Trip to Parintins -- conquering fear and growing in ministry!

So my latest missionary adventure was to the island city of Parintins situated on the Amazon River. 3 years ago as a short term missionary with Project AmaZon, I went as part of a team to Parintins and I loved it. I made some great friends in 2007 and was very eager to get back to work and see everyone. This time around, the trip would be slightly different. I would lead my first team by myself and praise the Lord everyone came back in one piece :). Leading the team from ORU was such a privilege and a lot of fun because they are in my age range (at least that is what I tell myself...not ready to admit that I am almost 25!) We arrived in Parintins to 2 brazilian families who have only been in the city themselves for 2 months but they were the perfect example of true servants. I cannot truly express my gratitude for everything they did for us. During our stay, we worked mostly at the church's campgrounds painting the dorms and a new kitchen. The team was also able to minister in 2 Sunday services in the city, one youth service and one service in a smaller city called Vila Amazonia. For the first Sunday service, we had an American missionary translate one of the team member's (Peter) sermon so I only had to get up in front and introduce the team and their skit. Just from this short time in front, I was shaky with nerves. I have never been a fan of talking in front or being the center of attention. Little did I know that God was about to break me out of my shell and help me overcome fear and cause me to grow. The American missionary (Angie) became ill while we were in the city and I was needed to translate 3 services up in front of everyone. Listening in English and translating into Portuguese for the brazilians! I prayed beforehand that God would give me a clear mind to think and also calm my nerves. Praise the Lord I did not get shaky and my mouth didn't get all dry and sticky (ha). There were a couple moments where my mind went blank but overall it went very smoothly. Now I know that I am capable. Sometimes we need that extra push to step up and grow. Once again, I will end this post with pictures of my time. I don't have any of the painting because other people got those and I haven't had a chance to get those pictures yet.

In other news, 2 of the summer interns have arrived, Caroline and Rebecca. They are living with me for two months. Please pray for us and the team heading out to the river community of Uquena. We will be starting a church building and doing children's ministry. We leave Sunday afternoon and return on Thursday evening...stay tuned...

Now for the pictures...

Chico, the monkey out at camp :)

Me with Pastor Samuel and his wife Fatima

The family I stayed with (L-R) Ana Cristina, Ana Rosa, me, Kleber and Ana Beatriz

Kleber opening up a pod that has a kind of nut inside it. This grows in a tree and when it is ready the bottom falls out.

Lunch time at camp!

Translating Maria's testimony at the youth service

Apparently a little nervous here ;)

Service in Vila Amazonia

Leaving the vila on the barge to go back to Parintins

Translating for Peter at the Sunday service

Group of friends!

Very special friends!

Blessings!

Claire

Youth Encounter was Tremendo (Tremendous)!!!!

Last weekend, I worked the Youth Encounter that I talked about in my previous post. Although very tiring, the weekend was a success and all glory be to Him who sits on the throne! Lately, I have been feeling so completely humbled, honored and blessed to be a part of God's kingdom and His work in Brazil. The count of youth on the retreat was over 200 with about 130 being girls! We had our hands full :). Over the weekend, I did a little bit of everything. On Friday afternoon, before the youth arrived, I helped in the kitchen cutting lots of onions (crying was involved haha) and then later cutting the fat off of huge slabs of beef (gross...all for Jesus, right?). Over the remainder of the weekend, my roles included washing lots and lots of dishes, translating for our awesome ORU Team that was such a huge blessing and prayer & ministry support. I was able to pray with several young girls over the weekend which was a real encouragement for me. I am amazed and saddened by how much people of such a young age have already experienced of bad in this world. Lots of hurts to be ministered to. At the end of the weekend, we had a water baptism for the girls who wanted to be baptized. There were so many girls that several of us workers had to help in baptizing them. I was so excited to get to baptize some of these young girls. One of the girls is a part of the children's cell group that meets where my cell group meets and I was so privileged to be able to baptize her. An exciting part of the weekend is returning for the 7pm service at church on Sunday. Everyone was decked out in the Brazil colors (world cup is coming soon) and we went into the church singing and praising for all the Lord did over the weekend. Since a picture is worth a thousand words...here are some from the weekend...

Washing dishes :)

Girls session

Baptizing Renata

Yay!!!

Me with Tamires, a young girl I was able to pray with and also water baptize.

Arriving at the church!

Renata and me at church

O Encontro é Tremendo! (The Encounter is Tremendous!)

Well, I have to run and get packed. Tomorrow (Saturday), I leave with the team of 7 from ORU to go to Parintins. I will be back May 31st with many stories to tell. Please pray for our safety and for the Lord's work to be done!

Blessings!!!

Ready...Set...GOOO!!!

I feel that my life right now consists of getting ready for the next few months. Here at the mission, each of us have our times that are busier than others and mine is arriving. I am really excited for the next few months because it will involve a lot of hands on ministry (as opposed to behind the scenes stuff), meeting new people from the US and Brazil and seeing what God has in store. The specifics of what I will be involved is not completely decided yet but I hope to keep everyone informed regularly as I believe there will be many praise reports and blessings to report!

For now, we will just talk about what is coming up for me this month. This past week, I have been participating in daily prayer meetings at noon in preparation for an 'Encounter with God' weekend for adolescents. Some of you may remember that I worked one of these in November of 2008. I am so blessed and excited to be able to serve again. The Encounter will be held May 14-16 and I know that it will be an incredible weekend for these young people. Up until the day of The Encounter, my schedule is filled with prayer meetings, planning meetings and preparations. Please be in prayer for the safety and health of all the participants and workers, open hearts for the participants and a servant's attitude for all the workers. More to come when I return...

Next week, we have a team arriving from ORU. I will be involved with this team during The Encounter weekend and also toward the 22nd - 31st of May on a trip to Parintins, an island city along the Amazon. This trip is very exciting for me for a couple of reasons. First, when I came to Brazil as a short termer in May of 2007, I went to Parintins with a team from ORU. Since I was able to speak Portuguese fairly well at the time, I was able to make some great friends in the city. I will be returning exactly 3 years later and am beyond excited to see everyone. Second, this will be the first team and trip I will be leading alone (yikes). This trip is also different because we will not be taking one of our mission boats but will be traveling by line boat. I can't remember how long the trip is but I believe it is about 10-12 hours by boat. We will string our hammocks up and travel up the river. We will be doing a lot of evangelism on this trip. This trip will definitely be a stretch for me, as I will be leading, translating and be the main person responsible for the team. Please be in prayer for this trip that God would open up doors and opportunities for us in the local schools and wherever He leads. Also, as always, pray for protection and health.

Hopefully I can get an update done after The Encounter and before the trip to Parintins so I can keep these entries short and to the point :)

Blessings and please leave a comment below, email me or facebook message me if I can be praying for you about anything! I appreciate so much the prayers and financial support from each one.

Breaking down barriers...

On March 23rd, I set out on a trip with a team from Seacoast Church in South Carolina. We headed to the community Correio do Tapará on the Amazon River to work on the walls of their wooden church building. The local PAZ workers, Orivaldo and Vanda greeted us upon our arrival and soon after the work, physical and spiritual began. The community of Correio do Tapará is spread out and hás two clusters of homes. One cluster on one end and the other on the other end. The decision was made to build the church in the middle to be about the same distance for everyone. This caused some issues among several church members who wanted the church closer to their home. Please pray that this will not be a problem and that unity will be restored among the body of believers. We did not have a service our first night. On the second night, we held a service at the home of a local church member. I worked with the children along with Amie and Germaine of the Seacoast team. I helped translate as needed and we had a lot of fun playing games, face painting and sharing the Gospel message using a bracelet with different colored beads. On the third night, we traveled a little ways down river to the community Barreiras (meaning barriers). I only realized later the significance of this name. At the time of our visit, there were no Christians in the community. Talk about some barriers!? We went in with faith believing that would change. I worked with the children again and this time was able to share more candidly because of a smaller group. They listened attentively as I presented the Gospel. Three young girls (Adria, Mayra and Sílvia Helena) gave their lives to Jesus that night.

I was so happy to have played a small part in such an important moment in their lives. I found out the next day that one of the girls is the daughter of the president of the community of Barreiras and she gave her life to the Lord the day after the service. God is awesome! Our last night, we were able to have our service in the new church building! We did a program with the children in the afternoon to allow for everyone to participate in the evening service. Once again, we had a wonderful time playing and learning about our sins and the forgiveness of Jesus.

On the last morning, I was able to go evangelizing with fellow missionary, Betty and two of the Seacoast team members. We visited the home of an elderly couple with many health problems who had not made commitments to the Lord yet. Praise the Lord, after Betty’s presentation of the Gospel both accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. During the trip, 6 adults and 3 children came to know the Lord! What a blessing! This trip was incredible. I hope to return when the church building is inaugurated in September to see my friends.

I am also so thankful for the wonderful team from Seacoast Church. I made great new friends and look forward to seeing them again either in Brazil or stateside. I am truly blessed to be a part of the work God is doing in the Amazon Basin of Brazil. Those of you who support me in prayer or financially also are a part of this work. Please consider joining with me on a regular basis in prayer and financial support. These are very important for me to continue the Lord’s work here in Brazil.

Changes and Travels...

I am very sorry for the looong gap in between posts. My goal is to be more faithful in my postings so you all can really be a part of what is going on here in Brazil.

Today a team from Seacoast Church in South Carolina arrived to spend about 9 days here with us at PAZ. I am very excited to be a part of the group of missionaries that will go out on the river with them. The trip is Tuesday morning - Saturday afternoon. We are going to a community on the Amazon River called Correio do Tapará. The main project will be to help with the construction of their church, a wooden building. We will also, hopefully, be ministering to children and making house visits to share the Gospel. Some of the prayer requests for this community are: salvation, unity in Christ and freedom from idolatry. Please lift these up; as well as, protection over all of us in everything we do and that God would use each one of us for His glory!

In other news, after looking for a little over 2 months, I finally was blessed by the Lord to find a place to call "home". The location is great, as it is just a couple blocks from the rest of the missionary housing. God really blessed me with this place. I am looking forward to expanding my ministry by having a place to minister to girls, have a cell group, prayer meetings and fellowship.

Well, that is all for now but be checking back after the trip for pictures and testimonies of the Lord's work in Correio do Tapara!

Update & Exciting News...

Well, the last time I updated I was on my way to São Paulo for a week.  The trip was nice and São Paulo is like nothing I have ever experienced before.  The city is huge.  I believe it is one of the fastest growing cities in the world just to give you an idea.  You can see in the picture the view as the plane was making its descent into the city.  

  

I was blessed to meet many wonderful people on my trip.  The family I stayed with were especially a blessing.  Their daughter will be studying in the US in January so I was able to help her with her English in filling out essay questions, etc. 

Since returning from São Paulo in the beginning of September, I have been working diligently to finish an online TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course.  My deadline is next week and I am just about finished.  I hope to use this certification to open doors to share the Gospel with individuals wanting to learn English and also as a part of PAZ's English school which we plan to open in the near future.  I have been learning a lot and have found the course to be quite enjoyable.  I always liked school :).  

Another project I am responsible for is the ICM MegaVoice Bible School.  What is this you might ask?  The project is a 4 year Bible school on a device like an MP3 player called a MegaVoice.  The program is used in many countries around the world and is now being used here in the Amazon.  The audio and materials have been translated into Portuguese and the device is solar-powered.  In our larger cities, we already have different Bible school programs and leadership training.  In the river communities; however, we were in need of an efficient tool to train up the people.  The MegaVoice Project is an excellent tool.  The lessons start with the Sermon on the Mount and then go from Genesis - Revelation.  My involvement is to do the administrative tasks (thank you degree from Belmont) of getting reports, testimonies, etc. and reporting back to ICM on the progress of the groups.  The idea is to have groups of no more than 10 people that meet on a weekly basis.  Currently our groups are working on the Sermon on the Mount and Genesis/Exodus.  One of the difficulties is getting feedback.  This has to do with the fact that the groups are out on the rivers which makes feedback more difficult among other reasons.  Please pray for patience and more feedback ;).

Anyone, 18 & up who is interested in setting aside 2 months to serve the Lord on the mission field please check out www.projectamazon.org to see the really awesome flyer put together by Nate Reutter and myself (more credit goes to Nate and his awesome computer skills).  

 

Tomorrow - Sunday will be the MDA Conference.  This is an annual conference here in Santarém which draws pastors and leaders from all over Brazil to learn about the PAZ church's discipleship model.  The week will be packed with sessions about discipleship, cell groups and looking after your sheep.  I participated in the actual conference last year but this year will only be participating at night which is open to those not registered for the conference.  I am very excited as we will be having a guest speaker from the US (yay English)!!!  On Saturday night, we will have a huge event in one of the local stadiums celebrating the multiplication of many cell groups.  The night will be filled with presentations, fireworks and all-around excitement at what the Lord is doing in Santarém through cell groups.  

And now for the EXCITING NEWS...

On November 22nd, I will be boarding a plane and heading "home" to the US for a visit.  I am very excited to see my family, friends and supporters.  I look forward to reconnecting with as many of you as possible.  I would love to speak at any of your churches, groups or events if the opportunity presents itself.  I will be in the greater Richmond area for most of my trip which will be Nov. 22 - Jan. 9th.  There will be about a week Dec. 3-8th that I will be staying in Nashville, TN.  My trip will be here before I know it and I am working on getting my projects, etc. organized here before I leave.  Please contact me to plan to get together and also for any opportunities to share about the ministry here in the Amazon.  I want to make the most of every day of my trip.  

Blessings and see you soon!!!

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!