Much of out time is still spent learning and surviving a new culture. It can be pretty boring in the day to day. Get up, eat breakfast, start cooking lunch, eat, get kids to school, go buy more food, pay bills, repeat. Without a car little things take a long time and way too much energy. All of the sudden we got a little break, thanks Calvary Corvallis, and went on a family outreach to Campo Mourao. It spurred about 1.5 weeks of busyness.
It was great to get a taste of our future ministry. We went to Campo Mourao to help with Caminho Melhor a children’s ministry in a poor neighborhood. It is a great opportunity to touch kids through a Sunday morning program that includes Bible trivia, memory and of course a lesson. 50-80 kids come weekly, they are broke up into 2 teams made up of about 4 groups each. It is a growing ministry and certainly the type of ministry we want to do in the future. It really doesn’t end with the kids or the Sunday morning program but is an inroad to the families.
Saturday a group was at the Calvary property participating in Patmos Desperta(wake up). A weekend program similar to YWAMs Nikko. It is intended to help Christians understand the times we are living in and the importance of taking our faith seriously. I (Ben) helped them do work projects in the community with people the Caminho Melhor ministry had us connected too. Earlier in the Day I remodeled an entry door to a much smaller size. When the Patmos students were painting and cleaning houses I put the newish door on Tereza’s house, more about her in a minute.
Sunday we helped with CM, we got to meet, play and talk with many different kids. They were really attentive during the program, a very amazing feet in poor communities anywhere. They learned about Joseph and how God redeemed evil for good. Then we played dodge ball with them. There were close to 50 kids there, a low number according to the workers, and yet discipline wasn’t a problem. Very exciting.
That night we got to go to a circus with Junior, Delinda, their kids and Briza. Circuses are always better in areas with loose litigation laws and kids in need. People will do crazy things for money. Even had a pregnant lady swinging 40 feet in the air by her neck from a rope. Spiderman swung even higher standing on a small rope. Then we had 5 guys including a young teenager in the ball of death.
Monday I did some repair work on the Caminho Melhor Building. Melissa and I took the opportunity to go visit Tireza the lady who’s house needed the door. It was really exciting. She was around 65 or 70, didn’t read and hadn’t been a Christian long. She told me she had been given a bible many years ago. About 10 years ago her son became a Christian and eventually she followed. Now she is learning to read so she can read her bible. It was so cool as she showed us her notebook and the words she is learning.
After spending time with some friends Tuesday, Pastor Diego and his wife Aline we returned home Wed. They took us to an awesome little restaurant. The city of Campo Mourao is like someone dropped Corvallis in Brazil and mixed it with the Midwest.
Friday I was back to the boys prison. We have been able to start a group in the prisons halfway house. Only a few boys go there, I think there are 9 living there. It is really nice to sit on couches and visit with them in a more free environment as compared to the sterile rooms inside. We also had a great time with a group inside we started with a couple weeks ago. The original group seems to be closed to us. We are experiencing new resistance there from the psychologist, she seems to prefer people who say all religions are the same. Apparently 3 exceptionally bold Christians say some stuff they don’t like. Pray God will use whatever time we have left or keep the door open, we want His will.
Saturday was lunch again at the church. When I walked through the favela there were a lot of people out. I invited a large group of kids while one grouchy lady glared at me and told me to go away. I finished inviting them anyways. Towards the end of lunch a couple of those kids came. They ate but were very guarded, quiet and left without much interaction. A couple minutes later another boy came. A bit later a little girl came and asked for 4 to go. A few minutes later she came back and asked for 6 more. Melissa followed her out to the street and called me over. Apparently the whole gang of kids had came down together but were afraid to come eat. The boys had tested the water while the rest hid around the corner. Then the girl got brave and grabbed the 4 then returned for more. We didn’t get a good count of the kids but there was a bunch. Very cute, very dirty, very sad. It amazes me in the midst of a country that has had such an economic revolution and the emergence of a middle class that there can be such hurting and poverty.
Thanks for praying, we love and miss you all. It was great to have a couple weeks with a taste of normal missions to keep us pressing on, learning language and to live as a family here. We sense God opening doors for us to minister a couple years with something like Caminho Melhor, pray for us. We still want to one day go where the gospel is less preached and may yet do a school of frontier missions with YWAM, but after what amounts to 4 years of training and transition we see a couple year season of serving on our horizon.
Lyon Family
Thanks for the updates!!!
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