I arrived safely in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Jan 6, 2011 with two of my teammates, Hilary and Marisa. We were met at the airport by a guy named Rodrigo, who has quickly become part of the family here. He is not with YWAM, but works very closely with this base and is very helpful and excited to participate in our ministry time here as well as simply giving us the lay of the land and showing us around.
Our first week has been much about team building and drawing focus and vision for this year ahead. We each prayed about what God’s plans are for us as individuals on this journey, as a group and also what God’s heart and vision are for our final project/publication. It was really encouraging and exciting to hear what everyone felt the Lord speaking to them personally and for our group.
As a group of 7, after praying about it, we each felt very strongly called to one particular ministry realm. To my surprise, I felt the Lord saying HOMELESSNESS. I really feel like God is aching for the homeless that line the streets of just about any city anywhere in the world. There is a human, a heart, a soul and a life lived underneath each face of homelessness that we too often write off as dregs or drug addicts. I really feel called to expose the stories of homeless people around the world and communicate our common humanity as opposed to our polarity.
The two other issues the group feels led to focus on during this year are children (street children & orphans) and sex trafficking. Each of these three topics relate and intertwine in the areas of beauty, value and worth. We are all so excited to see how we are able to impact people, learn and grow as we travel the globe seeking to see social injustice overcome with both local compassion and global action.
While we are here in Brazil (until the end of March) we will be involved in training to improve our photography technique and photojournalistic skills so that we can capture the images that help tell the stories and put faces to issues as we move forward on this mission.
I am so grateful to all my supporters, both in finance, prayer and simple words of encouragement for coming together for one cause and getting me here so that I can fight on the behalf of others. That I can grow in my gifts and in my spiritual walk. That I can become someone armed with a global perspective of injustice, such that my voice can become a voice for the silenced. That together we can spread the love of Jesus to a dark and hurting world. That we can use our lives, our time, our resources and our passions to create a better world for our future generations.
Thank you, from me, from every life we touch together, from all the children who are walking into the world we leave them and to all those who will follow after them. Thank you.
