In Gods Time

So I am moving to Port Credit today. Where is that you say? It's a small town inside of the Mississauga area, right on Lake Ontario. It's cute, it's quaint and it is going to be home for the next few months.

Through a number of stories and events (feel free to ask me some time) God showed me that sometimes things don't happen the way I hope them too or in the time I hope them too. Sometimes we understand and sometimes we don't. I had a missed opportunity (due to being sick) on the outreach that was devastating for me but at the same time I was incredibly thankful my team had the chance to have the experience as apparently it was a pivotal moment on outreach. They had the opportunity to go to a brothel and to witness God's love and to witness a women giving her life over to God there. How wonderful!

Some of my fellow peers, knowing my hearts desire, shared words of encouragement that they knew God would use me still . . . Not in my time, but in his time.

Well, I never imagined that time would come so quickly but God is all powerful and all mighty and he loves us and knows our hearts desires.

While in Barbados I made connections with two people - Anderson, the director of the YWAM in Toronto and Sue, one of the staff there - who also has a heart for those trapped in Human Trafficking.

Once I was back home, I reconnected with them - first finding out about an organization that is in its grass roots to connect Ontario organizations against Human Trafficking, which I later attended a meeting and new this was something I was meant to be a part of. Secondly, I found out that they were still in need of another staff as they were about to begin another DTS school.

And that's how I am ending up in Port Credit! I will be joining their JAMM (Justice, Arts, Music, and Media) DTS as staff, alongside a great team! I'm so excited for this next step that God has put in place for me. I'm excited to be challenged (yes actually I am) in this new way, to step into a discipling leadership role and to be a part of these next students lives (all 15 of them, funny that's the same number as my DTS :) ). We are a staff of 8 and 3 of us, including myself, will be leading this group on their outreach to the Ukraine and Albania for 8 weeks come June. Of course, even more so, I am excited to once again answer Gods call on my life and to walk in footsteps of servanthood.

So that's a little update of what God is doing in my life! God is soo good.
Please continue to keep me in your prayers as well as my team and these next set of students.
Thanks for your continued support!

Porto Velho - Resseca Community

Well here is the first of a number of entries I hope to make on the various places we visited and on the many things I learned about them. One of my hopes and goals was to learn as much as I could about each place to be able to share what I have learned with you so that you may have ideas of what God is doing in South America.

In our final week in Porto Velho, our group had the opportunity, along with a few staff from the base and a few students of Missions Adventures, to go into the Amazon and live alongside the river community people of the Resseca Community. It was quite an amazing experience in that week and I don't think any of us will forget that time...along with the crazy ferry ride that took us to and from. They certainly do pack you in in hammocks on those things. The boat is shorter than I am and they stack you 3 people on top of each other. It definitely made for a fun but long ride :)

We had the opportunity to work with the children there. They are amazing and so beautiful. As well we had the opportunity to help them prepare to redo the roof on the school house. We went deeper into the Amazon jungle to help cut down these specific type of palms they would use for the roof. We split up into many groups, each going with a man from the community and would drag the many branches to our meeting spot and then it was another 30 minute hike back to the little canoe boats we took in, carrying 5-7 palms at once. In total they needed 750 palms for the roof and we actually made this goal in the two days! These were an amazing but extremely exhausting two days. We learned so much, saw into the lives of these people and worked hard and got super muddy!

Louise and his wife are the missionary couple at this community and they have been there working for the last 7 years, arriving in 2003. Over the time there has been many positive changes and advancements in this community. For one, malaria is a big issue in these places and in 2005 they tested 180 people for malaria, a staggering 160 were positive. Since then they have been able to setup a malaria lab, which the community has been a part of and they themselves have become educated in and in 2009 when they tested for malaria, they only had 15 cases the entire year.

They held a microscope school in 2009 which included 6 people. At the end they took 3 to look for jobs in the city. 4 people have previously completed this school and found jobs. This is huge for them to have a job in the city, especially in healthcare fields, as those in the river communities are known for their lack of education.

In the last 7 years they have started a Malaria lab, a Pharmacy and even have a place for a Dentist and Doctor. Currently, however, the Dentist only pulls teeth if there is a problem. Their hope is to have some one come with equipment who can actually fix and prevent as well as do fillings and put on braces. The Pharmacy is the best on the river (that starts in Columbia and approximately 150 + communities along) as it has the most medication. There is a Doctor that works in the pharmacy and every 45 days he goes down along the river to check on the people and to attend accordingly and administering medication as needed. They do still need more Doctors and Aid female nurses are definitely needed.

Catholicism is big, sometimes prohibiting their kids from coming to the Christian school they built. They try to work alongside but it doesn’t always work, but the health care has helped to reach them more. God told them to work only with little kids with alphabets even though they may be prohibited to go to church things. They now have 30 members in the church, and the pastor of the church is right from the community and this is huge. He did YWAM and has no previous schooling but studies about parasites and works in the lab as well– and all this is with almost no schooling. Gods work in all ways here.

There are approx. 50, 000 river communities in this place on 3 connecting rivers (black river, wood river and ??). The obstacles that get in the way here are the same as in the big city – prostitution, abuse, drugs, adultery.

There are usually no teachers for the pre-school age and until last June there was only one guy in the clinic. They need doctors, teachers, and economics, those to work with young kids so they don’t get into drugs, and the need for people to come and live here and help. Churches in the area don’t get involved because the communities are too small and therefore not enough to be converted.

Average children for a river community family is 9-10/family as children are gift from God but the problem is there is not enough planting space as the area becomes more built up for these large homes and then not enough food is grown. The young ones have to leave and go to the city. Girls of 16 years already are going into the city into prostitution. Also there are no stores or shopping places anywhere around. The closest one is over 2 hours away or the 9-13 hours to Porto Velho. They grow what produce they can and then have to go into the city to sell and at the same time buy all their necessities to bring back to their communities.

Louise shared two visions they have for the future. The first being they want to be able to build a water system, which would be built away from the community into the jungle, approximately a 50 min walk to higher level land, where it does not flood. They would need pipelines built that go directly to the housing so that even in flood times (which I believe can last around 5 months) there will be clean, drinking waters. They pretty much lose their clean water during the flood season and end up having no choice but to drink the same water that they use to shower in, pee in, clean with, etc. Thus the reason for the many illnesses. Thankfully though because of the pharmacy they are able to give the children medication against worms twice a year.

Another vision they have is for a school for trades and higher education. A school that would be so great that people from Porto Velho would come for training. They were given this vision 2 years ago and were told that someone would come to help start this school. Well the amazing part of this story is that it appears as though God brought Alef (one of the members of my group) to this community to fulfill this vision. Alef began talking to them as he saw a need for a school there and as he is a teacher and also had begun the process of starting a school in Africa, felt God calling him to do the same for this community. It was truly amazing to see how Alef has been used in this and how excited and amazed the community was to have hope that this vision was now able to begin that process. The goal is to have something started in 2 years time. Please pray for these people and for Alef and for all who are a part of this project. God can and does work and use anybody and everybody to put together his plans for his people.

Home Sweet FREEZING COLD Home :)

Well I officially have been home pretty much a week. Its hard to believe. Its hard to believe that 5 months have already come and past and now I have been home for a whole week.

I had to laugh that the week I chose to came home, happened to also be the only week of snow storms for Hamilton. I had heard there had been no snow and there was all this snow on the ground and it was soooo cold. When we came out of the airport I was wrapped up as much as I could be and the drive home found me wearing two sweaters, my winter coat, a wonderful scarf, my new Olympic mitts and a fleece blanket...and I was STILL cold!

On Thursday my first day back I had 3 teas and 2 hot chocolates! Now I know how some people feel when they arrive in Canada mid-winter after living in hot countries.

On the whole though, the transition went well, seeing some family and friends, attending my home church and receiving a warm welcome by many, diving into my photos to put together a small slide show (not all 8000 pictures so don't worry :) ) to be able to show at times (almost there), and already making connections with contacts I made a long the way to see what God has planned next for me.

One of the harder things the first couple of days was being cooped up inside. After having spent so long in the open out doors and even inside feeling like outside as none of the windows have screens on them, blue sky and sun every day it was hard to just see this white sky and hide out in a cold basement. I was so thankful to see the beautiful sun arrive back early this week, what a treat!!

Already I have heard the question of what's next on my plate and I had my prepared answer to give of ideas and thoughts...but already on Monday I discovered that things could change :) You just never know what God has planned up his sleeve for you as long as you wait on him to hear his voice and follow. [That's all I will share for now about that though, till I have more figured out and have felt that I am following Gods ways and not my own but I'll keep you posted as soon as I know.]

The other question I have had was how was my transitioning going, being away from all the people, seeing all the things I have seen, etc. Amazingly though I am excited to be home. After Sea to Sea last year, I had such a hard time. I never imagined how long it would take me to feel normal again...but God was also doing a huge U-turn on my life and I was making big career and life changes/choices. After my time with YWAM, I feel like God has been giving more direction of which way this new road is going and I was very excited to come home and to get started. I loved learning and meeting the many people in South America and it was definitely hard to say bye at times, but with saying bye it allows you also to come back [one day perhaps] and help in new, stronger ways.

So anyhow that's it for right now. I plan to go through my many notes and journals to tell you a little bit about each place and what I learned in those places, over the next weeks. So stay tuned :)

Oh I also do want to note as I am back home now a big THANK YOU!! to all you supporters. Thank you for your prayers and cards (though sadly many I didn't receive due to the mail system not being at its best) and for your interest and support over all. Your prayers helped me to regain health and get through the hard times and to value all the good times and to be open to seeing all the many miracles and gifts God gave to me and my team.

THANK YOU!!

Traveling Adventures

Well I've already been in Barbados for two days and have enjoyed two beautiful days of rest at the beach, which was much needed after the previous two days of traveling back 'home'.

I thought for fun I would share about the travel mania we had coming back as I have heard a few people ask questions about my crazy facebook status :)

Thursday we flew from Bolivia to Peru to Caracas. Outreach was officially over. It's amazing how time flew by at the end. We found out just a few days before departing that we had a $25 USD airport departure fee to pay. Money is always a fun topic in our group and is usually followed by many groans every time it is brought back up, something we still kind of need to work on (in our dependency of God).

Okay wait this just reminded me of an old story back in Argentina that I need to share too. Previously I had mentioned of financial woes within our group. In Argentina we were at the point that we owed, as a group, another $2000 USD. This was due to miscommunication and flight fees being much higher than quoted. We really had to come in prayer together over this, many of us too afraid to tell our supporters back home, afraid of what they might think. During our week in Argentina, our director Samuel came down for a pastoral visit which was very much needed at the time. It was exactly the boost our group needed to reconnect itself. The Sunday we came together for a serious time of prayer over our financial needs and when it was time to share what we had heard, there were very few who had anything to share. Samuel put it out point blank that it seemed there were issues within our group (which was true) that were blocking any God movement. We needed to repent of any resentments or angers against people within the group or anything that you felt might be blocking you and after awhile we would regroup and try again. This was soooo important for our group and was really needed as when we came back together and prayed again we had much more release. Many of us felt that we were being told to wait on God, that he would provide for us but he also wanted us to come together more and to keep our financial needs front and centre in our prayer time. Well, the very next morning at worship time, Celina announced that over night we had received nearly all of it and only needed $200 more!!! God is amazing. He just granted us our own personal huge miracle. I was blown away. This was such an amazing time.

Okay so now you kind of have a better idea as to why money is a fun issue in our group and why a little amount like $25/person still is an issue - though obviously it shouldn't be when God continues to show his faithfulness to us by providing large amounts. But it can be still stressful when you know there are people in the group who litterly have no money left. I myself at the time had only $22USD of the 25 but was able to get another $3 thankfully. However, that was the last of my USD on hand.

So Friday morning, four of us (Sarah, Jessica, Susanna and myself) where on the first flight, leaving Venezuela (Caracas), heading back to Barbados, as the Saturday flight had been to full to allow all of us to travel together. This became evident that once again this was God looking out for our group.

Jesus and Cesar took us through the subway to the nearest taxi airport bus and then said goodbye. I had a little bit of Boliavares left and obviously didn't need them and felt that I wanted to bless them as they had been so special to us in our time in Venezuela and so I split what I had between the two of them. Off we went to the airport. We left the base at 6am for our 9:10am flight and arrived at the airport just before 7am and headed to check-in. Everything seemed to be going well, I had a nice check-in guy who spoke English relatively okay. My bag headed off down the ramp as did Sarah's and then it hit...so there is a $15USD check-in fee....WHAT!!!??? SERIOUS??!! I'm sorry but we have NO MONEY. They didn't think we were serious but we explained we had been traveling for 2 1/2 months and were at the end of our travels and had nothing left, just a few Bolivares, a couple of USD and a little bit of Argentinian money. The gentleman helping me said he could waver the $15 fee but that there was also an airport tax that we HAD to pay as they give you a bar code that lets you through a gate and that was a lovely $162.50 Bolivares!! We thought we were going faint. We didn't know what to do. We counted up the little we had which totalled enough for 2 people for the $15 fee and that was it. Unfortunately, the second man helping us was not so keen on wavering the first fee as it ended up sounding that it would come out of their paycheck (and to be honest I can understand that but can still hope). As my bag and Sarahs bags were gone they held Susanna and Jess's as collateral until we could pay the $100 Bs we needed more at check-in. So off went Sarah and Jess to find an ATM. While they were gone God sent us an angel who overheard part of our dilemma and ever so kindly all of a sudden handed us $200 Bs! "Here at least one of you will be able to get through." I nearly started to cry there I was so moved. So Susanna and I paid the man and then went out to wait for the other two in a better spot to figure out how we could get the money still for the airport tax.
Once we reconnected we tried to see if we could pay by Debit or by Credit Card at the window but they would not accept either. They told us of Intel-cambio where we could get money from so off we ran - as time was seriously starting to tick away here, already having approached the boarding time of 8am). We arrived there and Jess tried to use her travelers checks that she had never been able to get rid of (take note, travelers checks are the dumbest idea ever, don't use them). She started to fill out the first one as they would accept them, but apparently they are extremely picky. Jess filled out the date the Canadian way: month/day/year. Well that wasn't right, its day/month/year in S. America so they wouldn't take the check. Ahhh. So she grabbed another one (each equalling $100 USD) and filled it out the correct way but again they wouldn't take it because she had used (/) in between the dates as opposed to (-)!! Are you kidding me! At this point there was some frustration within part of the group.

We then ran to ATMs again to try and get money but each of us used our cards to no success. The machines kept cancelling the transactions. We were now down to 30 min before our flight was to leave! We were going to try another bank, when I thought I would go back to that Intel-Cambio and try my Mastercard which finally was successful. Thank you Lord! However, this was not a quick process either and took 20 min of the 30 that we had!! Plus some lovely fees that you normally wouldn't put up with but really didn't have much choice at this point.

We sent Jess and Susanna off to wait in the airport tax line so we would have no wait once we got there. Finally we received the $450 Bs that we still needed and ran to meet the other two. As we were running, I was thinking wow, I am so thankful that I actually still have strength in my legs to move so quickly....We got to the window paid our fee, ran to the gate (imagine four blondes running along in a line, so funny), used the bar code to get through, put our carry-on luggage through the machine and just as we were about to wak through the security door for ourselves, that's when it hit me. OH NOOOOOO, SARAHHHHH, OH SH--! I left my bag at the money place! Up to this point I had been amazingly calm through everything, trusting that God would hold our plane for us and that in the end it would all work out fine, but at this point, this was when I crashed and my heart just sunk. I ran back to the first gate and begged to be let out trying to communicate in little Spanish and hand gestures. Jumped over the gate and booked it back to the money place, except I ran to the stair that were past the place not realizing and when I got up to the second floor where it was, in my panic I couldn't figure it out and didn't know where it was. At this point I had 5 min! Finally God turned me around and I found my bag and booked it back. Sarah had waited for me and we ran to the immigration line that we still had to go through and with our Por favour (please please) we cut right to the front of the line as had the other two done as well. When we came out and rounded the corner we saw Jess and Susanna and then recognized the security guy that happened to be running with them now, was the same guy who had given us the hard time at the check-in. He was grabbing our tickets as we ran, ripping them and handing them back to us and getting us through the door and out to the plane. They had kept our bags off the plane and had noticed we were still not there and he (and of course God) had held the plane for us and as we got to the stairs to go up they said, "Okay now we put your bags on".

We got to our seats and collapsed. We were all shaking, my hand was quivering so much and part of me just wanted to release in tears but I just let a few out and took some big breathes. I was SO thirsty from all the running, so I grabbed my water bottle and took a drink then handed it to the others as I figured they had to be thirsty as well. All of a sudden, Jess goes...hey, how did you get the liquids through security? At that point we broke out in hysterical laughter, releasing our major amount of tension and adrenaline.

God then gave Jess and I our own personal little piece. That morning as we prepared to go, right beside the base is a donut shop and as we are both Canadians we were drooling and commenting on how we couldn't wait to have a Boston cream or a Honey cruller from Tim Hortons when we got back home. Well would you believe our snack on the flight was a...DONUT!!! and it was good :) Also the flight attendant, noticing how thirst we were, gave us 3 juice boxes in the duration of the flight! So nice!!

So that is officially my second most stressful traveling experience in my life (the first was my missions trip to Hungary nearly 10 years ago, when we missed our connecting flight from Newark to Frankfurt and had to beg for them to put our group of seven on another plane). I am so thankful though to Gods faithfulness and for watching over us and for sending us that angel.

I know now that we were meant to go as a small group the day before because had we been the whole group of 17, there is no way we would have made our flight because most of us did not have the money on hand. This way we were able to get back home and were able to connect with them and let them know so they could get the money before going to the airport. Thank you Lord for watching over our group right to the end.

So now tomorrow we start our final week of the lecture phase, entitled 'debriefing and re-entry week'. Tuesday Mom and Dad arrive, I am SOO EXCITED to see them again and be able to show them around my second home and to introduce them to my family here. Friday is our graduation and I am back on the following Wednesday to see all you wonderful friends, family and supporters!!

But don't leave yet, I plan on writing a number of stories over the week that I am back. I have so much to share with you still.

Okay take care! Love!!

A Humbling Moment

I am in Argentina now. I absolutely love it here. I definitely recommend coming to this place. The people and the architecture are so beautiful. I had a great time in Brasil and am sorry I was unable to post any updates while there. I hope to tell some stories of my time there down the road but right now I want to share a few stories of my time here in Argentina as they have been such incredible moments. (We flew into Buenos Aires on January 19.)

There is this plaza (square) called Misery Plaza in english. We have gone there a number of times to worship, pray, talk and get to know some of the people there. This square is known for its name as mostly prostitutes, drug dealers, thieves, and many poor and homeless people hang out in this square. At night it is incredibly dangerous to be there as there are gangs and much fighting.

On this past Monday, we prayed about and decided to fast our lunch so that we could take our food into the plaza to hand out to various people. I split up with Dean, Jess and Daniel (YWAM staff at Argentina base who has guided us around). We walked to the near train station as often Daniel said there are homeless families living in there, however as it was early afternoon and extremely hot out they were not to be found. We walked around a touch more and saw a man and women who we gave our first two sandwiches too. Unfortunately, it was obvious they had no interest in talking or wanting us to sit down with them, so we said a short prayer in our minds and carried on.

Shortly after we came upon a women sitting alone with three large garbage bags. We stopped to ask if she would like some food and at first she said no, but then Daniel explained they were sandwiches and what was on them and she said okay. We asked her a few questions, finding out she is from Bolivia but has lived in Argentina for 30 years and that she is a Seventh Day Adventist. Then the doors were open and she began sharing with us a lot. She spoke so much and so fast that Daniel was unable to translate for us right away but you could just tell from her aura that she was not telling us a poor womens sob story but rather was sharing a part of her life with us and allowing us to see into her heart and to see another world.

We found out her name is Sophia and she has seven children but I don't think she had them all any more as Daniel mentioned her trying to keep them but not having enough money. She spoke of how they try to sell what was in their garbage bags in the market place but the mafia would make them pay a fee and the security that was suppose to keep them safe stole from them. So at the end of the day they had only made pennies and still had to feed all her children. She often went without, the shoes on her feet, she told us, she had found and were not her size but the ground is too hot to walk on barefoot. Her feet had become disfigured from being squished into them. Another team showed up and Alef had a bag full of soaps that we were able to give to her. I really felt that we should give her a pair of shoes and then Dean offered her flip flops but the women would not take them as she would feel awful and guilty to accept them as she would have nothing to wear to get home. Daniel told us there were many side street people selling flip flops, so Dean stayed with Sophia and the three of us went off on search of size 35 shoes as she allowed us to do this for her. After a short and quick search we found some flip flops that looked not too bad and bought them and headed back. When we arrived back her husband and a friend had shown up (earlier when she spoke of waiting for her husband we gave her a second sandwich and ten she said they were 3 and thankfully God has prepared us to have exactly 3 left for that moment). She happily and gratefully accepted the shoes and put them on. Thats when we saw her feet were disfigured. Sadly, as we were already late in getting back we couldn't stay long and shortly said cho and Que Dios to Bendiga (God Bless You). As we were walking away Daniel shared one last thing that she had spoken. He shared that Bolivians are treated like dirt, like a rat. In South America, Bolivians are looked down upon the most, hated even. She was so amazed to have foreigners speak with her as normally they are shooing her away and the Argentinians treat her awful. The final thing which had such an impact on me and I will never forget was that she shared that she had had a vision/dream just that night about Davids ladder and that God spoke to her that he would send her angels in that day to provide for some of her needs. She never imagined them to be foreigners. Wow, I was so incredibly humbled in that moment and wanted to cry. The emotions that went through me in that moment. I felt so incredibly blessed and so thankful to God for using me in this way. ME and my group. WOW! I could barely speak I was so blown away from hearing this. God is sooo good. You just never know how he is going to use you and then show you how he used you.

Well unfortunately I only have time to share this one story but I hope it blesses you. I have many more from our short time in Argentina that I look forward to sharing as well. We have been blessed to go to a number of orphanages, prisons (big story here), hospitals and various other places. May God bless you all and hopefully its not so long again till I am able to write next.

Porto Velho, Brasil

Blog was originally written New Years Eve but only able to post today, Jan 2.

Well we have been in Porto Velho at the YWAM base here since Monday, December 28. Right away when we arrived at the airport we were greeted by missionaries here and their warm welcome made me super excited about this place. They were so friendly and organized and they spoke English well. It was about a 15-20 min slow ride to the base which is not in town again but about 20km out. It was also raining hard again, which seems to be the case always on our traveling days which is fine with me and also starts the place off cooler, which is nice. The colour contrast of the red mud puddles from the very red soil to the vibrant greens along the side of the road were beautiful. Driving into the base and around t our house was overwhelming in a positive way. This base is amazing and so large, approximately 40 houses and then schools, medical lab, a library, volleyball court, soccer field and even a pool.
Our house is amazing as well, we are definitely spoiled here. It is so clean. We are all in one large house, split into 5 rooms, along with the boys in their own room of course, and included is a small kitchen and sitting area. Jody and Mike Bunn are the current head leaders as the director of the base is away on vacation. They have 5 children and all are bilingual. They are a lovely family.
The base is shared with Wycliffe Bible Translator Missionaries, actually they were the first inhibitors of this area. They were here for 40 years when they sold it to YWAM 20 years ago. At that time it was much more remote and jungle-like, since then they have built many of their houses and various other buildings themselves, along with financial support. The YWAM base here is very much involved with the various Indigenous tribes here, one of the largest issues they have dealt with outside of bringing Gods good news, is the issue of infanticide. If a child is born to a single mother, are twins or handicapped in any way they are often buried alive and killed. They have worked at helping the tribes to recognize themselves that though the practice is part of their culture, that it is a part that they must and need to remove.
They also hold schools here for the Indians. Before 2007, they would go into the river communities at 3-4 months out of the year, but now they hold classes from February to September, which has made it much easier for the YWAM base here as well as for the Indians that come and so now they only bring groups into the river communities for a couple weeks at a time. Mike also flys a sea plane here, which they have been blessed with and is used for easier access but also for carrying of supplies to various areas as well as helping with growing crops to feed those that come to the schools. This base does many things and I have only just begun to learn a little about what they do.
We have not been actively serving this week as originally we were to be traveling by the ferry for five days but they had felt that at this time it was much too dangerous for us so they found us a cheap flight instead that brought us here a week earlier, thus the base is technically closed due to the holidays. This has been slightly frustrated as we do feel like we have been sitting around more than we ever anticipated but God has still been doing things within our group during this time. As well we also had one more week of lecture phase that was on the topic of justice and so the last two days we have been in class, which has been nice. Next Tuesday we will start serving within their Mission Adventures program, which I am very much looking forward too. In class, we have watched a few movie clips on the injustice in Brasil, the first some of you may know, is entitled City of God (in English), which showed the life of the ghetto and the life of a hood (or gangster) and the death that comes from this way of life. The other clip was entitled, Angels in the Sun which focused on a completely different issue, sex slavery and prostitution in the Amazon.
A little about Porto Velho
Porto Velho is one of the most violent cities in Brasil. It use to not be so organized in crime but it is now a lot like Rio de Janero (one of the largest cities in Brasil). Health care is also a large problem here, this is because the city is growing quite quickly because of new hydro/electricity companies coming here, which brings many people for the jobs but the result is not enough housing, school and medical buildings. Porto Velho was always considered a third world state but is moving into second world as many people are beginning to make money with the growth but the old social issues are still there and new ones have arisen. Security problems are also a huge issues, corruption within the law.
I spoke with one of the YWAM staff here, Genim, about whether or not human trafficking is an issue here, or prostitution in general. He told me there are many brothels in town, and there is a Pastor there with a Church directly across the street from one, and he has over the years been gaining trust with the women there (YWAM Contagem, Tio Pedro/Uncle Peter, Evangelism Guaiurrus-Belo Horizonte-Minas Gerais). Apparently he would love for a team to come and just spend time with the women and share our love and God’s love for them. I don’t know if this will work out but I plan to encourage arranging this as I believe this would be an extremely important time. Genim also spoke of a friend of his, Andreia of Avalanche Missoes Urbanas that works within the prostitution realm as a licensed Sexuality counselor. She also leads seminars on sexuality counseling for those who would like to be taught more proper counseling methods within this issue. Later on in the evening, I spoke more on this topic with Jody. She told me that Porto Velho is actually a main route for Human Trafficking, many girls are brought straight through here. Portuguese girls from Brasil are transported into Bolivia and Spanish girls from Bolivia are transported to Brasil. This is so the girls are not even able to speak the language and are taken away from anything they know or know as safe. They only learned of this in the last while but now they are starting up programs to make others aware and to share how they can help and what they can do.
Jorge Dias
This morning, Thursday, we had the pleasure to hear of the life of Jorge, who is a boy spoken of in the book, “A Cry from the Streets”, a book we had to read for DTS. He was a street child, a hard street child and he explained a little to us the life of such a child.
He started first with a story of a child that was interviewed and asked what he would like to be when he grew up. At first the boy answered a doctor, but then he changed his mind and said a thief. To a childs comprehension it is easier to be a thief than a doctor because to become a doctor you would have so many years of studying ahead of you and you would have to pay for those studies. It is easier to understand the way of the gun then to sit in a class and listen to words they have never heard of before.
Jorge was once a six year old street child. Sometimes people tried to take him off the street but until he himself could understand that he could actually be someone without the street, he was unable to leave it and nearly died. Jorge spoke that God does give street children many opportunities to get off the street but in their mentality the can’t see life outside of it and all that they know of this type of survival. Often when they finally do find the love and compassion, like Jorge did with the Dutch couple of the book, the security is so different and so far removed that it is more uncomfortable than comfortable and safe. The security becomes stifling and so for Jorge he rebelled against it numerous times before he was able to fully turn his life around, within the help and love of those he found.
In the streets, children are told if you don’t have a gun or machine in your hands you are powerless. Power comes in these weapons, but if we tell these children that they can become someone important, you will see change with that encouragement and they often do become someone important. Some children even ask for help but some cannot find it and that is when the devil starts spinning his lies, filling their minds with thoughts that sure they can ask for help but they’ll never find it, no one will help them and hopelessness sets in. However, if these children can find the help and are told they are valuable it is all the difference. We need to be there, we need to be that help in their lives. This doesn’t always mean you personally there in body but it could mean in supporting others and other organizations that are there and encouraging them in their mission.
Galations 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
These were words that were spoken upon Jorge’s heart. He had had a vision as well that God wanted him to go into the Amazon and work with the Indigenous tribes, but again he found himself returning to the streets one more time. This time however, he was in an accident where he lost his finger and ended up in the hospital. A missionary he had met in the past, came and visited with him and spoke with him. He asked Jorge if he thought he would lose his finger and Jorge obviously replied no. Then the missionary asked him where he thought he would be if it had been his life instead of just his finger. That made Jorge think that he did want something more and he went back to the refuge house for street children. In the early 90’s he did his DTS and then in ’92 he came here to Porto Velho to work in the Amazon, fulfilling his vision. Jorge was part of starting what this YWAM base here is about.
While working with the tribes he saw a lot of deaths in result of malaria and initially they didn’t know what to do about it. He and another from the base had the opportunity to study about malaria and to learn how to give help, they then started up a malaria lab here. Now he is a teacher and goes to various places in South America, Africa and India teaching a malaria course so that other places can find healing as well. Jorge spoke about Matthew 25 and encourage us to meditate on it. It talks about the need and desire that God wants us to go and help others, faith without work is dead, we need to work together and serve together, however that might look for each of us.
Well I leave with Happy New Year to you all. May I challenge you to find your ways to serve God and others, if you don’t already, in 2010. May God bless you all.

Christmas Eve Letter to Family - Manaus, Brazil

Dear Dad and Mom,

Merry Christmas!! I love you so very much! I pray that you had a wonderful Christmas Eve and a blessed Christmas day. I am sending this message through Raquel so I hope you will find it in your junk mail. Since we will be staying on base all day tomorrow there will be no other opportunity to communicate on Christmas day unfortunately.

This evening (Christmas Eve) we will be having a Christmas dinner with the orphanage/shelter that YWAM Manaus owns and runs. We will have a little service with the children and all the staff, both of us offering up songs of worship and then myself and two others will give short little testimonies that relate to thankfulness of things God has done in our lives in the last while. It starts at 8pm so I will have to make sure that I keep an eye on the time for 9pm to arrive. I think I will take along my alarm clock, lol. I can’t remember if we were doing it again in the morning of Christmas day but I will wish you a Merry Christmas again at 9am J

Since we arrived here in Manaus things have gone fairly well. It has definitely been different than our time in Venezuela. I have loved the ministry once again at the orphanage/shelter. We have gone there two days now. It hosts children who are either orphans, street children or children that come from an unstable family that may or may not involve abuse. The children are so beautiful. One little girl reminds me of Lotus when she smiles and laughs (from what I remember of her anyhow). Yesterday we mostly just cleaned the building, which in my opinion is kept immaculate already. The children do not go without here, they care very well here. You can definitely see and feel Gods love in this place. Today along with a few others we got to play games, draw and just have fun with the children. I really enjoyed today and have taken many photos over the last two days. The others did construction work, well more like shoveling dirt around and leveling. I was luck to play with the children instead but that was because I, along with many in the group, have been sick all week L A few had fevers and flu’s. I mainly had severe cold and congestion (to the point of barely being able to breathe while I slept :P) and was fighting the flu. Also many have been experiencing dizziness and lightheadedness. We wonder if some of this, including muscle aches (which I also had) are the side effects now kicking in from the malaria pills.

I am thankful to be feeling much better this evening but was still too weak this morning for manual labour. Actually Faith and I just walked around finding various fruits on the trees and having a yummy fruit feast – which was badly needed! There are orange trees and mango trees and papaya trees and some other thing that I don’t know the name of but is so yummy. Oh and guess what! I now know the reason why Cashews cost so much. You would never guess how they grow!! I took pictures. Only one cashew grows per fruit piece. It is on the top and outside of the fruit. The fruit has a weird taste to it and I am still not sure I like it but eat it anyhow as I know I could use the nutrients. Anyhow google cashew fruit. It’s pretty crazy J

For Christmas day, everything is shut down here so Sarah and Alef and Kadeen left a little while ago by car to buy us groceries so we can cook ourselves Christmas dinner. We will also play some games and watch some movies. Not quite the typical Christmas but should be good! It is MUCH hotter here but it is also way more rainy. Our first day it poured and poured, we were soaked. It also takes forever for laundry to dry.

Oh one last thing. On the Tuesday, they were so kind and Raquel took us into downtown Manaus (as we are quite far out in the boonies here)for a tour around. It is amazingly awesome and beautiful!! Many buildings are influenced by the Neo-classical era. The buildings are so colourful and have so much character. There were many people around but by afternoon there were even more people! It was so crazy, I loved every minute of it. It is just such a beautiful area with so many things to see and so much more that we could have seen but obviously are not able to as we are not tourists. We also had to take city transportation so that took up much time too. OH what an experience there too! Hahaha, on our way home we had to pack all 17 of us plus one of the guys from here onto an already packed bus. IT was really quite awful at first, though we did laugh a lot at first but as we were not feeling well and it was the end of the day a few of us were beginning to be close to fainting, BUT God sent us a small mercy! The bus broke down! HAHA! We had not gotten far because of traffic, which in itself had made things worse as we barely moved so there was no air flow, when all of a sudden we heard a loud scrapping noise and the bus pull over to the side and come to a stop. Everyone groaned. We all piled off the bus and proceeded to wait for awhile for another bus to come along and pick us up. Part way through we somehow managed to find enough energy to perform two of our skits for the waiting locals. It was rather humerous and I think they were slightly amused, it passed the time that’s for sure and it was fun.

Anyhow I better get going now. I was able to write more than I thought as I had first written part of this out so that Raquel could take it with her and type up tomorrow at the office but she just allowed me to use her laptop right now and apparently if the sky clears up we may even get connection that I am able to send this through my own hotmail account. Guess you will see what happened when you get this.

Anyhow I love you both so very much!! We fly out on Monday to Porto Velho where apparently the connection is very good and will only cost just slightly more than $1USD / hr! I can’t wait to connect with you again!!

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad!

Sending all my love, your loving daughter,

Stephanie