The Ministry of Jesus….

Hello everyone! I am sitting here at Igreja Nova Vida in viana. it~s 2:41pm and we are resting after the church service this morning. Lots of very cool…emotionally exhausting things have happened since we last updated you.

On Friday, we packed school kits to hand them out to some of the neighborhood children as they are currently on winter break and will be returning to school tomorrow. We drove about 20 minutes from the farm where we are staying to a small village-like area. When we arrived, a girl that looked about 12/13 ran up to Cristina (the full time missionary here) and embraced her. Cristina spoke to her in Portuguese and we all thought that they knew eachother. it turns out that they did not and Cristina said that these children are just so hungry for love and attention that they will take anything that they can get. No one really visits the area that they are in so they feel forgotten. Forgotten by brazilians and forgotten by God. This little girls name is Daniella and she is 14. she took off after introductions to run and get the other children. I soon found out that the adults were also hungry for love as we were embraced and talked to as though we were long lost friends. at first it was uncomfortable, but I soon realized that this was the center of Jesus~ ministry. His ministry was relational, his ministry was hands-on and he listened to people.

Our transalator, Aparacida, gathered the children and told them the story of the lost son through huge story boards. The children listened intently and responded very well. At the end, our translator had them pray for salvation and all of the children and many adults prayed that prayer. In total it looked like 4 or 5 families and I’ve continued to pray for them as the images of their tattered clothing and bare feet fill my mind as I lie in my comfortable bed at night and put on clean clothes every morning. we also gave the people food and said our goodbyes. Please pray for this village. I’ll try to update again real soon! love & peace!

Angela