Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Greetings...
I hope this email finds each of you filled with the joy and presence of our Christ. I am writing to you in order to update you on my next steps and in hope that you will desire to partner with me in prayer and/or financial support. I have decided to jump back into working alongside YWAM in the country of Brazil. The street children of Brazil started to tug---or, rather---squeeze my heart out when reading "A Cry From The Streets", a book published by YWAM and the book that introduced me to this organization and to the realization that our God was and is way more than I had or could ever imagine him to be. I have been asking God for quite some time now as to what my next steps would look like. I consistently heard his answer as "trust me--be still, and rest in me". Let's just say I didn't do the awesomest job at this. After a day or two of "attempting to rest my heart and mind", I would fill in the gaps with a new idea--mine--and try to ease my anxiety with my own plans. None of which worked out, I know...shocker! And I was left baffled and broken, back at the feet of our patient and loving Lord, saying "Okay, God! I give up! I'm tired of trying to make something work out on my own...work it out for me!". What followed was such unreal peace...the peace in all its restfulness that makes you proclaim thanks and honor to the only One who can grant such gifts. I tried to rationalize the idea of Brazil away. To be honest, I'm terrified of the language barrier. I'm not great at picking up new languages and Portuguese, as similar as it is, is not Spanish! And then there's the whole, trusting God with the money thing again. While this had its use in building my faith in Los Angeles, I wasn't overly stoked about the idea of becoming dependent, once again, on others. Third, I honestly am somewhat apprehensive of working alongside Christians, again. We are most often hurt the deepest by people or friends that profess love for Christ because it screws with our belief system when they end up causing pain. Yet, a very wise friend told me today, that this will happen anywhere and everywhere. It is not YWAM specific, it is people specific and my belief system is now more strongly rooted in Christ, alone. So, of course, I'm conveying all this to our all-knowing Father and he continues to ask the same question he's been asking me all summer: "Do you trust me?". Well...Do I??!! The truth is, i'm still working on it, but in the here and now and in the language, the scars and my dreams, I am choosing trust. People ask me if "i'm sure"...Or, if "i'm certain i'm doing the right thing or if this is really God's will and direction for me". I'm not completely sure that I can ever say that I am 100% certain that I have heard God correctly. I don't consider myself lofty enough to say I know all that God thinks or is. All I can say is that I have felt total peace upon the yielding of my desires and fears and picking the dream of Brazil back up at this time and making the wholehearted plunge into continuing to follow after knowing more of my God and making him known to others. I currently have my first prayer and financial supporter in place as i am typing this. That is the signature of my Father on a piece he is continuing to make beautiful. In the end, we will not carry with us into His presence our wallets or belongings, its not our list of successes nor the least amount of failures counted-It's the motivation of our hearts. Do we believe what we proclaim to be true? And are we living like it? I don't want to dream and never wake up, I want to live out my dreams and make them reality.
For such a time as this...
So, the time has come to embark without restraint into this dream and I am choosing the way of "full time missional living" and support raising. I would be honored if you would consider partnering with me in bringing the hope of the Gospel to the barrios and slums of Belo Horizonte. To the children and families, the abandoned and abused, offering truth of the only One who can truly transform their worlds. To know God and to make him known. This is all I desire for life. Deciding to partner with me will bring God's fervent and furious love to these abandoned and neglected children, youth and families living in the poorest and violent-filled streets and slums in the city of Belo Horizonte.
Details...
I will be living and working with one of two possible houses that Belo Horizonte has established-The Lighthouse or the Rock House. These particular houses are community oriented and set up to both live and work with children, youth and families amidst the slums. The work includes, evangelism and home visits within the streets and favelas, discipleship, tending to the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs, building relationships, and identifying and developing strengths and identities formed in the image of Christ. Once I become more fluent in Portuguese I will be able to engage on a deeper level in counseling. Belo Horizonte has 6 different homes and shelters that target specific areas of need which you can look at further on the website: http://bhcentro.jocum.org.br/joomla/index.php?lang=en -
At this time, every 1 USD converts to 2.32 Brazilian Real, therefore, a little goes a long way! You can support me by choosing to 1. Commit to pray for me 2. Make a one time donation or 3. Commit to monthly support of any given amount. If you feel that you are being led to support me then I would love to talk to you in greater depth or connect with you in some way. Financial giving can be done through the following means: Credit/Debit Card/Checks through YWAM Tyler TX (and is tax deductible) (Contact me for further info); or PayPal. It is my commitment to update you monthly by newsletter as to the work being done through your support.
*Checks can be made out to:
YWAM ** include a separate note stating the donation is for: Kate Hunt (Do not write my name on the check)Mail to: YWAM Att: Accounting DeptP.O. Box 3000, Garden Valley, TX, 75771-3000
About YWAM (JOCUM) Belo Horizonte...
This base is dedicated to defending the cause of the poor and needy, the orphans and in particular, reaching the children, youth and families who live on the streets or in the slums with the Gospel of hope and love. Knowing God and making him known within the roughest and often violent favelas. The base has developed 6 houses to meet specific needs, Some targeting evangelism and street outreach, meeting kids on the street and bringing them into support and community centers, providing food, shelter and hope. There are houses that work directly with pregnant or new young mothers, as well as restoration and rehabilitation houses, and some that work with the whole family unit, attempting to reunite families with their children, equipping them and helping to meet needs. Training schools occur on campus and community development off campus. "It is our goal to see trans-formation in the spiritual, physical, intellectual, and social areas."--[www.bhcentro.jocum.org.br]
About Brazil...
For all of you who will finish reading this and promptly Google Belo Horizonte and Brazil...:)...Let me save you some time and provide some information! Belo Horizonte is Portuguese for "Beautiful Horizon". 5,497,922 Brazilians live in the designated state of Minas Gerais which is built on several hills and completely enveloped by mountains. The official language is Portuguese, so I will have my work cut out for me! This beautiful language can be described as a mix between French and Spanish. The regional weather is considered tropical, typically ranging in degree from 52-88. During the 18th century, immigrants from Northern Portugal and many African slaves arrived, creating a unique culture of varying races. Catholicism is the leading religion with 68% and Protestants number 18%. Brazil is a country filled with great and overwhelming disparities between the rich and poor, allowing for vast impoverishment and segregation. You have the beautiful high rise buildings flooding with a developing world and work force which overlooks the slums or "favelas" directly under their feet. Not much different than most places in the world with this incongruence and injustice, perhaps just more obvious. It is largely due to this epidemic of poverty that street children emerge. In Brazil, between 1988 and 1990, a recorded 4,611 street children were murdered by police.[17] High numbers of street children murders by police have also been reported in Guatemala and Colombia.[17] Hostility and violence towards street children may originate from their indigenous background, indicated by their darker skin, or from their insubordination to authority figures.[2] Street children are commonly viewed as threats to society, as thieves and criminals. In recent years, vigilante “death squads” have formed to rid society of street children by murdering them. In Brazil, death squads can earn $50 per child killed. Under child labor laws, even legal work is illegal, and street children are thus often legal targets for police harassment and incarceration, even if they are not selling drugs, stealing, or engaging in other illegal activities. [Wikipedia:Street Children In Latin America]
As with any country, Brazil has its skeletons and closeted or not so closeted injustices, however; Brazil is also a beautifully vibrant and diverse country, brimming with opportunities to continue speaking forth the fullness of life and for a gorgeously created and loved people to learn more about their Creator.
|
|
|
|
