Moving, Moving, Moving

Me preaching at one of the churches

This week has been a week of comfort and rest. It's been so nice being at our contact's house for a good 10 days straight. No traveling or having to pack up our stuff. This is was the longest stretch of time that we will be in the same place during the whole outreach. So great to have unpacked and relaxed.

We spent our mornings meeting as a house and as a team to encourage each other and spend time with the Lord. Filling up on the Holy Spirit! The afternoons were then spent preparing for our upcoming river trip that we will be taking tomorrow. So we were learning dance, dramas, etc. Those sorts of things really impact the people in the communities. We definitely weren't expecting to become a drama/music team but if it is impacting the people, we are happy to do it! It's been fun going out of our comfort zone together.

Peter leading worship!

Nights were different. Again, we were speaking at churches some nights. I preached last night at one of the churches on what it means to be a missionary in daily life. Lots of us gave testimonies during the week. For 3 nights we did street evangelism while partnered with drama teams from YWAM and Amazon Reach. It was hard at first talking to people because we had to be translated. So we were with someone who already spoke the language and trying to speak to people. It was awkward but God showed us a lot through it. The people are SO open and wanting to hear more about Jesus. They all know who he is but they are so eager to know more about having a relationship with him. And because we are foreigners they love talking to us. The Brazilian people are so welcoming. We definitely saw fruit come out of these times of being in the parks. The drama teams were incredible at portraying who God is.

Along with the drama teams, there were our friends that would blow fire to attract people to the performances. Michelle, who lives with us, is the girl that heads this up and she was so willing to teach us how to do it! I was so excited but happened to miss the time when she was teaching some of our team how. However, Ryan got to actually do it on the streets the other night, so here's a video I took of him! So awesome the things that we happen to get to learn.

Abby chilling in our living room

Another thing that was really special this week was that the girls got to go with our contact, Jill, to a women's recovery house. What these women are recovering from is really interesting...So a lot of people use boats are transportation on the river, especially the poorer communities farther away. Many of the engines on these small boats are uncovered because it's legal to not have a cover on them (or it used to be). So women would go to grab something, or the wind would come, and having long hair, their hair would get caught in these engines and rip off all their hair, skin, etc. Horrible, I know. Probably the most painful thing I could ever think of. So these women would have to come into Belem for emergency treatment and skin graphing. The hospital even has a special ward for this because it happens so often. Many women don't go back to their community because they are ashamed and people cast them out because of the disfigurement of their faces/heads after this. So there is a home that allows them to get counseling, have community with one another, and get training for job skills. They also make their own wigs to sell to raise money for the place. It's crazy. We got to visit and talk with the directors and meet 2 of the women. This problem is one of those things that we would think would be so easy to fix...especially since they now give out engine covers for free. But the people don't ever think it will happen to them or that it's not a big problem so it is all about awareness.

Nate being silly

One woman told us her story of it happening 25 years ago. Her eye and ear were also caught in this and she now wears sunglasses and a wig all the time. But when she was recovering in the hospital, she got saved! Her pastor took her to counseling/physical therapy for 6 months straight and told her about the love of God. She never went back to her town but her children and husband came to live with her in the city. It was cool to hear that even in this horrible event, God used it to capture her heart! She is so inspiring.
They invited us to come back and actually get to spend time with the 9 women who are living in the house. I might get to do a photo shoot with them which would be absolutely amazing! They release a calendar every year of these beautiful girls to raise money for the organization so this is something they love to do. I really really hope this will work out because it would be so fun!

Overall it was an awesome week. We get to spend more and more time with our friends here in Brazil and that has been great to have those consistent friendships. Our team is learning a lot about being open with each other about things that we are joyful about and things we are struggling with. It's been good to spend times affirming and encouraging one another.

Tomorrow we are leaving on our first trip to the river communities!!!

Rachel giving her testimony at one of the churches

Early tomorrow morning, we load up with 10+ other people from the ministry to go on a 2-week medical/ministry trip to towns along the river. We will be taking a 3-hour bus ride to get to the port and then a 2-hour boat trip to get to the first community where we will stay 5 days. Then we will spend 3 days in a bigger city before heading to the second community for another 5 days before coming back here. Our team has prepared a kid's club for every day, purity seminars, men's and women's nights, and helping with the dentistry/medical clinics that we are bringing with us. We are all very excited but also have no idea what to expect so this will be another adjustment. But we are overjoyed to get to share the gospel with these people! 

Church time

Outside the window