Our ZOO Outing!

As a missionary at the YWAM Belo Horizonte base, I work with two different children's groups at the Light House Community Center, which is located in one of the many slums of Brazil.

I work with a girls group in the mornings and another girls group in the afternoons. My co-leader or "teaching partner" (so to speak) is a Brazilian named Rosangela!  She is a great friend and team member.  She is from Rio de Janiero!

Here we are preparing snacks before the field trip.  We made many sandwiches!

Me and Marta on the bus getting ready to head out to the ZOO!  

We actually went to the Belo Horizonte zoo two different times.  Once with our afternoon girls group and the other time with the morning girls group.   Many of the girls had never been to the zoo before so this outing was a treat for them!  We had lots of fun!

The morning girls group!

Look closely in the photo below!  At the top you can see a free roaming monkey.  The zoo is like an open park and many monkeys roam around freely in the treetops. 

 Here in this photo, one of my girls is reaching towards the monkey in the tree!

Beautiful Raiane enjoying the animals!

ALL SMILES!!!

One BIG attraction at the zoo are the elephants! This one elephant was SO FRIENDLY and he came SO CLOSE!  The girls LOVED him!

 Check out the video below with our friend the elephant, and listen to us talking in Portuguese!

SNACK TIME!

The afternoon girls group enjoying the sandwiches and resting a bit!

It was a tiring trip with MUCH walking involved!  Some girls were so extremely tired by the end of our time at the zoo.  Lizia was trying SO HARD to hang in there, but the outing really made her sleepy.  Rosangela had to carry her at the end and she also fell fast asleep on the bus ride back home.

Sleeping Beauties!

These girls fell asleep on the bus ride back to the Light House.  After MUCH walking they couldn't resist a good nap.

Overall, our outing to the ZOO was a BIG SUCCESS with our girls!

YWAM Belo Horizonte Night of Praise and Celebration!

We recently had a night of PRAISE and CELEBRATION to thank and honor God for all he is doing in and through the ministry houses here at the YWAM Belo Horizonte base!   Some of the girls from my afternoon girls group had the honor of representing the Light House Community Center through WORSHIP and DANCE!

 

All dressed up before the service! 

My friend Michelle, who has been teaching the girls ballet,  received a special offering from her church of dance outfits for the girls! 

 Each girl got to wear a special dance costume.  

The girls were absolutely BEAUTIFUL and loved dressing up in the fancy outifts!

This first video shows the girls singing and dancing to a worship song called Apaixonado, which is translated as "Falling in Love".  The song is about being in love with Jesus because He LOVES us, died for us on the cross and has transformed our lives.  It is a fun song full of the message of God's love and truth!

The girls LOVE this song and created this dance to it. We sing this every week during our times of worship in our girls group!

The second video is some ballet moves the girls have been learning.  

This video is beautiful!  The girls look so graceful and I can just see God smiling with GREAT love over them as they dance for Him!

 

I hope you have enjoyed this post!

To read more about the different ministries here at the YWAM Belo Horizonte base go to www.bhcentro.ywambrazil.org.

My Girls! Minhas Meninas!

It is not how much we do, but how much LOVE we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much LOVE we put in the giving.

Mother Teresa

These are the beautiful lives that I have the priviledge of working with here in Brazil. All of these girls live in the Cafezal slum and many are living in extremely difficult family situations. Please pray for these girls and for TRANSFORMATION in their homes and lives!

God's love and message of HOPE and LIFE can bring great change to these girls, their families, and their futures. We are praying that they will choose this abundant and love-filled LIFE of knowing God and being in an intimate relationship with Him.

Ballet in Brazil!

PRAISE HIM WITH DANCING... PSALM 150:4 During the month of August the Light House was greatly blessed by a Brazilian volunteer (named Michelle) who taught ballet to the girls in my groups.

Warming up.. Point and Flex, Point and Flex!

Michelle also shared about the beauty that each girl has! God has created each one perfectly, wonderfully, and beautifully! They are princesses and they have worth and value because they are daughters of the KING.

All of the girls LOVED the Ballet lessons!

You can see the JOY on their beautiful faces.

For the girls to have the opportunity to learn some ballet was truly a special thing! Many of these girls come from families that have very little money and they could never afford to pay for a ballet class.

Dancing with beautiful scarfs!!! The girls loved this part of the Ballet class!

Enjoy watching these precious girls dance in the video below!!!

ALL BECAUSE OF LOVE...

There are so many things that I love about working with the girls groups here at the Light House Community Center! But one thing that especially touches my heart is the way the girls enter into our house each day.

We keep the doors locked except during the Light House working hours. Whenever it is time to unlock the main gate to start the morning or afternoon sessions there is always a great CELEBRATION! Children are eagerly and expectantly waiting outside the Light House to enter and participate in our daily activities.

I love this part of the day! I usually stand at the top of a hill near the entrance to greet the girls (unless I am the special one to do the honors of opening the door). Whenever the gate is opened my girls come flooding in with their big, beautiful brown eyes searching to find exactly where I am. When they spot me they call out my name, “Laura! Laura!” and come running full speed towards me, arms wide open and upraised - ready to give me a BIG hug!

As they enter our house, I can see such a relief and a joy on their faces. They are finally inside!

The girls know they are SAFE here…
They are now in an environment of love, affirmation, discipline, and protection. They are off the streets, out of their troubled and chaotic homes, and away from the harsh reality of life in the slums.

They know they can RUN to me...
I am always there waiting, with arms of love available, to embrace and accept them.

They know they can find LOVE…
Through my life, my words, my actions, my attitude, my presence - I am here to offer the LOVE of Jesus Christ to each child. It is my prayer that each girl will encounter the unconditional and unfailing LOVE of God when they enter into the Light House! This is the reason I am here in Brazil, working with hurting children who live in poverty…

It is all because of LOVE! The love of Jesus Christ!

OLYMPICS in BRAZIL!

Last week we held the 2008 Summer Olympics here at the Light House Community Center!

Every year the center holds these special games. A YWAM Go Team (visiting from Holland) also helped organize and run this special event! Enjoy the photos below of our amazing week with the kids from the slum!

The Olympic flame being carried by the son of one of the missionary families serving here!

MY AWESOME TEAM!!

We represented the nation of BRAZIL!!!

Painting our flag and preparing for the opening ceremony and the Olympic parade of nations!

Our parade of nations on the streets in the slum. It is a beautiful view of the city here and you can even see the United States team (in the blue shirts) just in front of Brazil. You can also see the US flag in this photo.

The Holland team cheering and singing with much spirit! This parade on the street was such an exciting experience. I thought of the words of a famous song,

"Open up the doors and let the music play, let the streets resound with singing!"

Each day we started our Olympic events with prayer! Here is a mighty man of God praying to start our day! What a precious one he is...

We also had a time of singing and worshiping the Lord! Here are my sweet girls helping me lead the worship time.

The Olympic teams! From left to right - New Zealand (black), Brazil (yellow), England (red), Holland (orange), South Africa (green), and United States of America (blue). We chose these six specific countries because they represent the different nations of the Light House staff members.
The South Africa Team!!!
Jump the Creek! We measured which team could jump the farthest.

A swimming obstacle course in the Light House Pool!
GO Brazil team!

A obstacle course in the park!
The team with the best time won points.

A team building activity. The goal of the game was to get a banana out of the tree without stepping inside a boundary line that was placed around the tree. The team had to work together and received points for how well they worked together and included everyone on the team.
The Brazil team in deep thought and discussion!

A bowling game! Each team won points for knocking down the bottles.

Sporting TEAM SPIRIT!!!! GO BRAZIL!!!

The leaders revealing the FINAL SCORE for the Olympic games!

The MEDAL Ceremony! Cheering the kids on as they were receiving the medals!

This little guy is so serious about receiving his SILVER medal!

One of the girls from my morning group happy with her medal!

Beautiful Bliss!

The New Zealand team got the GOLD! Here is the New Zealand team doing their team war cry and dance which was so cool! They did a traditional native dance and song of the indiginous people of New Zealand!

Now he is PROUD with his SILVER medal!!!

Happy and at home in the Light House...