Brazil Missions Trip 2015

29/06/2015

Today was an amazing day in Brazil! Today was the big AECA camp that we have been building towards the whole trip. Today, we had an entire public school (289 students) come to the sports camp. The students participated in numerous fun activities, and were given lunch and a goodie bag. Most importantly, they all heard the gospel in the morning as a group. In the afternoon, the students were broken up into small groups where they could ask questions and discuss what they heard. Ultimately, numerous students prayed to receive Christ as their Savior! All the students we met today will also have a local pastor follow up with them to get them involved with a church. Pray for us tonight and tomorrow, as tomorrow we are expecting 300 students from a different school.

28/06/2015

Today was final prep for the next two days at AECA the next two days. Gift bags and Flags for around the camp

26/06/2015

26/06/2015

Yesterday (Thursday) morning, we went to a local public school and did our presentation of skits, songs, and the gospel. There were about 300 kids, with ages ranging from 6-12, and they were very excited and interested in the presentation. After we finished, the school principal (who is not a Christian) said that she loved our message and asked if we could do the presentation again in the afternoon for the other half of the school. This gave us an amazing opportunity to reach an additional 300 kids, so we accepted the invitation. During the skits, some of the children were actually praying along with the characters. It was very exciting! Please continue to pray for all those we encounter here in Brazil, that God would continue to work in their lives long after we leave.

26/06/2015

On Tuesday, we were able to go to AECA (Daniel and Babi's tennis ministry). There was/is a lot to do there, as we are expecting 600 kids on Monday and Tuesday for camp. We installed a fence for the soccer field and did a LOT of painting. We were also incredibly blessed to be visited by Harold and Debora Reimer. Harold began as a missionary to "savage" indians in the north and eventually started Word of Life in Brazil. He gave us an amazing message of God's provision and allowing the Lord to use us for his purpose. You can read about Harold in the book "As the Arrow Flies".

26/06/2015

On Monday, we had the opportunity to visit a juvenile detention center to speak the the inmates about God. This opportunity was available to us because of Daniel and Babi's relationship with the prison director. We performed a couple skits to share the gospel, sung a couple songs, and shared our testimonies. Most importantly, Jim was able to share the story of the gospel with the inmates. After Jim shared, we broke out into small groups. The young men there were incredibly receptive of our message and thankful for our visit. The were laughs and a few tears. All the young men spoke about how hard it was to be away from their families and not have their freedom. Some of them talked about how they believe in and love God, pressures from their families and friends cause them to stray. Please keep these young men in your prayers, as Daniel hopes to begin to build relationships with them through future visits.

25/06/2015

All of the pictures prior to this post were from Saturday and Sunday when we ministered to the children at AECA at the Word of Life Camp we are staying at. My apologies to all for the confusing way of how we are communicating. As I previously communicated we were having internet connection problems until Monday. Yesterday was the first opportunity to spend some time on communicating. Thank you for all your prayers. This is Jim Smith who has done all the posting, Others will be doing some today. I have been under the weather until now.

23/06/2015

Here a some more pictures from Chris Popp

23/06/2015

Here are the first pictures we are attempting to send from Chris Popp. It is taking a long time to upload some of them are videos so that will take longer. The Team is having an awesome time. The first two days of ministry were at the camp we are staying at. It is a small camp near Word of Life that is used to run small day camps for children. We teamed with students from Word of Life seminary to minister to about 30 boys and 4 girls that are connected with AECA Daniel and Babi Stephan's ministry in Atibaia. It was a joyful time of partnering with Brazilians to share the good news through skits, song, and words. Saturday night was a camp fire and several from our team shared their testimonies through translators. Songs were in Portuguese but many of the tunes we are familiar with and were able to sing along in English. The children were very attentive. Seeds have been sown over time and we are having the opportunity to water and hopefully see some fruit. We may have seen some fruit at the Juvenile Detention Center we visited. One of the young men there was visibly moved to tears and Daniels Father who started AECA was able to spend some time with him. Many of the young men came to the team to shake our hands and give us hugs with words of Obrigado (Thank You)

20/06/2015

Ok all Stacy's post is correct. We are having Wifi issues. Sending from my computer is working better then from cell phones. So we are going to try and send pictures through the computer and bypass the cell phones. Stay tuned. Having an awesome time. Had an issue with the guitar. Airline would not allow us to take in on the plane as a carryon. It arrived damaged. We have one here we used today. Pray it will be able to be repaired when we return.