Time to hit the infamous favelas of Rio

Saturday 8th September we left Carole's home in Cabo Frio and drove south to go back and minister in Rio, where what should've taken about 2 hours to get to took about 8. An hour into driving we stop to fill up with petrol only to find when we wanted to leave that one of the cars wouldn't start. The starter motor which we thought had been fixed had in fact not been. So 8 of us who'd been in that car stayed behind at the gas station while the other 3 cars went on to Rio. Lucky it was a nice gas station with a restaurant and wifi to pass the 4 hours of waiting time! In the end Carole's parents drove all the way from Cabo Frio to pick us up and take us to the favela. Altogether this probably took them about 6 or 7 hours round trip, definitely way out of their way and schedule!!

Packing Carole's parents' car in the gas stations - fitting

a LOT of luggage and people in a LITTLE bit of space!!

The trip to the favela took about 2 hours, gotta love Rio traffic. With 7 million people, Rio is very big. So much so that 90km outside of Rio it was already Rio Residential area starting. Shew. No wonder there was crazy traffic. Arriving on Saturday night at 9pm in a favela the day after Brazil's Independence Day was crazy. Narrow steep winding roads, not sure where we were going, unpacking our cars with almost the whole team's luggage in the street with loads of people everywhere, chaos. Did I mention Favela da Rocinha used to be the most dangerous favela in the world? It's also where the movie Fast Five was filmed. But all was good and we got settled into the church and our new "home" for the next 36 hours no problem.

Our ridiculous looking caravan driving

into the favela causing chaos

View of the favela up the mountain

Sunday we woke up to find a street fruit and veg market right outside our front door. Awesome! So after our relaxed church service where we ministered to the core congregation, answering their questions, sharing words and wisdom with them, off I went to investigate. It was crazy, filled with life and energy and craziness, I loved it. Some questions are better not to answer, like what are your feet walking on, what's that smell or why is someone skinning a cow's head from its horns to its nose just there on the street. 

A crazy testimony from the pastor was that at the beginning of the year God had told him that a group of international missionaries would come minister in his church this year and that it would be significant for him. Our visit there only got organised that very week through a contact in another church we'd ministered in just before. Plus we were there for the weekend of the church's anniversary - they'd been wondering how to celebrate their anniversary but God had told them don't worry to organise anything, He had something in mind. How cool of God, there really are no coincidences in His Kingdom when we follow His leading, He brings us to exactly the right places at the right time in the best way possible, far better than we could ever plan or arrange.

Would anyone like to be the

electrician in this community?!!

In the afternoon we went with a local guy from the church to walk around the favela praying for people. This was awesome. And crazy. I loved it so much I want to move there. The craziness, loudness, crampedness, even the dirt where you don't want to know where your feet are walking, let alone the smells in the very dark and narrow steep walkways between the buildings, all of it. A definite highlight was praying for a lady in the favela who afterwards told us she'd had a dream a few days ago where a group of foreigners came to lead her back to Jesus and this group would be brought by someone she knew. She knew our contact from the church who'd been guiding us around the favela so we could pray for people (that place is crazy, you'd be lost within minutes alone), and our group of 5 people were from 5 different nations: Canada, America, Australia, Brazil and South Africa. Wow God, we were an answer to a lady's prayer with us appearing in her dream just days before we got there!! God really is a God of the miraculous. Yesterday, today and tomorrow. He's not just a God of bible times 2000 years ago. 

Another crazy sleeping arrangement... about 13 girls

(I lose track how many we are these days!) sleeping

on the floor of a classroom in the favela

Home in time to freshen up before the evening service. This was just crazy, seeing the power of God move, physical healings took place, hearts were moved, it was amazing. I'd love to explain just how awesome some of our meetings are, but words can never explain the move of God sufficiently.

Eating dinner from a street vendor on the pavement

Monday we moved to spend 2 nights at a retreat/camping type place. Just getting here was a miracle, with God somehow shrinking us and or our stuff to fit 17 people, bags for nearly all the team (we're now up to about 32 people), not just us 17 people into just 2 cars. Another God setup - we didn't actually have anywhere to stay and being Rio all accommodation is super expensive, but on Sunday night while the other half of our team were ministering with an Iris (the missionary organisation we're with) base somewhere else a contact was made who organised for us to stay here for like $10 a night which is such a blessing. Plus the establishment is feeding us! So today, Tuesday, we are having a much needed rest day. 

Love

Love. People often ask what does love look like. It looks like something. But what. How do you explain it. I think that only love can explain what motivated me (and 12 others) to drive 2 hours leaving Cabo Frio at 9pm on Thursday 6th September to drive (very crowded with 10 of us in one camper van!!) to another town, Macae, arrive at a church about 11pm, hang around waiting to go out after midnight, drive to another area of town pray for and minister to street people and transvestite prostitutes in the red light district for a couple of hours before having to leave due to gun shots close by, going back to sleep on the floor of a classroom behind the church (without enough bedding for all of us), to wake up sick the next day, get up to minister in the evening service and then drive 2 hours back to Cabo Frio to arrive back at Carole's home at 1am to find not enough space to sleep as more people had joined our team in the 24 hours we'd been gone and were thus sleeping in some of our beds. And to think that this was one of the best moments of your life. Why? Because we do it all for love. This is what makes me come alive. To show God's love to those many people don't think are worth stopping for, let alone going out of your way to see. 

Is it worth it? To have Leonardo (one of the homeless men we spoke to) recommit his life to Jesus? I think you'd agree with me that yes it was worth it. 

Cabo Frio

Staying in Carole's family home was like heaven for us. We were incredibly blessed by members of her church bringing food in excess for us. We are a big group so we go through food etc at a very rapid pace! It was a little squashy, picture 9 mattresses touching top to bottom, side to side, with 2ft of free space, and that was just one of the two bedrooms to sleep about 17 girls, but somehow her parents managed to source mattresses for all of us. This is the first time we've stayed in the family home of one of the member's of our team. Such an honour. 

Me with Carole and her family 

Church that night at her church completely rocked, it was crazy anointed. Below is a link on YouTube of Ben preaching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bXh8Eda2hqE

Our team being introduced to the church

The week was filled with ministry - homeless ministry, dedicating a new church, street ministry, youth services, hospital ministry, ministering in a gang area, etc. One day we were ministering with a pastor of a church which was only about 2 months old in a poor rough neighbourhood. Turns out a man had given them this brand new church building built and paid for ($150,000) out of his pocket for the pastor to do with as he pleased. So we prayed over the pastor and the building, asking God for vision etc as to how to best use the building. 

Blessing the pastor 

We also prayed for people in a nearby hospital, people we just met on the street, at bus stations, everywhere. A tiring but good day. What I'm learning in street evangelism with other churches is that it's not so much about us, it's about the church we're partnering with - many of them do not know how to connect well with people in this way so they learn a lot from us. So that makes it worthwhile because honestly, handing out tracks is definitely not my style of evangelism!!

This is how we travel - for our day off we went

to the beach, 7 people in the back of the car

(3 in the front!) plus two surfboards!!! 

We're off to Rio, Rio!!

Friday we set off for what should've been an 8-12 hour drive to Rio. Well, when 2 hours into the journey we have to pull over us the break pad in our car cracked and broke into many pieces, and it took us about 5 hours to fix it, we decided perhaps we wouldn't make it to Rio that day. Plus when after setting off less than an hour later the A-frame of our trailer broke... another hour later of fixing it on the side of the road (good thing we were right next to the sea as this made it way more picturesque!) and we were off again, only to have the whole trailer collapse while driving down some cobbled roads in the next town. Ok, definitely time to call it a day. While the breaks were getting fixed that afternoon when we knew we wouldn't be getting to Rio that day a couple of us starting praying asking God for a good hostel to stay in. Which He gave us. Honestly one of the best hostels we've stayed in. Plus at only $10 a night and $2.50 for a delicious buffet breakfast, hot showers and comfortable beds God had blessed us more than we'd asked for.

Saturday we had to decided what to do with out trailer. Thing is we need it to carry like a dozen bags, but having being trawled through 19 countries we can honestly say it's seen better days. We decided to leave it right where it was, on the side of the road in the town of Paraty where the council guys (we spoke to them) would get it to the church we'd just passed a block away who had someone who would like it. So now are down to no trailers, having left the other one on the side of the road in Chile. The rest of the day was smooth sailing with very few car troubles (just a little overheating of one of the cars) with us arriving at Carole's house in Cabo Frio (just north of Rio) in time for a delicious braai prepared by her parents. Carole is a member of our team and from Rio so for the next couple of weeks we'll be ministering with her church and other contacts. 

God is present in the details of our everyday lives

Never a dull moment... so on Thursday I headed off to the beach with 2 friends from my team (Taylor and Josiah) to go hang out. When we got there a vendor was talking to two girls from our team so we checked in on them to check they weren't been hassled, which they weren't, so after saying hello to the guy off we went. A few minutes later Taylor feels in his heart that we should turn back and bless the man, so he asks me how much Portuguese I speak so I can translate. Err, none. Spanish? A little bit, although I'm feeling a bit rusty as I haven't spoken it for a couple of weeks. So back we go to speak to him (me speaking broken Spanish, him speaking Portuguese and me doing my best to translate for my friends).

What we wanted to share with him was that God was with him, God's been with him in the past, is with him now and will be with him in his future, that he is experiencing angelic encounters and he can expect to have more heavenly encounters from now on. Turns out the vendor (he looked about 40 years old) was an ex fighter and gang member, he travelled to many place fighting (like North America, Spain, Italy, Ibiza, and others). He said he'd served satan for 20 years but 5 years ago he met Jesus and now he's been serving Jesus for 5 years. It was incredible, he started playing/singing his favourite worship songs on his phone, praying and prophesying over us. It was crazy, before we knew it we were holding hands, praying, worshiping and prophesying over each. There on the beach outside Sao Paulo. Incredible. Talking about heaven meeting earth in one encounter that day. 

And afterwards the boys took me climbing (barefoot!) straight up the mountain. It was so fun, exploring the forest, climbing trees and rocks, to get to the top and overlook the city and see. What a day of contrasts!

Another action packed adventure just getting to our next destination, Sao Paulo!

Well for one day rest that is. Friday we were back in the cars again driving down to Sao Paulo. 

Things that now seem normal to me: Instead of leaving at 8am for the expected full day of driving from Foz do Iguacu to Sao Paulo, we leave at 1pm as Stephen needed to go back to Paraguay to get a part for the car and then fix said car before we could leave. Lucky Kimmie had left a note on the door communicating this change in information, changed from leaving at 8am to "when Stephen gets back". An hour or two into driving and we wonder why we smell burning rubber. While driving to Sao Paulo, we pull into a truckers gas stop on the side of the road at 3am, sleep in the cars, wake up in the morning and walk into a restaurant which isn't even open yet to go wash my face in the restroom, then fill up my water bottle and wash my fruit and veg in a gas station's bathroom. After driving all day we pull into a parking lot next to the beach to sleep our second night on the road (in tents, cars, or wherever...) in the town of Salvador, an hour outside Sao Paulo, also known as the most dangerous suburb in Sao Paulo... Yes. Only we would choose to live like this and not really think anything of it!! :)

How do I know we have angels with us everywhere we go? When at 2am in the morning after driving for 12 hours we discover that the reason for the noise in our car is that we'd been driving without any nuts holding one of trailer tyres on... Plus the holes where the bolts go were so well worn they were the size of 50c coins instead of 10c. How on earth did the tyre not fly off? Thank you to our angels for working overtime holding it on until we figured out the problem :)

Sao Paulo was a time of rest and recuperation for us. We were super blessed by a family who gave us the use of their beach house to stay in for 4 days just to rest, especially as many of us were either sick, recovering from being sick or just downright tired. Or a combination of all 3!

Crazy travels, brace yourselves...

And now onto the crazy travel week back to Brazil... From Uyuni we got on the train at 2:30am for 10 hours to Villazon where we walked over the border to Argentina. From the border town of Quiaca we took a 9 hour bus ride to Salta where we arrived at 1am. Being tired and sick of travelling while on the bus I prayed asking God for it to be easy for us to find a hostel, for the hostel to be cheap and for us to be able to get on the next bus the very next day at 4pm or 5pm as this would get us back to Brazil at a reasonable time the next time. When we arrived at Salta at 1am we were met at the bus station by a hostel manager who offered us a good rate for a really nice hostel, free taxi ride to the hostel, good breakfast included and the next morning we got bus tickets for 4pm all the way back to Brazil. Thank you God :)

So 4pm and back on the bus for 13 hours to Resistencia, arrived at 5am. Quick change onto the next bus which left at 5:30am. Without my friend Aleeza who I was sitting next to for that bus journey. Err. I shout out has anyone seen her back on the bus? No. I shout for a friend who actually speaks Spanish to help by asking the bus driver to stop so we can find her, but he was too far away so I had to run down, by down I mean I literally fell down the somewhat steep stairs practically onto the bus conductor only to ask him in not very good Spanish to please stop and wait for my friend. Alls well that ends well and Aleeza was back on the bus, to us singing Happy Birthday to her as she climbed up to her seat! What a way to start her birthday!! I bet she's glad she wasn't left to celebrate her birthday alone in some random Argentinean town :) 

5 hours later and we arrived at Posadas, still in Argentina, ready to change buses yet again for our 11 o'clock bus to Foz do Iguazu, the border town of Argentina and Brazil. Arriving at Foz 5 hours later we were marginally disappointed to find the bus stopped on the Argentinean side so we still needed to find a bus to take us to the border, which we did, and then a town bus Into Foz, dinner and taxi ride and we were FINALLY back with our cars at the retreat we'd stayed at the month before by 10pm. Tired, sweaty, sick but very happy to be off that bus. 

Salar de Uyuni (the Salt flat of Uyuni)

Tuesday I had to face my fear of getting back in a bus (due to the last ride resulting in me being extremely carsick) and take a 2.5 hour taxi ride to the town of Tarija. And with all the bends carsick I got! But not as bad as the last time :) Tarija was a beautiful town, after two weeks of living in tiny rural villages it felt like a metropolis!! Overnight there and then on the next bus to Tupiza, another long bus ride to arrive at about 4am, freezing cold and very tired, not a great time to be finding hostels for all of us! Overnight there and then on the train (great to mix up with a different means of transport, but this stage we were all getting very tired of buses).

Tupiza

Some of our group waiting around at the bus station

Another late night arrival (1:30am) and again the fun of finding a hostel for 20 people at that time of the morning. The good news is we found a hostel, the bad news is it tried our grace at 2am in the morning - it had a bit of a dodgy feeling about it, our room didn't lock, there was more window than wall which means everyone walking past could see us, weird that people can watch you sleep. Not to mention showering not being included, we'd have to pay separately for that luxury! Needless to say next morning come check out time we all headed straight out to find some more pleasant accommodation. All this travelling around was our "rest" time - no ministry, just some sightseeing time of going to the Mirror of the World, the largest saltpans in the world, near the small town of Uyuni.

Some interesting facts... Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flat of Uyuni) is the world's largest salt flat and is found in the south west of Bolivia. At 4,085 square miles it is the world's largest salt mirror when covered in water. To add in some more random fun, there is also an antique train cemetery in the area which of course we had to check out, if nothing else than to get some fun photos!

Some of our team on top of a train

Because the Salar de Uyuni is so flat, NASA is able to use it to calibrate some of their satellites. For the bird lovers out there, while the Salt Flats do not have any wildlife, it is used as the breeding grounds for some species of pink South American flamingoes once a year in November. 

The salt pans were such a fun family day out. So many team photos were taken, between us and all the other tourists it was like being on a photo shoot! Highlights were having fun with trick photography taking advantage of the large flat white salt pans. 

Fun with trick photography

An extra gift from the Lord was meeting up with my friend Tarryn from London. I knew she was in Bolivia on a missions trip at the same time as me but she was in a rural town far from me and given our impossible to plan ahead lifestyle I knew there was absolutely no point in trying to meet up with her. That Saturday morning before we headed out for the Salt Flats I felt I should go have breakfast where I'd gone the day before, so off I went even though I wasn't really hungry and I had no one to go with as no was up yet. I'd been there not 10min when I heard "Elizabeth" being called from the doorway, and there was Tarryn!! What a blessing to see a friend so far from home, definitely a God appointed meeting of two friends all the way from South Africa in a small mountain town in Bolivia. So breakfast was enjoyed with my friend :)

Jumping for joy!

Entre Rios

Wednesday we left by bus to go 6 hours away to the village of Entre Rios (means between two rivers in Spanish) to minister in some rural villages in the mountains. I absolutely loved Bolivia, I could have stayed there no problem. Unfortunately the very windy roads, high altitude and dodgy buses meant I got very carsick, very often. So much so that I was too sick to go to the villages with the rest of my team. No problem, God works all things for good and I landed up staying with a pastor (Guido) and his wife (Macedonia) and 3 year old boy (Mati) for 3 days in Entre Rios. It was an amazing unique cultural experience for me to live with a local family in a rural village in Bolivia, and of course a perfect time to learn some Spanish seeing as no one in the village spoke English!! God also used this time to remind me that one of my dreams that I'd asked Him near the beginning of the trip almost a year ago was for me to be left alone (without the safety net of my team) in a village with locals to learn the culture and language. And here He was, answering my dream/request in such an amazing way. God is good. All the time. And His timing and ways are always perfect. 

Main Square of Entre Rios

The first day (Thursday) I was a little nervous, I won't lie. First I was a bit anxious as my team left at the thought of being without them - let me explain, I am used to sleeping with at least half a dozen people squashed in one room every night, there are ALWAYS people around me, the joys of living in community with 30 odd people. Personal space is a thing of the past. Then I realised that I didn't actually know where I was (I was too sick when we arrived the night before to notice where we were). And I was alone in a missions house where Spanish was the only language option. Hmm. God is so amazing with taking care of me though, as I stepped out to "ask" (in broken Spanish) Mace what I should do she invited me into her home saying I would eat with them and live with them for the next few days, they were my new family, we live and eat together now. This blessed my heart so much, knowing I was in good hands I knew everything would be okay.

Guido, Mace, Mati and me

In fact it was more than okay, it was awesome! I had so much fun. The first evening Mace and I had coffee in her lounge, in Spanish. We then walked two blocks down to fetch her husband Guido from his football game. The local guys commenting on me, being blonde and sticking out like a sore thumb, trying to figure out where I was from, it was quite fun as I don't think they thought I understood!! Dinner was in a local restaurant down by the main square (there are only about 3 places to eat the town is so small!!) followed by tea back in the house before I retired for the night, exhausted from trying to communicate in Spanish for the last 5 hours but very happy. 

God also likes to push us out of our comfort zone. For example, Friday started off nice and chilled with me having breakfast with Mace, followed by a lovely wander down to the local market before having lunch next door with Rachel, a local missionary, and two of her daughters. All went well until I was asked to preach that afternoon at her daughter's bible study. In Spanish. Without a translator. Err. Those who know me well know that I am quite shy and not a fan of public speaking, so leading even just a bible study requires me to be bold and step out in faith, let alone doing it in Spanish! Let me explain, my Spanish is at a conversational level in that I can get by socially, but definitely not to the level where I can preach the word of God! I can confirm that God is faithful and when we step out in faith He meets us there and enables us to do things that far exceed our expectations of ourselves. My audience were very gracious with me though as even though my Spanish is no where near good, but they were able to understand what I was trying to say and I can honestly say that I felt the power of the Holy Spirit giving me the language. 

Saturday was another day of being pushed out my comfort zone, this time I was asked to lead Mace's ladies bible study. Err, no pressure, leading a bible study for a pastor's wife. This time I was more challenged in that I really didn't know what to share with the ladies, even as I went to meet them I still didn't know what I was going to say. Again I can say that God is faithful and as I went out in faith He started giving me words and testimonies to share with them. It was such a fun afternoon, we took a taxi out of town to have bible study in an old ladies farmyard with ducks and geese clacking around us all afternoon. The bible study was a great success with the ladies being truly blessed, we really felt the presence of God there. And in true Bolivian style we finished the afternoon off with mate (a tea) and bread. 

Mate and bread

By Sunday 4 of my team members had returned so we led the children's church service which was a lot of fun. The kids have such a boldness and faith in God, it's beautiful. 

The kids singing to us!

Roberta and Bridget leading the bible story, but first we had to sing happy 7th birthday to Safi,

my little friend from next who took a shine to me and insisted on me going everywhere with her :)

Safi and I

This little guy was lost in the Lord's
presence while praying

And in the evening we led the adult's service. This was a fun time of seeing how God talks to all of us - 3 of us heard a word from God to share with the congregation, and without talking to each other before the service, we all shared the same word!! The same scriptures and everything. Isn't God supernaturally great. And fun - the testimonies He had me share were very entertaining and I had the whole congregation laughing at my embarrassing stories!

Capirindita village

Saturday the group left for the nearby village of Capirindita to minister with the cousin (Angela) of one of our team leaders who has been living in that village ministering as the only white person in the tribe for the last 3 years. I stayed in Villa Montes for an extra two days as we had 2 ladies sick/exhausted so I stayed behind with them to rest. It was good, a good opportunity for me to spend extra time with Jesus, journalling, spending time in the Word. On Monday we set off to join the team in Capirindita. This was an interesting time, where most of the ministry was spiritually focused. There was some weird stuff going on in that village.

The village had been suffering a fish drought (a major source of food for them) for the last couple of years so one afternoon we went down to the river to pray and prophesy that the waters would once again be full of fish.

The river we prayed over to be filled fish

It was interesting learning from Angela all the cultural ways of the people, what their beliefs were, how they viewed Jesus, etc. At different times groups of us went on foot with her to the surrounding villages where she ministers. On the last evening (Tuesday) the village had a despedida (farewell) service for us. It was so fun, we sat outside and they sang worship songs to us in Guarani, we say in Spanish together and then we sang to them in English and Macua, an African language which is spoken in Mozambique which is where we attended our missionary training school. Great fun! We also preached and taught them about how in the spirit world Jesus is bigger than any evil spirit and that when they had problems in the spirit world all they need to do was cry out to Jesus and He would deliver them. As most of us on the team have testimonies of this we shared some with them and they were greatly encouraged.

Villa Montes

We left Filadelfia Wednesday 1st August for Bolivia. Our bus was at 1am so at 11pm we left the house to go wait at the church in town. This was really a surreal journey with the craziness beginning at about 7pm during dinner with me suddenly getting really sick. Not cool considering we had a long night of travelling ahead of us. After going to the church and waiting for a couple of hours there (me in excruciating pain in my intestines), we got back in the car to go wait on the side of the main street in town for the bus. When the bus hadn't arrived by about 3:30am we got back in the car and went back to the church to rest until 6am, when we got back in the car and went back to the main road to wait for the bus again. Eventually we got going by about 8:30am. Turns out the bus had broken down somewhere between Asuncion and Filadelfia.

After a fairly smooth morning of driving we got to the border which was an adventure in itself, it was a dusty tiny shack of a border crossing, the most third world we've come across on this journey (it reminds me of African borders!!), it was completely disorganised with the officials not being particularly helpful or polite to us, not least because we didn't have visas for our 15 Americans!! Not to mention the "helpful assistant" who was in fact drunk...

Third world border of note!

Waiting...

After an hour or so of backwards and forwards with the Paraguay/Bolivian passengers getting more and more irritated with us gringos (foreigners) taking so long, we somehow managed to pass through the border with the required visas, saying we'd go to the nearest office the next morning and get them then! So back on the bus we got, with a border official who came with us to help us get the visas the next day. We'd hardly crossed over the border, plus had to get on and off at least 3 or 4 times for various military checks (actually to this day I'm still not sure what was going on but on and off we got as there were many men in uniforms asking us to!), when we turned off for a diversion straight into a very sandy off road, only to get stuck in the sand when we had a tree trunk fallen across the road. Err.

Katherine's face says it all, that knowing look of "oh... this doesn't look good!"

So then our guys got off the bus to help the driver push/pull whatever to get the bus unstuck. Eventually we had to wait until a passing truck came from the opposite direction who could pull the bus out.

Our men helping take care of the stuck bus problem!

Back on the bus we got and eventually we arrived in Villa Montes, our Bolivian destination, tired, dirty and very hungry!!

This is how we often arrive - it's dark, we're tired, hungry and have no

idea where to go to find food, accommodation for the night, and of course

the much needed ATM since this is our first stop in the new country

Friday was a day of rest for those who didn't need a visa, which included discovering a great local market with fresh fruit and vegetable juices. My heart was really happy to be back in a third world country, although I must admit that I was not loving all the associated bug bites. I just react so badly to them, I'm definitely not a natural girl!!

And onwards to Filadelfia

We left Asuncion early Saturday morning to take the bus to Filadelfia, arriving at 2:30pm to be met by a German Mennonite Church (connected to the church we ministered with in Uruguay).

The bus from Asuncion dropped us on the side of the road

(literally!) - this is us waiting for Rafael waiting to pick us up

This church really blessed us by hosting us for nearly a week at a beautiful farm retreat half hour out of town. Filadelfia reminds me of an Afrikaans farming town in the Karoo, very dusty and small town vibe... they even slaughtered a lamb one day and braaied it for us!

Extreme amounts of dust and dirt all the time... It took me a few days to clear out my lungs! But great community atmosphere with everyone knowing everyone. We had a bus rented for us driven by Rafael, good thing as we were at least half an hour outside of town along very dusty roads far from everywhere really!

Us being transported by Rafael!

That evening we lead the church youth meeting where many got touched and many young people got to see first hand that it is cool to know Jesus! During the following week we had many youth start coming to church on fire for God after seeing the young guys on our team who are wildly in love with Jesus, but totally cool and not nerdy at all. Our guys are good role models for the youth :)

Taylor preaching up a storm with Liney translating

On Sunday we lead the church service, it was wild with the presence of the Lord, we had a fire tunnel where we form a tunnel and the congregation walks between us and we pray and prophesy over them. This is quite "out there" for many people, but especially for a German Mennonite Church who are traditionally a bit stuck in their ways! They loved it and were stretched outside of their comfort zones which was good.

In the afternoon we ministered to indigenous kids in a village nearby. There was a lot of witchcraft for us to pray against in this village. We started by just playing with the kids before leading them in a simple service. For those who have contact with kids, I found it interesting that kids don't know how to do puzzles, they have no concept of connecting the pieces (even for simple puzzles and definitely age appropriate for them) in a logical order. It was a little challenging to explain to them what to do as they don't speak Spanish, they speak Guarani, a tribal language. It's amazing what you can communicate through sign language though!

Me helping the kids do puzzles

This was a great albeit busy time (to be expected considering we were ministering with a German church!). A definite highlight was spending time with Hedi who is a missionary in Sudan. She was home in Paraguay visiting (she's Paraguayan). There is a movie about her (called Mama Shekinah) which is worth watching, she´s on the same level as Heidi Baker, seriously.

Taylor having fun with the kids - hard to say who's having more fun!!

On Tuesday we visited a kids daycare in the morning, followed by lunch at Hedi 's with her sharing about her time in Somalia and Sudan. I felt so priviledged to be sitting at her feet learning from her, she really is a general in the faith. In the afternoon we hosted a block party for village kids in a local village. We prayed for people in their homes and invited the kids to come play at the square where we were having the block party.

Fun being had all around

A highlight was leading a transexual person we met to the Lord. This was a very spiritually dark village with quite a bit of weird stuff going on. Afterwards when the pastor came by to see how we were getting on he shared that the kids are very spiritually aware, they will come to you if you are filled with love but equally if you're not they'll know. At that time I had a bunch of kids hanging on me who had not let me out of their sight all afternoon so good to know they think I have love in my heart :) In the evening Errado (the foreman of the house where we were staying) had slaughtered a sheep for us that day which he braaied for dinner. Delicious! 

Errado braaing the lamb he'd slaughtered for us

On Wednesday a group of us went to serve the church by cleaning their church, it was SUPER dusty and dirty as it had been empty for 3 years!! The church had bought what used to be a shop and were now converting it into a youth hangout centre connected with the church.  Lunch at the pastor's house for one last visit then back home to pack up and clean.

Our boys looking proud of themselves after sweeping out the room!

Off to Asuncion

Paraguayan flag

We left late on Sunday evening after the church service to take the bus (at midnight!) to Asuncion, Paraguay. Foz is 15min from the Paraguayan border so shortly after getting on the bus we were getting off to pass through border control. It was one of the quickest smoothest border crossings I've ever done - crossing borders without foreign cars is soooo much easier!! I felt really bad after we arrived at Asuncion when another passenger from the bus asked me where we needed to go to pass through border control. When I looked at him blankly (it was 6am after all and I'd just woken up!!) he looked a little worried and then asked if we'd already been through border control. Err, yes, like 15min after we got on the bus. Poor guy had fallen asleep as soon as he got on the bus and slept right through the whole journey, only to wake up in Paraguay kindof illegally I guess. Another reason why it's good to travel with others, to help prevent these sorts of adventures from happening :) 

Top down view of some team members getting a much

needed early morning cup of coffee from a stand at the bus station

After arriving at the bus station at 6am first things first we needed to find a hostel and get some much needed sleep. While napping a few of us (myself included) had some very strange dreams, indicating some spiritual activity was taking place where we were.  Paraguay was an interesting country in terms of us going there with absolutely no plan, no contacts, no nothing, just the Holy Spirit to guide us. And guide us He did. We spent a few days in Asuncion (the capital) mainly just going out to the streets and ministering to the poor and the lost we came across. We experienced many salvations and healings, first day we got there we prayed for a guy waiting in the lobby of our hostel and he was healed (knee problems so he had a cane) which was awesome. While going out to find dinner with a couple of team members, we incorporated some treasure hunting (where we ask God to highlight people who we come across as people He wants to bless, they're His treasures and we look for them) with our search for good food, which was a great deal of fun - I love it when ministry just becomes part of our everyday lives. 

On Wednesday we ministered and slept in another church. This was a great service as the congregation were so excited to have us. God was there and so many people were touched by God, it was beautiful. On a practical note it was interesting having 23 of us sleeping on the floor in the church, with only bathroom!! 

I think the overall highlight for me of our time in Paraguay was ministering in Tacumbu prison with Angel, and American missionary we found online, in Asuncion on Friday. It was pretty crazy, we went in with 2 local missionaries and a local pastor. The prison is built for 1200 people but sleeps 3600 so a lot of overcrowding - it´s one of the biggest prisons in Latin America and is renowned for human rights violations. Going in we had no guards, just some inmates who formed a row of ushers around us as a barricade to protect us from the other inmates, a bit overwhelming. 

Us walking through getting a tour of the prison

Once we got to the safer area where they hold their church meetings (there´s a slightly cornered off area where some people have come to know the Lord so they meet there for daily pray and worship and bible study) the atmosphere completely changed, it was unbelievable. I could literally feel the presence of the Lord. Thick like a blanket covering us. We led a church service which was very powerful, so many men were touched by the Lord, people were healed and guys were set free spiritually. 

Angel, our missionary contact, introducing our

team, as represented our team member Kelly

Breck preaching

It was beautiful. My heart was so full of love for them - God really showed me His love for them, how He really loves us all, that these men are just people who have lost their way and need to know God´s love and that there is hope for them. Funny story, while praying for one man, I thought he said he was struggling with thoughts of suicide. No problem, I could definitely pray for that to be broken off him, when he corrects me by saying no no, he's having thoughts of homicide. Err, okay then, I'll definitely pray in faith for that to be broken off!

Inmates worshipping from their hearts

Foz do Iguazu

At Foz do Iguazo we stayed at a church retreat, provided for us by the church of one of our team member's mentor. We arrived Monday night late to a welcome dinner of hot dogs and hot chocolate, very Brazilian!

This is how we travel - 6 of the 11 people in the motorhome!

On Tuesday we participated in the community outreach project of feeding the poor at the church. It was a fun evening of just hanging out with local Brazilians. Trust us to arrive in style (our big funny looking American cars never cease to create a stir) and leave in style (when our big Suburban wouldn't start). And so began about 2 months of having difficulty getting the car to start. Thankfully that night between Stephen (our resident car mechanic in team) and half a dozen Brazilian men they managed to get us up and running. Honestly I've lost count of the number of times our cars have broken down at church!! Not embarrassing at all :)

Being a Baptist Church the church doesn't believe in the Holy Spirit being for now, 2012, rather it belongs 2000 years ago, during the biblical age, in the Book of Acts, so we weren't initially allowed to minister in the church. But miraculously the senior pastor changed his mind last minute and invited us to minister that Wednesday night. It was such an amazing night, we preached, lead worship, prayed and prophesied. I had my first word of knowledge for pain in left leg with burning behind my knee during worship. What happened was during worship I suddenly felt a burning sensation in my left leg for a few moments and then it left. Later on in the service a few of us had words of knowledge so I asked if anyone had pain in their left leg. As this was my first time of getting a word of knowledge for healing I was a little nervous in case I was wrong (yes that is pride is Elizabeth!), but to my surprise the man behind me said yes that's me! So I prayed for him and he was healed in that moment! Praise God!!

Overall the week was a time of rest and admin time of getting visas for Paraguay and Bolivia. As I don't need a visa for these countries I took the time spend more time in the Word which I just loved. It was such a beautiful peaceful location and even as we were there the weather started warming up and we were able to enjoy some sunny days. We spent some ministering to the pastor and his wife and he ministered to us.

Chilling by pool - enjoying the first

warm weather in quite a while

Taylor watching Zoe

Friday we were to the Falls which was perfect timing as it was my dear friend Liz's birthday and the Falls happen to be one of her favourite places in the world (she's been to Brazil a few times before). These falls are where the final scene of The Mission was filmed where the missionary goes over the falls. A little bit sobering as we're missionaries and we've spent quite a bit of time ministering to tribes in the jungle who do not know Jesus, nor are all of them happy to be having white foreigners in their villages. 

The falls were exquisite, they border Brazil and Argentina