Hip Hop for Jesus

These guys are three of the most righteous dudes you'll ever meet! They are called G.A.P. (in English, Support Group for the Margins). The guy on the right with the cool "doo," David, overcame his drug addiction two years ago through his experience at the chacara. The other two guys, Elder and Jeff, also had serious drug problems, and overcame their addictions at other youth recovery centers. You wouldn't believe their stories if I told them to you: they have literally been to hell and back, with all that they have survived in terms of violence and drug abuse. Yet God has given them the victory! Recently they joined forces to form a hip-hop music group, G.A.P. Their message is simple: Jesus can give you victory over drugs! Last month they entered a statewide competition and, among 50 groups, won first place for best original song "Klick, Klack, Krack." They were the only gospel group among these 50, so it was a pretty amazing feat that they won and gave a powerful testimony for Christ!

Last week, the local public TV station came to the chacara to interview the G.A.P. guys and talk about the chacara's work in helping youth overcoming drug problems. They interviewed Isaias and the group members, and the show was aired the following Sunday! The show has already attracted dozens of phone calls from around the metropolitan area, from families interested in getting help for their relatives. Hopefully with this increased exposure, more people will want to get involved in our work and also get involved with other recovery centers who are trying to assist youth in conquering these vile drug demons. Victory is possible in Jesus!

G.A.P. is now trying to record a CD. They have 75% of the funds they need but are lacking about U$1,400 to finish this project. I would encourage all of you to pray about this and if you sense God leading you to assist them with a financial contribution, feel free to contact me. We need to value young people like these three men whom God is using to evangelize in incredibly difficult places - their message is extremely important! To God be the glory!

Industrious Lads

It's been a few months since I've reported on what's happening down on the "farm," but believe me, things are really hopping right now! This year, one of our major goals with our work at the Youth Recovery Center is to help them create a small business - sources of income that will allow them to rely less and less on donations for their survival, eventually becoming self-sustaining. Not only will this help them financially, it will also help the young men to learn practical job and life skills that will help them for the rest of their days.

We are working on two major sustenance projects right now. The first is the construction of a greenhouse. As you can see, we are just in the beginning stages. When finished, it will measure 27 meters long, 10 meters wide and 3 meters high. The plan is to use this greenhouse to cultivate seedlings of savory herbs and spices, rare aromatic plants, and flower bulbs. We are already cooperating with a local floriculture shop that is interested in purchasing the products. Check out Marco and Anderson as they put the shovel to the ground!

The other project that is in the works right now is arts and crafts. There is a young man at the chácara right now named Marcelo who has a tremendous talent for making crafts. He learned this while serving a five-month sentence in juvenile detention before coming to us. He knows how to make these incredible figurines, as you can see below - dolls, swans, you name it, he makes it - all out of small pieces of colored paper and glue!! Amazing stuff.

Marcelo is the young man in the middle of the picture below. He is flanked by his assistants Adam and Walter. These guys are the "production team" for the crafts, folding the hundreds of little pieces of paper necessary for these figurines. There are other things that Marcelo does as well, like painting little wooden boxes to hold remote controls, key rings, jewelry, etc...Once he begins teaching the other guys how to make the crafts, there's no telling how far this project could go!

Please pray for the successful developing and implement of these projects! We don't just want to give fish, we want to teach these men how to fish! Working together in this manner, they can achieve far more than they ever dreamed on their own.

Inauguration of New Dormitory!

After much labor in hand and in prayer, we have finished the year with a wonderful blessing from God: a new dormitory at the Youth Recovery Center! Last Sunday, we held the inauguration for the new dormitory.

This is a outside & inside view of the old dormitories. As you can see, they are pretty cramped, and a little worn out. The lack of space and lack of adequate facilites are just one more reason for guys who are on the verge of giving up their recovery to throw in the towel.

Here are the new bathrooms and showers. Can you believe that previously, these 20 guys shared only one toilet and one showerhead? Now they have three of each at their disposal! Check out the style of the new rooms - anti-slip flooring, fresh paint on the walls, finished ceiling with light fixtures - these guys are lovin' it! All the work was done by the men themselves, and they worked literally up until the last minute to get the dorm as ready as possible for the big day! The dorm has five rooms which will hold four beds each - providing more privacy, safety, and space to grow for the men as they persevere in their recoveries.

As I've stated in previous posts, the Youth Recovery Center, known affectionately to us as the "chácara," is not managed by our church - it's run by an independent, non-denominational Pentecostal church. Our church and a few other local churches have joined in collaboration to support this work, which we believe is a work of God in the community of Alvorada to help young men & their families overcome severe drug & alcohol addictions.

The inaugration began with a worship service, as you can see below the folks are really fervent! They really get into their singing and music. From our church, Paulo Renato & I were invited to speak and we were thankful for this opportunity to recognize what God has done throughout this year amongst all of us: I could not have ever imagined how many marvelous things would happen!

Meanwhile, lunch was being prepared. Claudemir, the man in this picture, is one of the guys who has completed the nine month rehabilitation program. Gabriela, a woman whose husband Gari was recently baptized, helped Claudemir get a job unloading trucks at her firm. He is helping take care of our barebecue meat here! Waleska did her part, along with our Brazilian sisters Raquel and Moema, in getting the saladas ready. We had 100 people in attendance; lots of hungry mouths to feed!

I must mention some folks who have been very important collaborators in our work this year. To the left are our sisters Leni and Irotildes, who go with me every Wednesday to the chácara to prepare a special lunch & snack for the men and encourage them. The guys have really taken to them and have come to see these two ladies as motherly figures. They have done an excellent job this year of bringing joy to the men! In the right photo are our friends Amélia and Adenir. They are my brother-in-law´s in-laws, if that makes any sense. Anyway, we took them to the chácara earlier this year and they became very interested in helping, because they live in Alvorada. Amélia has met with several local business people and politicians to try and drum up support for the work, while Adenir agreed to pay for and prepare all of the meat for the inauguration barbecue! We are grateful for these folks and their dedication.

This is Isaias, the director of the chácara, with his wife Claúdia and their children, Evelyn and Jónatas. I have gained a tremendous respect for this man throughout the year as I have worked with him side-by-side every week. He does this job completely out of love for the Lord; he works nights as a municipal guard in another town, then comes and spends his days at the chácara without ever earning one cent for the work he does with these men. He combines biblical knowledge, pratical experience, compassion, discipline, and patient endurance like few people I've ever known. I thank God for him and wish there were more like him whom God would call to this kind of social impact in the name of the gospel!

This post would not be complete without telling you about some of the men who are changing their lives at the "chácara." To the left is Ricardo (blue shirt) with his family - he is 24 and has been at the chácara for 6 months. This is his third time to be here, and this time he is persevering! To the right are Eduardo & Rodrigo, brothers ages 19 & 20, with their parents. They come from a pretty tough neighborhood in Porto Alegre; they got involved with drugs early on as teenagers. Their parents brought them to the chácara in search of a solution and after two months they are doing great!

These are a few of the 22 men who have been immersed into Christ at the chácara this year and are living examples of how God works miracles of transformation in our times!

Each week I talk to them, pray with them, and encourage them to persist in their transformation, because in Christ, all things are possible!

A special THANK YOU to Fourth Avenue Church of Christ and North Beckley Church of Christ for your donations that have helped make this dream come true! Thank you for your support!

Hotel Partnership

I just wanted to share this photo and the story behind it. Our sister Leni, one of the volunteers who goes every week with me to the chacara (she cooks lunch, encourages the guys, acts as a kind of surrogate mother to them!) works as a massage therapist at a well-known hotel in town, the Blue Tree Towers. Through her influence, she was able to get the hotel to donate their used employee uniforms to the chácara! Now the guys are working proudly in style! We are fortunate to have had the same group for a month now...no one is leaving, these 20 guys are sticking it out and sticking together as they seek healing and redemption! The inauguration of the new dormitory will be this Sunday. I will be telling you all about it next week!

The View from Above

Our Brazilian sister Leni had this photo ordered - it is an aerial view of the chacara! Hopefully you can get a better idea of just how ample (1.5 hecatres) their property is! The new dormitory is the white-roofed building at bottom left. The old dormitories are to the left of it. The chapel and kitchen are in the building above the lake, and the reception are is the small blue building. The chacara is located off a main road in Alvorada, a suburb of Porto Alegre.

Collective Surprise Birthday Party

Let me first as I begin this post give credit to the Terrys for taking the pictures and posting this event on their blog. Last week we had a collective surprise birthday party for the men at the chácara. This was largely the idea of our Brazilian sister Leni. She made hot dogs, Jennifer Terry made chocolate cakes, and Leni bought mini-Bibles to give to each man (20 in all). A lot of these guys don't get visitors and hardly ever commemorate their birthdays. So needless to say, this was an occasion for lots of joy and some tears...Happy Birthday to the chacara guys!

I think we were all surpised, weren't we?

Habitat for Humanity in Porto Alegre

This is somewhat of an "interlude" to my postings on the chacara, I post this here because it's in a similar vain of volunteer/social work in the Kingdom. I have recently become involved with Habitat for Humanity Brazil as an occasional volunteer for their projects here in the greater Porto Alegre area. In February and March, Habitat sponsored a "40 Houses in 40 Days" build during Lent in São Leopoldo, a suburb of POA. Waleska & I helped out on a couple of occasions with translation and work. Last month, a delegation from Habitat International came and I spent two days translating some meetings between them and local community leaders. From l-r, Habitat Int'l and Brazil staff: Antonio, Elves, Jose Luis, Garry Hansen (with the Lutheran church in Michigan) and Raafat. I have enjoyed this experience and hope to continue helping in the future! Habitat is hoping to launch a large-scale project next year in POA in one of our city's most needy neighborhoods. Stay tuned...