Summer in pictures, birthday and 1 year mark!

March for Jesus, June 6, 2009: All of the evangelical churches in the city gathered at the São Sebastião Park to walk through the streets of Santarém singing, praying and proclaiming the name of Jesus!!!

Congresso, July 10-12, 2009: A 3-day evangelistic crusade that packed out the local soccer stadium.  Every night was packed with anointed praise & worship, incredible dances and dramas and powerful preaching.  Over 700 people committed their lives to the Lord during this years Congresso!!!

 

Work project at camp:  In July, a team from Samaritan's Purse Canada, our PAZ interns and a few others set off to camp for 3 days to work on finishing the expansion of the floor in the auditorium.  

  

Boat trip to Piracãoera, Amazon River, July 2009: A group of us set out on the PAZ medical boat Portador da Luz for a 4-day boat trip.  There was lots of painting to do in the church building in the community and visits to be made to homes with water filters.  Also, food baskets were given to several families.  This particular area was hit hard with the floods this year.  

 

  

Interns June and July 2009: We were privileged to have an AMAZING group of interns this summer.  Here are a few pictures of these great men and women of God.  If anyone is interested in the intern program for next year please contact me!

 

The big 2-4, one year mark and São Paulo: Tonight I will be leaving for a week trip to São Paulo.  I will be celebrating my 24th (yikes) birthday tomorrow the 26th and Saturday the 29th will mark 1 year here in Brazil.  It is hard to believe it has been 1 year already.  Thank you so much to all of you for your prayers and support!  It means so much to me and to the Kingdom of God!  Please be praying for my trip to São Paulo.  I am really excited about this trip!  It is winter in São Paulo so it will be a relief from the extreme heat we are experiencing in Santarém.  Also, they have McDonalds!!! 

Next update will be pictures from São Paulo!

July = busy, busy, busy!

Wow, so it has been quite awhile since an update but instead of going back I am going to talk about all that is coming up in the month of July.  I cannot believe we are already halfway through 2009 and I have been in Brazil for 10 months now.  Woah where did the time go?!  July is definitely one of the busiest months here at the mission.  We have teams coming and going, interns and also our 3 night evangelistic crusade -- The Congresso.  

Here is a little idea of what I will be doing over the next several weeks.  Monday through Wednesday I will help co-lead a team from Samaritan's Purse in Canada and our group of interns in a work project out at our PAZ campgrounds about 30min. outside of Santarém.  There are several renovations going on at the camp so we will be doing mostly construction work for a couple of days.  The camp sits right on the beautiful Tapajós River which is great for swimming in the afternoons after a hot day in the sun!

The Congresso will be the 10-12th of July.  Like I mentioned earlier, this a 3 night evangelistic crusade that packs out the local soccer stadium here in Santarém.  The Congresso includes powerful dramas and dances, special music and powerful Gospel messages.  Each year many people give their lives to the Lord.  Please pray for the Congresso that it would not rain and for the Lord's protection over each worker and participant.  Most importantly pray for the Lord to begin softening the hearts of those who are to attend and that each one who gives his life to the Lord would stay firm in that decision and continue to grow.

The 13th-16th there will be a river trip on the Amazon river to the community of Piracãoera.  This is a flooded community.  There will be several projects going on in this community from construction, medical clinics, evangelistic visits, distribution of basic items to families, etc...  This trip should be a wonderful time.

As always, please pray for the safety of everyone.  Your prayers are so much appreciated and very necessary.  If there is anything I can be praying for in your lives please let me know.  

Blessings to all of you!  Hopefully there will be pictures and more updates in a few weeks!

Pray for the people of the Amazon!

I am sure many of you have seen even on the news in the US the flooding going on here in Brazil.  I mentioned in my previous blog that Santarém where I live is flooded in some parts.  The river has started to go down finally, praise the Lord, but we still need to continue praying.  Many people in the river communities lost their homes and have been left with nothing.  The Paz church made a short video to show some of the flooding.  Please watch this video and remember to pray for these people.  Also, please visit www.projectamazon.org if you would like to donate to help those who have lost everything.

    

Should I buy a boat?

Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on here in Santarém.  Thursday, I will be heading out onto the Amazon River for a short trip with a team of young adults from Canada.  They are from a church in Calgary but the trip is in conjunction with Samaritan's Purse.  We will leave early Thursday and return by noon on Sunday.  During the trip we are supposed to be putting up a roof on the church building.  This trip will be a new experience for me because this is a flooded community which means we go everywhere by canoe and all the buildings are on stilts, etc...  Please pray for the safety of everyone and for the name of Jesus to be glorified on this trip.  I will post later with pictures.  

And speaking of flooded communities...Santarém, the city I live in, and come to think of it many of the cities along the Amazon are every day becoming more and more flooded by the intense rainy season we have been having.  The river each day is rising.  I am beginning to think they will be docking the boats on the streets here and that maybe I myself should invest in a boat as my mode of transportation.  Just yesterday I went down to the riverfront and there are already large portions of the main road that are completely flooded which results in the shutting down of businesses, etc...  Also, in certain parts, there is only about a foot or so until the river passes the front wall.  Even if it is not raining a lot here, the rains in other areas along the Amazon push the river and cause it to rise higher and higher.  Please be praying for these cities because this has a huge impact on businesses but also the spread of disease and the dangers of flood waters.  Lets pray for a flood of the Holy Spirit instead!

Here are some pictures I took a week ago:

The sidewalk is about to be a boat parking lot!

This boat is on the street!!!

This is what it's all about...

It is overwhelming to even think of where to begin to sum up the month of February.  How can I share the experiences I had so that you too might experience them?  The month of February was a month of new experiences, friendships, challenges and lots of learning.  As a quick recap, I was asked to travel during the month of February to help translate for a team of 5 medical students from MUSC in South Carolina who are about to start their time of residency.  February began by meeting 5 strangers and ended with 5 new friends (Ben, Ian, Jonathan, Matt and Young).  I guess the best way to do this update is to start with the first trip and go from there...so here we go...

2/2/09 - 2/9/09 Prainha, Pará

Our first adventure began with a line boat trip to Prainha, a small city along the Amazon River.  We left Santarém early evening in time to watch the amazing sunset over the Amazon River and get settled into our hammocks for the evening.  We were packed onto that boat like sardines in a can.  It is definitely an experience to travel by line boat.  We were all very thrilled to arrive in Prainha about 4:00am and get a little more sleep before setting up and beginning clinics.  School in Prainha was still out on break so we setup our clinics in the school building.  We got everything setup in the morning and began clinics in the afternoon.  We had each doctor with a translator and then we had our Brazilian dentist working as well.  I was pretty nervous about translating.  I remember thinking, "Lord, I am not sure I am ready for this.  You are really going to have to help me here.  Not only am I speaking another language but I am having to translate things I have never needed to talk about in Portuguese before."  God, as always, was so faithful.  It was so incredible to be able to attend to the physical and spiritual needs of the people.  Knowing that when all seems hopeless there is hope in Jesus Christ.  Each day of our trip we either had clinics the whole day or just in the morning.  People would begin lining up at 3 and 4am to be able to get a consult and also wait in the extreme heat of the day.  Can you imagine being that desperate in the US?  We definitely take advantage of so many things in the States.  We were very busy in Prainha and I will have to admit, I never thought it would be so mentally and physically draining to sit and translate but it really does a number on you.  Prainha was also a little bit of a stretch for me as there were about 20 of us staying all in one home with one bathroom that ran out of water every other day.  I know the Lord was working in my life during the week I was there.  There was a lot of room for bad attitudes to creep in but God was faithful and helped :).  We had 3 nights of church services out on the road in front of the pastor'

s home where many of the team was staying.  One night I was able to be a part of the praise and worship team; which I really enjoyed as that was a huge part of growing up for me.  Probably the greatest reward of being in Prainha was being able to pray with people and also see people that we had invited come to the church services.  Prainha is a tough city with a lot of resistance to the Gospel.  But praise the Lord walls are falling down in that city.

2/14/09-2/15/09 Pinduri, Pará

The next adventure would be a two day boat trip on the Amazon River on our PAZ boat "Portador da Luz" which means "light bringer".  This time we would be going to an actual river community unlike Prainha which was a small city.  We would be living, bathing and sleeping on the PAZ boat.  Ever thought about taking a shower with water from the Amazon River?  Have you ever seen a mosquito the size of a bird or almost ;)?  Or how about slept in a hammock on a boat and had to jump up in the middle of the night to lower tarps because there is a torrential downpour?  These are just some of the adventures to be had on a river trip.  On this trip we actually did our clinics on the boat as there was not a place on land to setup.  This community seemed to be spread out and it amazed me how people came from whatever distance to have a medical consult or to see the dentist.  The community of Pinduri does not have a PAZ church started yet.  This is a brand new project so Saturday night we had a church service out in a big soccer field.  If I am not mistaken, 7 people gave their lives to the Lord.  This is just the beginning of a great work of God in Pinduri.  The people are hungry for the Lord and ready to see their community changed.

2/16/09-2/18/09 Porto Novo, Pará

The third trip would be a little break from traveling on the muddy Amazon to traveling on the beautiful Tapajós.  Porto Novo is a community only a little over an hour drive away from Santarém but we went by boat which took about 3 or 4 hours.  On this trip, I asked the boat captain Geraldo, to take the visiting American doctors on a ride through the jungle at night in his small boat.  I went as their translator.  What an incredible experience and treat!  Just the sounds in the jungle at night are amazing.  My favorite part was when he rowed us out more towards the open part of the river and we just looked up at the sky which was painted with stars.  It is hard to explain but in that moment I couldn't help but think about the marvelous Creator we have.  The Chris Tomlin worship song came into my head How Great Is Our God and He truly is so great.  On our last morning in Porto Novo, an elderly lady came in for a consult.  She was the sweetest little thing.  I think she just wanted to come and chat because she already knew she had diabetes and she was already doing everything right to take care of her condition.  She treated me like I was her best friend and was absolutely precious.  When she was about to leave she hugged me and gave me kisses.  She even returned after a few minutes to bring me a fruit spread that she made.  When I encounter people like this it just is further reminder of why I am here and how much I love these people.

2/21/09-2/24/09 Surubiauçu, Pará

For this trip we were back on the Amazon.  We set our clinics up in what looked like a bar as it is used for parties after soccer games.  The people in these communities are so desperate for medicine.  One such gentlemen we saw did have a problem with his eye that Dr. Jonathan noticed right away.  I had the opportunity to look through the doctor's instrument into his eye and see a huge blood vessel completely blocking his vision in that eye.  While in this community, we were able to have two church services.  The first night, the turnout was amazing.  People came from down the river and all around to participate and a few people gave their lives to Jesus.  It is amazing to see the sacrifice people make to go to church in these communities.  Whether it is the pouring down rain or there are tons of bugs the people make the effort.  It was a humbling experience.  From the time the team arrived, I told them about alligator hunting and they were all pumped and really wanted to go.  So on the very last trip we were able to get 3 of them on an alligator hunt.  About 9:30 our second night, we set out on an adventure.  I was very nervous.  Our two Brazilian guides and alligator experts were telling us how they had killed alligators that gave 150kg of meat.  That was enough to freak me out.  I can't even imagine an alligator that big nor did I want to encounter one.  So off we went on our journey back through the brush of the Amazon out onto a lake.  We were gone for several hours.  After just a short time, one of the Brazilian men spotted a small alligator.  He slowly put his hand down and grabbed him up out of the water.  Each of the doctors held him and took pictures as a "momento" of their trip to the Amazon.  Then they all said it was my turn but I only managed to grab his tail for a quick picture.  We let him go and continued our search for a larger animal that could be used for food.  Our Brazilian guides continued to call the alligators and they responded all around us in the dark of the night but we never did encounter another alligator after we let the little guy go.  I will have to admit I was kind of relieved because he would have ridden back in the boat with us.  YIKES!!!

Lessons Learned...

After a month of traveling with the team of doctors, I learned many things.  One thing I learned is how to cure stomachaches, headaches, worms and several other common ailments among the people of the Amazon.  Just call me Dr. Claire ha!  Another lesson I learned is to be flexible and show the love of Christ and realize that even when I am tired and really don't feel I can continue that there is a person that Jesus loves waiting for just a few minutes of my time.  The last lesson that really hit home for me during these trips came from a devotion that Pastor Nilson gave one morning on the boat.  He spoke out of Genesis 12:1-2 "The Lord said to Abraham, 'Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing'."  As he was speaking, it really struck me that this is what I have done.  I have left my land, the USA and my family and my father's home and gone to the land the Lord put in my heart which is Brazil.  It was so encouraging to later hear the promise the Lord gave Abraham that He would make him into a great nation and bless him and make his name great, etc...  For me, I could care less about having a name that is great in this world.  It is enough for me to just be able to be a blessing to others in need.  I know that the Lord working through me will bless others and I am so thankful for the opportunity I had in the month of February to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Words alone cannot express my gratitude to all of you who have enabled me through your prayers and financial support to bring Jesus to the people of the Amazon Basin.

Please continue to pray for me as I will be joining on other trips in the future and also as I take on some new projects.  One of these projects is being the point person for a 4 year Bible school.  This Bible school is different because it is all on a device similar to an iPod, called a MegaVoice.  All 4 years of Bible school are on this small device and have been translated into Portuguese.  It is a study from Genesis to Revelation.  My responsibility is to keep in touch with our leaders all over the Amazon Basin and monitor the progress of the course.  As I monitor the course, I will report to the ministry that provides the materials for this course on a regular basis as to the progress of each group of students.  This program will be very useful out in the river communities where a Bible education of this nature is not available.  

I ask that you would pray about joining with me on a regular basis as a financial supporter as well.  Exciting things are happening here in the Amazon Basin and as we say at all of our PAZ churches "Isto é só o começo" (This is just the beginning)!

To see pictures from February follow the links below:

February Part 1

February Part 2

Coming Soon...

An update is long overdue from me.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  I spent mine away from my family for the first time.  Thankfully, I was surrounded by my second family here in Brazil.  I also was blessed to have a friend, Rachel, from the States stay with me for almost a month.  It was nice to have company.  Rachel and I had a lot of fun together and now I am adjusting to life without her here.  I wanted to use this blog entry to talk more about what is coming up in 2009.

Thursday, starts the bi-annual PAZ Leadership Conference.  This is a 5 day conference at our campgrounds in Alter do Chão with leaders from all of the PAZ bases.  We will have morning and evening sessions with a speaker from South Africa (yay for preaching in English haha).  I am really looking forward to this time with leaders from all over the Amazon Basin of Brazil.  There should be about 400 or so in attendance I believe.  When I return from this conference, we have one day back at home and then all of the American missionaries have a retreat for a couple of days.  So starting on Thursday, I will be gone for about a week and a half.  The theme for the leadership conference is faith.  We are getting ready to launch a new campaign of 1000 churches by 2014.  We currently have 500.  The conference will be a great time to catch more of the vision for the Amazon and to increase our faith.  

Another exciting thing about this year, is that it looks like I will be traveling quite a bit to help with translating.  I guess that is a testimony to the Lord's faithfulness in regard to my portuguese.  It is almost certain that I will be going on a 9 day medical trip sometime in the beginning of February.  There are several doctors that are needing some type of internship credit that will be coming from the US and they will each need their own translator.  I am really excited to get out on the river.  Since I have been back there have not been many boat trips so I am excited for the opportunity to go in February.  Also, it is exciting because my leadership is wanting me to travel more this year as we will have many trips.  So in 2009, I am looking forward to getting more involved and being more hands on here in the Amazon.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.  Please let me know of any prayer requests you all may have.  I want to be standing and believing with each of you just as you do with me!  God Bless and may the Lord reveal His heart and desires for each of you in 2009!

Did You really choose me Lord???

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit -- fruit that will last." John 15:16a

As I think back over the past couple of weeks, I am truly humbled by the fact that the Lord has called me here to Brazil to serve Him.  It is such an honor to be here and be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people of the Amazon Basin of Brazil.  I am nothing special and am definitely not worthy but Jesus in me is what the world needs!  From my last update, you may remember that I was leaving to work at the Encontro (Encounter) for adolescents.  The 3 days of the Encontro were incredible.  There were almost 200 adolescents who participated in the weekend retreat and of the 200, about 120 were girls!  We had our work cut out for us :).  I worked doing anything and everything I was asked to do from cleaning bathrooms to doing skits, washing dishes to praying for young girls.  I mentioned in my last update that I was going to play a "patricinha" in one of the skits and also the Holy Spirit in a couple of skits.  Well, I do have a picture of me as a "patricinha" and the picture of me as the Holy Spirit is unfortunately on someone else's camera but hopefully I can get ahold of it to show you all. 

 Also, due to the importance of the girl's really focusing on the Lord, I was not able to take photos actually during the sessions.  

My absolute favorite part of the Encontro was being able to pray for the young girls.  I can't really explain how it feels to have young girls come up to you crying because their father never wanted them and wanted them to be aborted or because they don't feel loved in their own home.  Or young girls crying because they have already been so used and abused by the things the world has to offer.  My heart broke for them as I took them in my arms and prayed for them, as I looked into their eyes and told them they are beautiful and that even when our earthly father fails we can know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us so very much and will never fail us.  Our Heavenly Father has always wanted us and will never leave us.  The Encontro for me was truly amazing!

A week later, we had a baptism for those who went to the Encontro who had never been baptized before.  100 adolescents were baptized last Sunday at a local residence here in Santarém.  Once again, it was such a privilege to be a part of such an important decision in the lives of these young people.  

With the holiday season upon us, there is a lot going on here for me.  The cell group that I am involved with will be having a big Christmas party on the 17th of December.  The idea is to invite people who do not know Jesus as their Lord & Saviour to the party to enjoy a type of variety show explaining the true meaning of Christmas followed by a dinner.  Please be in prayer for this as their are so many people who need to hear the Good News of Jesus!  Also, on Saturday I will have a guest arriving to stay with me for a little less than a month.  Rachel, was my roommate here in Brazil last summer and she is returning to visit.  It will be nice to have a friend staying here with me.  The other exciting thing happening this Saturday is the wedding of my friend and first disciple here in Brazil, Aline.  I will actually be a bridesmaid in the wedding and hope to share more about this in the next update.  Here is a picture of Aline and I about a month ago.

Also, if any of you all have Skype please add me because I would love to be able to talk with you.  Just search my full name and you will find me!