Hey,
Finally, as the Christmas decorations have found their way into our windows and homes and the year is rapidly coming to a close I am sending out some last news before the next year starts. I have been in Germany now for a couple of months, using the time mainly to re-connect and to serve locally but also to catch up with some things that were just not possible to do in Brazil due lack of Internet! I have also been serving for a couple of weeks at a Youth with a Mission Centre in England but let’s take it one thing at the time…
Last time I wrote I stated that I felt I should stay in Brazil to serve some ministries there and that due to the visa situation I had to leave the country. I had to stay out for 90 days and it’s now somewhere around the time that I would be allowed to return. However, I thought that I could do my part of having the whole family reunited for the Christmas Time! We haven’t had that for at least four years and so we are all pretty excited about this years Christmas.
Because of that, I booked my return to Brazil for January, but I thought, since I have the word that I should serve other ministries, I shouldn’t have to wait until my return to South America to do that so I tried to jump into all the possibilities here in Germany. It is always a privilege for me to invest in the people here and I got the chance to help out at a youth camp, church and a few other ministries where I could invest in the partakers and the staff!
There has always been talk about returning to England to work with my old leaders and to support their ministry. And so I was very happy that I could use this flexible time to go for three and a half weeks to England to serve at YWAM Holmsted Manor where my old leaders from Harpenden are now leading. My goal was to just simply be a support to the ministries but also to be an encouragement to trainees and staff. As I left to drive home again, I had some encouraging feedback like “You changed the atmosphere” and “I am so thankful for your help” that confirmed that I have done what I was hoping to do in England.
The main things I did were very practical like helping with Maintenance and the Grounds. So I got to fix some doors, help to install new lights and take down some small trees. I also helped to build our nativity scene for a big Christmas event where we had a live nativity with horses, chickens and sheep! I myself was one of the Magi’s and got to bear some gold to baby-Jesus. Furthermore I got to help in some of the other local ministries like evangelism and helping with a kind of soup-kitchen.
I am very excited about the end of the year with my family and my return to Brazil! I hope that you too will have a wonderful Christmas and that you can realize anew how much God has given us, that He gave himself up to get us back to Him! And that in everything, you can be a testimony of his joy and love.
Blessing for the Holidays and the coming year,
Raphael
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
