Team Brazil 2009- cheering section

This year, I'm on the cheering section for Team Brazil 2009 as they head over to Fortaleza Brazil to do much of what we did last year, building relationships with the local Christians there at IBC, children's ministry in the favelas or slums, and now with the added joy of being able to build a women's rehab center very similar to Lar da paz, which is a 6- month free rehabilitation center where men live and work very hard all day in a strictly regimented time that not only enforces physical purification and learning to live without drugs and alcohol, but also gives these men the gospel of Jesus Christ. God is moving mightily in Brazil and it is very strange not to be going. This year I decided to be a sender instead and pray for the team and the ministry. I am so encouraged to see the people going on the team. Giovanni, Sasi, Veronica, Emily, Patty, and Andrea are all friends from the Foundry. Sasi will be going for the first time without me and she'll be left to her own devices to create new inside jokes without me or Big Smooth to turn and laugh at. I'm sure she'll be fine! ;) I am kinda jealous because I miss my Brazilian family there... they were sOOOOO hospitable to me and treated me like their daughter/ sister/ cousin. Also on the team this year are a married couple, Justin and Rebecca, whom I don't know but I'm sure they're an incredible blessing! Well keep them in your prayers, and if you want to give to the team you can contact me.

long time no type

Hey Folks! Does anyone still check this thing? The past couple months since returning from Brazil have been a blessed whirlwind of activity. There have been many blessings and transitions of this beautiful life God has given. Just wanted to drop a line and a video... Sasi eating churrasco. She's just the best. Gio faked like he was gonna take her meat and almost got beat down. By the way we are in Picanha restaurant, which is pretty good but kinda pricey.. I would rather go w/ fogo de chao or gaucho village...


enjoy.

Here's Sasi's very scriptural response to her potential selfishness. She does the sasi 'simmer' in the middle of the video, which is why I start cracking up. Okay so this isn't really 'BRASIL' but it captures the spirit of camaraderie in our team as we enjoyed each other and of course enjoyed the food. David Michael Lanum is totally focused on the food but Andy I think did hear her simmer...

Enjoy!!!

Ate logo,

Ayemi

que saudade

Hi all,

I've been back in the states for approximately 10 days and it still is sad to not be in Brazil. Here's a video of us doing some whitewashing at Projeto Creres.

This was the first place we went to serve. Giovanni also got up in the mix by painting the floors blue. He, Juliana (Julica Banhado), Nancy and Gabe (in the hat his mom gave him) are all chilling in the front. I really wanted to paint the floors blue so I kept pestering Gio to see if he would let me paint. Eventually he relinquished the paint roller to me! It was really fun. Thanks Gio!!!

Here is a video of my host brother, Eduardo, a.k.a. Dudu, trying to make his dog Dude (pronounced Dooj) attack me. He is an old toy poodle that's deaf, blind in one eye, and can't really walk b/c he got stepped on by a guy and it broke his hind legs. My host family was super friendly and their unity really spoke to me volumes about how Christ brings families together. I really enjoyed learning more about Brazilian culture, surfing and service from them.

ATACAR!!!!

I was trying to capture the amazing infectious laugh that Sasi has while we were on the bus on the way to lunch but just ended up annoying the daylights out of sasi. Wanna see her getting annoyed? Here you go.

AND, finally, making crepes out of Tapioca at our debriefing in Aquaville. The lady w/ the mad skills is Juliana's mom, Ruth, or Tia Rute. Don't ask me out to pronounce her name. Juliana was our helper extraordinaire while we were in Brazil and she was such an amazing servant. Looking at her mom, I can see why! Giovanni is learning in this video.

More to come...

hello from brazil!

Hey people!

You've been waiting long for this update. Yes, I have been in Brazil for over a week and a half. We have been very busy and I have enjoyed each day tremendously in it's own way!

Last week we visited a project supported by the church, did some manual labor and attended church services as well as shared our testimonies! I don't have much time on the computer so I have to make this quick.

I am back from the camping trip to Barra do Bento and it was amazing! This is one of the poorest most remote communities in the state of Ceara in Brazil and was a 3 hr bus ride through some unbelievably treacherous terrain (we were praying that the bus would make it through the winding turns and steep climbs and drops). The bathroom was a room with a toilet and a hole in the ground for showers. the community just got a huge dam built which holds 1,000,000 cubic metres of h2o. lets just say it was an experience that stretchedm e! at night there were noises of all sorts and i had a complaining heart but the Lord convicted me that christ endured even being here on earth amongst sinners, in much more primitive circumstances and He remained sinless in the midst of it. How gracious! The poverty is not as shocking to me anymore but i can see how it makes things difficult for spiritual growth. even the pastor of the village barra do bento admitted he doesnt understand much fo the Word. The people in the village are quiet and watch more than speak. The children really are the hope of the village as they learn to read and go to school, and their little minds begin tobe exposed to the gospel truth. Nevertheless, we did some visits there to the houses and evangelized to the brazileiros. They have no pretense and will honestly say whether or not they believe in the gospel.


My big picture summary... God is greater than our cultures! Brazilians are warm and engaging, and their heart for God is full of passion and zeal. God is moving here in great ways and we are so blessed to participate in planting seeds for Christ.

Thanks and keep praying! I will try to update more later.

Em Cristo,

Ayemi

Igreja Batista Central

The above picture is the pic of our Team Brazil 2006 team. Me, Ankeetch, Jules, Big Smooth, Hannah, Albs, Karen, Joao Vince, Beeharr, Nanceetch, and Saseech.

It was my first missions trip and we left approximately 4 hrs after the Perdido wedding (2am Nov 4th 2006), so Nancy and I are a little spazzed out at this point, but so excited to go.

As it comes full circle (thankfully we won't be leaving at 2am), I'm filled with some of the same thoughts before departure, namely how is the Lord going to use this trip to impact the kingdom for His name's sake? The missionary family we stayed with last time told us that during the time we ministered, 15 people came to saving faith in Christ. What does he have planned for us this year?

As I promised in my last post, a more 'spiritual' update is coming soon and I fear this is not it because of the rambling nature of my thoughts but as always before embarking on a journey, there is a sense of anticipation, excitement, some trepidation, and amazement for me to "ponder anew what the Almighty can do".

For His sake,

Ayemi

The Home Stretch

Hey there Brazil folkses!

Sorry again for the infrequent updates. We are officially down to the wire. In 4 days and a couple hrs, the team will be meeting at the airport flyaway in Van Nuys to go down to LAX. I unfortunately was sick this past weekend and could not attend the last team meeting because I'm still recovering from a virus that I caught from the little snotty sweeties in Nursery last weekend. I guess it's building my immunity, but yeah it's really hard for me to change my schedule and acknowledge that I am but a frail finite being...Please pray for us!

I am praying that I will rest up and be non-contagious for the trip. It would not be a good thing to leave a disease souvenir for the kind host families in Brazil!

Praise! People continue to generously contribute towards the team's funds, but some team members are really short. Please if you continue to give you can just email me and I can tell you how to donate to my team members' accounts. A large shout out to all my homies who have supported me thus far. You have given so generously that now out of the abundance of my support I can help out my team! Thank you Thank you and Praise GOD!

We have the puppets, the volleyball setup, the soccer balls, the peanut butter, choc chips, working gloves and safety gear, and last minute things are just for our convenience, like a travel alarm clock. I will give a more spiritual update later this week but this is it for now! The Lord is definitely stretching me and building my faith in Him in different ways than in 06 and changing my perpectives through choosing to serve Him by going abroad this year back to Brazil.

Preparando para Braseeewww!

Hey there troopers~!!

It's been a while since I updated this thing! It's been so totally crazy, in'sein' if you will, that I haven't had time to congeal my thoughts and put it all together onto my online universe for you all. It's a little late so I might not make much sense. But for those of you who are keeping up with the goings on of Team Brazil, take heart! The Lord is continually abundantly providing for us in ways that we could not imagine! David Lanum from the Foundry is over in Brazil right now prepping for our arrival and putting a plan for us to hit the ground running. He sent us a list of stuff that they need over there like peanut butter, sports equipment,crutches for one of the men at Lar da Paz (a rehab center affiliated with the church there) kids arts and crafts, and candy. We have bought a bunch of tracts in Portuguese to help us with our sharing of the gospel and also are working on our Portuguese. I realize that it's alot harder than I thought it was! Please pray for us that we would continue to have good attitudes, and seek to honor Christ in our testimony both verbally and the testimony of our good conduct.

Even the team meetings have been opportunities to serve. Sasi and Candice have been wonderful examples of service by bringing yummy food to the meetings after church so that we don't starve and pass out during our meetings! Gio continues to guide and lead us to get the details brought together and work out our itinerary with the missionaries in Brazil. There's not much time to prep so we need to get our stuff together this week.

Things we're thinking about are: what's it going to be like? Will the people remember us who were there the last time? What am I going to learn about myself and the Lord through going on this trip? Will I get along with my host family? How will I impact them for Christ? What is the church going to be like?

Matt FLoreen (Flomaster) is doing an amazing job as the STM coordinator and has so much on his plate. You can pray for him to just continue to be excellent at his job and all for the Lord!

There are still unmet needs for our team. We are looking for:
-an outdoor volleyball net (hopefully not too heavy),
-cheap/ free good condition soccer balls and volleyballs
- and we still have yet to get the coloring books printed and bound.

However, the Lord has brought us this far and He will provide! If you (that's you, friend!) know of any way to get the above items, leave a comment on the blog or email me.

Muita obrigada pelo seu oracao(my grammar is horrible, but I tried to say thank you for your prayers!)

Ayemi (Emy)