VBS in Brazil

We had 4 session of VBS - two on Tuesday and two on Wednesday. I don't know our numbers, but I know that we saw a lot of kids during those four sessions. These kids were not kids from the church in Aracaju. None of them were, as a matter of fact. There is a school a couple of block away who agreed to let us take their kids so that we could teach them about Jesus. The teachers at the school did not want to come, but their principal made them!! The teachers (for the most part) seemed to come around by the end of their session - they seemed to have fun too! There was one or two that came and left with a bad attitude, but oh well! The kids had fun and learned about Jesus - that's all that mattered. Thank God for the principal who agreed to let her students come - even if it wasn't the popular choice. I am thankful for her courage.

Session 1

The kids were great - they learned about Jesus and worked on crafts - they had a great time. Here are a few pictures from the first group. We worked it out that everyone (U.S. group) would get to come and help with VBS for at least one session. It was great to have it this way. All the youth and adults got to help at least once and see what we were doing at VBS, and it meant a lot more help that we had last time!

Here are Amy and Sonia with some of their group.

Casey and Sami with some of their group.

Session 2

The kids were able to watch a DVD in Portuguese about Jesus. Shelly did a great job of making this DVD - the story of Jesus from birth to resurrection, and she got it down to 25 minutes. The kids seemed really into the video - hopefully they learned a lot from it.

These kids are so proud of the work they did - they just wanted to show it off!

This boy was just one of my favorites. He had a great smile and laugh! He thought it was so funny to see himself on my camera.

She knew exactly what to do in front of the camera - she knows how to strike a pose!

The teachers from the school came with their kids, and the teacher that was with this little guy wasn't too fond of him. He was a bit "rowdy", but I thought he was sweet. Tim liked tickling the kids, and they liked it too!

This boy is deaf - he didn't have a someone signing for him - he just kind of sat and worked on his projects. I felt really bad because there was no way for us to communicate with him. He had a good time anyway.

This was one of the crafts we did - the colors represent different things (ex. red=the blood Jesus shed for us). The kids really had a great time making the bracelets - I bet a lot of them still have them on. Tim thought this would make a cool picture - and I think it does.

Session 3

This was our largest session - by far. We had approx. 125 kids. I have few pictures from this session - I guess I was too busy, but here are the ones I do have.

This boy out in the front - his name is John Lennon. I thought that was funny - I guess his parents were fans of the Beatles.

I thought this girl was absolutely stunning. She looks like a super model. She tried to steal a sucker from me, so I wasn't too pleased with her after that - hopefully she will work on her inner beauty as well!

Here is one of the groups posing for the camera - they had a great time.

Hal Ray with two members of his group - this was on the bus back to their school.

During this session of VBS we had kids coming from the school near the School of the Bible, but we also had 35 kids from this school (below). There is a young man that attends church at the School of the Bible, and his mom is a teacher (at the school below). She heard about what we were doing (VBS) and asked Randy is some of her kids could come too. So, they did, and we rode the bus with them back to their school on our way to pick up the rest of our group who was downtown on the singing campaign. This was their school...there are actually a few more buildings to it, but you can see that it is nothing like our schools! 1,000 kids attend school here.

These next two pictures are the view right across the street from the school - you can see that it is a very poor part of town (to say the least).

The lady in blue is the mom of the guy who attends at the School of the Bible - she was later baptized at the retreat - they are wanting to continue with some classes like we did during VBS at their school so that all the kids can hear about Jesus - praise God for that! Hopefully the ladies at the church in Aracaju can work that out.

Session 4

We had less kids for session 4 - a nice calm end to our VBS. Here is a picture of the kids listening to Tim explain a little about the School of the Bible and explaining to them that they are getting an invitation to take home and give their parents - hopefully some of them have come for a visit!

Tim and Giovan - they led some songs while we were waiting for the bus to come pick up the kids and bring them back to school.

This girl was just too cute, and she has a million dollar smile.

Here's Jaci with some of the girls from her group.

Jacob with a boy from his group.

Kyle working with the kids in his group.

Lynzee - being her normal self!

This little boy DID NOT want his picture taken - Tim had to make him look at the camera (forcefully). This was unusual - most of the kids were dying to have their picture taken, but not him!

Our VBS was a huge success (in my opinion). I was thrilled with the amount of kids we had, I was thrilled with the help from all the youth and adults, I was thrilled with the amount of fun that the kids seemed to have...I was just thrilled over all. I wish that I had pictures to show from crafts with Deena, puppets with Leann, etc., but I only had time to take pictures of the room I was in....sorry. I was in charge of VBS, so this was kind of my baby, and I was really happy with how it all turned out, and hopefully some of those kids came to the School of the Bible after we left. I cannot say enough about our translators - Will, Tim, Bela, Edwardo, Carol, and Maurwyn. They were life savers! Angela Warzecha also helped so much during VBS. Tim Brumfield is just the best. For those of you who don't know him, he was a missionary in Brazil for 12 years, and he is now a teacher at Sunset. He knows portuguese so well, and he has such a rapport with the kids. He is just the best, and I cannot thank him enough for the work that he does in Brazil (and the U.S.).

Day 1 cont. - Children's home

Here are pictures from our trip to the children's home - it's a place of free child care for really low income families. The man and woman that run the place are able to provide free child care because of donations and volunteers. The kids were eager to greet us - they were lined up at the nice gated windows!

Here is Randy talking to the woman that runs the day care center. Her and her husband do an amazing work, and all of their employees are volunteers.

Here are some pictures of the kiddos...

We performed a couple of puppet shows for them - they were recorded in Portuguese for us, so our people just had to move the mouths of the puppets. This is not really as easy as it seems...it is hard to follow along in a different language!

I thought these boys were so cute - one little boy taking care of his little buddy.

Our puppet show!

This day care center sees children up to 5 years old - the kids were so sweet. This day care center would never meet American standards, but the kids didn't care. They were having a great time, and I am so glad that we got to see them, and it is amazing that the people that run the place do it for free - they are offering an amazing gift to the people of Aracaju. I pray that God will bless them in their efforts.

Brazil Pictures - flight there and day 1

We left for Brazil on June 15th. Our first airport was DFW! Here is a picture of Shelly, Jaci, and Lynzee at the airport awaiting our big trip.




Here are Sami and Amy - already tired before the trip began. They decided to stay up late the night before in order to sleep better on the plane - I don't really know if that worked or not.

Here is our third airport. This is in Rio De Janiero. We went from DFW to Miami and then from Miami to Rio. This was (early) Monday morning. We had a six hour lay over in Rio before heading to Aracaju. We were exhausted, so we made beds out of the tables in the food court - it was a funny sight!

This is the airport in Aracaju. At this airport, you don't get off on a gate - you get off on a ladder and walk to the airport. Nice! It's kind of cool though because we got a bunch of people from the church greeting us "upstairs" in the window (see next picture).

I guess I was too tired from our journey to take any more pictures of the bus, the hotel, etc. The next pictures I am going to show are from day 1 in Aracaju.


On our first day, we had a prayer day around the city to pray for specific things and our efforts while in Brazil. Here are several pictures from that....


Here are Randy (the missionary) and Giovan (one of the members at the church in Aracaju and a major worker at the School of the Bible). They asked us to pray for specific things that they consider factors that effect their work in Aracaju.

This was a view of the city from one of the oldest places in the city. We talked about the number of people in Aracaju, the poverty, and the struggles that they face.

Another view from that same spot.

Prayer groups from that location.

Our next location was a large Catholic church in Aracaju. The major religion of Brazil is Catholic, so that is their biggest "religious obstacle" in Brazil.

My prayer group from that location.

This picture is from downtown in front of the Governors mansion - we prayed for the government in Aracaju and in Brazil for courage and wisdom as they make laws and lead their country.
We then headed for Sao Cristovan (a nearby town). There is a small group of Christians that meet there in the home of one of the brothers. Here is Randy telling us about the works happening there.

This is the man who offers classes in his home and helps lead the church there is Soa Cristovan. It was incredible to hear the things that he had to say.
Here are a few pictures of some homes in Aracaju. Not very many people have washing machines and dryers, so you will see a lot of laundry on lines to dry.
Another interesting thing...people collect rain water in these barrels on top of their house for their showers.
I have a few more pictures from day 1 - when we went to the children's home. I will post them separately because their are so many pictures I took there.