The Heart of a Carioca...

These past few weeks have been spent preparing our hearts. God has blessed us with many one-on-ones with students. We’ve gotten the chance to dig deeper with many of them and hear their personal testimonies. It is amazing to see how God has broken down barriers and speak as friends in Christ not as visitors from the states. This encouraged us greatly especially as we set out to travel to Sao Paulo this past week with the Droogsmas to help with a ministry in the cities called Cena. Two of our roommates, Laura and Kristi, were able to go with the Droogsmas to Cena and a team from the states a couple weeks ago. They had an amazing experience and God put the desire upon each of our hearts to return to Cena as a whole team and serve again. God gave us this opportunity this past week to serve for five days. July 14^th-July 18^th. Throughout this past week God has stretched us beyond what many of us believed was possible.

Cena is a ministry that works with people who live on the streets. But these people are far different from any homeless man or woman that you might find in the states. These people live lives that we can barely imagine. Addiction to drugs drives them from their homes, destroying their lives and the lives of their families. Prostitution is a common profession in attempts to earn money to buy the drugs that they crave. Men become transvestites in order to make money. Old women, young women, and children sell their bodies so that they can buy a hit of cocaine for the equivalent of $0.50 in the states. We went out one night with some of the missionaries from Cena and saw first hand the destruction that drugs have caused in so many lives. There were literally hundreds of people in one city block lined up against the walls, walking around in a daze, and running around trying to find drug dealers amidst the crowd to buy what they need. It was an overwhelming sense of oppression and you could feel Satan’s presence in this block commonly referred to as “Crackland”.

Although we saw so much sorrow and sadness during our time visiting the streets our time at Cena was also filled with experiences of hope and new life. Cena is making a major impact in the area of Sao Paulo in which they are located. The “Casa Amarella” (which the yellow house is commonly referred to) serves hundreds of people on a daily basis. We were able to take part in cooking for the men who come in off the streets every night and receive a warm shower, a good meal, and a chance at a new life if they choose to take the opportunity. Cena will only allow men to spend the night if they are sober and not strung up on drugs when they come.

We also got to help with a number of children’s programs in which we played games, gave them a good meal, and shared a skit with them to teach them about what sin can do in our lives and the need to live for the Lord. It was hard to see the children leave at the end of the day knowing that many of them don’t have a family or a place to sleep due to their drug addiction.

The second to last day we had an amazing opportunity to visit the place they call “The Farm” that Cena has created for men and women committed to transforming their lives. It is a place that is two hours out of the city on a beautiful piece of country land. At the farm there are approximately 60 men and 40 women who have committed to a program that is designed to help them to leave their lives of drugs, prostitution, alcohol and hardship behind. The people have a chance to live a different life. They grow their own food and bake their own bread. They have a volleyball field, a soccer field, a beautiful lake, a garden, an orchard, and dorms that they sleep in at night. The atmosphere is that of peace, hope, and safety. The men and women receive intense counseling so that they can learn the tools to have a new life and to forgive themselves for the choices they have made. It was amazing to hear the stories of the changed hearts and lives of some of the people living at the farm. They have committed to releasing their addictions and supporting one another in the new path God has called them toward. We prayed over many of them crying out to the Lord to help them to flee far from the sin that once held them. We prayed that they would be protected when they leave the program after their 8 months of protection. Many slip back into their old lifestyles but God has saved hundreds from Satan’s stronghold. Every life that has been saved is worth the work that goes into helping these lost souls.

God is doing amazing things through this ministry. He has used the missionaries of Cena as disciples to go out into the darkness and take back those whom Satan has tried to destroy. We had an amazing experience working alongside these people in supporting their vision. It was a week of shocking reality in seeing the power Satan holds over this city but we left with hope in our hearts because there is light within the city of Sao Paulo. It is burning bright at the Casa Amarella and we pray that the light will one day overtake the darkness in this city.

Isaiah 58: read this chapter and enjoy! God is moving and he desires to use you and I!!!

Amen

God's continued calling

So this past month in Brazil has been awesome....

We have gotten to do so many things, meet so many people, be apart of so many new things. We moved into our apartment, figured out how to buy groceries, get to different places to get daily items for living, figured out how to use the bus transit system and taxis (this is a continued work in progress), got started up the churches we will each be working at, and had many many meetings. This preparation time and these experiences have been a crucial part of paving the way for this upcoming month. We had met people, heard their stories, shared our stories, and have stepped up to go deeper. Now that we have established a firm foundation the Lord is calling us forward to run with what he's laid before us. This next month is a month to truly see the seeds we've begun to plant to grow. It is also a month of opportunity for us to challenge ourselves to go deeper with God, love deeper with God, trust deeper with God. He has a lot of things that he wants us to be apart of and we need to be on our game so that we don't waste opportunities or moments to glorify his kingdom and reach the lost.

You have no idea how much I appreciate all your prayers. They are felt big time. God is doing awesome things down here. This month is going to be really busy which I praise God for! Tonight we are spending the night in the city of Campo Grande. I have a one-on-one with a girl this afternoon and we are having a girls movie night with the youth group ladies this evening. I look forward to this opening up some great opportunities to fellowship and learn about where the girls are at in their walks with the Lord and see how we can encourage more of them personally. God has already begun giving us opportunities to go deeper with a number of the girls but this is a great way for us to really open ourselves to all the young women of the churhc.

When we go to Campo Grande we always stay at a couple's house from the church that we work with primarily. They are an AMAZING couple and God has used them in huge ways in my life already this summer. They have taught me about stepping out in faith, showing your love for the Lord through acts of service, and offering your life to him daily.

We come back tomorrow afternoon and then I leave again Saturday morning to go to a city called Niteroi to go spend some time with a youth group up there. The pastor is a friend of mine and my parents and he asked us to come speak to the youth about our faith. We come back late Sunday night from that. Pray that the Lord would use this time to help us encourage the youth, get them excited for English Camp, and challenge them to invite their friends to come with them so they have a chance to hear about who God is. I want to share my life however God calls me to so please pray for courage that I would be open with my struggles and trials so that I can speak truthfully about God's grace, mercy, and healing in my own walk with the Lord.

Then Tuesday morning I leave for the week to go to the city of Sao Paulo which is 6 hours away. We are going to go serve at a ministry called Cena which goes into the streets offering basic help to the homeless, drug addicted, transvestites, prostitutes, etc. It is an area which is referred to as "The pits of hell on earth". One of the worst neighborhoods in the world. I will need big time prayer for this. I will be seeing things that I could never prepare myself for. I know that I will be shocked but I am praying that I would be able to be involved in serving. That God would give me the strength to learn, to open my eyes to his working in these people's lives, and to see hope even in the darkest of places. We get back the following Saturday.

Then it's a week and a half to plan for our grand finale of English Camp week. So it's busy around here! It's busy but God is good. Time is flying by and there are so many cool things going on. In the in-between times of all these things the Lord has also presented us with the opportunity to work with a couple churches in different areas to put on programs to evangelize to children that live on the streets. We have put together a message based on God's desire to protect us, that he does not leave us, that he loves us and wants to be with us always. We are trying to bring a message of hope to these children. God has not forgotten them and that is part of why we are here this summer. Pray for these opportunities. That we would get the supplies we need and that Satan would not hinder us from doing God's work.

Thank you for all your continued prayers. I know I have a lot of things in here that I asked prayer for but prayer is absolutely crucial and we feel it from all of you every single day. You have no idea how many times you have saved us, protected us, and encouraged us.

Laura and Kristi both had an opportunity to go to Cena to see the ministry going on with the people there. Sharon, Bria, and I were all at peace with the fact that there were only two spots available to go and that God was asking us to hold back. But while the girls were gone each of us ladies had a growing desire to be apart of this ministry. By the time the girls got back each of us was praying that God would somehow provide a way for us to go. The missionaries told us it was a one time thing for now but they were potentially going to open this up to church teams in the future. Well I went for a run with Diane Droogsma (one of the missionaries that lives just down the road from us : ) and she started telling me about her desire for us to go to Cena! She felt that God was placing it on her heart and asked us to pray about it. Little did she know that each of us had been praying on our own that God would open this door if it was in his will. The next morning we had a meeting with the Droogsmas and they asked us in the meeting if we would be interested in possibly going back to Cena....ALL of us. Each of hearts jumped at hearing this. God is so good. He shows us every day that he knows the desires of our hearts and that he has plans for us. They may not always come in our timing or the way we expected but he is a God of glorious surprises. We look forward to serving him at Cena if all things work out!

I hope you are seeing God answering the desires of your heart on a daily basis. He does not ignore. He does not forget.

Love and Blessings!
Anna