The Chácara

The Chácara (pronounced sha-ka-ra), or little farm, as we call it is the Center for Youth Recovery outside of Porto Alegre in the town of Lavorada. This is a small facility that has between 15 and 20 young men trying to leave their worlds of drug and alcohol abuse. The Chácara was started by an evangelical church in town, that has since left the project. It is a ministry that our church has been involved with for the last few years, primarily because of one of our members, Paulo Renato. Paulo struggled with alcohol for a long time. It had such a stronghold on his life that he found himself living on the street and isolated from his family and friends. He eventually found the Chácara, where he learned who Jesus is: his Lord and Saviour. Paulo lived at the Chácara for about a year and a half. Over time he overcame his addiction to alcohol, found Jesus and became a mentor and teacher to the younger men staying on the farm. Since that time, Paulo Renato has had a special place in his heart for the Chácara. He goes there to visit and encourage the men every Sunday and Wednesday. The men of our church try to go to the Chácara the last Sunday of each month for the same purpose. This has become a wonderful way for many of our members to learn the importance of helping and encouraging others. We have all learned a great deal of humility too.

The Chácara is a very simple place. The men sleep on little cots in one of two bunkhouses. Their showers are very basic (without hot water). They work the land, growing several different types of vegetables. They depend on donations of money and food to get by with what they cannot grow. Our church has been giving most of their food donations as of the last few months. There is one other church in town that pays their electric bill. Sometimes, they are in desparate need and will call or visit us asking for a donation. If this happens I will take money from our benevolence fund and buy enough food for a couple of weeks and deliver it to them. I am always happy to stop what I am doing to help these men. It really brightens my day. Everytime I arrive with food for them they greet me with shouts of "Glory to God!" and "Hallelujah!" It really is something!

One of our other members (who is mentioned in the last post), Moema, has a real heart for the Chácara. She, along with another member, Leni, wrote a letter to the hotel where Leni works asking for help with a food donation. This hotel, the Blue Tree Towers Hotel, has a promotion where they give you a discount on your room if you bring food items for them to give to the poor. The hotel usually looks for a different group or organization to help each month. After they read the letter that Moema and Leni sent they realized that the Chácara had a big need. They decided to put the Chácara at the top of the list of those they want to help. Today, several of us from church went to the hotel with a small trailor to load up the food to take to the young men of the Chácara. In total we took 297 kilograms, which is over 650 lbs., of food to the Chácara! It was awesome! A few employees of the hotel went with us. Due to their visit they decided that they want to continue helping the Chácara. So, we expect to make similar deliveries once every 3 weeks! We are amazed and in awe at the Lord's provision. He has shown these men that He truely cares for them and wants a relationship with them.

This kind gift does more than feed bellies. This kind of gift also feeds souls. These men are encouraged and are giving God the praise and glory. Please join us in praying for the young men of the Chácara. Please pray that they would find strength in the Lord; strength that can break the bondage of drugs and alcohol and lift them up higher than they have ever been. Please pray for their decisions to follow Christ. Please pray that we would continue to be able to give donations like we did today - feeding bellies and feeding souls!

Men of the Chácara with Blue Tree Towers Hotel employees and church members.

Growth Groups: Update #2

The following Growth Group Update was written by our teammate, Benay Blume:

Dear Loved ones,

I want to share some stories with you about how God is working in the lives of the people who come each week to our small group.

We have 4 couples coming each week, along with one teen and some children. One couple we met through Garrett's soccer class. Roberto and Moema came to us with extremely open hearts and have already given their lives to Christ. They were baptized on August 17 (you can see pictures of their baptism in a previous post on this Blog, entitled "Baptisms"). When we asked them who they wanted to be at their baptism, they said, "Well, our family, of course"; meaning, our small group. Moema is a sociologist and is already using her skills and resources to help in many areas of benevolence at the church. Roberto is professional singer and has already started leading some songs in the worship. They have a son, Kjeld, (pronounced kelgi) who is friends with Garrett and Carys. We praise God for bringing us this new family.

Another couple, Andre and Luzia, have been our friends for several years, but always resisted our invitations to church related and regular social events. Earlier this year, they came over to our house to explain the reason why. They told us that they were just so different from us, they thought of religion differently than we did, they had a different heritage than we did, etc. We talked to them about each thing and, getting to the bottom of it, discovered that they were scared of taking the risk and opening up their hearts to new relationships. Luzia had been hurt by some other friends in the past and didn't want it to happen again. She told Kevin that we could keep inviting, but she would probably still resist. He looked at her and said, "I'm going to keep on inviting you and I'm going to win." She said, through tears, "I hope you do." Well, we are seeing result. God is winning! They are a part of our group and we can see that they are opening up their eyes to what it really means to be a Christian.

Moving on to one more couple, Silvio and Miriam. Silvio has been a Christian for many years. He has been in a relationship (like common law marriage) with Miriam for many years also. He has hidden his relationship with her from his church family because he was afraid. He has led a double life, so to speak, for a long time. Last year, he began confessing to a select group of men what was going on. This year, through lots of prayer, he stood up during a worship service and confessed everything to the church. Not long ago, Miriam reluctantly agreed to start coming to our small group. In the beginning, I called her every week to encourage her to come back. Now, I don't need to call anymore. She and Silvio consistently come every week to study and fellowship with us and last weekend they hosted a wonderful churrasco (cookout) at their house for our group. Miriam has also started participating in visiting some women at a homeless shelter with our ladies' group. Please pray for her as she tries to overcome the years of being hurt from being excluded and for him as he continues to reconcile himself to her.

One last story: Diego is a remarkable teenage boy who became a Christian at a church near his home. This church has services on Sunday morning. Diego attends this service and then comes to our service on Sunday night. He participates in all the youth activities and comes each week to our small group. Diego is pretty much on his own. He has a family but they seem to only provide a place to sleep and food. Didi (as we call him) has lots of freedom, but uses this freedom to go to church events - not to get into trouble like most teenagers would do. Diego is a special guy who is a great example for all of us and has a wonderful heart for God. One day he will be a strong leader for the church here.

These are just some of the stories I could tell about our small group. There are so many great things happening and we praise God for allowing us to be a part of them. Thanks to all of you who pray for us and support us spiritually and financially. We thank you for allowing God to use you in this way. We wouldn't be here without your support. We love you all so much!

Much love in Christ,
Benay

back row- Bronwyn Blume, Roberto, Andre, Silvio, Kevin, Benay
front row-Luzia, Diego, Moema, Miriam and Anderson Blume

Growth Groups: Update #1

I visited a Growth Group this last Saturday that I had never been to before. It was such a blessing to me! It was at the home of the Wherplotz family. Our church's janitor, Paulo Renato, led the group with Felipe Wherplotz. Paulo Renato and I have become pretty good friends. He is quite the evangelist. He has a very interesting story, but I will save that for another post.

Felipe Wherplotz is 16 years old and participates in the church's Youth Group. This young man is on fire for the Lord. I am studying personal evangelism with Felipe on Monday nights. Unfortunately, he is a rare breed. I don't know too many young people who are concerned about the eternal destiny of their friends and family. He really wants to know how to tell others about Jesus.

To get to this group Paulo Renato and I needed to walk up a very steep street. After about a half mile the street turned into a dirt road with pot holes. It was a different world for me. It was as close to walking through a slum that I have come to. It was a very poor neighborhood. As we approached the house where the group meets I was surprised to see a little house that was clean and cozy. The house was painted a cool green and had all kinds of plants and trees in the front yard. The back yard was one big garden, full of every kind of vegetable and plant you could imagine. Inside we spent most of our time in the living room. It was nice and clean and the pictures of family on the wall reminded me of my own home.

This group really tries to reach out to their neighbors. It is difficult though. Not many people in this neighborhood have an interest in Jesus. This group is mainly made up of Wherplotz family members. If everyone who frequents this group would all come on the same day it would be a big group. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen often. The people who were at this particular meeting were: Paulo Renato (leader), Irotildes Wherplotz (the mom), Felipe Wherplotz (co-leader and son), Luis Wherplotz (father), Vitor Wherplotz (son), Louvo (Vitor's brother-in-law), Raquel (daughter) and me. It was a family gathering!

I was very encouraged by the discussion and the fellowship that we had. It was a very good experience for me. It makes me feel good to see how this group is really doing well. They are glorifying the Lord! I am excited about my next visit to this group and my future visits to the other groups.

It is hard sometimes for us (Christians in general) to be evangelistic and to continue inviting people to know Jesus after we have been turned down time and time again. We want to grow! We want to share the Saviour! We believe that these Growth Groups are a great way to make these things happen. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to reach out to this great city.

2.5 Years... Unbelievable!

It is hard to believe that today marks the halfway point of our family's original commitment to work in Porto Alegre, Brazil. 2.5 years... unbelievable! We have seen some really great things and some really difficult things. We have seen "not-yet" Christians turn their lives around and give themselves to Christ. We have made many friends. We have had many opportunities to help and bless people. We have been blessed.

We really don't know what the future holds for our family here in Porto Alegre, Brazil. We don't know for sure that this day actually does mark the halfway point of our time here. We recognize that there is a lot of work to do still. But, the Lord can and I believe will do amazing things in this city in a short amount of time.

At this point in our work here we are starting to make some transitions. We are moving away from our original "strategy" and allowing the Holy Spirit to give us new direction. It is a very exciting time!

Please pray that the Lord give us direction and wisdom in all we do. Please pray that we would be submissive to His will and purpose for us and this city. Please pray that we not limit the power of the Holy Spirit and that we continue to "think big and thank God". Please pray that we would be protected from Satan and his attacks - we expect them to come and to come strong.

We will keep on truckin' along, strong in the Lord. Thank you for your prayers. We need them and appreciate them.

Growth Groups

In May of this year we began a new season of small groups in houses. We are re-focusing these groups on evangelism. In the past, our small groups were more about maturing and growing our current membership. While this is good, they were not geared toward doing what we must do in order to grow - evangelize! We like to think that our groups are fresher and are starting over; that they are new. Because we are focusing on evangelism and growth in these groups we are calling them Growth Groups. We currently have 6 active Growth Groups that meet throughout the week. Some are growing more than others, but they have all seen some growth. We are very excited about these groups because we believe that they are the key to growing the family of Christ in the city of Porto Alegre.

As of last Sunday, the missionaries and the leaders and hosts of these groups are studying the book of Acts together (outside of the groups). We are searching for and learning about how the Lord grew the early church. Please pray for us to seek and recognize His guidance and wisdom as we collaborate together (Americans and Brazilians) to grow God's family.

These groups are a real adventure! I am planning on visiting each group to encourage them and see how they are doing. As I visit them I will give you an update on each one. You can catch these updates throughout the next several weeks. I will entitle them "Growth Groups: Update #_".