BILINGUAL CAMP 2010

if you have been to Itu to visit us, you understand what a big deal our BILINGUAL CAMP is in our circle!

it is the yearly event that generates the most movement within our community, the most amount of gringos in Itu, the most amount of advertising for an Itu church event, the most amount of excitement in our youth community, and the most amount of work! =)

we've had Carioca's amazing talent helping us develop the image of our 2010 CAMP -- what our brainstorming community realized was that most everything being promoted for youth (in and out of church) in our brazilian context is so ... superficial. it tries to correct the errors by complaining about the branches, instead of dealing with the r-o-o-t-s. ... but the deepest "whys" are left out of the reasoning process. . . and so we invite youth to explore the roots of life, the essence, the deeper reality.


and with you, CAMP ROOTS 2010



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march madness

and so i blinked my eyes on feb 28th, and when i opened them it was March 11th.

here are a few of our news flashes for March (some in the past tense already):

- we spoke at a youth conference in GOIANIA last week! it went very well. my cousins organized a good group of 70 teens in their church, and we spoke about CHANGING PERSPECTIVE (when we invite God's perspective, our posture is readjusted and the possibilities grow)



my counsins in GOIANIA

my cousins' kids



- while in GOIANIA, we visited a non-profit org that cares for delinquent youth. it is an incredible institution, and it inspired us to keep dreaming in transforming our xic-xou (homeless lunch) into a non-profit.

- we received Greg, Fawn and Taylor Dunham, and began working out the details for our medical campaign CURA 2010 (hey, you should definitely visit www.curabrazil.com), including meeting with the mayor, secretary of health, secretary of education, and our 1st CURA 2010 volunteer meeting!

- last weekend we had 12 people spend the night! several friends came from out of town for the CURA meeting, and then several others decided they missed Itu/our house... we were outsideour gate till 2 am doing stupid human tricks on skate boards, talking and setting up the tent for the boys to sleep in.

- our non-nuclear family (Mark, Ali, Carioca and Barbara) participated in a Philanthropy Seminar on Monday. learned a lot about the laws and politics around the new law for social work entities. honestly, boring, but useful.

- we will be settling all the details for our ITU BILINGUAL CAMP! curriculum and programs and invitations and recruiting...

- NEXT WEEK CHRIS FRIZZEL and SARAH LANG arrive! woohoo! Chris will be here from Granbury to offer a weekend seminar and spend some time with us, and Sarah will be our new intern for 6 months!

- also, MARK'S BDAY IS MONDAY!


and so this is the beginning of our march madness...

february... at the end??

mark became a hair stylist for our homeless. as long as all you need is a buzz, he does a great job!


our first hiho lunch gathering of 2010


the beautiful Blume girl came for a visit, and we had a blast dragging them thru our life =)




*it's crazy to realize that we are already knocking at the door of the 3rd month of the year!

we've survived an incredible month of welcoming new people into our lives and home, carnival trip with youth group, 2010 church vision meetings, and development of our youth and homeless ministries.

tomorrow we are headed to GOIANIA (state about 600 miles NORTH of SAO PAULO) to share at a youth conference about "youth that makes a difference". very excited to spend time with my family in Goiania also!

we are enjoying a cool, cloudy day after surviving several very blazing and humid ones!
God is gracious.

ak

Its Carnival week, biggest party on the planet! So we are about to hit the road with our youth to a camp. The camp is small (60 people or so) and will take place in a Christian drug rehab facility. This will be a great stretching experience for our kids!

We have had a great week with our youth already too. We have been in a series defining the purpose of our group. We use our living room wall as a white board. the effect of suppressed childhood urges :) They have played a great part in solidifying this vision with us. They also came to help with our homeless lunch yesterday. Check out the video, it was a blast! And Christ's love was played out in a way that blessed our kids, and our homeless. Serving God can make for such a fun life!

a new member of our family

it's hard to believe we were away for 3 months... we've been back for 3 weeks now, and it seems we never left.

several incredible things have happened since we returned, but one we would specially like to share!
a friend of ours, Leonardo Carioca, decided after a visit to Itu from Sao Paulo that he witnessed in itu a movement he wanted to be a part of!
so after a couple of months of prayer and brainstorming, Carioca is now a part of our team!
he has initially joined us as an intern for 6 months! we are incredibly blessed to have him here as a part of our family!
Carioca has a business management degree, and also has extensively studies marketing. he will be developing the "communications project" for the church.

thank you for your prayers and support! many more victory stories to come...

ak

videos?

from 40F to 40C