"I want more!"

This has been an unbelievable week. I don't know if you guys have been praying more but it's working! God is doing amazing things in our work in the schools but even more so in me. This week I just felt the holy spirit give me a huge hunger for more of God and despite my lack of free time I was just filled with him in my free time and stuff. It is really exciting me for bigger things not just in Brazil but in all of my life!


Had a really fun Monday teaching guitar, going for a wonder and then watching a rugby match with an amercian team member and then As we have been in the last few weeks we were in Maia Neto on Tuesday this week. We started with the morning as usual were one of our team Gina (a new member from Canada) taught on Cain and Abel. I sang a little for the kids to calm them down and then one of the classes stayed with us for music class. This week we taught like posture and stuff which was awesome and then they sang a really Christian song with us. It's amazing for me to hear kids sing "Jesus I run into your arms." 

teaching the music classes with the Maia Neeto kids

As I said last week we were starting a new project that we've been using in the church,  in the afternoon Maia neto classes. We started this project on Wednesday and God spirit was really there with us (we even saw Doves rest on the school before we went in a dove being an image of the presence of the holy spirit in the bible matt 3:16). This week we were talking about "difficulties in life". I gave a testimony about some difficult times I had as a teenager and then we had small groups. These groups were fantastic! We got to know the names of the kids and then go to know each of the kids better individually. We were asking questions like "what's the most difficult thing that's ever happened to you?" which as you can imagine lends itself to kids opening up. Loads of kids have been through really difficult situations and it was great to tell them that Jesus wants to be with them in those situations. We got the chance to pray with a whole lot of them and to show them just how much Jesus loves them. 
That night we had our normal cell group but like I said there is no normal here in Brazil. We just a really great time of worship (I'm really learning to flow in the holy spirit when leading which I absolutely love) and then heard a word from one of the guys in the group. It was awesome to hear a word about changing the world around us from one of the kids. 

Thursday we were spending our day doing admin. We were meeting at 1 officially so instead we met at 10 so we could do capoeira. It was so much fun and great exercise to set us up for the day. We had our admin in the afternoon which was really good, we got a ,a lot prepared for the next week. Had a chance that night to go to the gym and make a video for a friend which great to be able to do. 

Friday morning was  bit of a rush as I woke up at 6:30 when I needed to be there for 7. But got there at like 7:30 and was able to do my part in the class. This week I was leading them in a time of imagination of changing things happening in their lives. I then lead them in hearing what Jesus had to say about it. Let the holy spirit speak to them. Was a really cool experience letting the kids hear and realise the power that is in their hands to change the world around them. A lot of kids really heard God speaking to them about what they have to do in these situations. I had the chance to talk to one guy who had been having problems with his dad and what to do. 

me teaching in floca

That afternoon we had the chance to leas the cell group in floca. Was awesome and really looking forward to see it grow and grow in the next few weeks. I also had a chance to talk to two guys a little bit deeper about who they are and what they think of Jesus. One of the guy, Hermes, is a guy I'm mentoring and he's having a pretty hard time these days. I won't tell you any specifics but I would love if you guys covered him in prayer because he could really need it right now. 

Yesterday I had the chance to go with my host family on another one of their offroad trails. This one was really cool as it was like we were on a mission. This year in the north east of brazil there has been a draught, causing the lives of a lot of the farmers here to be very difficult, with animals and crops dying and we had the chance to bring basic food and water to them. There was 40 cars in the trail all with food and water and it was a huge mission impossible type thing of distributing the food but it was fantastic to be a part of it. Were able to give food and water to like 120 houses blessing like 1000 people in the process. 

the verse that has really been in my head this week is Psalm 25:4-5

"Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all the day long. "

It's really my prayer for the next few weeks when I am trying to seek God as much as possible. I would really appreciate it if you guys would pray for just more and more of God to be poured out upon us as a Pais team and me individually. I don't ever want to be satisfied with what of got of God, I'm always going to look for more. 

Thanks again for reading 

Love 

Mark

"Normal" week

Was another fantastic week here in Natal. Not a normal one because we barely ever have a "normal" week, but was great fun. 

This Monday I went to the house of one of the guys from youth group to start guitar lessons with him. It was really good fun and really speaking to me about how much I love teaching. What was cool was that he taught the chords that he learnt this week to his little brother and his little brother wrote a song with them about how much he loves Jesus. 

We've started doing the project that we do in the church with the teens in our school Maia Neto, so this week we were watching the movie "how to save a life" with the kids as it is the base for the programme for the next few weeks. Some of the classes really enjoyed it while other were just talking during the movie but either way I think there is a lot of kids who are going to be really open to the project and what we're going to be doing. 

We watched the movie with the schools in thirds (two thirds on tuesday and the last classes on Wednesday) and then we spent the rest of Wednesday doing some admin and doing our youth group. I was speaking on the Wednesday night which I'm still getting the hang of but it was good fun. I was speaking about going into the darkness of the world and being the light and how we can trust in Jesus to do that. 

I used this song as an example, it's my favourite song right now and it speaks of this same thing.
white owls- Josh Garrels

Thursday we had a great really chilled day at the pastors house. Every now and again we meet at the Pastors house just t refresh our vision and to talk to him about how we're doing as a team and as a project. We were just able to open ourselves up about how we've been getting on in the host home and in our positions in the project in general. After we were just able to chill in his house with his family who are really fun to hang out with. Was just a really cool refreshing day to just chill out and have some fun. 

What's really cool in Floca at the minute is that we have found that there is a cell group that meets every break time during their break time. The leader of that group has recently left so they have asked us to lead it for them. It's an amazing opportunity for discipleship and even cooler because we can invite the "none Christians  that we know to join and see what it's like. So on friday when they had a day off we went to a park with them and just had a good day of hanging out with them and had a little bit of worship and a word from Ramin 

us with the cell group at the park worshipping 

God is doing some fantastic stuff here in Natal. I have really felt his move in my life this week, to run the race of the next few months as well as I can. I'm so excited about what God has to do in these next few weeks and months not just through me but in me. 

Thanks for your support and prayers. 
God bless 
mark

full but fantastic!

We seem to be getting back into the way of things here in Brazil. Had a really busy week thing week but it was fantastic to be back in all of our schools again and doing what we're here to be doing. 

This Tuesday we were back in Maia Neto. As usual we taught a bible story to the little ones in the morning and followed that with a music class. Before the story I got the chance to sing to the  kids one of the songs that we sing in the church. One of the young girls started crying while as was singing, it really just showed what God was doing in that place. In the afternoon we've got the chance to teach the same programme that we're going to be teaching to the teens in church over the next few weeks. We're really excited about that opportunity and how God's going to use that in the lives of these kids.

We have been told from Pais global that we're going to have to do 8 hours of activity a day so on our days admin days we're going to be spending a lot of time in the office. As we have a full free wednesday and thursday we're even thinking about trying to get into another school which would be fantastic. 

As I've already said our youth group is seeing some amazing things happening. Just this week one of the guys had a sore leg (he was in real pain when walking). We all prayed for it and he was completely healed (he was jumping up and down to check). 

Friday we were then back into Floca with our morning classes starting up again. We were teaching this time on making goals for the year and had some really good opportunities to chat and pray with people. Then in the afternoon was the same as usual, just making new friends and building on relationships that we already have. 

heres a link to a video on the pais natal facebook page of an interview with one of the guys from the school and how we're affecting the lives of people there. 
Floca interview

Saturday we had a really full fantastic day of "holy spirit outreach stuff". We went into the house complex beside the church just going into people's housing talking and praying for people. We all split off and had some amazing stories of people being healled and people going were the holy spirit lead them. We've decided that we're going to try and do it at least twice a month because we loved it so much. Then Saturday night our team leader Ramin was speaking in the youth service so he asked me to lead the worship afterwards. I'm loving leading worship these days. I'm learning so much and leading in the spirit and letting him flow rather than me. I'm getting the chance to really administer the awareness of the presence of God in worship and a love it. 

Sunday we just our our project with the teens in church again. The sound stuff is still a bit of an issue but my small group this week was awesome. 

here's a link to the newsletter of this month if you would like a little more light reading on how we're doing out here as well. 
newletter


thanks for reading and bless you for your prayers
Mark

"Life choices"

Another good busy week this week which was great. We're back into our schools and everything we were doing this week was leading up to a new project that we were starting this weekend with the teens in the church called "escolhas da vida" (which means "life choices"). We're going to be taking the teens out of church for the next 6 weeks and running different "services" about things from drugs to difficult times in life. but I'll get back to that. 

Escolhas da vida

So we were back in both schools this week. Back for the first time in Maia Neto this tuesday which was fantastic. All the kids seemed to have missed us and were asking about us to their teaches which was great. We then had a chance to talk to the directors to see what we're going to be doing for the next few months with them. As usual we're going to be our "bible story time" with them but instead of 3 classes we're just going to be doing 1 (either music or break dancing). Which we're really excited about. We also might be getting a classroom in the afternoon which would give us a better connections with the afternoon kids. 

 As usual we had our youth group, which as I said last week, God continues to pour himself out upon us in those times. We're all have real encounters with God there and we are getting the chance to not only show the teens how to meet with him but we're learning how to as well. 

Friday we were back in Floca again. We went in early for the morning break time, just to hang out with the guys and to hand out some invites for our events on the weekend. It's great fun to get the chance to just make relationships people and show them Jesus love and to talk about how he loves them. We then came back in the afternoon and did the same thing. In the afternoon I got to hang out with 2 guys who were playing guitar. one of the guys was heading to Sao Paulo the next day to live there and it was great just being able to jam with him. 
Friday night we then went to one of our teams house and eat "breakfast food" (bacon, eggs, pancakes etc) and watched a movie because my team had decided to bless me this month.  They prayed with me and then we watched a funny, (but very stupid) movie. 

On saturday was when to big event kicked off. The whole project is based around the christian movie "how to save a life" so on Saturday we hosted a big event in the church were we watched with movie. Was really good movie and a lot of the kids from the schools and some more new guys came which was awesome. 
Then on Sunday we had our first real service thingy. I was in charge of sound and the project which was a little bit stressful but worked okay. We just had a clip from the movie and then got into groups to talk about the topic for the week, which was "trusting God in difficult situations". I'm in charge of a group which I would really appreciate some prayer for, because I find small groups difficult to lead sometimes. 

me leading the small group

This has been a really great busy week but I would like to take the opportunity to lift up my friend David ross to you all to pray for. He is in upper sixth in school and on Thursday he got in an accident in rugby and dislocated his neck. He's a close friend and his brother Neil is one of my oldest friends so please lift him and the whole family up to God in prayer. Pray for God's healing but also pray that they would all feel God's presence in the midst of this really difficult situation. 




thanks for reading 
love 
mark

drug trafficking, painting walls and the presence on God

As you can tell by the title we had just a little bit more action this week as a Pais team. God's given us some real direction in these first few weeks of being here in Brazil and hid presence is really showing us where and what he wants us to focus on. 

This Tuesday we had a great day of admin with the team, sorting out what we will be doing for next 2 months, as we are going to have a very busy schedule for the next while. This month we are going to be working on a porject with the teens in the church called "escholha da vida" (life choices). It's a 5 week programme with discussion and activity that we will be doing during the church services with all the teens of the church. We have been given a space in the back of the church for this with loads of different resources so we were spending sometime preparing that this week, painting and tidying the place up. We're also going to be able to use this space of outreach events (like the logic cafe) which is going to be really exciting. 

Group of leaders and teens sorting out the "teen space"

 As usual on Wednesday we had our youth group. I would really like some Praise for what God has been doing in our youth group, it really is amazing sometimes. The last few weeks we will be starting off with our worship time (which I usually just 3 prepared songs) but in the middle of it we just feel God's presence in the midst of us so we just wait on him, praying with each other and telling each other what we think God is saying in the moment. This week we had a new guy (one of Ramin's break dancing friends) so we welcomed him with a time of prayer. He received healing in his leg and became a Christian right there! We are so amazed at what the "presence" is doing in our midst and we just pray for more and even bigger stuff to happen. 

As we have the last few weeks we visited the half way house this Thursday  We had prepared our "lesson" which was just the gospel really. When we got there we met two new kids and we were told that one of the kids had had something to do with drug trafficking and something like $10,000 was involved and because of this we had to move to the back of the house encase (and I'm paraphrasing) "someone came to shot him." We then just had a chance to sing to them and let the presence come with that. This gave way to our games and lessons that we had prepared. In the end we asked if anyone would want to received Jesus and the "drug trafficking" guy raised his hand. We prayed with him there and he accepted Jesus into his life. After we had a chance to sit and praise with the kids and just sing blessings over them. 

us and the kids at the halfway house

Finally we had a chance to go back to Floca (our school) on Friday. Was amazing to see all the familiar faces and to meet new ones. God really is going to some amazing things in that place in the next few months. Please prayer that the different projects that we will be bringing into the school would be filled with the spirit that these kids may come to meet their saviour. 

we finish with a prayer with the kids every time we visit floca

It has been a great busy week and there will be many more to come. Please thank God for what he is doing here but also pray for more and more that we may see not just these schools change but the whole of Natal. 

Thanks for reading 
love 
mark

teaching and preaching

Another fun week here in brazil. This will be a short little update as we haven't got back to the schools yet we really that busy yet. 

The two main things that we did this week were visiting the half way house again and running a "day of banter" at the church for all the kids that we've been involved with. 

Our time at the half way house was great this week as we were able to share one of our previous lessons with them. We shared with them about how God has created them all with their own unique purpose. I had the chance to show them my talent (singing) and then shared the story of "the talents". It was a great opportunity to share some light into that place, as i really think those kids need to know they have purpose. We also had a great opportunity to prayer with the directorship just before we left which was great. 

Our day of banter at the church on Friday afternoon was really great as well. We had just sent an invite out to all the guys from our youth group and all the guys from the schools that we had had contact with. A good number showed up in the end and we just "hung out" playing games and then watched the lion king. I then shared a word on Identity and who we truly are in Christ, using the lion king as an example. Seemed to go down well and i think some of the guys really needed to hear what their true identity is, as those around them are telling them other thing. 

As it is now the holidays for "brazilian Carnival" (a huge big party that takes place all over brazil, i dont really get it if I'm honest) we've had the last few days off which has been "restful". Needless to say I'm very egger to get back into the way of things out here and really what to see what God has in store for us this season. 

Please pray for us as we get back into the schools that we may make new relationships and look after the ones we already have. 

I'm goin to be making video updates in the coming weeks, so heres the first instalment. 

Pais Natal update 1

The following week (starting the 11th) was much the same). Had the opportunity to speak in the youth group which was great, challenging but I'm getting better. I spoke about worship and how our real lasting worship of God is when we step out of the church and live our lives for him. We headed to the half way house again on Thursday and had a really peaceful time just hanging out with the kids as they made jewellery. Was great to see how such an easy thing can bring such peace into a house like that. And as usual we had a chance to hang out with the kids from Floca on Friday, just slacklining and playing games.
I've had the chance to start mentoring a guy called Hermes from Floca these last few weeks which has been a real opportunity iin learning for both of us. He's 19 and is a really great guy that is really seeking Jesus right now. or the next 40 days he will be heading to an army base to train to be part of the military, so I would really appreciate your prayers over him as he goes into this new adventure. 

thanks for reading
mark

New season

So I've now been back in brazil for a week now and it has been really fantastic to get back into the way of life out here. As it was last term life here is very full and fast but as the schools haven't yet started up we have a little bit of time to get settled back in and to prepare for the coming year which has been fantastic. 

I arrived last Friday afternoon (which feels like an age ago now) and was in bed by 8pm to get some rest for the following day as we were heading to a city 2 hours drive away to do a day mission in a church there. The city was called Santa Cruz and we left with a group  young adults from the church in Natal. Basically just had a few talks sharing the with the church there about how we do evangelism as Pais and as a church and just got share in fellowship with them. (Was also able to lead worship which was back into the deep end but very fun). 

Us at the church in Santa Cruz

I've heard a little word that i might be asked to get more involved in the worship within the coming months (ie leading a lot more) so i would really appreciate some prayer for that, because i would love that opportunity but the time might not work for it.  

During the day of tuesday and wednesday we just spent in the church doing some admin for the coming weeks, stuff like putting our lessons up online for global Pais and watching Pais videos. 

We had a really great time of fellowship on wednesday at the youth group because Ramin had brought a couple of his friends from up north from the break dancing scene to come and hang out. God gave me some specific "words" for them that were really relevant to them which was awesome and some of them ended up crying when they heard them (and as we know, like in sport, in ministry when the other person cries you know you're winning). Was great to just spend the time showing those guys some real love. 

We spent some of our Thursday in a half way house in Natal. This is a place were kids who are homeless can come and lives off of the street. It is a real "strange" place were the kids can go where they want and they aren't given anything to do, a lot of them coming from really bad situations. But as usual we had a great chance to show the kids there some real love and hope and were able to do a little break dancing lesson with them (i was used as an example of a person who can't dance). Would really love if you guys could pray for that place as it really needs the love of God to flow into it and to show the kids that there is something better. 

I've had some more chances to go to the beach and stuff with the host family which has been awesome. Woke up at 4.30am to go sand boarding on Saturday which was great craic but i was rubbish. 

Passing a beach at sunrise 5am

One of the best things about this week was our time back at Capoeira. the instructor I think is preparing us for a "baptism" which is like getting another belt in other martial arts so its getting really difficult, which I love. It's also been a great opportunity to be a light as we've been able to hang out with the guys more and tell them our own stories. 

Has been a great first week back and I have huge hopes for the coming months but as always I really need all of the prayer that you guys continue to offer up .Please pray for the schools as we prepare to go back to them and that Jesus may open doors for us to show his love to the students there.

Lots of love 

Mark