Volunteer Activity, Part 2

As I've mentioned here before, Waleska and I joined Rotary Club at the end of last year. It's funny: Rotary is an organization that originated in the U.S., yet I knew almost nothing about it until our contact with Waleska's students here in Brazil. I enjoy being in Rotary to make new friends and become involved in community service projects. This picture is from our winter clothing collection campaign we held a few weeks ago.

I am our club's director of the commission for service projects this term. Waleska is our club's director of the commission for the Rotary Foundation this term. This means she helps in mobilizing funds for international service projects and scholarships for student exchange programs. Go girl!

Below is Martha, our current club president, and her husband Eduardo, past club president. This is a very special couple that we have become friends with. Martha's parents recently passed away, and we have been able to share Christian comfort with her. Martha has asked me to say a prayer at the start of each meeting during her term as president. This is a great opportunity to put God first!These are all the club officers and commission directors for the current Rotary term, which runs from July-June. A very lively and interesting group of people! The club meets on Monday evenings at the Sheraton Hotel. Keep on rolling Rotary!

Volunteer Activity, Part 1

For the past several months, I have spent my Tuesday mornings as a volunteer counselor at the Interconfessional Counseling Service (SICA in Portuguese) in downtown Porto Alegre. SICA was founded 40 years ago as a collaboration among Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian churches here in town. We offer free counseling to anyone who wants a listening ear, a friendly face, and spiritual advice.

I enjoy volunteering in this ministry because of the interaction I have with clients, and also with counselors who come from other churches. I have quite a variety of clients: a mother and daughter who are recovering from abusive relationships; a husband and wife who are new in town and trying to settle down; an elderly lady who has eleven siblings and tries to keep all of them happy! I thank God for this valuable counseling experience and for the small yet significant role we can play in helping people find comfort in troubles, and solutions to their everyday problems.

2nd Annual Marathon Relay

The Lord allowed us to once again put together a running team involving guys and graduates from the chacara in Alvorada! We participated in the Porto Alegre Marathon Relay on May 25 and came in 6th place (of 12 teams) in our category of men's octets. A great result for a bunch of amateurs! For me, the best part is seeing the chacara guys learn the value of teamwork, encouragement, and setting & accomplishing goals. Running is more than just great sport and great for your health, it's a great lesson for all of life.

After the race, we enjoyed a picnic lunch, devotional and fellowship in the park. What a great gathering of the Lord's people, and a testimony to society that anything - and everything - is possible through Christ who strengthens us!

Continuing the Victory

One of the tremendous blessings that has come with working with the guys at the chácara is keeping up with them after they graduate the program. Over the past several months, Paulo Renato, the Blumes and ourselves have helped several guys find housing to rent, located near the chácara, so they can encourage one another and hold one another accountable in their faith. We are seeing these guys on a weekly basis to encourage them and are being encouraged ourselves with their spiritual growth!

This is Anderson and his son Gi-Anderson in the guys' apartment with me and Paulo Renato. Anderson shares this apartment with Cristian, another one of the graduates. Anderson is working for Seven Boys, a bread company, in their factory. He is going to get married in two months to Ester, his companion of six years, and she is now studying the Bible along with her brother! God is transforming this whole family little by little. Gi-Anderson is learning how to speak English (from us gringos) and Swahili (from Paulo Renato)!

From l-r: Cristian, Alexandre, Anderson, Rodrigo, Paulo, and Gi at bottom. Alexandre and Rodrigo, along with Rodrigo's brother Eduardo, are sharing a house three blocks away from Anderson and Cristian. They see each other almost every day. On Friday nights, Paulo and Kevin Blume meet with all of these guys, along with a few others who are starting to come, to pray together and encourage everyone to stay sexually pure. This is one of their greatest battles, and they are learning how to win the battle.

This is a difficult ministry - two guys who had been living in the apartment, Renato and Josimar, ended up leaving because they started getting back into drugs and were not following through with their financial commitments. We get discouraged at times, but when I see these five guys and others who are flourishing in their jobs, education, and family life, I am so encouraged and thankful for God's modern-day miracles! Pray for these young men to persevere, because they are true victors in Christ!

Ellinton's Baptism

Ellinton is a man in his early 40s that Paulo Renato and I met last year at the chacara. His family is friends with Rodrigo and Eduardo's family, two brothers who graduated from the treatment program last year. Ellinton spent five months at the chacara but was unable to finish the treatment, because he contracted tuberculosis. Fortunately, his is a rare non-contagious type and he is doing just fine. In fact, he is doing better than ever because last Sunday he was baptized into Christ! (Isaias, the director of the chacara, did the baptism at Ellinton's request; this is the pool on the roof of his mother's house).

This is Ellinton with his wife, Marcia, at right, and their two daughters, Elli and Daphne. Below is a photo of Ellinton with his extended family, including his mother, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, brothers, and nephews. What a fantastic family and an open door for the Word of God to work! We are thankful for Ellinton and for his decision to be a part of this church family. Let's pray that one day, all of the folks in this photo will be part of a church that meets in their home!

And They're Off!

This is our new house church, right out of the starting gate! Felipe, on the left, has been one of my best friends here for many years. He was the first one who came to me and said, "I will be at your house every week!" Raquel, to Waleska's left, is a good friend of hers and attended our previous house church for the past two years; she was excited to continue with us and focus on evangelism. Cesar, on the right, was baptized last year and attended the Terrys' house church before they moved to the U.S. He works downtown most Sunday mornings, so our hosting this group in the evening is perfect for him to participate. We will tell you more about each one of these special people in the coming weeks.

We started studying the Gospel of Matthew together as our launching point for group discussion, and we plan to share a meal or snack together most Sundays. We are thankful for these three who have begun with us and are eager to see the Lord add more seekers to our group!

Retooling in the Spiritual Garden

A lot can happen when you leave town for two months! We discovered that when we returned to Porto Alegre at the end of February and found that our house church had, for lack of a better word, disassembled. Both Signoretti families and Luzia decided to return to a more traditional church (they had been thinking about this for some time) because they felt they would be more productive in this environment. We were discouraged initially about this, but later saw the divine wisdom inherent in the move; they continue being members of the kingdom and serving the Lord, and Waleska & I can launch into "outreach" instead of constantly recycling our resources on "inreach" with folks who've been Christians for many years.

John and Clarice, our good friends and also members of our house church, decided to start 2009 by beginning a church in their home (they live in the military officers' residential complex in Canoas, a suburb). We praise God for that! They already have one couple who has been coming faithfully. We will miss having them here in our home every week, but are thankful for their missionary hearts in wanting to reach out to their neighborhood.

Waleska and I had been thinking towards the end of last year, and had announced our plans to our group, about starting a "yuppies" house church - a group specifically directed to young professionals our age who are not-yet dedicated to following Jesus or folks who are relatively new in their faith. We have several friends through Waleska's English teaching and people I've known over the years here in POA that we hope to invite. We have one person for sure so far - Raquel, who has been attending our group for the past two years with her mother Ines. My great friend Felipe Gomes, who runs the sports medicine clinic where I work out, has also said he will participate.

We will begin tomorrow, Sunday March 22 @ 6pm. We don't know how many will come. But we will be here, every week, opening our home and our hearts to whoever comes. Please pray for us as we make a new beginning!