To start, we would like to send you all our wishes for this year 2020, that it will be a year of growth for everyone and beautiful surprises throughout the year!!
And maybe 2019 is already far away, but we are going to tell you about our month of December ... a bit of moving around!
And maybe 2019 is already far away, but we are going to tell you about our month of December ... a bit of moving around!
A weekend with 13 families from the favéla:
We may have told you about our desire to do a camp for families that we support rather than just children or teenagers. Well this year, after 3 years of waiting, we received a financial donation specifically for this and we were able to take 13 families (around 70 people) for two days to a place with a swimming pool, football field and children's playground all in the middle of nature ... Suffice to say that everyone was thoroughly happy! We really wanted to promote the idea of family and help strengthen the bonds between each member. We planned that each family could have their own room rather than sleep together in dorms, that all eat meals together at the same table as a family, all could have sharing time with each other and outdoor games with the family!
We received very good feedback and several families are already asking when the next weekend will be! We feel after this weekend that our relationships are stronger with certain families. This may open doors for this year's work, including home visits.
So that you have an idea of the father's place in these families, only 1 father was present, 2 could not come because they were working and for the 10 other families, the father is not present at home.
To see more photos of this family weekend, you can visit our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/jocumcasarocha/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2432559650186856
to spend these few days with Lucivânia's family, very welcoming, and to spend Christmas in a very different way, seeing the real Brazilian culture of Tocantins... On the menu, lots of barbecue !!!
We may have told you about our desire to do a camp for families that we support rather than just children or teenagers. Well this year, after 3 years of waiting, we received a financial donation specifically for this and we were able to take 13 families (around 70 people) for two days to a place with a swimming pool, football field and children's playground all in the middle of nature ... Suffice to say that everyone was thoroughly happy! We really wanted to promote the idea of family and help strengthen the bonds between each member. We planned that each family could have their own room rather than sleep together in dorms, that all eat meals together at the same table as a family, all could have sharing time with each other and outdoor games with the family!
We received very good feedback and several families are already asking when the next weekend will be! We feel after this weekend that our relationships are stronger with certain families. This may open doors for this year's work, including home visits.
So that you have an idea of the father's place in these families, only 1 father was present, 2 could not come because they were working and for the 10 other families, the father is not present at home.
To see more photos of this family weekend, you can visit our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/jocumcasarocha/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2432559650186856
You can also watch the video below:
Team retreat:
The day after the family weekend, we left as a team (10 adults and 3 children) for 5 days. Each year, for 4 years now, we have taken this time as a team in December to close the year, to think back on everything that has been done, everything that has happened ... but also to plan the following year, see what we keep or not, what are the new ideas and what God shows us about all this. The 5 days went by very quickly, but we really enjoyed all together, having very good moments of prayer together and for each other. For the 4 new staff who arrived in August it was an opportunity to better understand what we are doing and why. After these moments together, they feel even more part of the team.
Jocum em familia (YWAM Family):
2 days after returning from this team retreat, we left for the bi-annual conference of YWAM Brazil ... 13 hours bus trip to Caldas Novas (Goias), 4 days with 500 missionaries; services, sermons from Jim Stier (founder of YWAM Brazil) and Martha (founder of YWAM Kosovo and now in Jordan with YWAM). These were very good moments where we see that we are not alone in Brazil and that what God is doing here started long before us and will continue long after ...
Christmas in Porto Nacional in the Tocantins region:
From this YWAM conference, we went directly to the state of Tocantins to Lucivânia (a staff member of our team) who had invited our family and Mireille (another staff) to spend Christmas with her family. We took the bus again, first 3 hours, then another 16h ... it was very long and Lorenzo was sick at the end of the trip. Obviously we can say that we were happy to arrive! We stayed there for 6 days during which we never stopped sweating and Lorenzo was sick with fever every day. The temperature in this region of Brazil is very high all year round, we were almost always close to 40 degrees, sometimes we exceeded even that! But it was a great experience
to spend these few days with Lucivânia's family, very welcoming, and to spend Christmas in a very different way, seeing the real Brazilian culture of Tocantins... On the menu, lots of barbecue !!!
The night of December 26 to 27 we returned home (by plane this time) and we spent a New Year's Eve more than calm; quiet at home just us 3. It took 4 days for Lorenzo to recover after this busy month of December, and start sleeping again ...
We are grateful to have been able to live all these moments with colleagues, friends and people of the favéla!! What privileged and refreshing times!! We are well motivated for this year 2020 which begins and we pray that we can faithfully continue this work that God has entrusted to us and that we can see even more fruit if possible!
Thank you again and again for all your support!!!
Sending you hugs
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