unexpected...

so i'm being reminded everyday that you can't compartmentalize ministry. according to paul, my life is to be my sacrificial act of worship (romans 12:1). i've been aware of this for quite some time, but the lord is showing me more and more each day that when i walk in obedience with him, he will open up opportunities for me to share his love and truth with others.

when i think about the times in which i've seen god working the most since i've been here in brasil, i realize they haven't been when i've prepared for ministry to happen. obviously the lord is working in the planned bible studies and services we have each week, but it's been during the unexpected conversations with students that i've seen jesus working the most. 

so i'm learning (...again....and i'll probably have to learn again and again) that it's about being sensitive to the holy spirit and keeping my eyes open to what god is doing around me--always striving to be surrendered to christ and his desires...

facebook...bringing students together

monday nights are one of my favorite times of the week--hanging out with college students at starbucks. i love my job (if you can even call it that). but last night was especially cool, because i was able to meet a guy who i'd been talking with online. i never thought i'd say that facebook could be used for ministry, but the lord is always surprising me. several months ago, a guy from sao paulo started talking to me online. we sent several emails back and forth and had a few conversations through online chat. then last week, jeffrey (one of my roommates) was talking with him and invited him to go to starbucks with us. and then last night, he showed up! we had a great time "really" meeting each other, and he's planning to come over to the house soon to hang out. here's a picture of everyone after starbucks...we got hungry and headed over to subway.

zoe mackenzie

so every wednesday morning, we wake up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the bus and metro to mackenzie university in downtown sao paulo. we meet with a group of students there at 7 a.m. before their classes begin. here is a picture of me, ethan, jeffrey, and felipe. felipe has already graduated from mackenzie, but still comes back every wednesday morning because he wants to see other college students' lives changed by jesus. wednesday morning we asked the question, "is it boring to be a christian?" we had a great discussion about why many people think the answer to this question is "yes." but we all agreed that when our lives are fully surrendered to christ, and when we're being led by the holy spirit, each day is a new adventure.

what is trote?

so wes, chris julian's son, is really talented when it comes to film editing. he helped us out and edited all the raw footage we had from last week at trote. he did awesome. the video is about 10 minutes long, and most of it is in portuguese, but you can check it out and see exactly what students will see as they go to our zoe website.

www.zoebrasil.com

TROTE

so as we were leaving our small group at starbucks tonight, we ran into more students going through trote. we met a girl who spoke english, and i asked her to explain to us exactly what trote is...

this may give you a better understanding of the whole experience...

more trote

so i posted last week about our experience at trote--the university hazing. today we found some more university students going through trote. we interviewed several students about brazilian university culture, then gave each of them a card with our church website on it. we are going to post the video on our website for them to check out. hopefully it will open more opportunities for us to get to know them. i left today with a phone number and email of a guy i met. we're going to try and get together sometime later this week and hang out. jesus told us to GO, so that's what we did today. we went into their world. we met them where they were. and now we're trusting the lord to open up doors for us to build relationships with students. 

zoe marajaora

so zoe means abundant life in greek. zoe marajoara is also the name of our house church that meets every saturday night in our neighborhood. some students travel up to 2 hours across the city to be there. we have great food, worship, a devotion, and we always share with each other how we've seen god moving in our lives during the week. the first saturday of each month is themed and is always in english, because so many university students here want to practice their english. these pictures were taken from last saturday night's zoe marajoara. the theme was luau night. it rained, but that didn't stop the party. we just moved everything inside. it was cool. 

under construction...

so me and the guys are turning the front room of our house into a hang out for college students. it will have a coffee shop feel, and be a great place for chilling out. i'll be sure to post some pictures when it's all done. here is one of all three of us painting a few days ago. my prayer is that the lord will use this as a place where students encounter jesus.

trote

so once a year, when new students enter the university, they must participate in trote. upperclassmen make the freshmen paint their bodies, shave their heads, dance on the sidewalks, and beg for money in the streets. the money is used as a fee for admission to the parties later that night. the freshmen are basically at the mercy of the upperclassmen...

chris, ethan, jeffrey, and i had planned to spend some time on the streets during trote next week. we would make a video, asking students the meaning behind this tradition. we would then give each student access to a website where the videos would later be posted with information on how they could get connected with us. but today as we were leaving campus, we noticed several college students running around on the streets with their bodies painted. we knew it had to be trote, so we hurried over to them and spent some time talking with several different groups. luckily, ethan had his video camera, so we were able to catch a lot of it on film. i really enjoyed being able to talk with the students, and even got to pour mustard on some girl's head! i really believe simply being where the students are in situations like this will open opportunities for purposeful relationships. here are a few pictures from the day...

home sweet home...

so i'm living with two great guys from south georgia--ethan and jeffrey. they're here until may with the hands-on program for college students through the IMB. they arrived in brazil last week, and they're doing great. we've been having fun hanging out at the house. and i think tomorrow we're going to do some painting. but today, we went to the banespa bank building in downtown sao paulo. i'm pretty sure this is one of the tallest buildings in the city. when you get to the top, all you see are more buildings...it definitely puts into perspective the immenseness of this city. home sweet home!

a great start

so as soon as i got here, i hit the ground running. things are already busy, but i'm loving every minute of it. this past saturday we had a churrasco, or a bbq,  with a lot of the ZOE students. it was kind of like a kick-off for the new semester. there were 32 people there, which was awesome. we ate, hung out, and watched a movie. it was a lot of fun. here's a picture of some of us before we called it a day.

onto the next thing...

these are a few pictures of the churrasco my friends and i had before i left for sao paulo. i'm going to miss them all a lot, but i'll only be a 4 hour bus ride away! 

a leap of faith

so in october 2008 i jumped on a plane and headed to brazil to work with college students. i often wonder where i found the courage to do this...but this is just more evidence to me that jesus is behind it all. i spent the last 3 months in ribeirao preto, studying portuguese. i spent 3 hours in class everyday, and made some incredible friends there. but my first two weeks here were very difficult. i didn't realize how much i'd miss my family and friends, but god's grace is sufficient...and he saw me through. and then two weeks ago, i packed up all my things and moved to the ENORMOUS city of sao paulo. moving from the small town of toccoa, to a city of over 20 million people is quite a change. but i'm loving it. i still wake up in the mornings completely in awe that god is allowing me to do this. since i arrived in sao paulo, i've been settling in and making friends. but things are starting to get really busy. and i can't wait to see what god is going to do...