When in Brazil..... do as the Brazilians do!!!

11th March I said my final goodbyes at the airport and headed Brazil bound, the flights were long and tiring without much sleep. And arriving in true Brazilian style in Belo Horizonte, I didn't know if my lift would arrive and when I got collected where I would actually be going!! But God is good, I got collected by a Brazilian family who did the DTS (Discipleship Training School) with me in Brazil before Christmas. I went and stayed at their house where much sleeping was done! Then continuing in true Brazilian style I arrived the following day at the house I was told to go to, to be told I wasn't to be there but at another - confusion! But it turned out for the better as I was able to settle into the house where I will spend my first three months. I was reunited with my English friend Helen who is my new roommate for the time at this house. She is such a blessing!! We get on so well... too well that there is more talking being done than sleeping!! And while in Brazil ... do as the Brazilians do...we went to get our nails painted!

When I arrived I got settled in and all my stuff unpacked and I am very happy with my comfy little spot.





The next day I got stuck into organising things for my visa, meeting with the lawyer, paying outstanding costs and other costs and eventually going to the Federal Police. God is good, this process was all completed within two days, which meant on the Friday I could start working!!

WORK...

I sat in my first team meeting... all in portuguese (God is blessing me beyond what I can imagine!) and then that evening we went to the streets to hang out and build relationships with the Kids on the street. This was a great time of building relationships, all so young - as young as 11 years old! We found out that one of the boys was going to turn 13 years old on Sunday. So Helen and I had a super idea to make a huge cake and go find him on Sunday. We did just that.... praying hard that we would find him... the kids don't usually hang out in the same spot for too long and especially during the day, so it can be hard to find them. But I had a good feeling that this was going to be Gods will and that God would arrange the things that were out of our hands.

We arrived and found three boys, all very intrigued as to what we had in the big box, but very quickly realising that it may be cake for Peterson... the smiles and joy in their faces was priceless. We sent two of the boys to go find Peterson... these boys are more resourceful than us!! But, we had to promise them that we would not eat the cake until they returned. Off they went running and screaming Petersons name (we did get a number of funny looks from passer-bys... who are these crazy people hanging out with a group of street kids).

10 minutes later, not only had a crowd of street kids quickly formed around us, but here comes Peterson... a walk of pure happiness and the smile on his face.. I will remember for the rest of my life. We had a WONDERFUL time with the kids. We prayed for Peterson, sang happy birthday and then let him blow out candles saying 13. Then the cake was eaten and not a bit was left!!  





Peterson is the boy in the blue t-shirt, look at how huge all their smiles are.. .PRICELESS!.





These kids are so special and do not know it. We have noticed a difference in the connection with these kids and our team since this day, I am hoping it is being drawn by the love that we have for them, the love that comes from God. Please pray for all the kids but especially at the moment for Peterson, we dont know much about him or his family, we think he has a father and a brother and sister, and his mum passed away some time ago. We hope to encourage him to bring us to his home to visit them and see what his situation is (but it is very obvious he has not been home in a very long time). Pray with us for him and for the work we are doing here in Belo Horizonte with YWAM Rescue House Team.