...take but this day

welcome home to me

2010-07-30T20:57:00.001-07:00

ice cream cake

sean and casey made it up for the party

zoe leadership meeting

2010-06-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

zoe paulista

2010-06-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

some friends from zoe paulista. we met them giving "free hugs" an hour before we met at starbucks for coffee. we had a great discussion that night about the purpose of life--and what it means to truly live...abundantly.

communion - zoe paulista

2010-06-21T19:48:00.001-07:00

zoe marajoara + black lights

2010-05-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

zoe paulista

2010-05-25T17:53:00.001-07:00

zoe leadership

2010-05-22T20:33:00.001-07:00

zoe marajoara

2010-05-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

new mexican spot

2010-05-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

i found a new mexican restaurant near downtown. gui, chris, and i had lunch there today. it was good. here's a picture of me and gui before lunch. gui teaches every other week at zoe. he's a student at the university of são paulo, studying philosophy. solid guy.

zoe marajoara - tchau becky

2010-05-10T07:05:00.001-07:00

no idea

christian and renato

friends from senac

zoe marajoara

praying for becky

still praying for becky

we'll miss you!

the "elders"

rachel, monica, ana, becky, and cris

happy mom's day

2010-05-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

i love my mom.

and i love skype too.

life

2010-05-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

i'll need this

jammin' in the living room

group from valdosta

"i was naked and you clothed me..."

free hugs - sheer excitement

me and renê

hanging out with some guys at SENAC

skaters at the park

2010-05-02T19:36:00.001-07:00

zoe marajoara

2010-04-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

junior teaching

rachel's painting

rachel painting during worship

i exalt thee

worship

gui, le, and thiago

ana paula explaining zoe

christian with dreds....yes!

chillin'

zoe marajoara

2010-04-17T21:15:00.001-07:00

gui shared about living by faith

telling the story of abraham

worship

men of zoe

hanging out

renato!

christian!

zoe prom

2010-04-17T10:08:00.001-07:00

celebrate good times...

felipe studies visual arts at SENAC

this was fun...

my man, junior

roberto - love this guy

dancing the night away...

renato

prom king and queen

some of the dudes

mtv brasil

2010-04-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

while giving free hugs on paulista last week, a woman approached me with several questions. as we talked, i found out she worked for mtv brasil and wanted to do an interview with me that week. i gave her my cell phone number, not really knowing what to expect. she called the following day and on wednesday, i went to mtv studios and did an interview. the interview was for a reality show that is shown here in brasil. i don't know whether or not i'll be chosen for the show, but it was fun.

me and coda

2010-04-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

i dyed an easter egg

2010-04-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

zoe marajoara - easter

2010-04-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

last night at zoe we talked about the resurrection. our god is alive. our jesus isn't on the cross...he isn't in the tomb. he's alive. and because of the work on the cross, we can know god. we can have life and be in relationship with him. it was a cool night as we remembered who we are as a church, and how we can live out the gospel everyday.

zoe marajoara - night of worship

2010-03-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

zoe marajoara - 1st saturday

2010-02-08T05:18:00.001-08:00

me, thiago, and junior

worship

praying before worship

rachel and thiago

renato!

renato and becky

joey and rod

ana paula and thyago

christian

thiago

monica and marcia

ice cream night!

zoe marajoara

2010-02-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

becky, rachel, and ana paula

the boys being hard

sorority squat

renato, ana paula, rachel, victor, and lé

me and junior

trying to learn capoeira

2010-01-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

zoe baptism

2010-01-30T16:27:00.001-08:00

rod sharing his tesimony

junior sharing the gospel

augusto and me

marcia baptizing rod

tonight at zoe, we kicked off the semester with a cookout. the conversations were great and the food was awesome. one very cool part of the night was rod's baptism. rod has been coming to zoe marajoara for almost a year. though he's been following christ for many years, he had never been baptized. it was so cool to hear him share his testimony of how jesus has changed his life.

luke 10

2010-01-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

so i was sitting in a coffee shop yesterday praying and writing and listening to music. it was raining outside. it was nice. i began to think about the story in luke 10 where jesus is met by martha and mary. martha invites jesus into her home and is busy serving him, while her sister mary is content to sit at the feet of jesus and listen to his teachings. martha gets upset..."jesus, aren't you going to tell mary to help me?" she says. to which jesus replies, "martha, martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

"one thing is necessary."

he is necessary.

and the "good portion," which mary chose was not to be taken away from her. her time spent at the feet of her lord would never be taken from her. i imagine martha preparing food and making sure everyone had enough to drink. but those things would pass away. the food would be eaten, and the drinks would run out. but the time mary spent with the lord would never be taken away. those moments at his feet. those words he spoke would never be forgotten. it reminded the importance of presence. being with jesus. sitting at his feet. listening to his voice. gazing up at him. enjoying him. soaking up his love. choosing the good portion. remembering what is necessary.

"one thing have i asked of the lord, that will i seek after: that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the lord and to inquire in his temple." psalm 27:4

zoe cafe

2010-01-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

rachel's 18th birthday party

2010-01-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

rachel had a costume party for her 18th birthday. bastante fun.

2010

2009-12-31T23:35:00.000-08:00

go dawgs

2009-12-31T13:07:00.000-08:00

visiting UGA

back to avamar

2009-12-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

parabens to me

2009-12-17T18:11:00.000-08:00

renato, rachel, and me

junior

always a party at the frat house

parabens!

jump around...

thyago

leticia

once again...

2009-12-08T16:42:00.001-08:00

more and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water and be known as someone who wants to live with them. it is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. still, it is not as simple as it seems.

my own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. it is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress.

but i wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn't be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them--but truly love them.

--Henri Nouwen

zoe marajoara

2009-12-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

stud

victor, ana, michael, dani, and mateus

not sure what this is about

or this ...

leticia, junior, and joey

starbucks paulista

2009-12-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

dinner at domino's after starbucks

maggie and gui

starbucks paulista

felipe

monica and renato

zoe marajoara

2009-12-06T16:01:00.001-08:00

praying for colby as he heads back to the states

zoe marajoara

worship

me, daniel, lú, and thiago

junior, michael, and colby

not fun

2009-11-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

having blood drawn sucks no matter what country you're in

good times

2009-11-17T19:42:00.000-08:00

hillsong united

2009-11-15T14:48:00.001-08:00

hillsong united

muita gente

victor, thyago, ana, me, and sean

hillsong united

waiting for the doors to open

gui and maggie before the concert

last saturday night several of us went to the hillsong united concert here in são paulo.

hanging out at senac

2009-11-12T04:10:00.001-08:00

just hanging out

colby, lú, and me

baptisms

2009-11-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

so nearly six months ago, i remember writing on my blog that i experienced a night i would never forget. it was when my friend leticia was baptized at zoe. it was a beautiful service. but i could not have imagined then all that god would do in the near future. at zoe, those who are being baptized are given the opportunity to ask those who were influential in leading them to christ to baptize them. one of my really good friends, thiago, recently became a christian about 3 months ago. he asked me last week if i would baptize him. i never imagined i would be baptizing my new brother in christ. god is so beyond me.

baptisms

2009-11-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

junior and his brother, michael

junior and michael

gui baptizing roberto

chris and gui

rachel and her dad

lé and victor

ana and nayara

so tonight at zoe, we baptized 7 students. each student was able to share their testimony of how jesus has changed their lives. it was an awesome night.

thug life

2009-11-01T20:23:00.001-08:00

sean and i went to a costume party with some friends from SENAC last saturday night. everyone was supposed to go dressed as a character from a movie. we were going for eminem from 8 mile. not sure that we pulled it off, but the party was cool. bastante fun. more pictures to come...

pancakes!!!

2009-11-01T20:18:00.001-08:00

showing them where to put the syrup

i think they liked it...

andressa's first pancake!!! she liked it.

pancakes!!!

2009-11-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

after finding out some of our friends at SENAC (a university here in são paulo) had never had pancakes, we knew had work to do. we invited them over to our house today for lunch. bethany helped us out a lot. here's a few pictures colby took.

first time flipping pancakes

cooking with bethany!

colby and me at work

turned out nice, neh?

as of late

2009-10-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

--Henri Nouwen

zoe marajoara

2009-10-27T15:40:00.001-07:00

hanging out after zoe

just livin' life

2009-10-25T21:24:00.001-07:00

chillin'

who can eat it the fastest?

hanging out after zoe

renato!

jammin'

junior's birthday

2009-10-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

of course we had to "walk it out"

everyone hanging out

singing britney spears

still walking it out

junior's birthday

2009-10-25T21:14:00.000-07:00

junior trying to be thug

the fam

the birthday boy

singing "parabens"

junior and leticia

so junior is my roommate, and also teaches each week at our house church. leticia, his girlfriend, planned a surprise party for his birthday. it was great. he had no idea....

zoe marajoara ... outside

2009-10-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

so we've moved outside. it's just too cramped in the living room.

renato & christian

2009-10-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

these are a couple of my friends, renato and christian, wearing their soccer jerseys. they're both palmeiras fans, one of the major soccer teams here in brazil. i support sao paulo, a rival of palmeiras. there always seems to be some friendly "trash talk" when soccer is discussed at the house.

zoe cafe

2009-10-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

tonight we opened the cafe. we played cards, enjoyed some good food, and had some great conversations. students arrived around 8 and didn't leave the house until close to 2 am. good night....very good night.

never a dull moment

2009-10-11T10:13:00.001-07:00

so there's never a dull moment at our house. last night, christian and victor found a tae bo video left by the missionaries who lived in our house before us. it was pretty incredible.

good times in sao paulo

2009-10-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

the team

2009-09-07T01:06:00.001-07:00

brasil vs argentina

2009-09-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

last night after zoe, we celebrated guilherme's birthday by watching the brasil-argentina game. it was so much fun. soccer is HUGE in brasil, and there's not much more exciting than a big game with all my brazilian friends.

zoe marajoara

2009-09-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

blessed are those who dwell in your house, they are ever praising you

-psalm 84:4

zoe birthday party!

2009-08-30T11:49:00.001-07:00

zoe birthday party!

2009-08-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

partying at the zoe cafe.

zoe churrasco!!!

2009-08-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

churrasco to kick off the semester. bastante students. muito fun.

first futebol game

2009-08-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

so last sunday, i went to my first brazilian soccer game. i went with several friends to a sao paulo game. it was a lot of fun. it reminded me a lot of the college football games i went to while i was at the uga. the stadium was full of loud, excited fans....i can't wait to go back.

guga

2009-08-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

guga, one of my really good friends from ribeirao preto came to visit me. we've had a great time hanging out, and he's been a real encouragement to me. this is us on top of the banespa bank, one of the tallest points in sao paulo.

zoe marajoara

2009-06-20T21:50:00.001-07:00

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

--Jesus

zoe cafe

2009-06-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

tonight we opened the zoe cafe. there were over 25 brazilian students. it was cool.

zoe marajoara

2009-06-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

it was cold. it was a holiday. and we didn't know what to expect. but church tonight was awesome. god's moving in ways that i never imagined. here are some pictures of zoe marajoara.

festa junina

2009-06-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

this past saturday night we celebrated a traditional brazilian holiday at zoe. we had a band, dancing, and great food. after the party we spent time worshiping, and daniel shared the gospel. it was a great night. and we had a lot of fun.

zoe retreat

2009-05-30T19:47:00.003-07:00

just some more pictures from the retreat.

zoe retreat

2009-05-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

this weekend we held our first ever zoe retreat. we kicked everything off with a huge party at the house on friday night. we had over 40 brazilian college students show up. it was incredible. we followed it up all day saturday with several teachings and worship led by a pastor from virginia, who brought down a group of his college students for a week. we were even able to see a young girl give her heart to christ. the theme of the retreat was "whatever it takes." it was a great weekend. and i saw god move in so many ways.

ethan is leaving

2009-05-23T19:21:00.001-07:00

ethan, the hands on missionary, who i have come to know and love over the past four months will be leaving next thursday to finish college. he spent a semester here in brazil working with college students. we'll all miss him a lot! tonight we had a going away party for him. it was good.

wednesday night pizza

2009-05-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

a team of college ministers spent last week with us. it was a great time, and all of them really enjoyed their time in sao paulo. here is a picture of the team with some brazilian college students. we went to a pizzaria on wednesday night to hang out. it was fun.

open my eyes

2009-05-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

"unless the lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain."

psalm 127:1

"truly, truly, i say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing. for whatever the father does, that the son does likewise."

john 5:19

i want everything i do to have a purpose--to have a lasting effect on the kingdom. my prayer lately has been that god would open my eyes so i can see what he is doing. i can try to create things on my own. i can try to make ministry happen. i can try to "build the house" ... but it will be in vain. so i want his eyes to see where he is working. i want to join him, not start something and ask him to join me.

open my eyes...

shay

2009-05-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

i bought a cocker spaniel two weeks ago. her name is shay.

you can pray for her...

...that she'll learn to use the bathroom outside.

são paulo

2009-04-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

just a few pictures of what i now call home.

25 de março

2009-04-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

i ventured into one of the craziest areas of sao paulo today. some people claim it's one of the busiest streets in the world. it's where EVERYONE goes to do their shopping. i stepped off the metro and couldn't believe how crowded it was. it was a little overwhelming. but it was fun.

zoe promo

2009-04-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

this is just a short promo video for zoe.

this video will be used at conferences in the united states to give college ministers who are interested in bringing volunteer teams to work with us an idea of how zoe works.

easter

2009-04-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

i haven't dyed easter eggs in a long time.

and i'd forgotten that it is fun.

holidays tend to be difficult here in brazil. i'm away from my family and friends. and with the holidays, come reminders of family traditions. but i'm blessed to be a with a family here in brazil that is so sensitive to things such as this. melody prepared a great lunch after we all shared a devotion together on easter morning. the easter holiday was different this year...but good.

and it's when i'm left without the comforts of family traditions during the holidays, that i'm forced to really remember why i'm celebrating. jesus died for me and rose again three days later. he's alive today. and that's why i'm here now. that's why i'm in brazil. and so this time that was difficult, god used to remind me of why i'm where i am.

new church plant

2009-04-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

god never ceases to amaze me. had you told me a year ago that i would be involved in a church plant, i don't know that i would have believed you. god put it on our hearts to start a church near mackenzie university in downtown sao paulo. after much prayer, we believed god wanted to use a student, jonatas, to partner with us. we've spent the last two weeks meeting at his apartment sharing with him our hearts and the vision of zoe. we'll spend the rest of this semester planning and praying together about what is to come. we hope to see things really get started at the beginning of next semester. pray for zoe higienopolis. pray for jonatas. and pray for each of us as we continue to seek christ on his vision and dream for this new church.

is this for real?

2009-04-15T13:51:00.001-07:00

these are just a few pictures from campus while hanging with students. i love my job. i get to hang out with college students and share with them how jesus has changed my life. i still wake up nearly everyday and think to myself..."is this for real?!?!?" it's almost too good to be true.

chocolate night

2009-04-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

at zoe marajoara (our house church), the first saturday of each month is in english and always has a theme. and the first saturday in april was CHOCOLATE NIGHT. we had nearly 25 students there. not only did we eat a lot of chocolate, but we also talked about love. we had an awesome discussion on what it means to truly love and be loved, not only by one another, but by god. we were also able to share that god sending his son, jesus christ, was the ultimate expression of love. it was a great night. here are a couple of pictures from our time together.

rio!!!

2009-04-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

i was able to visit rio de janiero a couple of weeks ago. here are a few pictures...

ZOE FEST

2009-03-22T17:08:00.001-07:00

ZOE FEST

2009-03-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

our team spent all week inviting college students to a huge party on saturday- ZOE FEST. we had a dj, live music, free food, ipod giveaways, and a rock climbing wall. we had nearly 300 students attend. we got the names of all the students there and hope to make contact with them over the next few weeks. god took my expectation of the party and blew it away. i never dreamed there would be so many students there.

"ask of me and i will answer you and show you great things you do not know..." jeremiah 33:3

usp

2009-03-22T12:07:00.001-07:00

god answers prayers.

with the team here this past week, i was going to take a small group to the university of sao paulo (usp). i had been to this campus nearly two weeks earlier and you could feel the spiritual darkness that was there. the night before we went, i asked god for opportunities to meet and make friends with nonbelievers at usp. we left on wednesday night for usp not knowing what to expect...

when we arrived we spent some time prayer walking, and ran into a group of friends of the brazilian college student we were with. we spent the next 3 hours hanging out with them. we exchanged numbers and plan to hang out again soon. god had answered my prayer. and only he knows where these new friendships will lead.

ZOEcafe

2009-03-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

so before i came to brasil, i began praying that god would allow me to have a home where students could hang out and always feel welcome. i secretly dreamed of having some sort of "coffee shop-ish" room where students could hang out and we could have opportunities to share christ. well when i arrived in sao paulo, god began showing me this is something he wanted to do. me and my roommates quickly got to work on the ZOEcafe and since then have been adding bits and pieces to complete the room. this past friday night, while the volunteer team from valdosta state was here, we opened it up. we had over 40 students come. it was awesome to see students we had met on the university campuses travel from across the city to be there. god put a dream in my heart, and i was able to see that dream become a reality.

zoe starbucks

2009-03-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

here are a few pictures from our small group at starbucks on monday nights. normally after some coffee we head over to subway which is right across the street. with our volunteer team from valdosta state university, there were over 20 people there. we had a great time hanging out.

baptism!

2009-03-14T18:44:00.001-07:00

so i was able to experience my first baptism here in brasil tonight. it was incredible. we set up a small pool in the backyard and all gathered around as leticia shared her story, explaining how jesus has completely changed her life. it was a moment i'll never forget.

zoe marajoara

2009-03-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

here are a couple of pictures from our house church that meets every saturday night. we always begin every night with time around "the table" -- just hanging out, talking, and of course...eating. we normally spend some time worshipping and then after a discussion about a passage from the bible, we always ask the question..."where did you see god this week?" we want to be a people that are continually looking for god...not only in the big miracles, but also in the small workings of everyday life. it's always encouraging to hear from each other about how god is working in all of our lives.

zoe mackenzie

2009-03-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

here are a few pictures from our bible study at zoe mackenzie. we meet every wednesday morning at 7am to hang out and talk about jesus. mackenzie is a university with over 35,000 students that desperately need to hear about the love found in christ. and god is very much at work on this campus. pray that god will continue to stir up in the hearts of christian students the desire and boldness to share the gospel with their friends.

unexpected...

2009-02-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-12T08:47:00.001-08:00

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?

2009-02-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-02-09T09:47:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-02-04T17:05:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

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.