Restoration Ministries in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Well, as of 4:30 this morning Kyle and Adia, along with a team from our church, are headed to Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was hard to say good bye, for 12 days, but we are all willing to do it because we see what God is doing through Restoration Ministries for the people of Sao Paulo and through the lives of people who take the step to go on trips like this and have their eyes opened to so much more than you can see in the western bubble we live in. Kyle has worked so hard preparing to lead the team for this trip and I am so proud of all the effort he has given this. For those of you who are just checking this out to see what the prayer needs are I posted a few pictures from the trip last year so you can get a glimpse of what they are doing. Thank you for the prayers and for all the generous donations from so many!
When the team arrives they will head straight to Camp California, a camp the ministry owns but can not afford to run without teams coming and hosting the weekend. They bus in about 70 kids who have a chance to run, play, swim, feel loved and feel safe for a whole weekend with no worries! The theme of the weekend will be God Is Extreme! this year so all the lessons they teach will be geared around the x-game sports (God's love is extreme, God's word is extreme and God's followers are extreme).

From Camp CA they head back down to the city where they spend half the days visiting people in their homes who want prayer and want to share their story. It was a heart breaking experience for them last year as they met children in prostitution, single moms struggling to take care of their sick children and so much more. Also by the picture above you can see the living arrangements are awful and it can really make you think twice about our petty complaints when you realize how many people around the world live like this. Oh what we take for granted!!!

The other days of the week the team will spend time at day centers around Sao Paulo where kids know they can come for fun, love and snacks. They have a small lesson at these and then do crafts, play games and just love on the kids. This picture was from last year when Adia participated in skit. She will do the same this year. The topic they asked us to teach on is God's Love and what that is. The team will really try to hammer home the point that God's love is a free gift we can do nothing to earn and nothing to loose. A lot of these children have no concept of what unconditional love is and so it can be tricky trying to explain that.

Some of the other things the team will be doing are cooking the staff and church families an American Breakfast, teaching a Biblically based view on personal finances, painting a day center, teaching a painting class for some of the kids who have shown artistic talent and so much more.

Thank you for checking this out and for your prayer support. I look forward to updating on how it all went when they return April 7th.

There will be an update meeting on April 20th at 1 o'clock at Oak Hills Church in Folsom.