This past weekend Jeff and I had the privilege to be the guest speakers at a youth retreat here in Brazil in Santo Aleixo , Magé, with over 90 youth!
The theme of the retreat was "Transformers" and we shared how, as we offer ourselves to His service, to transform lives, Jesus as well, transforms us to what He wants us to be.
We spoke about our mission work here in Brazil to motivate the youth to become even more engaged in missions and gave practical ways we use to share the gospel and encourage fellow Christ followers.
As well, we shared our testimonies of faith, our call to Brazil, our call to leave the church building and reach out to people on the street, the homeless, transvestites, prostitutes and children in high-risk areas.
The picture above is of a beautiful young Brazilian woman who, with tears of joy, shared with Diane that she felt God transforming her during our 2-hour talk!
We spoke about different ways that we street-evangelize, using skits, the evangecube, conversations and asking good questions.
We made "Story Ropes" that we learned from Marge Malwitz as an artistic way for people to share their life stories and testimonies.
We met a young couple that are friends of our "Brazilian Family", the Joia's!!!! A true blessing from the Lord!
We praise God for the privilege it was to speak and to meet this young body-of-Christ that desires to learn practical ways to work together to see more and more lives transformed by Christ!
Raising up missionaries here in Rio,
Jeff and Diane
Acts 4:13, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."
We have had the privilege these last few weeks to mentor and invest in the lives of two interns.
Kate, a 22-year-old ReachGlobal American
intern from Illinois, is serving with us here in Rio for 7 weeks, and
has a major in History and International Relations. She is here serving
the Lord by writing the story of Caju. Kate desires to serve in missions after she completes her education.
It will be a blessing to record the
incredible work of God through our partners Pastor Fabio and Lia and the
Christ followers at the Caju Life Church, which has become a movement
greatly impacting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and beyond!
We have had the privilege to serve alongside this
faithful body-of-Christ followers that makeup this discipleship and
small group movement that has taken root in 10 regions of the city,
outside the city and now in a city in the Northeast of Brazil!
Bruno is a 27-year-old Brazilian young
man that Jeff and I met through our brother-in-Christ and fellow missionary, Cassiano, who served for a year at
Mission CENA in Sao Paulo.
Bruno is originally from Rio and moved to
the south of Brazil. Bruno so much appreciated our ReachGlobal vision
to invest in Brazilian leaders and churches that he wanted the
opportunity to go through our internship program and is praying about
continuing to work here with our ReachGlobal City Team! Mission work is his desire for the future, as well!
We have also had the privilege to host
Nelson and Marge Malwitz. Nelson is from MissionNext and is the founder
of The Finishers Project. He is here to finish the Missionary
Mobilizing Website that he began work on last year. We're excited about
this project as it is a great tool to mobilize Brazilian missionaries!
Please pray for all of us as we live together and work together to further the Kingdom of God!
Multiplying Missionaries for the world,
Diane and Jeff
Last evening we returned to the streets near our home with Kate, a 2-month intern that is here with us, to talk with our new friends, a group of transvestite prostitutes, that we made during the World Cup with the TREK7 team. These men love to meet Americans and practice their basic English!
We brought a birthday present (Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce!) to Bianca (not his real name) and he was touched that we remembered his birthday!
As well, we asked for prayer requests and many were glad to have us praying for them! One of the transvestites was talking to Cris, the boss, on the telephone and Cris wanted to talk to me...
Cris asked if we would PLEASE pray for him. He was having a very difficult week and would not be working on the streets that night.
He wanted to make sure we would return next Thursday, however, as he wants to share something with me! A few weeks before Cris asked for my phone number and has called me. Now, he is passing through difficulties that are hindering him from working the streets! We believe that the Holy Spirit is at work!
Our hope as we further these relationships is that when the tough times come, they remember us and turn to us for help and answers. We know that the only answer is Jesus and that we are ALL sinners. The only difference being that we have chosen to follow Christ and are saved by His grace. Our prayer is that these men do the same, choose to follow Christ and his teachings and spend eternity in His presence.
The Word tells us that God desires that no one should perish. And so, we continue to go into a very dark place, trusting in the leading of the Holy Spirit and staying patient knowing that it is His work alone. We are faithful and available and so we continue...
PLEASE continue to pray for us as we reach out to the lost here in Rio!
Privileged to walk into the darkness with the light of Christ,
Diane and Jeff
2 Peter 3:8 & 9 says, "Don’t overlook the obvious here,
friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand
years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure
lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the
End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and
time to change."
Proverbs 27:17, " As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another".
We have had an amazing month serving together with Grant, who stayed after the JEFC team left and with Susan, who arrived on the 17th to teach English.
We shared Christ in Vila Mimosa, Rio's first and largest point of prostitution, several times and have had some awesome conversations and opportunities with women there.
As well, we have reached out to the men on the street near our home and Grant was able to share his testimony and encourage the body-of-Christ at a local church.
Grant left Friday and we miss him already! He served alongside of us here with such flexibility and great attitude---always ready to do anything at a moments notice!
We are looking forward to what God has in store for us in the weeks to come!
Please be praying for Kate, a young college graduate, who is preparing to come in two weeks and serve with us for two months.
Ambassadors of the King most high, Jesus!
Diane and Jeff
