See through my eyes... a typical day of work...

Every day in Brazil is started with COFFEE!!! Brazilians LOVE coffee and drink it every day throughout the day. This is the typical Brazilian breakfast, freshly made bread (made at a local bread shop) and coffee. I enjoy thisevery morning with my team here at Rescue House.

After breakfast, we as a team have a time of prayer and intercession. We pray for each other and also divide into groups and pray about different things God is placing on our hearts. I love starting our days putting God first and seeking His heart for our work with street children and street people.

Marian, Eveline, and Mariska (from Holland) praying during our time of intercession one morning.

We have open house every Monday morning. Street people come to our house to take showers, change clothes, and eat something. During this time we share the love of the Lord with the people and talk with them about opportunities that will help them leave the lifestyle of living on the streets. Here I am sitting with some of the street men at open house.

Here is one of the street ladies that we work with on a consistant basis. She visits our house every week and we are trying to help her and encourage her to make steps of change. Please pray for her and her daughter. Soon her daughter (pictured here) will be doing a triage with us here in the Rescue House. She is going to live in another YWAM ministry shelter here in Belo Horizonte.

This is a typical Brazilian lunch! In Brazil, you eat the biggest meal of the day in the middle of the day. This meal usually consists of beans and rice and also some kind of meat and vegetable.

I am learning how to cook Brazilian style! After lunch we get back to work doing various things. We may go on visits to the streets or fevelas or work within the house!

Here are a few photos of our work!

Here is one of the girls that just did a triage with us. She spent two weeks living at the Rescue House and just moved to the YWAM shelter for girls this past Sunday. Her mother died when she was 3 years old and she does not have contact with her father. She was living in a fevela with other family members and then spent some time on the streets, but thankfully she is now in the YWAM home for girls! My times of working with this girl were really special. We shared times of prayer, Bible Study, going out and having fun, and working around the house together. God is working in amazing ways in her life and I am excited to see how she continues to grow.

Me and my Brazilian friend Janete visiting in a fevela!
We visit families frequently throughout the week!

A young street boy of 8 years. He has a family and a house, but chooses to live on the streets. I don´t know his whole story or the condition of his family. Many street kids choose this way of life over living at home though due to family problems. They like the freedom they feel from living on the streets and also many become addicted to sniffing paint thinner.

Street boys on the streets here in Belo Horizonte. Usually groups of street kids live together.

We visit and talk with different groups of street kids every week.

A girl playing on the streets. I saw her one morning as we were visiting the streets. She wouldnt talk with us, but her face alone speaks so much...

Some afternoons we spend working in the house. Janete and Faith are sanding and painting this cabinet to hang up in our house.

We have a FULL house! Currently all of these people (short term volunteers and staff workers) are living and working at the Rescue House! Our family is made up of many nations- people from Brazil, Holland, United States, Uraquay, Argentina, and England!

At night, after a long days work, we often rest, spend time together, go out into the city to visit friends or run errands, and some nights we have other YWAM meetings as well!

This night we were enjoying yummy Brazilian breads and cakes!

Pedreira

PSALM 22:24, 27-28

For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one;

He has not hidden His face from him but has listened to his cry for help...

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD,

and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him,

for dominion belongs to the LORD and He rules over the nations.

Last Sunday the Rescue House team went to a worship and prayer event that took place in a very hurting and needy fevela here in Belo Horizonte called Pedreira. This fevela is known as one of the worst fevelas in the city and is also the 2nd largest crack producing slum in Brazil. It was sad to see the lives of so many who feel trapped in this lifestyle and in a culture of povery and destruction. I saw that so many desire to know the Lord and to change their life situation, but they don´t really know how to change or feel hopeless to change. We shared the LOVE and GRACE of the Lord this last Sunday and how He can help bring change and true life.

Also, YWAM will soon be starting a project in this fevela to help this community. YWAM Belo Horizonte will be opening a community center in Pedreira that will offer programs to encourage adults and children to better their lives in practical ways and also point them to the One who brings LIFE more abundantly- JESUS!

Here is our worship team of three nations- Brazil, United States, and Holland. We spent over an hour worshipping the Lord and proclaiming His LOVE and TRUTH over the lives of the people living in this fevela. Thank you for praying for us! As the Word says in Isaiah 55:11-- I know that HIS words will not return void, but they go forth and accomplish all that He desires! We saw transformation before our eyes on Sunday and hearts were being touched and changed as we sang of the LOVE and FAITHFULNESS of God!

After our time of worship children and different people continually came up to us to talk and to ask for prayer. We were not going to them, but they were coming to us asking for prayer. Desperate hearts... many people were in broken places too... many people wept as we prayed for them. I know they sensed the LOVE and PRESENCE of the Lord.

Here is a beautiful girl that lives in this fevela. Pray for this young one. May she know the love and mercy of God and have a life of HOPE and LOVE! She has already experienced much trauma.

More beautiful children! There were SO many children at the worship and prayer event on Sunday. We spent time playing, talking, holding and loving on them throughout the day. It was such a sweet time. I truly felt the LOVE of our Father as I held the little ones in my arms. They were so needy to be held and loved. Pray for these children of the slums, that they would find a way to escape the cycle of poverty and destruction that is so prevelant through living in the fevela.