I am surrounded with the super Jesus song for VBS tomorrow. Heather wrote it to be our theme song. We had previously planned to have two weeks of camp, but the 150 kids that were coming from Recife backed out. So this week we are doing VBS instead.
I am not really sure how to write about English camp. it is some of the best times of my life. it is beyond description and I feel like I am in my element–in Brasil, teaching, and CAMP. gotta love it. to fill you in, the Americans came in on Sunday: Ann (Steve’s wife–a wonderful lady), Mark (a guy from Ohio who has a cast iron stomach and has worked at many camps, meaning he goes even crazier than me), Sonja (a blond outgoing middle school teacher that puts her heart into life), Cindy (an Elementary teacher who is older but acts like she is in her 20s–wild thang), and Jeff and Lindsay (Steve’s son and daughter-in-law that hope to live here next year–Lindsay teaching with me and Jeff working on computers and communication things). Ana Maria came the next day from Mexico…I will have to tell you all about her later.
We ate Chinese food (funny stuff. it tastes just like American Chinese food) and painted the posters for camp, and then went to Tracunhaem for their 4th anniversary celebration. It is incredible to be there and see what God is doing. This church has gone through so much–a new pastor after complications with the last one and five people dying and others injured coming back from a church activity in a wreak–all in the past year. Despite all this, they are budging the upstairs room where they meet for church, and 90% of the church is actively involved in discipleship (that means if 130 people come on Sunday, 117 are there for the mid-week service) WOW.
Afterwards I went to Boca Loca for the first time (where Bill–who gave me my car and came to Brasil last year–got his nickname). The Boca Loca sandwich (which Bill could consume in one sitting) is divided into four–and that fourth filled me up. it has everything on it…I mean everything. from what I could recognize and taste, I ate carrots (they were sorta sweet tasting on a sandwich) cucumbers, peas, corn, hotdogs, ham, cheese, eggs (alot of places serve eggs on their hamburgers…and I really like it!), plus all the regular things you would have on a hamburger. the thing is almost twice the size of my hand.
On Monday, the kids were to come at 2pm for camp, but they started arriving at 9am. We ran around, decorating, labeling, and planning. It was really new for me, being the director…so I everywhere at once and nowhere really:). It was not that I really did alot, it is just that I needed to get people together and plan things, helping the teachers feel ready for teaching, when I myself was having serious doubts…stuff like that. This group is amazing. They jumped in and worked super hard to give their students the best English classes possible. Sonja made these incredible manipulative for her Bible class, Mark used a marker to mark and label his body as his class learned body parts, Lindsay sent Steve out for multiple photocopy trips to give handouts to her students, Cindy planned and put together a great children’s program on the spot…it just goes on and on. I feel privileged to work with such people. And then there is Ana Maria. Ana Maria came from Mexico. I really did not have time to talk to her until after camp, but here is her story.
Ana is 29 and lives in Mexico city, in an apartment with her brother and mother, who are Catholic. three years ago she was at church and God really got ahold of her life as the Holy Spirit became real to her. She knew at this time that she wanted to be a missionary. Ana works at a bank, leaving home at 7am, working from 9am-9pm (it is a two hour drive there and back…she does have a two hour lunch break though) and then gets home at 11pm at night. she has two weeks vacation for the whole year. Gary Wright, the director of World Renewal, visited her church and heard that she wanted to be a missionary. He invited her for a short-term trip to Brasil–and here she is. She is taking her whole vacation for the year to be here, speaking and teaching English (she is pretty advanced, but not super confident about it) and hearing Portuguese (which is about 60% the same as Spanish, but enough different she cannot completely understand or communicate). She arrived on Monday and immediately jumped into English camp, being a team leader and my teaching assistant. wow. Talking with her is incredible. When she returns, she is going to continue to pray for God’s direction on where He will send her (she is thinking maybe Europe?), but she really hopes her family will be saved before she leaves.
English camp started with an English placement test and then we divided into two camp teams that night. My team was the “Freakin’ players” and our mascot was the mosquito. I came up with our war cry: “Freakin’ players, beat the bruisers (the other team), we are winners, bite the losers” nice, huh? with all the staff in the classes, we probably had 35 students for English camp. and so we began.
in the morning we had Bible class at 9am for an hour and a half. we would read from the Bible, go over it, practicing pronunciation and reading comprehension, and then answer a list of questions, working on writing and conversation. For this class, we mixed up all the beginners and advanced, making for an interesting time as some understand everything and some nothing. My class had an English teacher, two advanced English speaking guys, and then two pastors who are beginners. Okay, the whole thing of teaching a pastor really freaked me out. my mind went blank and I was like “I cannot teach them anything!” here I am, my only qualification being that I am from the US…the English teacher knew so much more grammar than I did, and pastors? yikes! But it went well. It is not that I have all these qualifications, it is that I am a willing vessel for the Lord to use…and if He wanted me there, it was for a reason. I must admit, I did laugh when we were talking about the Good Shepherd and Valmir (the pastor of Cajueiro Claro) kept pronouncing it “goody sheep-ter.” a good teacher must never laugh at her students. The last day we went over the gospel and I had some wordless tracts…they were very effective as I went through and “told the story” in Portuguese, and then had my students do the same in English.
My afternoon class was the advanced beginners–Jaciara (a seminary student), Lycia (a peppy 13 year old), Augustino (the pastor of Tracunheam), and Joseman (the pastor of Carpina). What is up with pastors??? We flew through plurals, pronouns, adjectives, articles, and questions super fast since we were a smaller class. I had them give speeches on their families and read books in English with expression. For the awards presentation, we led everyone in a rousing round of “Father Abraham.”
Every afternoon I played futebol barefoot, and now the bottom of my feet are permanently black. I have scrubbed and scrubbed, but…nope. I got a bruise on my cheek from running into Sonja, a bruise on my shin from running into Ricardo’s heel, and my big toe feels sore anytime I touch it. But I know alittle bit more of what I am doing now, and even hit the ball with my head (so what if it went out of bounds). I love it–the guarding, the anticipation, the planning and trying to get the ball around another person and then passing it to another player to set them up to score. ahh. the smell of success and sweat mingled and dripping as you charge into the shower afterwards…it is the best.
I had just come in from playing futebol when I remembered I was in charge of decorating for the theme dinner that night (yikes!) it turned out pretty well as Jaciara would help me and we would run around looking for things…one night we used toilet paper for streamers, another night we used post-it notes for stars on the walls, and the last night I used empty paper towel rolls for vases for the flowers:) hey, you use what you got.
The evening services were great. I sang in English and then they did in Portuguese and the same with the preaching. Afterwards they opened the lanchonete and we could get snacks and talk. I met Alysson (poor guy would have been labeled gay in the US, but it is a boy’s name in Brasil) who told me that before English camp he hated Americans. His whole idea of us was what he had seen in movies. The day he left he came up to me and said that he thought I was really neat and a great person. It is incredible to think how I represent the US to people here. It reminds me of how I am to be representing Christ to everyone–in Brasil and in the US…what a deep thought.
Half way through the week I had many of the seminary students ask me if I could continue on with English classes. the idea was completely new to me, but something that I instantly was like “Well, duh!” because here I am, staying at the Alconce where they will be living for five months, doing nothing (or not much), while they want to learn English–instantly I have a purpose and a ministry (something worth more than gold to me) and they are learning a valuable skill. YES! So, we do not have everything worked out yet, but are planning on having classes once a week for whoever wants to. I figure it will be a far trade for all the Portuguese lessons I am getting–and cooking lessons, and futebol lessons, and driving lessons (which have all been promised me).
all week we got together and had devotions and prayed together, listing the names of those we knew were not saved or were not open to God. The name at the top of our list was Teo. Teo is Tele’s nephew and is a law student in Recife and was not saved…only opening up at all when he was playing futebol. Thursday night, by the glorious grace of God, Teo was saved. two others on our prayer request were Lucas and his brother, also related to Tele. They come from a very Catholic family. Friday night they came forward for Christ, making a public decision…and Sunday? They were at the Community church of Timbauba with their mother. is God something, or what? Life is so incredible. sometimes I want to pinch myself and wonder if I am really living it. I am. I am here in Brasil, involved with English camp. I found out what “Alconce” means–it means “Reaching.” so I am “Reaching Brasil.”
One of the best things about English camp is all the churches coming together: four of the pastors were in my classes–and each church had their pastor and members there, working on staff or learning English. What an incredible way to come from the US and jump into the ministry here! suddenly, at any community church you visit down here, you know people and are already known by them as their beloved “professora”:). I have been invited to people’s houses, and already have so many contacts to make in the next five months down here…I tell you, there is nothing like it–pastors, seminary students, church members, English teachers, policemen, law students, kids and people from the community coming together for a week to play, worship the Lord, and learn English. It was so neat to talk with Tele and Heather and hear them share about how things had started…and then to see how God has worked to grow the ministry to what it is today, with spiritual children, grandchildren, and great-grand children in the Lord serving and going out, making up 10 churches spread out all over.
but there are so many prayer requests. I here is the deal in numbers: $750R is the monthly minimum wage here–and that is 12 hour days (about $3R an hour–or alittle over a dollar US). Presently, we pay the pastors here $290 US–less than minimum wage. Since the money comes in from the US, alot is dependent on the dollar. in the past 18 months, the exchange rate went from 3.7 to 2.4–that is cutting our income by 40% just because of the economy. everything here goes on as normal, but instead of the pastors getting over $900R, it is suddenly cut to alittle over $600R. Whenever I think of the economy, my stomach goes in knots. because it seems like this huge intangible monster coming at me. It cuts my spending money down, but that is the least of my worries. This means that all of the ministries are hindered and slowed down…and if it continues, stopped. that freaks me out, personally.it is truly a walk by faith, and the sooner I remind myself of that, the better. Thank goodness for a great God who is over the economy and will take care of me in any situation. He is in control, not me.
Saturday we went to Recife and shopped and went to Spettuz…I have finally figured out how not to stuff myself–I eat dessert first, then have the salad bar (which this time I ate lots of sushi–I LOVE it at Spettuz–can you believe it?), then some meat off the machete, and do the round again, ending up with some warm pineapple. Spettuz is, by the way, the most incredible restaurant ever. Sunday we were invited to Jaciel and Andrea’s parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. They are VERY well off. They are the ones that we met last year at the English camp and are now having the new Acacias church starting in their home. Jaciel’s family is even better off–his father told him at 14 that he was giving him a gas station–and that was that. He has been running it ever since. Jaciel’s older brother owns the family ranch where the BBQ was–in Brasil, called a “Churrasco,” very famous around the world. We drove and drove on a bumpy dirt road and then arrived there…to see this beautiful house with hills and water and beauty…everything we could see they owned. And this was not even their house–just a place to hold parties. They set us up with meat on a stick–the best stuff I have ever tasted (and no wonder, since it was their own beef, grown there, killed there, and then roasted there and given to me). After I stuffed my face, I found out that dinner had not been served yet…and dessert was after that. We ended up leaving after eating for over 3 hours. Brasilians sure know how to have a BBQ.
So now you are almost all caught up. We are just about to start VBS. Spencer has joined our crew from the US, and as he is a joker and speaks fluent Portuguese, I have no doubt he will fit right in. Renaldo had Lindsay, Jeff and I over for lunch yesterday. He has quite a story. His father is 85, has had 13 wives, 48 kids, and is presently living with a 38 year old. Renaldo, who has been to English camp this and last year, has been married 4 times himself. He grew up poor, working in the sugar cane fields, and then working up to being a policeman. last year he got sick and was in a coma for three days…during that time he had a dream that was as clear as day. In the dream there were groups of 10 coming and being appointed their time to die. his turn came, but as he came up, people were saying “no, it is not his time” and a shadowy figure appointed someone else to go in his place. as Renaldo told us this story, he had Goosebumps. He has not made a profession of faith, but he is so close, and knows his life was spared for a reason. Lindsay has been praying for Renaldo since last year, and took the opportunity to present the gospel…may the Lord grow this seed that was planted.
Yesterday was also Lindsay’s 21st birthday. I made her a cake (from a mix), but unfortunately, the oven here is not labeled at all. I had one of the guys set it for me, but it must have been on WAY too low because instead of 35 minutes to cook, it took over two hours. it made the cake alittle flat tasting. And then I iced the orange cake with doce de goiaba (sweet guava stuff) and it made for an interesting combination. Tele went out and bought her a real cake, but everyone made me feel good by saying it was the thought that counted. oh well. my cooking escapades are at least good for a laugh to write about. Monday night then we had an outdoor evangelistic meeting. We went to the center of Carpina, set up the band, played, did mime, and preached. It was a real neat time. I would love to do something like that at the circle in Indianapolis sometime. We are doing another one next Saturday…and I will be singing in Portuguese (because the other singer is sick) SO PLEASE PRAY for me!
I know this has gone on and on. and actually, I feel like my fingers could not type fast enough and so I have forgotten tons of wonderful things that happened. But just know that God is alive and working here and it is beautiful. I am not worthy to be included in this, but my God has chosen me. Psalm 84 “…My whole being wants to be with the living God…Happy are the people who live at your Temple; they are always praising You. Happy are those whose strength comes from you…one day in the courtyards of your Temple is better than a thousand days anywhere else…He does not hold back anything good from those whose lives are innocent…How happy are the people who trust in You!”
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