Hello everyone! I hope that many of you have been seeing my more regular updates on facebook. If you are not friends with me on facebook please send me a friend request! That way I can add you to the group page. Today I would like to update you on what has happened so far. There are three topics I´d like to mention in this post.
The first is the ministry we took part in over the first week and a half of being in country. Part of YMI Brasils long term ministries is a soccer school called Camisa 10. It´s name reflects the Brasilian tradition that the best player wears the number 10 jersey. The school teaches the kids how to play their best while also being their best. I was able to play with the kids each session and had a great time doing so. Also, I had three oportunities to share with them. The first time, I shared my testimony and the other two times I shared Bible stories. Please pray for these kids and the ministry.
The second is that Chloe and I traveled from Atibaia to a small town called Nova Campina. Here we are staying with the Pastor of a local church and his family. We all get along really well and they have become like family. I feel very at home here. We came to Nova Campina in order to help run a sports camp which we did starting on Wednesday. We had at every session no fewer than 15 kids, usually more like 30. The sports camp which was made up of 2 sessions for kids about ages 5-14 and then an older group 14-18 or so. Many kids came for both groups. Here at the camp I shared my testimony and as well as the fufillment of God´s plan in His Son Jesus. Please pray for the kids of Nova Campina as several are not church goers or go to churches that have a misleading understanding of the Gospel.
Thirdly, as I have conversed with Pastor Ademir and his wife Denise, there are several churches in the area that teach if you pray hard enough then God will do things for you. That He is essentially a God who bows to the whims of those who call on Him. We know that God does hear our prayers and often answers them but we also know that sometimes He doesn´t. So there ends up being people who get mad at God when He doesn´t help them like they think He should. Or they feel abandoned when a loved one becomes ill and God doesn´t miraculously heal them. I bring all this up because I had the honor to preach at the church´s midweek service on Thursday night. I had been praying about what God wanted me to share and He led me to John 9. This is the story of Jesus healing a man born blind. I saw this man in the Bible becoming so thankful to Christ that the man worshipped Jesus. Now that may seem pretty obvious. I mean He was Jesus after all. But if you look at the chapter you´ll see that the man was heckled by the pharisees and eventually kicked out of the temple. To us that may no seem like no big deal, we would just find another church, but for this man, he was a Jew who had been kicked out of the temple. Who would employ him now? Even now that he can see, he has become a liability. But wait, according to the ``gospel´´ shouldn´t he have had nothing but good things happen after encountering Jesus? That´s what many churches would have us think. That way they can increase the size of their congregation. But in the story of the man born blind we see a more accurate picture of the life of a believer. We encounter Jesus who enables us to see God, but now we are contrary to the world so we are put out. This did not stop the man born blind though. He continued to worship Jesus despite his new dire circumstances. This was the message I felt led to share, and it was received very well, praise God! In the little english people knew, I was told it was ``beautiful.´´ I am very thankful to God for the opportunity to share. Please pray for the church in Nova Campina, and I mean all believers. Pray that the Spirit will lead all to a true understanding of Scripture and the Gospel.
I´m sorry this was so long, I will try to update far more frequently than every two and a half weeks! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. I feel the faithfulness of our God and His saints every day. Praise God for opportunities and good health and healthy relationships!
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