Last night at Montana de Esperença

Wow... where to even begin. Today has been a day full of emotions and revealings of God´s mercy and grace in the lives of these children. It amazing how sometimes we dont think we can be used- but then God proves to us otherwise. This camp has been a challenge for each of us since the day we arrived. We were all tired, It didn´t seem like the children were as receptive to what we had to say... and we began to compare this camp to the last and how it wasn´t the same. We didn´t see what God had planned for us and i think we had set our expectations low for this week. But that´s not where it ends.

Phil Smith, the president of Hope Unlimited came and made a special visit to see us. He shared his testimony and history of how this organization began. It began whith his parents ministry in Ethiopia working with orphans that led him to Brazil in his adult life. I won´t write out all the details on here but it was clearly the hand of God that put him in the right place at the right time.

Part of our concern was the kids being distracted during the sermons. Night after night we thought no one was listening. However God showed himself every single time. Whenever there was an alter call or an invitation for prayer and it was evident that God had spoken to those kids. God is good!

There were about 30 boys total at the camp and 19 of them came to Christ this week! It made us realize that even when we were discouraged God was able to work through each and every one of us. Words can´t describe the emotions that went through us tonight. God is faithful. Seeing these kids lives changed impacted us in a way that we´ll never ever forget.

One boy, Ronaldo, was planning to run away just 2 days ago. He didn´t want to be here. He was in tears throughout the day and intended to run away that night. But, by God´s grace he didn´t. He heard the message spoken by Bill and turned his life over to Christ that evening. Then, tonight, after Hilario´s testimony- he stood up to tell us that he intends to stay at Hope Mountain, and he wants to leave here a better person. He wants his life to be transformed!

One little boy, Lucas, is around 10 years old. He used to be a leader of a gang. Tonight God touched his heart and he prayed the prayer of salvation! It was amazing to see God move through these boys´hearts.

We were told about another boy, Tarcicio, who because of his terrible background he was so hardened. His social parents have been struggling with him for a long time. He´s an incredible basketball player. He was asked to join Pro, but could not because of his young age and immaturity. Tonight he accepted the Lord as his Saviour.

We also got the pleasure of meeting a former student of Hope Mountain, Jose-William, with an incredible story. His mother was a secretary for a powerful politician. He worked as an office-boy in that office. He got involved with the man, and one day the politician was arrested for corruption. Jose-William visited him, and the politician ordered him to set fire to the police office to burn all of the evidence against him. The boy was arrested and the judge who knew the case had him sent here to Hope Mountain. After 3 years his life was transformed and right now he´s in college studying law with the dream to become a politician. He came to visit our group and say thank-you for encouraging my life last year. He says that he still remembers the service we had in the camp and in difficult moments he remember the faithfulness of the Lord and the importance of forgiveness.

I could go on and on naming story after story of the testimony of God moving here at this camp, but we will share more with you when we all return home. We came here to give and to help these children, but in actuality we are the ones who recieved. These kids have truely touched our lives!

Tonight was our friend Hilario´s last night with us. He shared his testimony with the children which really ministered to them. He has a background that the kids could relate to. He was an orphan himself, and he got involved with drugs. Suddenly he found himself stealing which led him in and out of prison for many years. He accepted teh Lord through a missionary that showed him a love he´d never felt before-the love of Christ. The message he gave allowed the children a hope of getting a new life. He was truley a blessing in our group and we will miss him. He flew home to Mexico this evening to be with his family, and to attend to his own orphanage in Guadalajara.

Everyone is safe. We leave tomorrow to head back to Vitoria. Pray for us that we will travel safely. We miss you all and we can´t wait to see you on Monday! God Bless you ALL!

dear friends family and people that really care for us.....to day it is the 26 of july 2006 and it is 2213 hours yes that is correct they go by the 24hr clock so 10: 13 pm.... we just got back from a pretty good day... for starters we woke up around 0700 hours and had a group devo then we had a gourmet breakfast with for starters a nice cup of luke warm chocolate milk....... next a fresh baked loaf of bread and butter that they make thenselfs here at camp...... after breakfast we hosted a basketball tournement first up blue and purple teams purple won so next green and red... so red won and we never got around to having the final game because they got upset and so we are going to try to do it again tomarrow....... then we to then kid s after lunch to the beach were we played more soccer and more soccer and then we took a water break and played so more soccer.... the kids flew kites and had a swell time after words we took all of them to a buger shoppie and then snaged so ice cream and came home......... so the kids really enjoyed of getting out of their normal routine ............... so keep praying for us it is going well and pray that we can continue to comunicate with youngsters ..............
jorden ross









the G Q of brazil BAbY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 4 (Hope Mountain?)

Hey everyone, this is Matt Lewis. Sunday was our last day at the college retreat. We had such a wonderful time and the people here are so firnedly. Their praise and worship is so emotional and fun. We learned how to sing in portuguese and samba. Sunday night we went to their church service at Mision Prya Da Costa. It is so beautiful located right on water in Vilha Velha. After the service we went out to dinner at this burger place. These burgers were so massive but good and we topped it off with a glass of guarana. It was our last time with some of our Brazilian friends. We got to stay one night on the beach it was so nice.

Monday we checked into our second group here at Hope Mountain. We were suppose to stay at a camp but instead we are staying at the actual orphanage located across from a prison( I can actually see it as I am typing). These kids are older, all boys, and have been through a lot more. It´s a lot harder to manage these kids because we´re in their territory. Since its their place they feel they don´t have to participate in everything.

Monday night I did a talk on leadership. It was a difficult decision for me to make because I was trying to debate whether to do leadership or faith, however, after hearing some of their stories the spirit lead me to talk on leadership. It was amazing the way the spirit moved and impacted the kids. Several of the kids came forward for prayer. One of the boys was in tears. His name is Tarcecio and he was in prison before. He lost both of his parents when he was younger. After the service Hilario and I talked to him. So please continue to pray for him and the rest of the boys as we continue to minister to them.

Tuesday was the first day we really were in charge of the kids. We broke up into four teams and our first task was to make a cheer. The red team, my team, won of course. oo ahhh go red go red!!! oo ahh go red go red!!! I canmake living with the cheers I create. Unfortunately after that the excitement died down. We´played water balloon toss, wheel barrow race, suit case run, balloon pop relay, pictionary, and dodge ball. When playing the games if the kids could´t do something they would just quit. They weren´t as competitive as the other kids were.

On a postive note there is less kids here so its easier to have a one on one relationship. I think the food is great even though most people get sick. Especially after they saw the chickens get slaughtered for dinner( poor things). Well, thats just life. We have an amazing view of the mountains unlike flatland Florida. There is never a cloud in the sky no thunderstorms( soorry all you Floridians).

The sleeping arrangements are prison style. The showers have no curtains. Not the most comfortable thing in the world. Some people in our group don´t even take showers. The good thing is we have about 5 toiltes. However, there is only a curtain for privacy. Our bedroom has bunk beds. A whole bunch of beds in one room. I forgot to mention that somehow we multiplied because now we have 4 more guys. Now here is the funniest part. Our friend Hilario from Mexico is sleeping on the bottom bed. Now we have a kid that is 6´6 his name is Jorden Ross. The kid is massive. Where do you think he is sleeping. That´s right you guessed it above Hilario (poor guy). The whole night he was praying and holding the bed hoping it wouldn´t fall.

Last night Bill did a talk on King Ahab. At first the kids were very distant. We had to ask a couple of the kids to stand up. During the praise and worship half of the kids were not here. However, God has plans and they managed to come in just in time for Bill´s message. The kids gradually got into the talk. At the end Pastor Alvarado asked the kids if they had any questions to go to the back. About 6 of the kids came to the back. By the grace of God 2 of the kids accpeted the Lord that night. One of them, Renaldo, was actually suppose to leave Tuesday but things didn´t work out and he ended up staying. So please continue to pray for those boys who are hurting and praise the Lord for the two boys who accepted the Lord.


To my family and Samantha

Hey guys thank you for writing me. It took you guys a long time. I thought you forgot about me. This is the first time that I have had access to the internet. So I love you guys and miss you so much. I can´t wait to see you all. Keep praying for me and I will pray for you all. Take care God bless.

Matt

We are in Vitoria!

Hey guys, it´s Joann here. Sorry we haven´t been able to blog, but we have been up in the mountains with no internet since Friday! We just got to the hotel. We attended Livia and Benahia´s church and afterwards ate these huuuuuuuuge hamburgers, Brazilian style. YuMmY! Let me tell you about these past few days. Thursday was absolutely amazing. No words can express how much we truly love and care for these children.

We started out the day we some games: tug-of-war, fuchiball (that´s soccer for you americanos), and dodgeball. In the evening we had church service. It was probably one of the most amazing services I´ve experienced in my life. God prescence was with us in that room that night. You can tell these children love God so much. The worship was so amazing and fun. That is one of the many things that I will miss when we return back to Florida.

The children said that they wanted to give us something for coming out there and being with them, but they said they have nothing except maybe a shirt to offer. So, instead they created a rap, a dance, poster boards and letters! These kids are soo cute and so talented. Afterwards, they did an altar call and so many kids went up. It was incredible. God is doing miracles in this ministry. Then they prayed for us. Wow, that was intense. Not one eye was dry in the place. We only spent 4 days with these children and already we had so much love for one another. Well, the first day we couldn´t even communicate that much with the children because of the language barrier. However, we learned that hand gestures are very useful. But, words do not even need to be spoken. All these kids want is to be given attention and to be loved on.

After a lot of hugs, kisses and tears we went into the game area to announce the winner of the competition. Of course it was Amallello(Yellow)(Jorden, Alissa, Livia and my team!). We beat everyone in soccer! Plus we had the best chant (sorry White Team!).

After the Yellow Team was announced number ONE, the kids had to go to sleep. We all felt like celebrities because they wanted autographs, pictures, and e-mail addresses. We were all sad, but it was an experience that I would do over and over again. These children have impacted us in so many ways. We all feel so blessed to have the opportunity to come to this country to share the love of God with them.

We all got to bed pretty late, past midnight. We had to wake up at 5 a.m.! Ouch...not too much sleep. And then we were off to catch the plane to Vitoria to attend the retreat with the college youth group from Livia and Benahia´s church. First we went to their church where they served us a very delicious Brazilian Lunch and then took a tour of the new facilities that they are building. God is doing wonderful things with that church. Then we took the looooong bus ride to the mountains for the retreat center. Can we say car sick?! But it was worth the drive. The place was AMAZING (and so was the food!) But the people were even better. They are so welcoming and friendly. From Friday until tonight (Sunday night) we have spent time with them. Their services are so fun. People get really into it here with dancing and clapping. Melissa, Annie, Linda, Tina and I were learning some cool moves to some songs that they were playing.

The church was so accomodating. They wrote all the lyrics in Portugese and English. All the signs around the room were in both languges. And they all tried to communicate with us in English. They treat us like family here...it´s a really great feeling.

Anyway, it´s getting really late here and we have to get up early in the morning. We will be staying at the second orphanage tomorrow. Please keep us in your prayers.
I´m going to copy off Linda and say: Hi mom and dad! i love you and miss you!
Mario, te quiero mucho and I´ll see you soon! You all better take me for some American food when I get back. I´m loving the rice and beans but two weeks....that´s a lot of beans haha. Take care guys!

Love,
Joann

P.S. Sorry about my badly spelled Portugese but the computer is very slow here and i´m too tired to look it up.

P.S.S no pictures today...no USB!

Boy´s turn for the Spotlight

Bom Dia!
This is Linda :-) ... We came in to town this morning to use the internet because there´s only one computer in the camp and we didn´t want to use that one too long so that others can use it. Let me tell all of you about our wonderful day yesterday.

Well, everymorning we have an amazing time with our groups having a devotional. Eventhough it´s in Portuguese we are able to understand the Lord´s teachings.

We get to drink the best hot chocolate I´ve ever tasted for breakfast. Right after breakfast the girls had to pack up again and drag their luggage accross camp because the night before, we plugged the hair drier and blew a fuse which caused us to lose electricity. (Hey we don´t wake up looking this beautiful... we have to work for perfection... just kidding)
So they gave us a new room but in there, we had no water. We just can´t have our cake and eat it too?!?! When we finally got ALL of the HEAVY bags to the new room, the electricity came back in the old room. Figures... We are learning to survive with one bathroom and 9 girls, and sometimes Freezing cold Showers, or a long line for a not so pleasent smelling bathroom experiences, If you will, but you get the picture.

Alissa did a wonderful job (once again) with the games for the children, and they absolutely loved it! She introduced them to the suitcase game and balloon pop game (where i injured my tailbone while trying to pop it. Ouch!) Justin and Ryan organized the kickball and the dodgeball tournaments. The kids took winning seriously, they are very competative but still manage to enjoy the games.

I spent some time working on my testimony during the free time so that i can share it at the evening service. Pastor Alvarado had told us that for dinner we had to dress for Wacky Tacky Night and the winner was named the most ridiculous person (also to earn points for our team). At first, none of the "American" girls wanted to participate because we felt we would be the only ones dressed silly. but we did anyways. We tried to come up with unique outfits but when we saw all of the children dressed up for the contest we were shocked at how much effort they put with the little they had. They used mud and toothpaste to paint their faces, tree branches on their hair, and ripped clothes stuffed with pillows.
All of us girls looked like 80´s rejects and Jordan (the only Americano that participated) dressed up like a Giant tree giving their team enough points to win. Between him and Caleb, they are the loudest and the most team spirited group leaders.
I think that was the funnest event I´ve ever experienced!!


The praise and worship in Portuguese has been so touching. It amazes me how the children really get into Praising the Lord with all of their energy. Pastor William was nice enough to translate the songs for us in English. After that we went outside for a real treat. They made a bonfire where Jordan and I gave our testimonies and Ryan Spoke about the Life of Job and overcoming trials. At the end he made an altar call where he invited anyone to come up that wanted to turn their lives over to Christ. I´d never given my testimony in front of a lot of people but it felt great to share my life´s experiences with them in hopes that they can relate.


Tonight is our last night with the meninos and meninas from Cidade dos Meninos and we will be crying our eyes out!! :-( We made wonderful friendships and it´s going to be hard to say goodbye. They´ve already commented all day asking if we are coming back next year.

Please keep us in your prayers because some of us are getting colds, stomach aches, allergy attacks, lack of bathroom visits (me and Tina.. ask us when we get back.. Hehe. Oh, and pastor Luis too.) Also, pray for our trip tomorrow to Vitoria. We will be leaving at 6:30 (5:30 your time) and meeting up with the college group from Livia and Benahia´s church for a weekend retreat.

Mom, Dad and Samuelito, I miss you guys and am praying for you. Also you Monet :-). It´s been a wonderful experience that I will never forget and i can´t wait to come home and share the fun stories with you. Jason, I love you and miss you like crazy and I hope to see you at the airport on the 31 (our 9 month aniversary) . I hope you can take me to a nice restaurant so i can eat a big meal with a salad and steak and cheesecake. Thank you for your support and prayers because without you guys and everyone at Boca church, I wouldn´t of had this wonderful trip. I LOVE YOU ALL...
GOD BLESS!!!!

Linda

Oi from Brazil!

Hello everyone! This is Tina... The kids here call me "China" (pronounced chee-nah). And Gabe has decided that if they can call me that, he is going to call me "Asia Minor" haha

Anyhow, and update from yesterday... We woke up really early (7 am) and went and had our quiet times outside. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! It was freezing cold! You could see your breath... and there was a gorgeous mist in the sky! The perfect scenery for our talks with God! It was then time for breakfast and as Alissa said yesterday... we had our bread and coffee or hot chocolate. We all met in the chapel afterwards and Pastor Derli split up the children into teams and the kids got to choose which "Americanos" that they wanted to be in their group. Team Verde (Green) chose Bill and myself! The competition began shortly after with different activities, sports and games. The Brazillians are EXTREMELY competetive! (Especially the Meninos... boys) We played one game where two players from each team had to carry the rest of the team across the field on a carpet one at a time. When it came time to choose who would be teh "carriers" all you could here were shouts of "AMERICANOS AMERICANOS!!" So as you can imagine- Jordan, Ryan, Bill, Chad and Caleb had a WONDERFUL time carrying 20 Brazillians and a few Americans about the length of half of a football field!! (sarcasm inserted!) They all took it like champs but were very tired the rest of the day.

The Children here have been so welcoming. I can´t even count the number of hugs and kisses they have given us since we arrived here! It amazes me to see the joy in their faces. They´ve been through so much and have so little, yet they still have incredible attitudes! They are so content! I can´t help but think back to the people in Boca Raton who have everything they could possibly want or need yet they have no joy- no graditude. We are so blessed and these kids are teaching me that every day!

I know for sure that God is working here in so many ways:
1.) He has completely broken down the language barrier. The kids are so interested in what we have to say. They try so hard to communicate with us. Every single one of them have patience with us and try to act out with gestures what they are saying so that we can have a conversation. It seems now that after 4 days with these kids it doesn't even matter that we speak different languages. We know exactly what eachother is trying to communicate.

2.) Our diverse group had really bonded and everyone has a unique purpose/place here in Brazil. God had a reason for each of us coming here. Benahia and Livia have been translating INCREDIBLY! Linda has even picked up with translating for Hilario (our Spanish-speaking friend). Joanne has been able to use her Spanish to communicate with the kids and it~s been a huge help. Justin, JP, Caleb & ALL the guys have been great with playing sports with all the children... they love having the attention from the "Americanos". Chad and Gabe have been around to make us all laugh and make the kids laugh! Melissa and Annie have had a blast getting up with the Brazillians and learning there dances! Bill, Ryan and Matt have stepped into their roles with teaching and they are doing a wonderful job! Alissa has been amazing with planning all the morning games and activities and Samantha has been a huge help to her. Everyone has a unique role here and each is equally important to making it all run together smoothly.

3.) God has made the impossible... POSSIBLE! We didn't have a praise band established before we left. Then Pastor Alvarado came to me yesterday and said, " You ready to sing tonight?" and i thought to myself... NO WAY! We haven´t practiced one time! We can´t do this! But by Gõd´s grace (and the help of our new friend Pastor William) We were able to practice and it turned out to me an amazing night. Everyone was out of their
comfort zone: Gabe playing piano for the first time, & Chad on Guitar for the first time, Melissa Annie and Myself singing in a language we didn´t understand! God was there! He made it work! And it really touched the children.

After the worship Chad and I each shared our testimony. The kids are always so excited to hear our stories. In fact, at lunch today they asked Pastor Alvarado who whould be speaking tonight! They are just so excited! Matt spoke for his first time last night and gave in incredbile message on Faith. I really believe he found his calling! HE has such a way with words and the Brazillina children were so receptive of what he had to say! After the servive we had out hot tea... said our goodnights and went to get some much needed rest!

Thank you so much for all of your comments! We love hearing from you all! You have been such an encouragement to us! We all love and miss you!

-Tina

PS- Hi mom! I miss you too! See you in a week and a half! Tell Aunt Kathy that Chad is safe and I am making him take lots of pictures!! And Jess- The diet coke with lemon is AMAZING!!! LOVE YOU ALL!

first entry!

Dear family and friends,

It has taken so long to write, but we want you to know that we are all okay. When we arrived at the hotel on Sunday we attempted to write the first blog, but we didn´t have the password and log in name. We then drove to camp in Sumaré, and just found out we have access to the internet today. We have not seen anything that should cause you any worry...even with the recent stories here in Brazil. So I hope you have time to read this blog...it is many of the events over the past couple of days.... enjoy!!

About the trip, we flew for about 8 hours, and arrived in Saõ Paulo at 8:30 Sunday evening. We met up with Hilario from Mexico, Livia and Benahia (native Brazillians), and the bus from Cidade dos Meninos and drove to Campinas. The pollution was so bad there! We then got settled into our rooms and got a good night´s sleep. We got a wake up call for breakfast, then got ready to tour the girls ranch. They were so excited to see us again, and once again welcoming us into their homes. As soon as we got off the bus, some girls started giving us hugs. Some were reserved, but soon we all had atleast one girl hanging on our arms or holding our hands. We played and attempted to talk to them. The language barrier is once again a difficult situation to overcome. Some of our girls have a better opportunity to talk with the children from Brazil because of their Spanish background. But we got into the hang of things by using hand motions and attempting to speak words they could understand. We are so thankful to have our translaters, Livia and Benahia, here with us. However, there´s not enough of them to go around. They have been amazing. They can be in the middle of a conversation when someone pulls them away to help them understand something. After visiting the girls camp we drove to visit the boys camp. This facility is bigger, and we toured the classrooms, vocational rooms, and houses. Some of the areas they get trained are bakery, industrial cooking, sewing, computers, desigining screens for shirts and aprons, and a place they work on cars. We then had lunch with the boys. Do you know what we had? Rice and beans! We also had chicken (atleast I hope it was chicken) and penne pasta. It was an amazing time to talk with the boys. To see their faces light up when they recognized some of us was unforgetable!

We drove back to the hotel, thinking we would have time to shower and change, but we ended up having time just to change. That is just the first of many times we will have to be flexible. We met with Mrs. Smith and her son. She said that they would probably be meeting us in Vitoria for camp. Phil Smith will be joining us, also. They are amazing people! The church in Soracaba (where Justin stayed) picked us up. We drove around the city, and then had dinner at a bakery. It was delicious fried food. We then went to church and met with the congegation. Pastor Luis spoke, Jorden and Hillariogave their testimonies. It was a great night! They all have great stories to tell and amazing hearts to serve.

Yesterday we woke up at 6:30 am. Well some people got up at 6:30. I´ll admit that our room (Tina and Benahia and myself) didn´t wake up until 7 to go down to breakfast. We had all our things packed, so we went downstairs, and then brought our suitcases down to get on the bus to go to camp. The bus with the girls from Cidade dos Meninos picked us up. We were all exhausted so we slept a little. We drove about 2 hours to the city of Sumaré. The camp is located in the city, unlike last years (which was out in the middle of nowhere). There´s a merky lake, swimming pool, huge soccer fields, and all the rooms we need. Us girls are next to our boys. The accommodations are much nicer than last year. They are bigger. There´s a front area with 5 bunkbeds (where 4 girls are sleeping) and two rooms (one with 3 bunk beds, and the other with 2 bunk beds). Still only one bathroom. Suprisingly it wasn´t that difficult to get ready this morning. The only time it´s hard is when someone has to go to the bathroom when someone else is already in there. Anyway, our group got together and had a time to talk about why we were on the trip and to do a devotional. We then split up into 6 teams with the children. Then we had lunch. No beans this time. Only rice and spaghetti. A nice change :) We had free time and we hung out with the kids. The girls from the camp went swimming yesterday. It was the boys day today. It´s too chilly for us Americans to swim! We did a craft with them, also. We brought foam notebooks and they decorated them with foam cutouts. They seemed to really enjoy it. Dinner was rice and beans and hotdogs! Special, I tell you!! Last night Pastor opened the service, myself and Annie gave our testimonies, and Bill spoke on being content, just as Paul was. We then played 2 games: Ultimate Person and King Wants. Ultimate Person is played with everyone starting out as an egg (you put your arms in a circle above your head), then you find someone else that is an egg. You ´´farkle´´ (rock, paper, scissors). Whoever wins becomes a chicken. But the looser stays an egg. Then you have to find another chicken. You ´´farkle´´ and the winner becomes a dinasor, and the looser goes back to being an egg. Then the dinosaurs play and the winner becomes a person, the looser back to a chicken. To play King Wants, there´s a person who is neutral in the game. He asks for certain things. Like a blue tennis shoe, or a square watch, or a shirt with green and blue. The first team who brings the item gets a point. At the end the team with the most points wins. They seemed to enjoy it. Then it was time for tea and coffee before bedtime. Yes, they drink tea and coffee before bed!!
This morning we woke up freezing. We walked outside and could see our breath! We found a spot to have our own devotional, then met with our teams and had a group devotional. Breakfast was bread and hot chocolate or coffee. We then had time to play games with them, and the teams competed for points. We had lunch and then free time. Our craft was a cross necklace with the wordless message.

So, family and friends, please continue to pray for us. We are in charge of all the games tomorrow and by God´s grace it will go smoothly. We have gone through customs without any issues, and we pray that it will continue for the rest of the trip. We love and miss you, and will see you in about a week and a half!!

Got contact info?

I heard from Jessica that the college group in Brazil doesn't know the password to update the blog. I have the password but I don't know how to relay it to the Brazil group...If anyone knows how to contact them, please call me at home 561-361-9891 or send me an email at jw2@doghousedigital.org .

Joanne Wilson