New Things

There's a lot of new things that we're experiencing. For most of the team it was the first time to leave the country. For some it was the first time fly. For others it was the first time to be in a jungle. (A lot of first-time things happening.) For some, on this trip, it will be the first time to speak in front of a crowd. And to make it even more challenging, we're speaking to a crowds through a translator.

Yesterday we went and visited Hope and Life Brazil (this is a ministry that we've started here in Brazil to reach the children of Brazil). You can see the website at www.hopeandlifebrazil.com. Mary Jane's parents and sister have been living there for 2 months, getting it ready for bringing children in from the community. The students took a tour of the 110 acre property and got a vision for what we're going to be doing there. The rest of the day was spent practicing for a drama and rehearsing worship songs. Last night we were scheduled to go to Villa Zoombie and lead a youth service. We led worship (in English and in Portuguese). Rachel led on guitar, Nick P killed everybody on the drums (man, that boy's good!), Christian played keys, Chelsea sang back-up vocals and an interpreter (Ruan) played bass and sang vocals in Portuguese. Ian, Maryssa, Nick M and Kirstin performed a drama that the crowd loved, I was able to minister the Word... it was an amazing team effort. Another highlight of the evening was when Austin was able (through a translator) to give his testimony. The cool thing about it was that he's never given it before! Never before a crowd and never through a translator. He did great. So, I want him to blog about it... so heeeeerrre's Austin:

Hey guys it's so cool to be telling you the blessings that God has been doing here. Last night I gave my first testimony. It was very cool being able to tell these kids the blessings and the miracles God has done in my life. It was my first time doing a speech with a translator. It was weird because I've never done anything like that. The cool thing was that you could tell that God was there. I couldn't believe the feeling. But if God is happy the devil is mad and you can tell that us being here is making him really mad. You can feel something brewing here that's gonna change our lives and the children's lives. Alright guy's that's it. God bless!

Austin

Hey Guys, it's Jim again. Thank you for praying for us. Please continue to pray because God is doing some amazing things through the students and we need His power and His ability if we're going to do anything that has eternal significance. We're going back to Villa Zoombie today and handing out 4,000 invite cards for church tomorrow, so we'll blog about it later.

Love Ya,

Jim