Mission (15)
We are in the last two weeks of our trip. But there is still plenty to tell. As a family we spent a lot of time with a Brazilian family who lived near us in the neighbourhood. Simone was 15 years old at that time and helped us get started with Brazilian cooking and grocery shopping, but she was like a daughter in the family. Her parents were the children's Brazilian 'grandparents'. Grandpa took Remko on an old truck with other men from the neighborhood to fish for the weekend and when our children wanted to stay with 'grandpa and grandma' they would go to bed with grandma and grandpa slept on the couch...
Lots of old memories were picked up as we were having dinner at Magno (brother's). Antonio (brother) and Conseição (sister) also joined. Today, grandpa and grandma are with the Lord and the brothers and sisters take care of each other.
Speaking at youth evening.
Lucas, Luis' son, is the youth leader in the church and asked if we would like to share something at the youthevening. That was a special evening. We were so aware that the teenagers and young people look at us like they look at a father and mother or grandparents.... So it was already a privilege that we as 'old people' could be with them. We passed the challenge on to them.... 'Where will you be in 10 years or 20 years?' Of course nobody knows, that's not what it was about... But to the question: Where are the new leaders of the church, the missionaries of tomorrow, the people who will make a difference in their city or neighborhood.... Then something was awakened in them! 'Your future has already begun, you are already living in the middle of it. Become aware of it and get to work with it'. With some tips from our own life, the jokes and jokes and the mistakes we learned from, it turned out to be a wonderful evening. At home, on the couch, recover... we're not 20 anymore, are we?
Free time.
We also regularly saw new places, where we had never been before. You used to be too busy with 'missionary work' that you didn't take the time for it.... luckily we are allowed to do that now! For example, we went to a place called Bichino (translated means that little animal). Very nice, good food and enjoyed the beautiful views in the mountains. This week we are with Luis and Cristina in Sao Lourenço a town in the mountains, a three hour drive to São Paulo.
Esperança
As we wrote in the newsletter, we want to explain a little more about what we want to do in Rio. The outer wall and the gate to enter the site is the project's calling card. It does NOT look like... so we want to do something about that first. The wall is being refurbished and painted. A large logo or drawing is placed on it, which immediately makes clear what happens behind the wall. Silvana is sending us a quote of the cost this week and we're leaving money from ELO to address this right away. We would also like to have a hanging ceiling installed in the kitchen, where the woman cook and bake in the
project. It's unbearably hot now and the ceiling will really helps. The costs of this are € 500.00. The second-hand shop also has no ceiling and we would like to take that with us right away. The surface is approximately the same and also comes to € 500.00.
Would you like to help us make this possible? Then mention 'esperanca' in your git to ELO. We are happy with the donations we have received so far for this project. The state of affairs for the month of January is € 45.00
To really give the project a good foundation, we are looking for donors who want to donate a monthly amount for this project. As you know we do that for George and Gizelle in the Amazon as well and this is a huge blessing. Precisely because it provides continuity, even if it is not necessarily a large amount. Do you want to know more about it, do you have any questions or suggestions? Contact us by email or WhatsApp.
Blessings,
Jaap and Jennie.
