

White: Now we can ask God to forgive our sins and have our hearts made clean. 

Green: Growth. As a child of God we need to grow, by reading the Bible, praying, going to church and walking daily with Him.

My job was to translate for the Americans, it was a fantastic 10 days, God Blessed me so much with the words I needed to translate both from english to portuguese and from portuguese to english. I was amazed at how in our weaknesses Gods strength is made perfect.

There were a lot of times together worshipping and receiving a word etc so a lot of opportunities to 'be fed'. The two things that I learnt the most during this week was:

* Obedience. I had been questioning God about the point in doing things if I couldn't see the point in doing them, I couldn't see the fruit or the difference that it may make. Throughout this week God spoke so many times to me about obedience. God doesn't ask me to understand everything, he just wants me to obey him. Through obeying him, he is pleased and our relationship is strengthened.

*Faithfulness. I was blown away by the example of the Pastor and his wife that we worked with. Their church was in the misdt of a small community, a poor community, a community that had gone through a lot of death, destruction, hurt and fear. The Pastor and his wife worked fervently in obedience to Gods call on their lives to minister to this community. They saw no fruits. Many times they wanted to give up but God told them to hang on. They did. And throughout these 10 days we were with them, I believe the american group encouraged them, they saw many in their community come to know God as their personal saviour, also the construction team finished the walls on the church. On the Sunday night the church was full!! And the team are going to get the money together to build the couple a house on the premises where the church is. Faithfulness to God is hard work, but worth it.

There are many other things I learnt this week but these two were the main ones. I thank God for an awesome 10 days being able to participate in this mission trip, meeting many amazing people and that God showed his power through my availablity.

Church on the beach!!

God cares about birthdays!!!

Our God is the God who created the heavens and the earth, right? He is the God with no beginning and no end, right? He is the King of Kings, right? He loved the world so much that he sent his only son to die on the cross for us, right? AND OUR GOD .. cares about the details too... he cares about our birthdays!!

So I have a story to tell you, and it is not about my birthday, that will be the next blog!!! My story is also an update on Rafaela (last blog). Helen (my co-worker) and I who have been involved with working with Rafaela, we like to make contact with her about once a week or so. There was a few weeks that went by and we were seeing her about 3 or more times a week, this was when we were really hopeful about her desire to go to a rehab. Then she disappeared. More than two weeks went by and we didn't make contact with her, and not for the lack of trying, we were searching most days.

We had nearly given up hope on finding her again, especially after hearing there were a few drug dealers looking for her because of debt to them and so we assumed she had gone into hiding. Our spirits were low. Then one day... after a confusing morning and a number of events that, looking back, were specifically designed to happen to make the timing just right... I was out looking for another street girl, I saw her! I actually saw Rafaela. I was super excited.

I invited her for lunch at our house. She agreed! I can't describe the bubble of excitment, the thankfulness to God, the surprise at how God works, why are we always surprised when God works?!

On the way back on the bus to my house (I live and work in the same house) I found out that the next day was her birthday! I had bumped into her the day before her birthday. Then the fear set in... would she stay at our house until the next day? If she left would she return? Would we lose her again? Deep down I had hope that God would work it out. One of my significant conversations with Rafaela had been about her birthday. We talked about previous birthdays that had been spent alone, and how his coming birthday she had me and Helen who wanted to spend it with her. And now here she was the day before her birthday, in our house. But she is a heavy drug user, would she last 24 hours?

God shows us he is greater than what we can imagine: 30 hours with Rafaela....

To cut a long story short. She stayed for 30 hours with us, most of which she slept. After she had had lunch, she took a shower and then went to sleep... she slept, and slept and slept, until the following morning at 8am after only waking up once at 2am to use the bathroom, and eat some bread. That's over 18 hours of sleep!!  

We were so excited to spent her 19th birthday with her (it worked out perfect too, that this day was a national holiday so we were scheduled to be off and therefore had no 'work schedule'). We got up and had a special birthday breakfast with her. Then we painted nails, watched TV and then together made lunch. In the afternoon she washed her clothes, took a shower (we always give new clothes out to kids/adults that come to our house for a shower) and then she slept again. When she woke up she ate and we watched a film and then she started saying she was going to leave.

Just before she left we brought her into the kitchen and sang happy birthday to her, Helen (my co-worker) had made a cake the night before, hopeful she would stay. As we sang happy birthday to her, she was overwhelmed and began to cry, so did we. God is so awesome that he cares so much for Rafaela that he set it all up that she would arrive and spend sufficient time at our house and be able to spend a really special day. We had cake and coffee and then gave her a present. We talked with her about how it was God set all this up and that we love her because God loved her first. We prayed with her and then she left, and left us crying. God is so amazing, he blows my mind at how much he cares for each and everyone of us.

Rafaela is still living on the streets, but each week we can see little changes in her and we have hope that when the timing is just right, she will come of the streets and into a rehab and then she will move back home and help to take care of her 3 year old daughter. But please do not give up praying for her, and now also for another baby that is growing inside her. Pray for patience and trust in God. Thankyou