Hey,
Greetings from Porto Amazonas in Brazil!
I already have over a month behind me of this trip and I have been here in Porto Amazonas for 3 weeks already.
Before I got here I had a wonderful time in Cuiaba in the centre of Brazil, where I have family who have been there for over 20 years as missionaries. They are now leading a church there and are also have a publishing ministry that helps to spread the Word and supply missionaries with materials they can use.
My main objective was just being with them and enjoying their company as I haven’t had much time with them. I haven’t seen my two cousins since 2011 and so it was very awesome to see all of them again! I also had the chance to support them a bit with some design work and I also got the chance to speak in the Church and the Youth Group.
Now I have moved on to the more Southern Porto Amazonas where I have returned to one of my outreach locations from last year. Here I am serving at a Christian Day Care Centre where the parents don’t have to pay for the kids to be here. The children have school classes but also learn about God’s love in forms of devotionals, stories and songs but even more through the Staff acting out the love of Jesus and offering them a safe place.
My job has many sides to it and my day looks somewhat like this: After the Staff devotional, I play some children songs with the little ones, after that I mostly go and help out in the bakery. On some days I have a couple classes for sports activities and then I help with maintenance. Once in a while I will also have to jump in with looking after a class. In the afternoon the teenagers come from school and we have a devotional with them, on Mondays it is my turn to lead that and I have to think of creative ways to make up for the lack of language ;) Once a week we have football coaching and the other days I am in Maintenance or helping with projects or preparations. Marcos (the leader for the teenagers) and I built a Bible bookshelf where they can take out all the books and sort them in. This is to help them understand how the Bible is put together in an easy and visual way.
This week I have been bitten/stung by something (possibly ants) and I had a strong reaction, a rash and swollen parts all over, my head was absolutely numb, a lot of itchiness and stinging pain… Marcos took me to the little hospital here and I got three injections and some medicine, they worked right away and the next day I was back to normal… It was an interesting experience for me as I have never had something like this before and I have to say sadly I haven’t taken a picture…
On the weekends I help a lot with the worship in the Church, Saturday the Young Adults, and Sunday the service. The little time that is left I am resting and working on communication. I feel very healthy as I am always going back into the Word and having a lot of quality time with God even in the midst of all this business.
Please Pray
- for grace with the language, as everything here is spoken in Portuguese
- protection and health
- that the love of God is unshakably planted in the hearts of the kids and youth
- that God continues to work in me as I am working with Him and that I am able to understand and deal with the things He highlights!
Blessings,
Raphael
