School Started at the Lighthouse!

Much is going on here at the Lighthouse Community Center at the moment!
  The Lighthouse is literally a full house daily,  full of children, teens and adults from the slum coming to participate in the various activities and programs offered here.

Also, just last week, a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) school called Foundations of Community Development (FCD School) started here at the Lighthouse.  The Lighthouse got a little bit "fuller"!

 There are now five FCD students living at the Lighthouse and participating in this awesome training course!  Meet the new additions to the Lighthouse family!

Quesede, Polyane, and Cida from Brazil, Klaske from Holland, and Zach from Canada.

What is the Foundations in Community Development School?

The Foundations in Community Development school or (FCD school) is a three month long YWAM course that trains people to work in poor communities, based on values and principles found in the Word of God.  This school equips students with skills to help communities initiate and accomplish strategic activities that will bring life and growth towards God's purposes in His kingdom on earth.

The school is composed of classes covering the following topics:

Christian view of poverty

Practical examples of Community Development

How to help a local church participate in community development

Christian Worldview

Research and planning of new projects

The Kingdom of God

The importance of water and the environment and creative solutions

Intercession and spiritual warfare

Holistic Mission

To read more about this YWAM training school click here.

Prayer Requests...

The students have already completed a week of classes and are enjoying their time and experience so far. Please pray for them during this special season of learning and growing in the calling has for their lives!

Also, please pray for the leaders and staff  running the FCD school, as they have just a small team of three running the school and have much to do.

Thanks for your prayers!
May God be glorified in all that is going on here at the Lighthouse Community Center!

*Photos by Kelly Van de Brink 
 Click here to see more of her amazing photography.

There is Always Hope!

Meet Sander (on the far left), a missionary from Holland, who is a part of the Lighthouse Community Center team.  Sander is a great asset to our team and has a huge heart for the people living in the slum.

Sander literally spends hours upon hours every week visiting and spending time with people in the slum.  He spends time with the drug addicts and the homeless who hang out on the streets to families living in the slum who are in great need of encountering the love and hope Christ.

In Luke 5, you can read about how Jesus Himself spent time with sinners and tax collectors then he is questioned for his actions.  Basically he was asked, "Why do you spend time with people like this?"  His reponse was,  "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."

  

Sander is following the example of Jesus.  He is reaching out, showing love and offering friendship, encouragement, hope and support to the truly sick people living in the slum.

Many times a week Sander goes out in the streets and invites men and women to come to a small group that he holds in a church which in located in the heart of the slum.  Most of the people who come to the group are homeless and/or are addicted to drugs.

This little classroom is usually FULL of people for the group sessions Sander holds most mornings. Sander brings snacks, talks with the people, shares a Word from the Bible and shows kindness and love to those who often feel rejected and that they have no value, diginity or hope in life.

Sander knows many people in the slums and has many stories he could tell about the precious people he has built a relationship with.  For example, this man, Mr. Eugenio, is homeless and addicted to alcohol.

 In the morning Eugenio walks around on the streets collecting scraps of iron and then he sells the iron at a nearby hardware store.  He then uses the money he has earned, to buy a bottle of cachaça (white rum).  Eugenio's happiness depends on that one bottle. He has been doing this for about twenty years now.

One day, Sander let Eugenio play the guitar during one of his group sessions.  He was a bit shy as he began to strum and play as it had been a while since he had played, but once he got going he was good! He sat and played, concentrated, with passion and emotion, as a true artist.  Sander said he could see a small glimpse of the man he once was on this day.  Eugenio was brought great joy through playing the guitar and not from drinking...

This is a couple, Jose and Vania, that Sander often visits here in the slum. They both struggle with alcohol addiction, and they work gathering recyclable materials from trash in the streets. This means they spend many hours searching through garbage just to find items they can sell for a few cents  This is the reality of their lives...

 Jose and Vania are in need of much prayer.  They have 4 children - their 13 year old daughter has stopped going to school and their three older sons are active in the local drug gangs.

 Jose and Vania have little hope of a better life, but we know that there is always HOPE in Jesus.  Vania has been long afflicted with depression and  feels much pressure to provide for her whole family, as her husband does not fully take on this responsibility.

This is a photo taken inside their home.
This is their reality, their life.

The house is very small and dirty and they have no money to renovate their home.  Rainwater often seeps through the walls and there is little ventilation for the warm humid air that gets trapped in the house.  You can also see the mold growing on the walls here, which is dangerous to the health of the family.

 

Fortunately there is ALWAYS HOPE with Jesus!  

 

Many of the people living in the slum are in great need of a transforming encounter with God.  They are also in need of support, guidance and direction in how to better their lives and make choices that bring them life and not death. 

Please pray for our slum, for the people mentioned in this post, and for the valuable work that Sander is doing, as he is sharing Jesus with people who are in great need.  Thank you!

First Volunteer of the Year!

Our first volunteer of the year is named Jacqueline and she is from Holland.  She has a beautiful testimony!  

Jacqueline was born in a city called Salvador, which is located in the northeastern region of Brazil.  Her mother was only 15 years old when Jacqueline was born.  By the time Jacqueline was 5 months old she was extremely sick.  Her mother took her to a children's shelter in Salvador and left her there because she was not able to properly take care of Jacqueline.  One of the missionaries at the children's home felt God wanted them to take in Jacqueline.  God also spoke a strong word to this man that Jacqueline had a great future.

A loving family adopted Jacqueline and she moved to Holland where she grew up and she lives there until today.  Jacqueline deeply loves her parents as they have taught her much about God and His great love. 

Today, Jacqueline is 26 years old and this is her first trip back to Brazil since she was a baby.   Jacqueline is very thankful and excited to be back in Brazil, and her trip here has such deep meaning for her.  She is finally able to learn all about the culture and country where was born. How wonderful!

In the girls' group this week Jacqueline shared her beautiful testimony.  She shared that it was really hard for her at times growing up in Holland being adopted and also wondering about her biological mother.   Her parents in Holland continually taught her about the love and comfort of God.  Jacqueline shared with the girls that even when she doesn't always understand everything in life, even when things have been hard for her,  she knows she can always go to God and He brings her a deep peace with His great love.

Jacqueline also shared a beautiful gift with the girls while she was with the girls.  She shared the gift of dance!  Jacqueline took ballet lessons from the time she was 3 years old until she was 16 years old.  She loves to dance and worship freely before the Lord in dance.

 Jacqueline presented a beautiful worship dance.

Afterwards she led the girls in a fun time of dancing to various upbeat worship music.  The girls absolutely LOVED it!  It was a  wonderful dancing day!

Even one of the shiest girls in the group was all smiles while she was dancing. All the girls were laughing and just getting free as they had fun dancing!

Next week Jacqueline will be celebrating her birthday in the city where she was born, in Salvador.  She is spending two weeks there to get to know the city where she is originally from.  How special is that!?!  Jacqueline has contact with the children's home where she taken as a baby, and some people there think they possibly have found Jacqueline's biological mother.  It is a great desire of Jacqueline to meet her biological mother and have a heart-to-heart talk with her one day. She is making steps of faith on this journey of finding her biological mom.

What an amazing God we have and what a beautiful story of a life that was transformed!  Jacqueline realizes that her life would have been much different had she never been taken to this children's home or been adopted.  She was literally rescued from darkness. God restored her life and gave her a great future, and God still has many more beautiful things HE is yet to do!

Jacqueline truly is a beautiful young woman who reflects the joy and love of God!  She left Belo Horizonte just this morning to travel to Salvador. We miss her already at the Lighthouse.  We wish she could have stayed longer!

More info about volunteers:

Most international volunteers who come to the Lighthouse take anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months out of their lives to serve here on a short-term basis.  If you are interested in learning more about becoming a volunteer click here or check out our "Get Involved" page on this blog.

A Big Success!

In the beginning of March we held a BAZAR  (like a garage sale) here at the Lighthouse Community Center to raise money for our ministry.  The bazar was a BIG success!

 We raised about $1,300 in Brazilian Reais (which is about $750 USD)!

It was a win win situation really.  The people from the slum were blessed to be able to buy  good quality items at a low price, and the Lighthouse Community Center was blessed to receive much needed finances to help keep our ministry running.  Recently we have had more financial challenges, so every offering we receive or money we raise is important to help us pay our bills - especially our water bill as we having the only operating swimming pool in the community.

Enjoy seeing a few photos from this event!

Lighthouse Team 2012

This past week we took a photo of the 2012 Lighthouse Community Center team of missionaries! Soon we will begin our work with the precious children and families living in the Cafezal slum.

Pray for our team and for our work in the slum to bear good fruit. It is our prayer that many will come to know our loving God and that many lives will be transformed in 2012!