Saturday, June 27, 2009

Movie Night

6/26/09
Hello to all, Live from Brasil!!

It was another great day for us here in NE Brasil! The morning went as usuall. We woke up, ate breakfast, went to the Grupo CEO building for the lesson, and got attacked by the kids! During the hanging out time beforehand i put on our basketball team's warm-up music and the kids loved it! they started breakdancing and got into it. (thanks for the cd Coach!) The lesson was about forgiveness so we read the story about the servant who was in debt and was forgiven, but didnt forgive his friend's debt against him. We challenged the kids to think of someone who they needed to forgive and go and reconcile with them by Monday. One of the boys named Tiago said that he didnt know if he could forgive this person, so pray for us as we try and help him understand the importance and significance of forgiveness.

After the lesson, we were finally able to get back on the court! We broke it up with boys at one basket and girls at another and that seemed to work better cuz it kept more people involved.

When the pre-teens had to leave, a few teen guys stayed and played their version of a game of 4 on 4. It was quite.. something. Then it was time for James and his little sister Valesca (the ones who had been staying with us since their mom died last week) to leave and go back home to their grandmother's house. We said our goodbyes knowing that James would be around cuz he has a bike, but Valesca has no way of getting to Grupo CEO from their house. Im gonna miss them being here. It is going to be more quiet around here too cuz Valesca was always in our room reading different childrens books. She is so cute! Please keep praying for their peace and guidance as a family and as believers.

When Bill and Erika returned from taking them home, we had lunch (guess what we ate..?) and then had some down time. I blogged and then tried to catch a nap, but soon Sula came in our room yelling, "Let's go!". That meant that the second group of pre-teens had just showed up.

We all went outside to the court and had our lesson by the dorms. That group seemed to understand and accept the forgivness idea a little better. Then it was time to ball it up! We broke them into teams and watched Etulo dominate the game. (he's by far the strongest and fastest, and also the sweatiest! im talkin, you-brush-past-him-a-your-whole-arm-looks-like-you-just-got-out-of-the-pool sweaty!) After his team won, we all were pretty tired, so we sat around telling different jokes throught Laisa's translation. She insisted that some of the ones we thought were lame were way more funny in Portuguese...a likely excuse for someone who just stinks at telling jokes! Just kidding, she's cool.

When it was time for the kids to leave, we all went back inside and chilled for a while wondering why Bill and Erika (who had left to take Bill Moore Senior to the airport right after lunch) werent back yet. 530 rolled around and still no sign of them, and, knowing that there was supposed to be both an teen and a pre-teen meeting at 6 we started to get pretty curious. We decided to walk over to the gate to see what was going on. The kids were outside waiting, probably just as confused as we were (it was about 550 at that point) so we decided to go back inside and call Bill. But, just as we turned and headed for the house, the gate opened and Erika pulled in behind us. Why did we ever doubt?! haha.

There were about 40 pre-teens and 25 teens at the meetings. Laura, Carlyn, and I went to the teen meeting that was lead by a young guy from IBC (a local supporting church). We turned out the lights and watched Yes Man (which i thought was an... interesting choice) in Portuguese with engilsh subtitles. Well, i guess some people watched it. The people around me were to busy shoving popcorn in my face and trying to throw it in my mouth. It was a lot of fun, actually!

When the movie was over, the IBC guy talked to the teens about Matthew and went chapter by chapter talking about... well im not exactly sure what he was talking about cuz i wasnt sitting next to Laisa, but whatever it was he used a lot of scripture and kept the teens attention!

Afterwards we hung out for a while playing the slapping game, kicking around the soccer ball, talking, etc. which was good cuz we havent gotten to spend a whole lot of time with the teens. Oh, and the girl Joice who I've mentioned before, i took her down 5 times last night and she only got me once! And before you say, "oh, my goodness, Jordan, what are you doing to those sweet little kids?!" let me tell you that Joice isn't one of "those kids". She's tough and likes to see if she's tougher than you are. So i just keep having to show her that, even though im the little Christian, Americana, she still cant take me. And plus, she started it...
We stayed out there with the teens until about 1030 and then came in and ate dinner. Then, after our long day, we finaly got to get some sleep.
We've been able to build great relationships with these kids, and now we're gonna have the opportunity to really influence their lives and their view of Christ. Please pray that we're sensetive to the Holy Spirit so that each one of these kids hear exactly what they need to hear. I am so happy to have this chance to serve my King in the way that He has designed me to! Thank you for your support and prayers!

Until next time,
Jo

1 comment:

  1. Jordan, each time we read your blog, we are more impressied with what God is doing. Keep strong and we know He will continue to show you the way. Dad says to remember the boy at the pool in Florida. We love you so much.

    Mom and Dad

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