"Ranan"

So we arrived at the school on Tuesday morning and figured that we were going to have a little bit of a different week this week. It turned out that Tuesday, Wednesday and thursday both Maia Neto and Ferreira would be doing tests so we wouldn't be able to come in and "do our thing".  This week we still had the pleasure to spend some more time with the global Pais guy Paul green. He was still getting some footage of us and with some of the students and stuff  but also him and Jared were working on translating the whole of the Pais project website into Portuguese.

view of the neighbourhood from the bridge that crosses the  motorway

On Tuesday morning we were still able to do the kids story with the little kids at Maia Neto which was awesome. Emily was doing it for the first time and she was really great, doing it a little differently and she even used a puppet, teaching on the first part of Moses. We just spent the rest of that day waiting around really because there wasn't any lessons to really plan for this week and we were going back into the school to do one lesson with the older kids. The older kids in Maia Neto is probably the ministry that I struggle with the most. When  I say old they're all no older than like 15 so sometimes trying to get a series conversation from them can be a little difficult. But I do believe that they're receiving  and that God is really moving in the hearts of some of the kids.  That night was really good fun. We decided that Paul couldn't come to Brazil and not play a game of football. So we remember friend of friends that we had played with once a long time ago play football every tuesday night so we asked if we could tag along. I'm really pretty bad at football but was good fun and ended up scoring a goal!

Our church "refuge of grace"

As I said we didn't have any lessons to give on wednesday so we met team after lunch to do some lesson planning for Friday as we have a good lot of lessons that we need to give there now. But me and Gina met up with a friend from the church called David Costa who is going to give us singing lessons for free! We have a big event coming up to fundraise for Pais and i will leading worship for it and he is being and huge  huge help us. We then used the time after lunch to to do some lesson planning for Friday as we have a good lot of lessons that we need to give there now. Then we had our cell group that night which was awesome because we had 4 students come who had never been before. We took the opportunity to pray for each individually and the next day we heard that two of the girls choose to accept Jesus into their lives that night. It's absolutely awesome because one of the girls has been connected with us from the start and we has seen her grow so much up to this point to finally make the decision. God is good!



Thursday we met after lunch again because there was no schools that afternoon and did a little bit of final planning then got to hang out in the Plaza near the church with the kids from Ferreira which was great fun. It's been so cool to see how our relationships there are growing so quickly! Me and Gina then returned to the church because we were going to someone's house to practice with all the vocalists who are going to be singing for our big event.

were doing a fundraising service in the church on the 4th of May (thats the big event)

Friday was an early morning back in Floca. We had planned to recap the lessons from "because you're loved" from the week before and show them that they can this sort of challenge in their wholes lives. We end each lesson telling them that if they wanted they could come with us at the break time and we would do a litter pick in the school. When it came down to it about 4 kids turned up to helps us so off went into the school showing them love in action. What was really cool was when we started cleaning loads of kids started joining in and about 20 kids ended up helping us out. There was a lot to clean up and we were able to make a real physical difference in the school which awesome. That afternoon we came back just to teach our lesson which we have decided will just be a conversation English class. We taught them their ABCs and then some basic stuff after that. Apparently in the next month (since last friday) every Friday they are going to have a band of students playing in the patio area of the school. So obviously they asked me to play for them. It was a rather surreal experience if I'm honest. The screams could be compared to some sort one direction concert to give context. Needless to say it was actually rather fun and I was able to play some worship music  in front of them all which was awesome!

me playin my "big gig" 

That night we went to a restaurant to say goodbye to Paul Green. It was a real blessing having him here with us and I quote he said "I've seen a lot of Pais teams in my day but you guys are up there with the best!". That was a bit of encouragement.

Paul Green making good use of the Paradox lense

I was a little frustrated this week as I have lost my notebook in which I have written everything I have learnt with me and God in the last 3-4 months. I have looked everywhere for it and if you're offering up a little prayer for me I would appreciate it if you could pray that I could find  it.

רָנַן

ranan

This week's Blog is called Ranan. This is the hebrew word for "being joyful, rejoicing out load, being overcome or overcoming". God is so good and even when I have a week were I don't focus on him he still wants to lavish his blessings on me and "overcome" me. 

Hope you are blessed by reading what's happening in Brazil with us on Pais Brazil. If you're heading to St john's tonight for the worship night I hear theres going to be a preach from some really cool guy there tonight! watch out for that.

God bless

Mark