Hey,
Someone please pinch me… I cannot believe that I have already arrived to my last month of outreach. We have been working on many different projects. When I last wrote we were in Belo Horizonte where we finished our time with teaching and ministering with the “Divine Plumbline” in a DTS there. The Plumbline is a counseling tool that comes from YWAM that can help us to focus on living in the truth of God’s love and acceptance. We also did some counseling ministry with women that had left their former life that “wasn’t so good for them” and are now walking with God.
The last three weeks we spent in a small, five thousand soul city called Porto Amazonas in the south of Brazil. There we worked with a day care center/school. Our work was partly very practical and partly investing in children and teenagers. In the mornings, I was working for the first 2 weeks in the bakery helping to make bread. In the afternoons I was working on renewing the 30 year old fish mosaic that represents the place that is called “Peixinho Feliz” which means “Happy Little Fish”. We also taught the little children about God’s good love, spent time with the teenagers for devotionals as well as investing in the staff of the place. All in all, the time there was very rich and very busy, but busy is good when we handle it out of rest.
Speaking about rest, I would like to share some thoughts of encouragement with you. One of the main things I have learned, and am still learning, during my school is to live a healthy life of ministry. Many times I have just pushed myself and the job has been the most important thing, but that is not God’s intent. The job is important to Him, but not more important then me. My relationship with Him cannot suffer just because I am living for His cause! It never should. Whether our full time ministry is in the traditional 9-5 job, or in my kind of job, it doesn’t matter. Our relationship with Him always needs to be our number one priority! And then we can work out of our resting in God. That doesn’t mean to sleep or be idle but to know who we are in God, that He loves us and accepts us no matter what.
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
Now we are at our final location of our outreach, in Curitiba. Here we will teach about counseling and also another Plumbline teaching in the DTS. We will also practice more of the things we learned about counseling and invest in the people here and in each other.
A personal goal of this last month for me has been to go the next step deeper with God and let Him work on me, whatever He thinks is fitting, to have an openness to dig deeper with him!
I am also very happy that this weekend I will get a visit from my family. It is a huge blessing to have them come by for a weekend as they had planned a trip to Brazil independently before I knew that I would come here.
Please pray for strength as this is the last 4 weeks of a 12 week outreach and pray that God will show me in the right time what next step to take after this time!
Blessings,
Raphael
