Compassion, Bees and Brazilian Hospitality!

The Compassion Project:

This week, we have been working with a local church on their ‘Compassion Project’. The project provides children with a safe haven from the many challenges they face in their lives. The project provides them with love, healthy meals and teaches them about Jesus. The theme this week was Jesus is our superhero. We led them through crafts, dancing and games, singing songs, and Bible sketches. Overall, working on the project has overwhelmed the team with so much love and joy. We are sad to leave the children and move on to the next project, but hope that our time with the children has helped open up their hearts to Jesus.

Home visits:

On Wednesday 3 of us did home visits in the morning (the others did them on Friday) This was a highlight of the week as it was amazing to see how willing people were to open their homes to us, and it was a fantastic opportunity to share a Bible verse as well as our testimonies.

Brazilian hospitality:

Bill and his family took us in for the night when we landed and gave us a taste of some amazing Brazilian cuisine. Bill then took us to Custódia the following day. Hannah and Tim, our coordinators, have been a true blessing to us all. Not only have they been our translators and helped and guided us in all our preparations and decisions, but they have also been there to support and comfort us throughout our stay, and have been so accommodating by letting us use their house when we have needed to.

The generosity within the church has also been amazing. We spent a night for free in a hotel owned by one of the church members, including buffet dinner, breakfast and lunch. This was due to a bee infestation in the church (no one was hurt!), and the stay definitely energised us for the week.

Young people:

We’ve been really blessed to be so welcomed by everyone, especially the youth. They made such an effort to talk and involve us in their plans which was really nice. The first Sunday here they took us to the ice cream shop and gave us a tour of the area, including the cemetery! We have been communicating to them via google translate but it has worked well and so far we have enjoyed the time we have spent with them.

We’ve been very grateful to God for all that has happened so far, and are very excited for future opportunities for us to serve the community of Custódia and Saba! We would love if you would consider us in your prayers over the coming week. There a few specific points to pray for:

• Good health: Unfortunately, there has been a few bouts of sickness within the team. It would be great if you could pray for protection for the team, that we would remain healthy, we would sleep well, and we would be able to serve the community at full capacity.
• Service contribution and preaching: We are definitely getting stretched in terms of our public speaking and acting abilities! Please pray for courage for the team as they step out of their comfort zones. Specifically, a couple of the girls will be doing a 15 minute preach on Saturday, so prayer for this would be ace!
• Finally, please pray that we would be able to strengthen and deepen our relationships with the church and community here. We want to make sure we witness well to the community, and demonstrate God’s love in the best way we can.