Lagoa Santa

Here's an update on what God has been doing in my life here in Brasil. I have some really exciting things to share with you! God has blessed Bruno and I by allowing us to be leaders of a small team or Pod in a smaller city not far from Belo Horizonte called Lagoa Santa. God has opened the doors for a pod to come to Lagoa Santa to help here in their church....Igreja Batista Nacional em Lagoa Santa. So God has really blessed Bruno and I by giving us the opportunity to be the ones leading this pod.

I have really been able to see the faithfulness of God through this church. They have gone above and beyond in blessing us here. They have provided a house for us to stay in which has wonderful fruit trees in the backyard and everythingwe could need inside. The church here gives us a sense that we have a family. They are always inviting us to their house for lunch or dinner. The church members are always checking with us to see if we need anything. They definitely make me feel at home away from my home in the States.

At first when the opportunity was placed before Bruno and I to lead the pod here in Lagoa Santa I was apprehensive, about what that would mean for me. I didn't think I was ready to lead the people in our pod when I felt like I still had so much to learn. But God kept calling me and continued to encourage me. Telling me that he has prepared me for this time, in this place and to not be afraid because he will be right by my side walking with me. He has given me the ability and the strength I just had to believe I could do it. God was encouraging me and everyone else was believing in me but I had to get to the point where I believed in myself.

So everyday that passed God continued to speak to my heart in a deep way calling me to himself telling me that his Holy Spirit would guide me the whole way. So I surrendered knowing that God knows me better then I know myself and if he says I'm ready then I'm ready, so I said here I am Lord, Use me! I will lead this pod knowing that you are there with me guiding me how, because without you, I can't do this, I need you!! So God has been so faithful in what he told me from the beginning. Every single day I wake up I feel his Holy Spirit speaking to me and guiding me.

God has been giving us so many wonderful opportunities here in Lagoa Santa. We are working with a creche here at the church, which is like a daycare or school. Every Tuesday and Thursday we teach three physical education classes in the morning and six english classes in the afternoon. I've realized it's much harder to teach english to children that already know another language but God is guiding me, so its been a challenge but fun. Also we are very involved in the church, we have been working alot with the youth, hanging out and discipling them. This saturday we will be having the whole youth group over at our house for the youth service. We are getting in contact with schools to do school assemblies, and we are looking for contacts to help in hospitals as well. God has placed the right people in front of us to help us with contacts and ministry opportunities here in Lagoa Santa. So we are really excited about what God is doing here in Lagoa Santa!!

Prayers Requests:
Please continue to keep us in your prayers, that God would give Bruno and I wisdom how to lead this team and how to be able to properly communicate with one another. We are still getting to know each other along with leading the team so at times it can be a big task. Pray that God would continue to open the doors for ministry opportunities here, and give us wisdom how to engage with the church and how we can serve them.

Thank you for all your prayers and support, they make such a huge difference in my life!!

Christmas in Brasil

Jan. 11, 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year’s. Wanted to give you an update on what’s been happening here in Brasil. December was a very eventful month. We wanted to do something really special for the street kids for Christmas, so God gave Anderson, one of our coaches, an idea to have a special Christmas dinner for the kids on the street. Many of them have heard of Christmas but have never been able to really experience it, since they live on the street under extremely poor conditions. Imagine being an 8 year old child who has never been able to wake up with his family on Christmas morning to open presents and enjoy a Christmas meal and the laughter and fun of having the whole family together. My whole life growing up in the United States I never stopped to think on Christmas Day about all the things I had been given and all the blessings I took for granted. How easily things had been given to me, that I never thought about others not being able to experience. When life is “easy” you never stop to look outside your own bubble of comfort to think of the struggles of others.

We contacted businesses and store owners to see if they would be willing to donate food and sweets to make this Christmas dinner possible. I have to say myself that going out to ask at first I was a bit hesitant thinking that no one would want to help us, but much to my surprise many of the people we asked were more than willing to not only donate food, but to help us cook or set up for the meal. The Wednesday before we went out and tried to get an idea of how many kids would come to the dinner, and we made a list with names, but when the actual meal was ready everyone went to invite their family members to come with. As a team we decided to sacrifice money individually that would really cost us something, not just our next ice cream cone, to buy presents for the kids. There was a whole day of preparation for the party, but when we actually were there and serving the kids, I found that I was the one being blessed. To hear one of our team members, Gustavo, sharing his testimony about being a street kid and how God rescued him and gave him a reason to live and how that affected these kids to see that there IS hope for them was very touching! Its amazing to see how when we allow God to use us to serve others, how we are the ones who are actually being blessed the most.

Coming up this summer our team will be travel to the United States to minister in churches and share what God’s doing in Brasil. We’ll be starting to prepare when classes begin again on Jan. 19th, by working on our English and dramas, testimonies and preaching. God has been stretching me and teaching me to rely on Him through teaching English to the Masters Commission students. I now have a huge respect for my past teachers and the amount of patience they had with me. Thank you for helping to make this trip possible by purchasing our 2010 calendars. We still have calendars available for any donation you might want to make. We just want the opportunity for people to learn more about us through reading the stories in our calendar and praying for us.

Thank you for all the support, financial and prayer, that you’ve given for me to be able to share Jesus’ love with his precious kids here in Brasil. The monthly support necessary for me to live here is $200.
Prayer requests:
1) That God would continue to guide me and give me wisdom on how to be a teacher and leader the best that I can be.
2) That God would provide for our financial needs, so our whole team can go to the United States this summer.
3) Pray for the street kids and for wisdom to know how to minister to them in the best way.
Thanks again for all your continued support, both financial and prayer, for me.
For the Kids,

Lindsey