26 April 2007

You live, you learn

What do you do when you think you've helped someone leave a life on the streets for a life that seemed better, and then that someone (or in this case group of someones) left the life that seemed better for the life that was more familiar?

What I am doing now is learning from the mistakes that were made. Let's say a family, with a small child of around 2 years old is living on the streets, and is at time being assaulted from time to time and being robbed of the few worldly possessions they do have. One day, when your church is showing a movie for the purpose of having a deep discussion afterward, this family walks in the doors. Really only the husband/father walks all the way in because the wife/mother is so embarrassed about her appearance, she will not come in to be around all the people who sleep under roofs and take showers at least once a day (for Brazilians this shower thing could reach in the double digits).

So, say you help this family have the means to make money enough to rent a small house, and you find them a place, with the help of some other members of your church. And for a while they are happy and content and are moving in and enjoying being able to provide for themselves and their baby. They work on getting the child into a nursery school. It takes a long time, but the child is eventually able to stay at the school a whole day without pitching a fit (remember, the child has not been away from her parents on the street at all her whole life). So, things seem to be going well.

Then, you hear they want to switch jobs. They can make more money doing something else. They switch. It isn't successful. They don't want to go back to the old job. They find another job and are doing pretty well. Then all of a sudden they move out. You hear lots of stories, two or three from the couple themselves. The house was leaky; rain got in. There were ticks crawling all over the place and were biting our daughter. They kicked us out. We had medical expenses and could not afford rent. You never really hear the same story twice in a row, and you hear from the owner that they just packed up and left. Nevertheless, they are back living on the street. They find another place to rent, but it is more expensive. They ask for help again. They quit working for a couple of weeks. They ask for help again. Knowing that it will probably end up the same way do you give them a months rent for the new place? Do you tell them no and encourage them to work to get into the new place on their own, knowing that they can't manage money well enough to do that?

This is really just a tip of the iceburg kind of story telling. It is really happening, though. This man is very open to studying scripture with anyone who will open a Bible and sit down for some time with him. Pretty interesting. What I hope is that enough time can be given to this family to teach them to take care of a rented house and maybe help train them to be able to manage their lives well enough to get off the street for good. Living on the street can be just as much an adiction as drugs and alcohol, or so it seems.

17 April 2007

Visitor



Mary's mom arrived safe and sound on Sunday. She brought a ton of baby things, and that's about it. I don't see how she could have had anything else in her suitcases.

She and Mary are getting the baby's nursery ready. That is the purpose of this, her fourth trip to Brazil. She is now tied with the number of trips Mary has made to Brazil, and they are both ahead of me by one.

They got a lot done yesterday. I am a little aprehensive about this, because there are so many changes going on to the room I used to be able to relax in. Oh, well. The life of a father, right?

14 April 2007

6 Months


6 Months
Originally uploaded by Brazilian Tempo.
This is Mary at 6 months. She says she doesn't look any different. What do you think? Let us know.

02 April 2007

ICoS First Anniversary

God is good. The Igreja de Cristo o Salvador celebrated its one year anniversary April 1, 2007. There were 102 in attendance, including Riverchase’s very own Brothers Dewayne Spivey and Ron Jackson and our sister in Christ, Carol Echols from Cullman. Matt preached on practical ways that we can, “Fear the Lord and keep his commandments” as Solomon writes at the end of all wisdom in Ecclesiastes. We were honored that Dewayne led us in communion and Ron worded the closing prayer, both translated by our teammate Travis Sass. We made some new contacts that some of our members brought with them, as well as saw faces we had not seen for a while. Our first anniversary was already a time of celebrating what God has done in the city of Salvador through this church he has called us to help plant here and a time to call some back to communion with this growing body of Christ.
After the worship service, we had an American potluck done the Brazilian way. During the lunch, some of our members were given the opportunity to share with everyone what being a part of ICoS has meant to them. People shared everything from their blessing of being married surrounded by this family of Christ to finding new friends who have encouraged them in their walk with Christ. It does not seem that the day could have been any better.
What a blessing it was to have Ron, Dewayne, and Carol with us for a few days but that time was too short. We were encouraged by their love for us, their affirmation of the work we are doing, and their willingness to struggle with us through some of the questions that we face on a weekly basis just as a result of working in the service of our King. We thank God that he brought them to us and got them back home safely to you. To God be the glory.