Soccer!!

So today at 15:30, it was girls day to play in the field area at Grupo CEO. The older teens were playing 5 on 5 and were nice enough to let Laura and I play a round (two goals then the losing teams switch around). Now I have NEVER been that great at soccer (you can ask my dad - he use to bribe me to kick the ball during games when I was younger), but these girls are RUTHLESS!!! The short 5 minutes (I think...it might have been shorter) took my breath away...I did actually kick the ball a few times (which I was surprised) in my bare feet (which was A LOT of fun).

I'm going to have to work on my "skills" (or try to find some) before I think about getting out there again...although I'm pretty sure we gave them a pretty good laugh. Who knows...maybe they'll have me playing pretty well by the end of the summer!

The rest of the time I spent with the younger girls kicking the ball back and forth, trying to stay out of the other game, playing concentration, and monkey in the middle.

Sorry...no pictures...it was raining and it would have been embarrassing! :)

9:00 Baptisms

The baptisms this morning were beautiful!

I have no idea how many were baptized, I'll have to count later. Bill said about 30, both men, women, and children, young and old! It was an awesome time!



The children who were baptized had a glow about them. They were so precious and excited about the future.





One of the last girls was crying while she was baptized, later Bill told us it was because she was the only Christian in her family. But God works in such WONDERFUL ways! Ways that we have no idea could happen. After the baptisms and snacks that were provided, the girl's mother accepted Christ. She has done SO much with Grupo CEO (made the longest cake EVER for the wedding last year, goes to all the Bible Studies...), but had never accepted Christ because her son is a drug dealer and she smokes. But today, she accepted Him as Savior and Lord! The picture below is of the mother and daughter after she accepted Christ!



Such an AWESOME beginning to the day!

Outside Worship

Tonight we had worship outside with a large group of people from the community.

There were only two songs that I knew (although I only knew them in English).





Sorry the pictures are dark, the light was not too good outside. :)

One event really made me think about how "good" we have it in the United States. Sitting next to me was a girl, who had her Bible out while listening to the pastor preach. Now this was not the newest or prettiest Bible, it was missing both covers, and she had written it in many times. At on point during the sermon, she got up to go do something, when she came back, her Bible was not in her chair. I had no idea what happened to it either. She kept asking the people around us if they took it and everyone kept saying "no." This girl's eyes filled up with tears. She did not make any noise, but kept longingly looking into the bag she keeps her Bible in and wiping her eyes.

This makes me think about how selfish we are and how much we want the best. Think about the last time your Bible was about to fall apart, what did you do? Keep it in the nicest bag that you own or go buy a new Bible. Too many times we take the ease of running to the store for granted. Here is a girl who is looking desperately for a "ratty" old Bible and we don't even take the time to open up our new ones. Why can't we have the spirit of this girl, to the point that we cry when we do not take the time with God that He deserves?

Just something to think about!

By the way, she did find her Bible, one of her friends hid it from her. I think that girl will think twice before hiding it again, after seeing her friends reaction.

Coming Up: Girl's soccer, Baptisms, and the First Service of CEG (Grupo CEO's New Church)

More Time In The Sand

More time in the sand with the kids!


(Notice Grupo CEO on the sand hill)

Fun in The Sand

Got up early this morning (before Amanda!!!), had some time with God, wrote in my journal, ate some breakfast with some AWESOME guava jelly!!! (SOOOoo Good!!) Learned how to get the water ready for the kids' activities.

Then I played in the sand (with the kids of course). Because Laura and I are here, we are going to have the playground open everyday for the kids to come play on. The 9-12 age group was REALLY excited!







I have seen how to replace a fan, while Bill got shocked a few times, although the shock did take his mind off of his knee. Amanda and I offered to be his shock therapists, but he declined.

Now we are just waiting for lunch and then have another activity with the kids at 16:00 (14:00 for most of you).

Teens!!!

Today was fun!! First, we ended up in the playground with at least 30 kids all wanting your attention and wanting to bury you in the sand or push them on the swing. At one point 4 kids and I would build a huge pile of sand, which ended up looking like a volcano, and then we would all pick a spot and start digging into the sides of the structure. They were trying to be the first to reach my hand. I don't know how many times we did this, but they just thought it was hilarious!

Later we had the preteen group (after we washed as much sand off as possible.) Laura and I were in charge of games. We played Concentration (with the ball) which they enjoyed for the competition part of it. Then finger jousting, which didn't go exactly like I planned, two girls ended up in the corner "jousting" with each other. And last but not least, hot potato, not American hot potato though. One person stands with their back to the group. We pass the "potato" around and that odd man out yells "stop," whoever has the ball when it is said, must answer a Bible question. If you are right you stay in, wrong you are out. I was trying to throw out basic Bible trivia and it was interesting to see what the preteens did and didn't know! We did give some easy questions (some answers were on the wall - literally).

During that meeting, Erika kept asking them questions (which I did not understand verbally, but Amanda translated the ones we were wondering about). One of the questions every single person in the room raised their hand but Laura and I, Sula (one of the girls that works with Grupo CEO), grabbed my arm and put it in the air. Erika asked the room to raise their hand if they are "a servant of God"!!! WOW!!!! All of those hands were an amazing site to see!! We are having baptisms on Sunday after church and a few of the Preteens are being baptized.

We met with the teens later after eating dinner. They discussed the book of Matthew, we were not in there the whole time but it was nice to hear the teens answer (when they did). After the meeting, we played spoons with 9 teens, then played LIAR (aka BS), and monkey in the middle. Which to some that might not sound like too much fun, but here it is so amazing! Seeing these kids' faces light up when you motion to them to come play a game, or telling them they are doing well, it makes you light up inside. Then to top it all off, knowing that you are sharing God's love with the people around you, without having to say a word...it is an amazing experience.

Williane and Elizane gave me some beautiful pictures and writings. They are both preteens. Williane is learning some English, so it is interesting to figure out what she is saying. She has great patience with me and knows that I don't always understand what the others are saying either, so she grabs my hand or acts it out for me. She was my dance partner last year (below picture is from last year), and it is SO great to see her again this year.



There are a few teens and preteens that we were hoping to see, but have turned away from God. Please pray that we can show them His love this summer and helped them see that only God will truly make them happy!

Boa noite

Walking Around

We just finished walking around Maracanau (I think that's how you spell it) to different people's house who will be a part of the worship service on Sunday, for Grupo CEO church's first church service. We passed out CDs of music for them to practice.

We got to see the 4 little girls' house today. (story from the other night at the Children's service - those girls) It is very beautiful, something those girls definitely deserve.

It was interesting walking around today. The Grupo CEO worker (Nisa?) we went with does not speak any English and I know LIMITED Portuguese as of now, but I felt that as long as she was pointing to something or used some words that I did know, I knew what she was talking about. She had to tell couple of the ladies that we couldn't understand them, I felt bad...but I am working on changing that. Hopefully I can get Amanda to work with me...

Tonight is a meeting with the preteens. We are going to get to play games and hopefully talk with them a little bit. We are in the process of planning a preteen retreat for July 7-9!!!

Prayer Requests:
~ learning Portuguese
~ The Church's first service
~ the People practicing for the service
~ Open heart and mind to those around me!

Back at Grupo CEO

Well, the beach day was relaxing, didn't get as much planning done as I would have liked, but Bill and Erika got the rest that they desperately need (I hope).

I really got to get to know a few of the teens yesterday! Lucibera and Thiago are on the bike team that Grupo CEO has. Yesterday they got up at 4:30, and left for the beach, they made it in 3 hours and 7 minutes (which is awesome considering the roads). We (Erika, Amanda, Laura and I) met them in the car later on. The first thing we noticed was another bloody spot on Bill's knee (he fell again getting out of the way of a huge truck! - I might have to make him live in a bubble too {love you Dad}).

The rest of the day we spent in the water, exploring the caves, I read my Bible on the beach (so beautiful), playing cards and listening to music. While playing cards, I found out that Thiago knows a lot more English then he originally let on (although he keeps saying Benjamin - another teen - is better at English). These two teens are amazing!! They both have an awesome heart for God and such a serving spirit. Playing SPOONS was entertaining especially when I had no clue what they were talking about. But I am picking up on some of the things they are saying.

Please pray for these two. Lucibera (18) and Thiago (15), that God will continue to set fire to their hearts and that they will be the positive role model so many teens here need. Erika told me yesterday that their driving force last year was the teens, but now it is the preteens, so please pray for them!!!

Other Prayer Requests:
~ Bill's knee - it will heal fast in both places and that it won't slow him down
~ Rest for Erika
~ Patrick and Douglas (Bill and Erika's sons) are traveling with their grandfather right now
~ Pastors and Leaders conference at IBC (Large baptist church in Forteleza)
~ Jordan is traveling from Indiana down here on Tuesday/Wednesday
~ Strength and Needed Rest!

In Christ,
CNW

Planning Day

Today is a National Holiday in Brazil, so we are headed to the beach to plan and play.

Last night we had the children's worship and it was great to see all the kiddos again. My favorite site last night was seeing the oldest of the four girls, wrapping her arm around her mom's shoulder. Those who don't know the situation, the girls were taken away from their mother because the were living in horrible circumstances. After four years of Bill and Erika caring for the girls and working with the mother on getting her out of prostitution and making her hold down a job, the mother got her girls back. The oldest girls remembered all that they had gone through and didn't want to go back to their mother for the longest time. But seeing her with her arm around her mother brought tears to my eyes! It was AWESOME!!

The boys were also break dancing yesterday which was a site to see.

14 members of the large church in Fortaleza also showed up earlier than we expected and had not eaten any dinner...so we sent them to the Chicken place down the road.

Well, we are off to the Beach...enjoy your day!!

We've Made It

Written while waiting in the airport:

No one will actually read this until I am already in Brazil, but Laura and I are sitting in the Houston airport waiting for our plane to get here and then leave to Atlanta. We have about 30 minutes until our plane starts to board. Both of us have brought our Bible study materials to continue working on our Shadow lessons, although I’m hoping to get a bunch of sleep on the plane!

I’ve got my benadryll and cold medicine to help me get some rest!



Written while sitting in my room for the next two months:

Well, we have made it! And had some spaghetti for lunch! I'm all unpacked and so far I don't think I left anything back in the US, I got to talk to my mom on Skype earlier, so if you want to talk to me, that's the way it has to be :) !
Tomorrow is a holiday for the students in Brazil, so the rest of today and tomorrow will be used to get us onto Brazil time and somewhat set a schedule of events throughout the summer.

Tonight is the children's worship at Grupo CEO, so I am really excited to see some of the kids from last year!

Well I am listening to the sound of the rain falling outside, my bed is calling my name!

Until later...