I have moved my blog to http://www.sisrael.blogspot.com as it has some additional features that I like. So go there to read my more recent blogs!

This is a bit late I know but I promised to post it and better late than never.

It was hard to come up with a Christmas list this year because since I am going back to Brazil I really don't want a lot of stuff except the stuff that I need that I can take with me. And most of the stuff I really need (like underwear, for example) is stuff I prefer to buy myself. But here is the other stuff I could come up with.

BibleWorks 8.0 - the most amazing Bible software I have ever used, I used an old version of it during outreach as it was on the laptop a Dutch couple lent me. It would save me from having to lug like 30 lbs of books to Brazil with me (Hebrew and Greek Bibles, concordance, lexicon, Bible dictionary, etc). The downside of this program is that it costs $349, which is $349 that I don't have! Thus why I am wishfully putting it on my Christmas list.
Microsoft Publisher - (I have office student edition but it doesn't have Publisher).
A scale that measures body-fat (the kind that sends an electric impulse through your body).
MP3 player that plays MP3 and WMA files (that doesn't require added conversion software).
Gift cards so I can buy things like underwear and clothes.

That is all I can think of now. I know it is probably too late anyway!

What bad habit did I quit before going to Brazil, that I started again while I was there, that I have now quit again since coming home?

Post your best guess and don't forget to sign your name, perhaps I will have a prize for the winner!

I finally found some time to blog since I haven’t been able to eat anything but liquids the past two days and am too weak to go out in this 100 degree weather. Thankfully, or hopefully?, I think my mind is still functioning…in English at least. Since I can’t exert much physical energy, I figured I would finally blog regarding some thoughts that I had in response to Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren, which I finished reading a few weeks ago.

“A right understanding of God and faith can train people to hold their heads high, to doubt the lies of a dysfunctional society and to work for its transformation. But a misguided understanding can be an opiate that keeps their heads down in submission or desperation so they continue to serve the societal system that is destroying them, believing its lies, performing according to its self-destructive script.” – Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change, p. 29

Although McLaren doesn’t make any references here, he is drawing on some Marxist concepts, most notably the notions of ruling ideology, false consciousness, and religion as a tool to keep the masses in submission.

Ruling ideology is the worldview of those in power which serves to justify them being in power. For example, within Christian thought, the idea that those who are rich are rich because they have been faithful to God and God has blessed them (sometimes accompanied by the inference that those who are not rich therefore have not acted faithfully so as to merit being financially blessed). Or the idea that those who are in power are in power because God put them there and therefore their power shouldn’t be questioned.

False consciousness, although Marx doesn’t actually use this term, is the masses buying into the ruling ideology. They become blinded to their own state of oppression because they buy into this ideology, and this blindness keeps them from acting to change their situation (they cannot change what they are not aware of). So they keep serving the system that keeps them in their oppressive state.

Marx is hated by most Christians because of his opiate of the masses quote. I am not connected to the internet right now as I have limited access here, but it is something like, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, the opiate of the masses…” Thus Marx sees religion as an outlet for the oppressed, that unfortunately acts more like a drug/pain-killer rather than an actual cure, a tool to bring about justice.

As an evangelical majoring in sociology, sociology of religion was one of the most challenging areas for me. I along with one other evangelical constantly baffled fellow students, who didn’t understand how we could be Christian after understanding so much about sociology. People were always interested to know what exactly a “Christian Marxist” believes. But the difference for me, and why I was able to look at religion from a Marxist perspective, is that in many ways Marx is correct in his analysis of the role that the human institution of religion has played. In instances where that religion has been Christianity, it has often strayed from what Jesus actually intended, and instead turned to serve the interests of men and teach the ruling ideology. The teachings of Jesus in themselves are quite the opposite – he confronted head-on the ruling ideology of his day, and challenged commonly held views through parables and teachings. If we really followed Jesus’ teachings rather than the human institution of religion, society would be transformed.

Fatalism is a big problem here in Brazil, and it is rooted in a misconception of God, as Paulo Freire observes in Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It is the idea that everything is the way it is because that is God’s will. That God is the one responsible for everything. Since it takes the focus off of any human responsibility or ability to change the way things are, it forces people into complacency in terms of accepting things like poverty, injustice, etc. It keeps them from believing that they have any power to change their situation, as if trying to would be fighting the will of God.

This is exactly what McLaren is talking about in reference to a misguided understanding of God causing people to serve the very system that is destroying them. But a right understanding of God could help them see that injustice is not the will of God. It can help them understand their worth in God’s eyes, it can restore their dignity that man has stripped from them. As Freire says, people must first understand their value as human beings before engaging in the fight to become more fully human through changing their oppressive situation. The gospel is what has the power to restore that value to them. Then, knowing that value, they can then become conscious of injustice and lies perpetuated by society intended to keep them serving the system that benefits the select few.

A right understanding of God thus has the ability to restore self-esteem and self-worth and to bring about what Freire calls conscientizacao, or more or less, consciousnesszation, the act of coming to consciousness.

This is also exactly why government programs or any program that does not address the heart of the ideological problem, which is often related to a misconception of God, are very limited in terms of the impact they can have. No matter what training or what opportunities you provide to people in the slum for example, if they are trapped by their fatalistic outlook and believe that it is God’s will for them the way things are, they will not have any motivation to change. But if the heart of their ideological problem is addressed, if they can be brought to understand that injustice is not the will of God but rather the outcome of choices of men who are sinful, but that the will of God is actually for His followers to work to change those situations that are detestable to Him, to restore dignity to those created in His image, especially to His sons and daughters, well, that gives that person a motivation to try to change things rather than sit back in complacency.

Throughout history we can see how Christianity has served in both ways, both as an oppressive force to serve the interests of the elite, and as a prophetic voice to bring about transformation. In my social movements class, we read some book titled something like Racism and the Religious Right. It left me with so much passionate anger that thankfully we followed it up with Pedagogy of the Oppressed which left me with more hope in terms of the role that Christianity can play in influencing society. The first book basically told of the history of the anti-Semitic movement within the States and how Christian ideology was distorted to cultivate hatred toward Jews, blacks, and other groups. Very depressing. But on the other hand, Christian ideology was at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement, and leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. were able to raise consciousness among people and call them into action through framing their situation from a faith-based perspective. There is nothing that has more power to motivate people to act either for good or for evil than believing that their actions are the will of God. A correct understanding of God and His will has the power to move people into action, to transform society as we know it.

Algumas pessoas me pidieram uma copia da pregação, então eu achei mais facil colocar aqui para quem quizer dar uma olhadinha. Desculpa que não sei escrever muito bem em portugues então eu sei que tem algums erros aqui.

For anyone who is interested, this is the sermon outline from my preaching at the church here in Paraopeba last Friday. I dont know if I will have time to translate the actual outline to English but you can at least discern the verses, and I have the journal entry I shared in English since it was originally written in English (see the end).

Pregacao Vigilia Comunidade Evangelica Palavra Viva

Obediencia que vem do coracao

I. Sao Augustino – Ame Deus e faca o que voce quizer.
a. Si voce realmente ama uma pessoa, voce vai fazer coisas para agradar ao coracao dessa pessoa.
b. Muitos pessoas acham que o cristianismo e so uma lista de regras para seguir, que ser cristao quer dizer tomar, nao fumar, e nao ter sexo antes de casar. E muito mais alem disso.
II. E um relacionamento pessoal com Deus
a. Deus e uma pessoa e como uma pessoa tem pensamentos, sentimentos, emocoes, etc.
b. Si realmente amamos Ele, vamos fazer as coisas que agradam o seu coracao.
III. Joao 14:15-17
a. si voces me amam, obedecerao aos meus mandamentos
b. amar e a causa e obedecer e o resultado
c. temos que obedecer do coracao, obedecer sim amar nao vale nada
d. nosso amor para Deus se manifesta em acoes
e. quando amamos uma pessoa queremos fazer todo que podemos para agradar essa pessoa, nao queremos fazer nada para entristecer seu coracao
f. o espirito santo nos ajuda a obedecer porque habita em nos
IV. Deuteronomio – livro da lei do antigo testamento
a. Porque obedecer as leis? 10: 12-13
i. Deus se preocupa mais com a condicao de nosso coracao, quer que nos obedecamos com todo nosso coracao e todo nossa alma, mas essa obediencia e so resultado de nosso amor por Ele, tem que vir de nosso coracao
ii. Ele nos conhece, sabe si a obediencia nao vem do coracao, si nao vem do coracao, nao vale nada
iii. Os mandamentos de Deus sao para nosso proprio bem
b. 11:22 – apegando-se a Ele (see also Jos. 22:5)
i. So temos a forca e a capacidade para obedecer si nos apegamos a Deus, porque nossa obediencia e fruto de um bom relacionamento com Ele
ii. Quando andamos em seus caminhos andamos com Ele
c. 13:3-4 - Devemos seguir somente o Senhor
i. Nao ter idolos, outros deuses, Deus quer primeiro lugar em nosso coracao
V. Ezequiel 16 – a alegoria da Jerusalem Infiel o a Fidelidade de Deus a Jerusalem Infiel
a. Deus tinha compaixao por Israel desde seu nascimento, quando ninguem mais la queria e as outras a jogaram fora
b. Deus mostrou sua compaixao para Israel de novo e de novo em cada etapa de seu crescimento
c. Pelo cuidado de Deus, Israel se tornou uma mulher muito linda, mas em vez de agradecer a Deus, confiou em sua propria beleza e esqueceu de como o Senhor cuidava dela, deu todo o que Deus deu para ela a otros idolos e amantes
d. v.30-34
e. v. 30 que languido/dura e o seu coracao (mah amelah libbatek), Deus lamenta por causa do coracao do Israel
f. v. 32 prefere estranhos a seu propio marido – Deus tem emocoes e fica triste quando nao somos fieis, quando Ele nao reina em nossos coracoes
g. Deus entregou Israel nas maos de seus amantes para que Israel aprendesse que so Ele pode satisfazer os desejos de seu coracao
h. V.41-2 o resultado e que Israel nao mais foi para otros amantes e a ira de Deus se desfez
i. V.58-63 Israel pagou o preco de seus pecados e Deus lembrou da alianca que Ele fez com Israel. Deus mostrou sua fidelidade quando Israel nao era fiel
j. Deus e como nosso marido
k. As vezes quando nao obedecemos Deus com todo nosso coracao, ele faz a mesma coisa conozco – ele nos entrega nas maos de nossos amantes para que possamos aprender que so Ele mesmo pode encher seu lugar em nossos coracoes
l. Ele tem emocoes e lamenta quando ele tem que nos dar as maos de otros sabendo que vamos sofrer, fica muito triste, lamenta, mais sabe que e melhor porque assim aprendemos que so Ele pode satisfazer os desejos de nossos coracoes, aprendemos como amar a Ele com todo nosso coracao, alma, entendimento, forca
m. Pecado e uma enfermedade de coracao, as coisas que fazemos que chamamos de pecado sao so sintomas dessa enfermedade, Deus quer curar nosso coracao
VI. Fala com Deus pergunta a Ele si voce realmente ama Ele com todo o seu coracao, si esse amor motiva voce a obedecer, ou si voce esta obedecendo com suas acoes mas esta obediencia nao vem de seu coracao, o talvez voce tem entregado seu coracao para otros amantes e voce precisa apprender e colocar seu coracao diante de Deus


Querido SENHOR,
Depois de ler os primeiros 15 capitulos de Ezequiel, estive a ponto de deixar de ler e tomar um intervalo, porque eu nao sabia quanto mais eu podia aguentar. Destruicao iminente. Derramento de sangue. Colera. Nao entendia porque Tu, o Deus, extravasarias essa malicia, pelo menos nao pareceu como o Deus que eu louvo e adoro, o Deus de misericordia e segundas chances.
Mas enquanto eu estive a ponto de terminar a leitura, eu observei o primeiro subtitulo de capitulo 16, “A graca de Deus por Jerusalem infiel.” Bem, talvez eu devo seguir lendo.
Enquanto eu li a historia de Jerusalem te abandonando para outros amantes, eu comencei a entender. Quando cheguei a versiculo 30, lagrimas estavam Rolando sobre minhas bachechas, enquanto eu senti como a infidelidade de Jerusalem entristeceu o Teu coracao, quando ela derramou todos os presentes que Tu tinhas dado para ela para atrair outros para entrar nela, em vez de usar esses presentes para te servir e te honrar. Tu a destes tudo que podia querer ou precisar, mas ela continuou recorrendo a outros. Entao Tu a entregaste a eles, para que ela se desse conta de que eles nao podiam a satisfazer como so Tu podes.
Me imagino que aquilo foi muito dificil para Tu fazeres. Abrir mao de Tua amada e a olhar ser maltratada por outros – para que ela pudesse aprender que o amor que Tu tenias para ela era um amor que ninguem mais podia oferecer. Tu a deixaste na clemencia daqueles amantes e eles a saquearam diante dos Teus olhos. E Tu recuaste e olhaste, sabendo que se a protegesse mais uma vez, ela so continuaria recorrer a eles em vez de Tu, seu marido.
Como o Teu coracao morreu de vontade apenas para sua fidelidade. Depois de que Tu a amaste desde a infancia, a levantaste da poeira, a redimiste de novo e de novo, Tu esperavas um pouco de apreciacao, talvez um pouco de amor em troca. Mas debaixo Tua protecao e bencao, ela comenceu a ser ingrate, tomando todo como certo, esquecendo de seu primeiro amor e recorrendo a outros. Entao tinhas que deixar que ela pudesse aprender por se mesma, de seus proprios erros. E oh, o preco. Mas em fim Tu estarias esperando para a resgatar de novo.

Dear LORD,
After the first 15 chapters of Ezekiel, I was about to stop reading and take a break, because I didn’t know how much more of it I could take. Impending destruction. Bloodshed. Wrath. I didn’t understand why You, o God, would pour out such malice, at least it did not seem like the God I worship and love, the God of mercy and second chances.
But just as I was about to stop reading for the day, I noticed the first subheading in chapter 16, “God’s grace to unfaithful Jerusalem.” Okay, perhaps I should keep reading.
As I read through the history of Israel abandoning You for other lovers, I began to understand. By verse 30, tears started rolling down my cheeks as I felt how Your heart was grieved by Israel’s unfaithfulness, by how she poured out all of the gifts You had given her to entice others to come into her, rather than using those gifts to serve and honor You. You gave her everything she could want or need, but she kept turning to others. And so You gave her over to them, so that she would realize that they cannot fulfil her like only You can.
That must have been so hard for You to do. To let go of Your love and watch her be mistreated and downtrodden by others – so that she would learn that the love You had for her was one that no one else could provide. You left her at the mercy of those lovers, and they pillaged her before Your eyes. And You stood back and watched, knowing that if You protected her once again, she would only continue to turn to them rather than You, her husband.
How You longed just for her faithfulness. After You loved her from infancy, lifted her up out of the dirt, redeemed her time and time again, You expected a little appreciation, perhaps some love in return. But under Your umbrella of protection and blessing, she grew unappreciative, taking it for granted, forgetting her first love and turning to others. So you had to let her go so she could learn for herself, from her own mistakes. And oh, the cost. But in the end You would be waiting to redeem her again.

I had a special request for some embarrassing moment stories...I will add more as they come but I have one that comes to mind right now.

It has to do with a misuse of words...

During DTS, we had a week focused on personality, and the teacher had us draw a pig which he used to analyze our personality.

One day I was carrying my pig around and had misplaced it somewhere. I was a bit concerned because it already had (a someone personal) personality analysis written all over it in Portuguese so anyone who found it would be able to read it.

So, I did the natural think and asked some fellow students if they had seen my pig anywhere. I wanted to explain that I had been carrying it under my arm and perhaps it fell.

Now...

The word I meant to use was carregar...

Instead I said cargar...

"Estava cargando meu porco..."

Translation:

"I was pooping my pig..."

Thankfully I had the brutally honest Fabiana to stop me in my tracks, after just about falling over laughing.

Needless to say I now know the verb for pooping in Portuguese and I don't think I will ever forget it! Bathroom words like that are usually the last words I learn in a language because they are not as openly talked about. But things in YWAM are different. ;)

I thought now would be a good time to compile a list of random cultural differences I have observed between the States and Brazil.

Instead of knocking on doors, it is more common to clap hands loudly outside.

Brazilian women (I don’t know about men) wash their underwear in the shower rather than washing it with the rest of their clothes.

Offerings are almost always taken at the front of the church. People bring their offering up to the front and drop it in the box or basket.

It is normal to stand when reading from the Bible in church.

I don’t know if it is normal to not take communion here, but out of all of the churches I have been to in my five months here, the only one I have taken communion in was a large Presbyterian church, in which case it was just like at home at Sunset Pres., passing the little cups and bread/cracker bits around.

Evangelicals do not drink or smoke. Period. Like it is sinful.

Evangelicals also generally do not listen to secular music.

Most churches seem to lack any sort of vibrant youth programs, they do very little to step into the world of teens.

A lot of teens in Brazil grow up faster because of all of the pressures and societal influences.

There is a marked difference between the rich and poor, you can literally drive 15 minutes (if you had a car which I don't) from the slum to a super-rich shopping center in a upperclass area of town, with stores so expensive even as an American I think the prices are way too high. But the people there are all rich, upperclass, there are actually free, clean bathrooms, but it is literally a different world. You can experience culture shock just from stepping into that mall after living in the slum for a few months.

Coffee is a staple here. Even little kids drink it. Many drink it several times throughout the day, but usually just have one small glass at a time (unlike many Americans who drink several cups in the morning to wake up).

Breakfast is usually a very small meal consisting of bread and coffee (it is called café de manha, or morning coffee). If Brazilians catch you eating bread without coffee, they will freak out and say someone get that girl some coffee to go with her bread! It is also normal to eat cookies in the morning with the coffee.

Lunch is the biggest meal, and even the really skinny Brazilians who look anorexic by American standards often eat two full plates of food here.

Dinner is a small meal, and at least in YWAM, is often a creative mixture of lunch leftovers. Or soup.

I am sure I am forgetting a lot now so I will have to add more observations later!

Bixo and bixinho (the diminuitive) can refer to animals and insects (and occasionally to humans as well).

The good:
Toucans
Passaros verdes (green birds)- I think they are supposed to mean good luck or something about being in love (there is an expression, like if someone says you look like you saw a passaro verde, it means that you are in love or something like that).
Some kinds of hawks
Sparrows
Horses

The bad:
Bixinho de pe (little foot beast) – I assume this can be classified as a parasite because it digs itself under the skin on your foot and later shows up as a little black dot/bump (though it starts itching before it becomes visible). It has to be dug out and removed with a needle. It is important to remove the whole thing to prevent infection. Thankfully one of my leaders knew how to remove it and did so quite skillfully and calmly (perhaps it is all of those House episodes she has watched), and it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would! And yes, Dad, I did sterilize the needle first this time!
Carrapatos (leeches?) – not like from the movies, but very tiny blood-sucking creatures. At first from the description I thought they were ticks but after seeing one, they are much smaller and can just be plucked out (don’t have to be removed with fire). I haven’t gotten any yet, but my teammates came back covered in them after swimming near a waterfall here.
Cows (that eat clothes)
Rats
Giant black bees
Cockroaches – thankfully smaller than the Mexican variety I encountered.

The ugly:
Vultures
Giant moths with bodies bigger than sparrows
Giant red ants with spear-shaped heads
Stray dogs
Frogs/toads
Small lizards
Other strange insects I have never seen before

I have decided to make my blog a little bit more interactive (hopefully) and perhaps entertaining by posting a trivia question about myself or what I am doing here in Brazil. I want to hear your guesses! I don’t know that I can offer a prize for correct answers, but you can have the satisfaction of knowing you guessed correctly!

So here’s the first question:

What is the number one thing that clearly sets me apart as a foreigner here?

(Hint: it is an object I carry with me at almost all times.)

I bought a survival handbook before coming here to Brazil to educate myself a bit just in case. I certainly don’t have it memorized, but these last couple of weeks I was reminded of one of the main points it made.

It created a survival pyramid with three different levels. The base, and the most important thing for survival, was the will to live. The next level and next most influential factor in survival was knowledge. Tools and supplies were only the tip of the pyramid, the least important factor in survival.

It occurred to me that if one were to create a spiritual survival pyramid or a survival pyramid for missionaries perhaps it would look the same, with the will to live being most important, followed by knowledge, and lastly by supplies and material conditions.

For someone to have the will to live they have to have a reason or purpose for living. I know that I have a very strong will to live that comes from knowing that God has a purpose for having me here. When I was in the hospital, especially the time when I had a rare complication after my first surgery and it took awhile to figure out what it was until they finally did another emergency surgery, I found myself asking a lot of questions, to myself and to God, about if He wanted more from my life, if He had more for me to do here, and the answer was a resounding yes, and that answer is what gave me peace as they wheeled me down to the operating room, as I was still conscious on the operating table watching them prepare for the surgery (although I was moving and talking as much as I could so that they would know that I wasn’t under yet). It was that same answer that got me out of the hospital bed after surgery the first time the nurse told me I was going to get up and walk (if you have never had major surgery, it really takes you out and any movement afterwards takes a tremendous amount of effort), and that gave me the strength to keep getting up and walking after that (even with all 4 IVs plus other tubes coming out of me), and that gave me the strength to make myself eat even when I felt like I would barf (especially after so many of those Ensure protein shakes…but I needed them since I was down to 85 lbs). My will to live, which came from knowing that God had a purpose for having me here, is what gave me the strength to keep trying even when things seemed impossible, incredibly difficult, or not to my liking.

I have not been in the mission field (in terms of as an occupation) for a very long time, only several months, but already I can see that it is not something that is easy, and while it consists of amazing experiences, it is also comes with hard times and challenges. There have been moments where I have thought, you know, I don’t have to be here. I could go home where I could work and have money, have a car, eat meat everyday, set my own schedule, actually have weekends, have no one else tell me how to live my life (other than God and my own conscience), be around people who speak my language and understand my culture, be close to friends and family, have privacy, and so forth.

But then I remember why I am here. This is where God has called me, and He has been preparing me for this for years, in so many different ways, to bring me to this point. God has called me to do work that is meaningful in terms of kingdom values, work that pleases His heart and restores dignity to His children. I spent so much time studying about these things, but that knowledge is useless if it is not put into practice! He has asked me to lose my life to find it, to make sacrifices just as He did by becoming like those He sought to reach. I left behind a life of comfort but I also left behind a life of mediocrity. I’m glad that Jesus chose obedience over comfort and that is enough to continue to motivate me to do the same, that is where my will to live here in the mission field comes from.

During my Writing 121 class that I took my senior year of high school, our teacher had us write letters to ourselves that she would then mail 5 or so years later.

So guess what I just got in the mail! Actually my mom got it in the mail and called me since I am in Brazil and she was really confused why I had a letter from myself dated 12/20/02.

Getting the letter now was a real blessing because I am able to see the seeds of many passions God has planted in my heart that are now blooming in maturity.

Here is the text of the letter. I would be interested to hear your thoughts, especially in regards to what I wrote in this letter and where I am now.

12/20/02

Dear me,

Lately I´ve been wondering about a lot of world issues, esp. after reading Philip Jenkins´ The Next Christendom. What does it really mean to be Christian? What is to be made of all of the different independent church movements? Is violence ever justified? Can you blame the Christians living in complete poverty for resorting to violence as a means for attaining social justice? I think I am generally against the use of violence and would not like to parte in it myself, but I am unsure if I could condemn its use in every instance.

I´ve also been thinking a lot about different political issues, like different forms of government. I always viewed communists and socialists in a negative light, but now I think I´m turning around. I believe there are parts of our `democratic´ system that keep a rich man rich and a poor man poor, and the rich continue to exploit the poor. I believe that socialism would be the ideal form of government if it worked, but the question is, would it work given the greedy and corruptible nature of human kind, or would it turn into a dictatorship? Is there any system of this world that would truly do justice to the poor? The closest thing I can think of is the early church model - that was like a commune within a republic. The voluntary members would give all they had to be distributed. Perhaps communism can only work when it is combined with a voluntary commitment to Christ and exists underneath a larger governing body. So what of the liberation theology movements in South America? Who knows?

[Omitting paragraph about my high school sweetheart but the essence was I loved him a lot but was wondering if we were really right for each other.]

As to my future, I am very uncertain. I want to study and live abroad, at least temporarily. I am so sick of the busyness in America that I just want to leave and go somewhere that is a little more laidback and more relationship/family/community-oriented. Perhaps in Latin America, maybe Asia, or maybe the Mid-East? Or even Europe. Who knows. Maybe I´ll end up stuck here after all.

I kind of want to go into elementary education, because I love kids and I want to help people develop positively because I know it will impact the rest of their lives. Maybe I can apply this overseas? I don´t know. I just need to learn to trust God with my future - and my present for that matter. I just hope that when I read this I have followed God faithfully and made all of the right choices. So many of them to make, it´s just so overwhelming. I just need some rest. Hopefully I will have found some by the time I read this letter.

Sincerely,
Stefanie Israel (me)

P.S. I am so ready to leave home and go to college! Just too many pressures. ... All of my close friends went to college last year and I haven´t been able to make more friends that close since then. Though I love my family [I was ready to get out of the house]. I especially love Darina, I will miss her when I leave home.

and well. And that is about all I have time to write at the moment! I just wanted to assure you all that I have not dropped off the face of the earth, I have just been so busy combined with poor internet and computer access when I do have free time, that I have not had time to blog much lately! I am overflowing with things I would like to blog about and hope to find more time at some point but for now just wanted to assure you all that nothing is wrong I have just been busy!

I am sure I will discover more of these the longer I am here, especially as I share a bedroom with six Brazilian women.

Let me tell about one we discovered the other day.

It was getting late at night, and rather cold, and the water temperature in the showers here is somewhat temperamental, and most of the rest of the girls had taken showers already, so there was a good chance of running out of warm water. So, I casually announced in the middle of our room, ´Eu achou que não vou tomar banho hoje´ or for you non-Portuguese speakers, ´I don´t think I am going to take a shower today.´

Now for me, and I think for most Americans (correct me if I am wrong), it is not unusual to go one day without taking a bath, at least every now and then. But, as soon as I announced that, I looked over at Fabiana, my roommate from São Paulo, and after a few seconds she gave up trying to restrain her laughter and let it out. A few others joined in laughing, but also commenting to Fabiana that she was ´mal educada´ or impolite to laugh at me like that (jokingly). Once Fabiana was able to restrain her laughter, noting the look of confusion on my face and my response, `O que?´ or ´What?´ she proceeded to explain to me that Brazilians shower at least once everyday, sometimes three or four times a day, and no Brazilian would ever go a day without a shower. I explained to her it wasn´t the same in the US, that people usually shower everyday but it is normal to skip a day. But I joined in the laughter and our whole room had a good ten minutes or so of hard laughter.

Next day in class we had a lecture on cultural differences where Joachim mentioned that European countries take short showers to conserve water and protect the earth, and Brazilians are just starting to learn about that and like to shower a lot. Fabiana and I looked at each other and almost burst out laughing. Later that night I gave Fabiana permission to share the story with the class, and everyone got another good laugh.

That is just one example...and I discover more everyday. I wonder what will be next?

The late great Paulo Freire is very popular here in Brazil, and for me, his book ´Pedagogy of the Oppressed´ is the most convicting book I have ever read other than the Bible, and perhaps it played a role in bringing me here to Brazil and specifically where I am now. I would like to share one quote I find particularly encouraging and challenging.

The same is true with respect to the individual oppressor as a person [that they must act on their conscientização to change the situation just as the oppressed have to]. Discovering himself to be an oppressor may cause considerable anguish, but it does not necessarily lead to solidarity with the oppressed. Rationalizing his guilt through paternalistic treatment of the oppressed, all the while holding them fast in a position of dependence, will not do. Solidarity requires that one enter into the situation of those with whom one is solidary; it is a radical posture. If what characterizes the oppressed is their subordination to the consciousness of the master, as Hegel affirms, true solidarity with the oppressed means fighting at their side to transform the objective reality which has made them these ´beings for another.´ The oppressor is solidary with the oppressed only when he stops regarding the oppressed as an abstract category and sees them as persons who have been unjustly dealt with, deprived of their voice, cheated in the sale of their labor - when he stops making pious, sentimental, and individualistic gestures and risks an act of love. True solidarity is found only in the plentitude of this act of love, in its existentiality, in its praxis. To affirm that men and women are persons and as persons should be free, and yet to do nothing tangible to make this affirmation a reality, is a farce (49-50).

It is easy to talk about wanting to be solidary with the oppressed, to be idealistic about fighting on their side. But to actually become like one of them is kind of like Jesus leaving the heavenly throne to be born as a man. It means leaving a comfortable life behind, giving up things we are used to. I don´t think I have yet entered in a position of total solidarity, but coming here and being here as I am is a big step, and I think God is working on my heart for whatever He has next for me.

Sometimes I get frustrated that I don´t have answers to how to do something to actually transform the situation that produces the poverty like I see all around me here in Vila Cafezál. But, as Freire states, it is not my role to be the liberator or savior of the oppressed, but just to join them, to work with them to see answers and solutions, NOT TO GIVE THEM ALL OF THE ANSWERS AND SOLUTIONS. I don´t have to have all of the answers, it would be bad if I did, because solutions need to come about through dialogue with the oppressed so they can take part in their liberation, to have ownership over it.

Another thing Freire states is that the oppressed must fight as humans to end their dehumanizing circumstances, so something must happen first to restore their humanity to them. I can´t help but think that Jesus is that first step, because in Him they are sons and daughters of God, human beings of great worth, which is a message so different than what soceity tells them. The gospel restores humanity through affirming the value of each individual in God´s eyes, and that new consciousness can provide the basis to motive social change.

I would love to talk about Freire forever but that is all for now!

First off, the computer here is slow, and all the students share it...so this will be randomly what comes off the top of my head.

Students of the DTS. Me - American. One Venezuelan man who speaks English, and a Dutch couple who also speaks English but has been living in Brazil for awhile and speaks Portuguese also and opted to do the DTS in Portuguese. Then six Brazilian women and one Brazilian man. The six Brazilian women are my roommates. You have no idea how thankful I am that I speak Portuguese! Some know a few words in English but none are conversational.

They have been taking it somewhat easy on us the first few days, so that we can get oriented and adjusted. Tomorrow is our first ´real´ class, so far it has been going over rules and expectations and touring the houses and learning about the ministries here. I got to go to all of the houses yesterday and to hear about what they do. So much I would like to say but don´t have time now.

But I will say that the house that resonated the most with me in terms of the work, vision, mission, etc. is the one where I am living, the Luzeiro, or Lighthouse. It has programs for the children in the surrounding slum, or community as they prefer to call it, and acts as a sort of community development center with the vision of restoring dignity to the members of this community who have had it taken away from them. When Felipe, a leader of the house, was talking about the work the house does and why, something just clicked in me. So I am very excited to be living here for the next three months to see what God shows me during my time here.

Okay, I will write more about the DTS later on when I have a better idea of what it is really like...though if it is like what I have been told, I will have very little time to write! I don´t even check my email everyday here, so if anyone needs to get a hold of me quickly, you have to call me at the house here between 5:30 and 9:30pm local time (4 hours ahead from Pacific time).

As many of you know, I took a few days of rest in Ouro Preto at the end of my time working at the Recanto house before starting my DTS. I really needed it, to spend time alone with God, to get away from the noise of the city, and to get recharged. I did not want to start my DTS drained!

Ouro Preto is a storybook colonial town with cobblestone streets and it would feel as if you had stepped back in time a few hundred years were it not for the unmuffled motorcycles zooming by or the cell phone company stories occupying the historical buildings. However, compared to the metropolis of BH (pronounced bay-ah-GAH) it was a haven. I went by myself since the purpose was to spend time with God. I had a lot of time to reflect on my experiences, which I sorely needed. To journal, read, pray, and just talk with God.

Even touring the old Catholic churches caused me to reflect on certain aspects of my relationship with Him and my calling, in two main different ways. The first was that some of the art work, paintings and sculptures depicting different scenes from Jesus life, was very moving. Unfortunately, none of the churches allow you to take pictures, and I chose to respect that rule unlike some sneaky tourists snapping shots with their cell phones. One piece of artwork was very moving for me in particular, at the Igreja de São Francisco de Assis, or the Saint Francis of Assisi church. It was a sculpture of Saint Francis approaching Jesus on the cross, and Jesus had one hand nailed to the cross and the other wrapped around St. Francis, who was gazing up at the face of Jesus, and they were looking into each others eyes like two lovers about to kiss. The sculpture really captured the passion of a deep love. Okay, so at first there is the 5th grade level response that eww it´s two men that look like they are about to kiss, but it really captures the intensity of divine love, both of Jesus for St. Francis, and of St. Francis for Jesus. (St. Francis happens to be my favorite saint even though I am by no means Catholic, the saying derived from his teaching, Preach the gospel everyday, and if necessary, use words, is one of my favorite quotes). I spend a good amount of time staring at that piece of artwork, and even to this point can picture the image clearly in my mind, and it is a reminder of the kind of love that I want to have for God.

The second way touring the churches interacted with my faith had to do with some racism very obvious in the artwork, like in the Igreja Nossa Senhora do Pilar, which had a picture of a white person in heaven next to a painting of a black person burning in hell. Hmm...perhaps a hint of racism there? Also, the all black parish of Sta. Efegenia was way up a hill on the far east side of town. I happened to decide to walk up that hill given it was less than a mile according to my map...it was like climbing a mountain. Slaves had to work to go to church, I can tell you that! The church was actually closed for repairs (imagine my disappointment once I reached the top to find out it was closed), but it was the church I was most interested in seeing because I wanted to see how it differed from the white parishes. I wanted to take some pictures from the top of the hill, but was hesitant to take out my camera because it was a rougher area of town, if Ouro Preto has a favela, that would probably be it. I spent 5 minutes just catching my breath and analyzing my surroundings, and finally deemed it safe to take out my camera and snap a few pictures. Then an artesan approached me, an elderly man, and invited me to tour his shop. His business was obviously down since the church was closed for repairs. I went in and bought something small for a few dollars just because I really liked the guy. He told me a lot about the town, his work, and so forth. He also told me that even though they were working on the church there, that I could enter if I wanted to. So I did get to see the church, as the painters were restoring it. It was fairly lacking in gold ornamentation as the slaves didn´t have the money to finance it, but snuck some gold dust in their hair and under their fingernails. Most of the artwork was painted and thus needed the restoration. Seeing the differences in race that existed back then began to stir a lot of questions in my head about the legacy that has left on Brazil to this day, as race seems very correlated with socio-economic status as well as assumptions people make about a person, and what is considered attractive.

Food there was pretty expensive so I limited myself to one meal a day in addition to the free breakfast at my pousada. My last night there I was fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with a couple of math professors who then invited me to eat dinner with them and refused to let me pay my part as macho Brazilian men do not like to let women pay for their food. I actually met one of them the day before who saw me reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, and assumed I was a professor or teacher because of the title of the book, and asked me if I knew how to write a lesson plan because he wasn´t sure how. I wasn´t of much help. At dinner, however, I learned a lot from the math professors, but not about math! I got lost whenever they went off talking about matrices and derivitives in Portuguese. I learned a lot about the education system here in Brazil as well as Brazilian history and politics. At least their opinions on it. Brazil has a legacy of violent military rule, which one professor thought was why guerrillas exist in so many South American countries but not Brazil, because if any groups started, they would be crushed, violently crushed, like closing off an area and shooting everything that moves. During our dinner, several ambulatory vendors approached the table, one of particular interest.

Milton César Pontes, selling his own book of poetry, Grafoemas. We probably would have turned him away quickly if one of the professors had not been familar with his work, and quite a fan. I was more interested in the life story this roaming author had to share. He clearly had a Christian background, and often alluded to God, but one thing of particular interest: he said he had not openned his Bible for two years, because if he opened his Bible, God would speak to him and he would have to listen! In some respects, I admire that, that he was committed to having to act and not hearing the word without acting on it. Even as he was, he seem to be sort of evangelizing to the professors I was with, as he shared about his life and engaged them in dialogues regarding God. I actually believe that God has something great for this roaming poet, and that he is not yet ready to accept it, as Jesus struggled to accept the cup that was given to him, which is why he is afraid to open his Bible, because when he does, as he said, God will speak to him.

This man´s story inspired and encouraged me to keep a commitment to praxis, to a balance of theory and action. When I read the Bible and God reveals things to me, I have to chose to act on them, and not be like the man who looks in the mirror and forgets what he looks like (James). Yet, at the same time action without the reasoning behind it is useless. I am here to serve God, and serving him without the focus on him would be pointless!

Dear friends and family,

It´s hard to believe it´s been almost two months since I arrived here in Brazil! Time has been flying by, and tomorrow I move into the Lighthouse for my Discipleship Training School (DTS), which starts June 23rd.

RECANTO HOUSE

My time at the Recanto House working with the girls there was filled with learning experiences - learning more Portuguese, learning more about Brazilian culture, learning about the girls´ lives, and learning about the inner workings of the ministries of YWAM here. The house has been going through a particularly rough time the past month or so, and while being a part of that meant I had some very hard days, in a way it was a blessing to be able to observe how ministries here respond to difficult situations (by difficult I mean being short staff, tight on finances, and girls breaking house rules and getting in trouble).

One staff member from the house moved to work in another ministry house here, and they had no staff to fill her place, so they ask me to pick up her duties for as long as I was there, since I already knew the girls and spoke Portuguese. So in addition to teaching English and organizing weekly activities, I worked the morning shift, which consisted of waking up the girls, eating breakfast with them, doing the Bible reading with them, setting out cleaning supplies for them to do their chores, participating in a meditation with them (lead by a staff member who arrived later in the morning), helping them with homework, and seeing them off to school (that group of girls went to class after lunch). It was a good experience for me that let me see into another dimension of the work other than that which I saw as just a normal volunteer.

LEARNING LIFE STORIES

The best part of being at the Recanto House was learning some of the girls´ stories. At first I was a bit nervous to ask them, thinking it was perhaps too personal or painful for them to talk about. But I think asking, once I had established a relationship with them, showed them that I was interested and cared. The girls come from very different backgrounds and situations and were in the house for different reasons. One girl had been through six failed adoption attempts and was in the house for lack of anywhere else to go. Another girl, who arrived at the house during my time there, was there because both of her parents were in prison, and she didn´t know why. She informed me that her younger six siblings were still out on the street in the nearby historical town of Sabará, and that she was no longer in communication with them and did not know how they were doing.

I have learned stories from others I have met as well. One boy, in the Restoration House, is noticeably deformed, and I later learned why. He was in the house when he was younger, but then ran away at one point and went back to the street, where another boy got mad at him for some reason, poured gasoline on him in his sleep, and lit him on fire. He was fortunate enough to survive, but he bears severe burn scars all over his body and face. Apparently, it is not uncommon for street children to be set on fire in a similar manner.

GETTING READY FOR MY DTS

I think my time in the Lighthouse will provide me with a different set of learning experiences, as it is located in a favela, or slum, whereas the Recanto House was near the city center. The Lighthouse does not house any street children, but functions more as a community development center, complete with daytime programs for children, a free medical facility, and discipleship for families. I will be living there for the duration of my DTS. I have heard that the DTS is very structured and rigorous (at this point it is hard for me to imagine anything resembling structure here in Brazil...but the DTS caters to the international students).

I am currently in the historical colonial town of Ouro Preto, a couple of hours outside of Belo Horizonte, taking a few days of rest away from the city noise, pollution, and constant chaos before my DTS starts. As an introvert, it was challenging for me to live in the Recanto House without ever really having time to myself or quiet time to spend with God (living there means it is like you are working even if you aren´t scheduled to be working). My time here in Ouro Preto has been a breath of fresh air so far, as I have had the much needed time to pray, journal, and reflect on my experiences thus far. I didn´t want to start the DTS totally drained!

LEARNING ABOUT MYSELF

I have also been learning a lot about myself during my time here, about my gifts and my calling. I don´t want to go into it too much now, because one main purpose of the DTS is to help students find their gifts and callings...so I will have at least five more months here to discover those things. A few things have been clear to me though. There are a lot of people here, poor people, who have been deprived of their voices, and I think perhaps part of my role is to collect their stories and share them with whatever audiences I can reach through my writing, which I have been realizing is a gift that I have. It has also been clear that I am a gifted (and speedy) translator (Portuguese to English that is), as I have gotten good feedback on the support letters I have translated and now that word has gotten out, everyone and their friend wants me to translate their letters into English! Translation provides another way to extend peoples voices to audiences they otherwise wouldn´t reach.

UNDERCOVER AMERICAN

Haha...that is what I feel like sometimes, but I think it is to my benefit. I am generally mistaken for Brazilian, though after conversing with me for awhile people usually realize I am from somewhere else. I now get a kick out of asking them to guess where I am from rather than telling them. Someone today went through every Spanish speaking country he could think of before finally giving up, and when I told him I was from the United States, he said he would have guessed every other country before that, up to Czechoslovakia. Brazilians, as so many have candidly told me once discovering where I am from, generally don´t like Americans, but they apparently don´t lump me into that category. Brazilians also seem to like Obama as much as they hate Bush. That´s usually the first thing they bring up once they find out I am American, though they have no idea how to say his name, but I have learned if they are asking me something I can´t understand, they are probably trying to say ´Barack Obama´.

PRAISES

Since I have been here, I have been doing surprisingly well, at least I have surprised myself, with how well I have adapted to life here and how well I have been mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc. despite sometimes hard circumstances. It occurred to me the other day that perhaps part of the reason I have been so emotionally stable is because my life is a piece of cake compared to everything going on around me! My own problems are minimized in light of everything else. Though it would also be easy to let those other circumstances drag me down, but they haven´t. Rather, I think they have been fanning the flames God has already been kindling in my heart. Thank you for your prayers, I know they have sustained me and protected me.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please pray for my DTS, for my time living there, for God to work on my heart wherever it needs working on and to show me more specifics regarding my calling (I am learning to follow Him step by step...which has brought me to this point, but I have no idea what is next!). Also, please specifically pray for me to find a godly way to cope with the structure and strict rules (I am not a rule breaker by any means but I am used to being independent and making my own decisions). And, finally, for me to make at least one really close friend there that I can pour my heart out to. I have made a lot of friends since getting here, and get along with everyone, but not that kind of close friend...and it would be nice to have one of those here!

BLOGS COMING...

I know I have not blogged much recently, but I hope to have the time to blog some more soon, as I am overflowing with things I would like to blog about!

Thanks as always for your prayers and support. I am totally in awe when I reflect on how much I have experienced the last two months and all I have learned, all my eyes have been opened to. Thanks for being a part of it!

God bless,
Stefanie

Dear friends and family,

Time has been flying by since I arrived here in Brazil, yet at the same time it is hard to believe I have only been here three weeks! I feel as if this is now the world I know, and the world I left behind seems so far away!

MY BLOG

First off, a reminder for any of you who want updates more frequently than every month: I have been blogging since I have been here, though it is somewhat sporadic as my free time and computer access is somewhat unpredictable! My blog is http://sisrael.livejournal.com. I have put some pictures up on facebook, and am open to suggestions for photo sharing sites. Also, you can watch a video of the Recanto House made by a former volunteer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikmfaEJHmZg.

LIFE AT CASA RECANTO

My home is now at the Recanto House with 10 former street girls and 7 Brazilian staff members. I will be living here until my Discipleship Training School (DTS) starts on June 24, rather than changing houses for one month as originally planned. This gives me more time to build relationships with the girls and accomplish more during my here.

What kind of work am I doing? I would tell you what my `schedule´ looks like, except that the concept of ´schedule´ here is somewhat of a joke! Flexibility is key. Nevertheless, the bulk of my work consists of teaching English to the girls and staff, both through classes and private lessons. They rarely have volunteers who speak English as their first language (most volunteers are from Holland), so that is something unique I can offer them. Dutch volunteers who were here when I arrived provided me with the materials they were using to teach English so that I was able to pick up where they left off. Learning English opens up more doors for the girls´ futures.

In addition to teaching English, I accompany the girls on errands around the city, organize weekly social activities, answer the phone, translate documents from Portuguese to English (newsletters and support letters, don´t worry, no legal documents!), help with household chores, help girls with homework, and basically do whatever needs to be done. My roles are many and varied - at times I am like a big sister, at times like a little sister, sometimes a teacher, sometimes a learner, at times like a mother/aunt, and at times more like a daughter (I have even been called ´minha filha´ many times by girls here, ´my daughter´, though it is a very common expression, it shows how they are looking out for me and teaching me at least as much as I am them, as I am a foreigner learning how to navigate in their world).

One role I have picked up that is off of my ´official´ schedule is tucking the youngest girl (11 years old) into bed every night. She often asks me to tell her stories about certain things, like elephants in Africa, and tells me when to speak which language (now English, now Spanish, now Portuguese). She doesn´t understand much of the English but likes to hear stories in it anyway. Good thing because I am not very good at making up stories about elephants in Africa! Other nights I read to her, either in English or Portuguese. When it´s English, I read from the only English book she owns, `Flour Babies`, the book we read from in English class. In Portuguese, I read from Proverbs or `O Conde de Montecristo´ (a beginning reader´s version, the original would be quite a feat for me in Portuguese!).

UMA VIDA CHEIA DE EXPERIENCIAS NOVAS!

In my few weeks here, I have been to 3 favelas (slums), visited 4 YWAM ministry houses, attended three different churches, learned to mop the Brazilian way, broken up a fight, learned some Brazilian sign language, been spoken to in Dutch (many times), been mistaken for a Brazilian, learned the bus system (and local bus etiquette), registered with the federal police (to be here legally and get my local ID card), discovered delicious delicacies available locally (including creme de açaí, pão de queijo, pastel de queijo, empadas, fresh juice stands, etc), eaten more rice and beans than the rest of my life combined, prayed with staff, girls, and volunteers in various languages, attended bilingual ´cultos´ (services, not cults!) of YWAM, danced like a child with girls from the house along to a worship DVD produced by Lagoinha, a local mega-church, learned worship songs in Portuguese, learned my way around the local neighborhood, watched a Capoeira circle in the Parque Municipal, tracked down peanut butter at Mercado Central, baked an improv version of chocolate chip cookies with the girls, and learned a great deal about unity in the body of Christ and what it means to be a part of the international kingdom of God here on earth (YWAM´s vision is `unity in diversity´, like the many faces of a diamond that contribute to its overall beauty).

One highlight: at the ´culto´ my second week here, Johan, the founder of the base here in Belo Horizonte, was speaking on unity in the body of Christ out of Ephesians, using the illustration of a healthy nervous system versus one in a disease where people cannot feel their extremities. In that case, they do not know when they are being burned, bit, or hurt in any way, and usually do not live very long. If we as the body of Christ are not able to sense what is going on in other parts of the body, if needs are not being communicated and felt, the body will be injured. We need to be like a healthy nervous system that senses what is going on in other parts of the body, and we have the responsibility to communicate our needs to others in the body. Following the message, Johan asked us to find someone around us who spoke the same language to pray with them about one thing we are thankful for and one thing we are in need of. Great, I thought. Someone who spoke the same first language - there was only one other American in the room, and I was sitting with Brazilians, with all of the Dutch people on the other side of the room! But my dilemma of who to pray with was solved when Lilí, a girl from the house, turned to me to pray with her. We communicated our praises and needs in Portuguese. Her praise: the changes God had brought about in her life. Her need: help learning English! My praise: adjusting fairly well since being here. My need: being able to learn basic things that are really foreign to me without feeling stupid. Praying with her was amazing. You should here these girls pray! I have since made more of an effort to pray with girls in the house. The are growing into women of prayer, and praying together is a great way to share fellowship as well as communicate needs.

PRAISES AND PRAYER REQUESTS

Overall, I have felt incredibly blessed since arriving here, and have seen God meet my needs and provide for me in ways not expected. So many ´coincidences´ have turned out to be true blessings. God has brought many wonderful people into my life here. I really feel like I am living in the kingdom of God, the international body of Christ. Not without difficulties, for sure, but overall, I am adjusting very well to life here. When I feel like I am struggling to understand Portuguese, all it takes is for someone to speak to me in Dutch for me to realize how much Portuguese I really do understand (compared to about 1% of Dutch)! For being a foreigner, I think I am adapting fairly well to the language and culture and haven´t had any major problems in communication.

As far as prayer requests go, the hardest thing for me to deal with since being here has been the lack of solitude. I can relate to Jesus trying to get away from the crowds to find a quite place to pray...except there is no quiet place here! Certainly not in the house, and I have yet to find any real solitude in this bustling city of 5 million people. As an introvert, it is a bit overwhelming and draining for me to constantly be surrounded by people and noise (even my ear plugs only filter about 50% of the noise). Please pray for me to be able to find some way I can find the solitude I need to pray, meditate, re-center, and re-energize so that I can have the energy I need to be effective in my work here!

As always, thank you for your prayers and support! I have already seen God answering them during the short time I have been here, blessing me in so many ways - helping me adjust, giving me favor with people I meet, keeping me healthy - if I were to write in detail all of the ways God has blessed me since I have been here, this email would be at least 20 times as long as it already is! Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement. Below is my contact info here should you desire to contact me.

God bless,
Stefanie

CONTACT INFO

Email is the best way to contact me, but below is the rest of my contact info in case you need it. As far as I know, mail takes about a month to get here (if it does get here). If you try to call me at the house, please keep in mind the 4 hour time difference, and that whoever answers the phone will be speaking Portuguese.

Mailing address:
Stefanie Israel (Lighthouse - DTS)
C.P. 438
Belo Horizonte, MG 30.123-970
Brazil

Hello everyone,

Just want to let you all know that I arrived safely in Brazil (and with all of my luggage)! I am staying in the Recanto House the first month, with former street girls. All of the girls seem really kind so far. Some have been here for awhile. Today they are giving me a day of rest before I start my volunteer duties tomorrow.

Though, I did accompany a girl from the house today for safety reasons so she did not have to go alone. We took a bus to a nearby favela, my first time in a favela (slum) here. The house is not quite in the favela. I think it is a former youth hostel. I actually have my own room and bathroom, which I did not expect!

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that some of the people here speak English. The house director and two volunteers from Holland who are only here for another week!

I will not be able to check my email very often here, but I wanted to let you all know that God is taking care of me and I am looking forward to this experience. My Portuguese is getting me by so far. I hope to learn more quickly!

Thank you for your prayers!

God bless,
Stefanie

Every Wednesday night I am supposed to do some sort of activity with the girls after dinner. This last Wednesday, I bought some playing cards so I could teach them some games. I decided to teach them spoons to start out with, or colheres. It soon became pega colher, a much better name. I have never seen such a violent game of spoons! Haha, usually there is at least one instance of two people fighting over the same spoon, but these girls do not give up easily! We almost got into a couple of wrestling matches over the spoons! Dont worry, no one was hurt, and it was all in fun.

Then I decided to teach them BS, but not wanting to have to try to translate or explain what BS stands for, I decided to change the name to Mentira, or lie. They say mentira all the time here when they dont believe what someone is saying, so it suits the game well. They caught on pretty fast and soon where saying Mentira! left and right. We had a lot of fun. I think I may teach them more card games next Wednesday, perhaps Egyptian Rat Screw, but I would have to think of a better Portuguese name for that, any ideas?