JANUARY - MARCH 2012
Salut!
The sun is starting to shine again in Paris!! After a long and hard winter we finally have
the sun coming back to our city. The
spring arrived, and brought a new time (literally). We see more people in the streets, less coats.
Flowers are starting to appear and bring
beauty to this nice city.
It may seem like what we just said is not a big deal, but the change
of the seasons here is so important and anticipated (mostly the change from
winter to spring). It’s as though we are in another city and with other people
because of the huge impact this has on people’s moods and habits (and of course
for us Brazilians this is REALLY a big deal... lol).
There is even a clinically proved disease called “the winter
depression.” It’s the time of year that
brings the highest suicide and depression level in France. YES! Maybe you don’t
know about that but the suicides and depression levels here are really high.
We decided to share some details of a bit of our daily life here, so
you can understand a little better what we have been doing and what we are
dreaming for our Project. We are omitting
names to protect people who are involved in our cases.
We would like to present you “X”, a young Frenchman who is 27 years old. He is a healthy guy, able to speak fluently 5 different languages. He is intelligent, and comes from a rich family. He lives in a great and expensive location in Paris. DEPRESSED!
This one word changed his whole life. We met at an event and soon started to talk
more because one of his 5 languages is Portuguese. Passionate about arts, a bit shy, quickly we
realized he is a man with a BIG heart, but lonely. After several days, and with a bit more
relationship building, we were invited to go to his place.
To our surprise, we came to his place and
realized the physical reality of how he was living. We could never imagine that a room with about
98 square feet could fit a thousand things!!!
Honestly, a thousand things.
Objects stacked all over. Dirty place.
Tableware of months (no exaggerating) just overflowing in his sink.
Trash all over the floor.
This was a dirty and sad place that
reflected exactly his lonely and depressed life. We started to talk a bit more and realized
the needs of care that he has. Sentimental, affective and spiritual care. This
is all that he needs. He also expressed much fear when he talked about his
career and professional life. Insecure and worried about his future. A sad situation. Opening his heart to us, he started to talk
about his family. His father is an affluent and successful man. But they don’t
have a good relationship. In fact, they have a difficult relationship. Talks
and dialogues are not the norm in his family.
Recently they discovered his father has a disease and has no more than
one year of life left.
His is an unrequited love that now brings
heavy feelings to this young man’s heart.
What can we do in a situation like
that? LOVE!!!
We just started to be together. Pray together. We started to hang out together. Just simple
phone calls, text messages, Facebook messages, etc. Simple things. Sometimes these things are so
“simple” we don’t waste our time doing them, right? And it’s just thinking like
that, that sometimes we are wrong. If we
stop to think about it, it’s exactly the “simple” things in life that are
really important. We have a need for all
of that! These “simple” things in life
are helping to change this sad situation.
A transformation process in “X”s life is starting because of these
“simple” things. Of course, there is
still a LOT to do. There are problems
far more complicated that need to be solved.
The physical and spiritual healing of this man is still a long way
off. But we are going to be side by side
in this journey!
(I
need to say that right now, while we were writing this newsletter, he called us
from the restroom of his job.
Crying. Confused. With a lot of fear for his father. All we were
able to do was to pray by phone with him.
And so we did.)
We would like to present you “Y”, a
talented artist with a brilliant career. So brilliant that even he can’t
imagine what is going to happen next. So
brilliant that it put him in a cage in terms of his personal life.
He became really spoiled, proud, and
egocentric until the point that he started to be alone, separated from people
he used to love. So brilliant it kept him separated 20 years from his
22-year-old daughter. Yes, that’s it: 20
YEARS!
We would like to present you “Y”, a talented artist with a brilliant
career. So brilliant that even he can’t imagine what is going to happen next. So brilliant that it put him in a cage in
terms of his personal life.
He became really spoiled, proud, and egocentric until the point that
he started to be alone, separated from people he used to love. So brilliant it kept
him separated 20 years from his 22-year-old daughter. Yes, that’s it: 20 YEARS! We witnessed a very difficult, spiritual and
exciting moment when, after 20 years, they reconnected. We worked hard during the
few days they were together. We hung out
together. We celebrated simple things. It was as though they were meeting each other for
the first time because, after 20 years, they didn’t know very much about each other’s
life.
But the day to say “goodbye” again arrived. This time it was with a different sense. There was a feeling of “see you” instead of
“goodbye.” This was one of the most
remarkable experiences of our lives. Inside
a bar (the last place we think profound things can happen), the two of them celebrated
their reunion; and also their last day together. After some glasses of beer, “Y” realized what
was going on there. Suddenly, he started
to feel a big pang of fear. An insecure
feeling came to his heart. It was inside that bar he started crying. Crying without stopping. Like a child; a sincere and profound cry. His daughter (a pretty lady with a lot of
maturity, but without a man in her life) could not hold her tears. A hug was given; one of the longest hugs we’ve
ever seen in our lives. They could not
stop hugging and crying.
What can we do in a situation like that? LOVE!!!
Yes, it was inside a bar that we had the opportunity to cry with
them; to hug them and also to pray with them. Pray that moments like that could
happen more often. Pray that a new
chapter would start in their lives. Pray
that the Lord would help this “new” family find a balanced and a healthy life. Yes, a bar can become a healing place when God
has freedom to be present.
We were surprised because after that, “Y” started to talk to us
about his wish to go to church, and also to find a relationship with God. It
was really good (and kind of funny) to see a friend who is used to waking up
after 1 pm, well dressed and ready, waiting for us in front of his house on a
Sunday at 10 am. His problems are also a long way from ending. His pain, fears and diseases are far from
being healed. But we are going to be
side by side in this journey.
We would like to present you “Z”; a young businessman. He is handsome, friendly, intelligent and well-spoken.
One person with whom a lot of us could
easily like to be close. He’s
financially well off; with a lot of friends, a lot of invitations to parties,
dance clubs, social events, etc. One
person with a wealthy career in front if him. An EMPTY person!
We met in front of our gallery because he is our neighbor. He used to live in the building near ours (it’s
good to know that is a really expensive area to live in Paris). Our reencounter
was kind of curious because he discovered we are Brazilians and he was planning
to spend 3 months in Brazil.
We had a couple of coffees together. We gave him a lot of tips about
good places to stay, beautiful places to go (which is not difficult to find in
our amazing country... lol), cities, touristic points, etc.
Each time we met to have coffee, the better we came to know
him. He is a person completely unhappy
with the direction his life was going.
He is a person with a million possibilities for success in different
areas of his life, but with a feeling of failure in his heart.
Because of a good coincidence, we were going to be in Brazil at the
same time as he. This allowed us to
become even closer. After some meetings,
he also started to know us a bit better.
He learned a little bit more about what we did in our gallery, and also
learned that we are Christians. He was
really happy with our “way of life.” We
had the chance to meet in Rio. And we
introduced him to the wonderful taste of AÇAÍ.
It was also in Rio that we had our deepest conversation. It was inside a
juice store (a very popular place that sells a lot of different flavors of
natural juices, and also sandwiches, etc.) that he had the chance to open his
heart to us. He was willing to find
himself; to restart his life. To change everything! He was searching desperately for a big change
in his life.
What can we do in moments like that?
LOVE!!!
We had some time to talk about life, some ideas, thoughts, etc. We shared with him some things that really
matter to us. We came back to Paris and
he stayed in Brazil. We exchanged some
e-mails and tried to keep in touch with him.
Finally he came back to Paris, to spend Christmas and New Year
holidays with his family. At the end of January we decided to call him and try
to spend some more time together. It was
when we went to his Facebook page to send him a simple message that we found
the sad and unbelievable news that he was dead. Some friends were inviting his
Facebook friends to a mass his family was going to organize. We felt completely
lost and we were not able to understand what was going on. Talking with some friends in common, we
realized a little better what our hearts were trying not to believe. A suicide.
He was found dead in his place, 3 days after his suicide.
What can we do in situations like that? CRY!!!!
Cry for a friend that we lost.
Cry for a nation that is completely lost in their pride and
self-sufficiency that will take them nowhere.
Unfortunately, in this case, we are not going to be able to be side by
side in this journey. We will not have
the opportunity anymore. With all our
hearts, we would like to have a bit more time.
But we will not have it anymore.
We could tell you about some more cases. Some of them funny, some sad, some serious,
some profound. But our intention is to
try to take you closer to our reality and daily life here.
We would love to thank you for all your support, your prayers, your
dedication to our Project, and also for some of you, your financial partnership
with us. We would love for you to feel a
little bit closer to us and to our dreams, while you read our newsletters.
We would also love to encourage you to realize that “simple” and
“worthless” things in life are EXTREMELY NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT! Don’t give up doing small things when you are
able to: phone calls, cards, e-mails, text messages, Facebook messages,
etc. Today we have so many different,
wonderful ways to communicate. But
unfortunately we sometimes use all the tools we have for poor things. Try to use as many possibilities and tools of
communication you have in your hands to encourage, value, support people, build
deeper relationships, confirm real and profound friendships. Because at the end
of everything, what can we do in moments like that? LOVE!!!!
God bless you.
Salut!
Mission France:
Time for direction.
After one year, a lot of you join us in our journey and goal to
learn French and we are now experiencing a new and good step in our ministry. The learning process was very effective. Obviously
it’s not the end and day-by-day we keep learning and improving French as a
language. But we can already see some doors being opened because of the
progress we have had with the language.
We are now in a time that demands us to make a lot of decisions.
With La Fonderie, we are reconstructing
some bases and trying to look to the future and realize what is coming next as
a ministry. We are thinking about the
main focus and the heart of all we are doing here. This is also a time of victories!
It was a great miracle that we were able to rent an apartment in a nice area of Paris, for a price and conditions only the Lord could provide. Even our French friends were impressed with the way we got our place. For those who know us a little bit better, you know we are not the kind of people who talk and preach about material and financial prosperity because we don’t believe that is the priority in a Christian life.
But we believe the Lord uses material and financial things to show us a little bit more of His love and care for us. This doesn’t mean that the Lord does not love those who have no money. But He can also use financial and material issues to show us some spiritual things. Just the fact that we rented our apartment in the way we did opened a door with our new friends here to share how great is our God. They were so impressed, and also they could not see how the way we rented our place was anything other than a miracle.
Our son is really happy in his school. He is well adapted and making some new
friends. As my wise wife says (and I
think all parents will agree): “Happy kids, happy parents!” This is real and
biblical. The way we see our son, happy,
comfortable and also speaking better French then ours (hehehehe) makes us happy
and confident to keep going. It gives us
peace enough to know we are going in the right direction.
We are also helping in a process to plant and consolidate a church
here in Paris.
Particularly we ask your prayers for two meetings we are having
here. They were created for non-Christian people. Home groups started with four people and now
we sometimes have 21. New projects are
in our dreams and we need to be wise to know the timing of all of that.
We are glad to know you have been with us since the beginning.
God bless you,
À bientôt
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SEPTEMBER 2011
Salut!
We are back!
After 60
extraordinary days in Brazil, here we are and with a lot of news and
challenges. Because of that, we will
divide this newsletter into two parts. We want to share with you a bit of what
we experienced in Brazil, and also some news about here.
Mission Brazil!
Yes, we see Brazil also as a big and important part of our mission. A lot of people don’t yet realize that a movement is taking place in Brazil. For many years, Brazil was seen as “the mission field.” Many people from all around the world went there as missionaries to share the kingdom of God and His love with the Brazilian community. We had, and still have, the collaboration of missionaries in different areas of the Brazilian church. We are really glad about all of that, and we can see many good things they did (and still do) for the Brazilian community.
But, a new
movement has started to happen in our country. With the church growing, a lot
of people are having their own calling in their hearts, and the wish to go and
obey the Lord’s commission that tells us to go all around the world and preach
the gospel to all people. This is a big change and a new time in Brazil.
In our
denomination (Brazilian Methodist Church) this movement is still happening. The
result is the creation of one sending agency for the Brazilian Methodist
Church; a place to receive, host, prepare and send people who feel a calling
from the Lord in their heart.
It’s really
important to understand that mission is not an adventure. It’s not a tourist
trip “in the name of the Lord.” It’s not
a way to run away from a troubled lifestyle one was living in his own country.
Sometimes, different problems we face (financial, emotional, spiritual
problems, etc.) make us want to run away to a “better land” and we find a good
excuse for that by saying we are going to do missions. Unfortunately, we hear a lot of bad stories
about cases like that, which, in the end destroy families, dreams and people
with “missionary experiences.”
It’s ABSOLUTLY
necessary to have a time of training and maturation for an effective missionary
project. If we don’t do that, good intentions can cause BIG damage to a lot of
people. In Brazilian culture everything is
done FOR NOW. Planning is “not so necessary” and in some cases is seen as a “waste
of time.” We must understand that periods of training and maturation are
necessary so long term projects can happen in a beautiful, fruitful and mature
way.
This point of
view, makes us realize how deep and important our experience is as
missionaries. In Brazil, we are part of
a project that is still in its early stages.
Our dream is not just for Paris, or France; but also for a day when we see
our church in Brazil really effective in calling, preparing and sending people
all around the world in a mature, responsible and fruitful way. So, this is why we call this part “MISSION
BRAZIL.”
Before going to
Brazil, we were very happy to have “vacation time.” It seemed like a good idea. But when we
realized that during those 60 days we would have more than 40 meetings in
churches, homes, restaurants, small groups, breakfasts, etc.… we saw that it
was nothing like “vacation time” hehehe…
We crossed 4
different states, with a clear vision: promote
and spread all around a better understanding of this dream we have for the
Brazilian church. Not just our calling to serve the Lord in Paris, but as we
told you, the dream to see a beautiful and fruitful mission structure in our
country. No need to be heavy in terms of structure, but with a REAL need to be
practical and effective!
We are very glad
because the results of the time in Brazil couldn’t be better.
What we saw
everywhere we went was a community ready for commitment in terms of missions.
In all senses
they were thirsty for something else. They just wanted to know how they could
participate and were ready to say: YES, WE ARE IN!
We were happy to
listen to a lot of dreams and testimonies of people who have a desire to do
missions, even as a partner; or go to a mission field. Our prayer is that the Lord put in the heart
of each one of those who came to us the same passion we have in our heart.
Honestly, we
realized we would need more time in Brazil because we could not accept all of
our invitations just because we didn’t have enough time. We almost felt, for a
few moments, the meaning of omnipresence. We almost broke the physical rule
that says one body cannot be in two different places at the same time…
hehehehe.
It’s funny
because we learned, and always taught, about the importance of the missionary staying
in the mission field for the first years. We know this is really important, and
for some people, coming back before that can be a problem in terms of adjustment
and cultural shock. But we need to say,
in our case it was different. Just a few
days ago, my wife and I were talking about the importance of this time in
Brazil in relation to our dream; and also about the happiness that we now know
all of this is happening. This is a BIG encouragement for us. It is also an
answer from the Lord that we are on the right path.
We are sharing
this with our leadership and thinking about the possibility of going to Brazil
next year just to do the same thing during one month. But this answer needs to
come from the Lord, and for that we just need to rest and live! We don’t need
to add that we had the privilege of meeting some good
friends, family and our
partners who are with us all the time.
There is another
chapter to this beautiful story. At the
beginning of all of that, we knew the Lord was going to inspire some people
with the wish to be with us in partnership (prayer and financial partnership).
What we had no idea of at that time was that the Lord was awakening a BIG army
of men and women to be with us and do missions with us here in Paris.
Yes, you and all
of these people are part of an army doing missions here with us. You are part
of a team that is building something none of us can even imagine!! This is so
great! I would like to encourage you to see yourself as part of all of this.
Here in Paris and there in Brazil! Sometimes, because of a lot of things going
on at the same time, and the need to update people in English and in Portuguese
(and in French, of course), we are kind of slow in communicating what is going
on, and we apologize for that.
But what we want
you to understand is, we are living the Bible together! This is obvious when we read that “things
which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which entered not into heart of man,
whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him” (I Co 2:9)! We are living this moment together. We have
no idea of what is coming next, but we know we love the Lord and you love the
Lord. We are partners during this
precious time, so greater things are still to come!!! It’s an honor and a responsibility to live with
all of that. Of course, we have a lot of
dreams, and challenges. Telling it like this makes it seem everything is really
easy. It’s not! But with you and all of this army with us, we
have no fear. Thank you so much for being part of a project bigger than you and
me.
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JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2011
Thank you, Lord!
What to say if not that, when each morning, the Lord shows us with small and big details that He is in control of everything and He has the power to supply all the needs we have? I don’t know if we are going to have space to share all the blessings we have lived since the beginning of the year; but we will try to speak a bit about everything that is happening so you can celebrate with us, since we are together in these joyful moments, even though we are distant in terms of geography.
We ended last year with a great gift, which was the acquisition of a car.
With the cold and the snow, it started to be really complicated to do small and daily things without a car. But, because we didn’t have room in our budget, this was not in our plans. However, some friends and relatives decided to send us a Christmas gift, and, even without knowing, they sent us exactly the amount that was needed to buy a car from a couple of missionaries who were living in Madagascar. It was really a great and useful gift; the first of some other surprises that were reserved for us.
We started the year with the joy of seeing our son in a new school, with new challenges and changes. (Even for that, the car was just perfect because we need to use it daily to take our son to school.) What at the beginning was a kind of preoccupation, ended as another gift. How good it is to see our son diving into a new culture here, making new friends, learning each day a new word or sentence of his second language.
But, that’s not the end. We also received from some friends and churches another fantastic gift that made it possible to finish our language school at the right time, and not before, as we were planning. We are so happy because we know that language is a big part of our ministry. So, it’s really good to continue our French studies until June.
We can’t even imagine what is still to come from the Lord to us, but this is also good because “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
“Come on, so you don’t have problems??? I want to go to Paris, too! All of my problems will disappear!” Reading this, maybe you are asking that of yourself. Of course, YES! We have no doubt that this has also been the most difficult and delicate time we have faced since we got here. We have experienced the missing of our friends and special people, anxiety, stress, cultural differences, spiritual warfare, etc. Sometimes these things surround us. But this is also another sign that we are going in the right direction. Too much peace in a situation like ours is not a good sign. In the middle of this hurricane of really good things and also some bad things, we are learning how to value what is the most precious thing in this world: the Family! It’s there, in there and through there that big changes take place in the world. If we stop to think a little bit, it’s in our families that we can enjoy what really matters.
We ask your prayers in this new year, and as always, we want to thank you for each minute of prayer, care and also finances donated to us by some of you. This is EXTREMELY BIG and precious. Merci Beaucoup!
La Fonderie
Some great news here too! The first is that we have been much more involved with the ministry during this year. When we finish our studies in a few months, we are going to dive 100% into the ministry and do even more things than we are already doing.
Our monthly gatherings (Verticale) are even better. Each month, a great group of people gets together. This gives us the opportunity to know more people during these projects and also some others we run into in the gallery.
A unique possibility of partnership with a Christian community here is taking place; this will increase even more our dreams and projects. “Greater things have yet to come, Greater things are still to be done in this city…”
One thing that really makes us happy and sure we are doing the right thing is seeing here a large number of people anxious for a big change; a personal change, a change in the society, a change that will allow us to turn on our TVs and watch better news instead of wars, violence, and anything but love. Each personal dream they share with us, each idea (some of them really, really crazy…hehehehe) has been a big motor that is fueled by the presence of the Lord in our lives and makes us dream even more. These dreams take us to places even further, and help us in a beautiful process of creating a new history! Isn’t it amazing? Shine the light around the world, living, respecting and encouraging new expressions, cultures, and new ways to show one thing that never changes: The Love of the Lord!
At this moment, we are writing from Switzerland, where we are playing and ministering at a youth conference that gathers almost 3000 teenagers. Each of them has a BIG wish to transform the world, and to see solid changes in our society, sometimes a bit selfish. We are so happy to see this new generation already doing great things, and focusing their dreams, energies, intelligence and creativity to better understand and live a God’s project for themselves.
We hope this small piece of what we are living here also gives you the breath to keep going and living a life full of hope, life, success, and, more than all of that, full of the LORD!
Au revoir
