Day 6 August 2, 2009

This weekend we put on a VBS for the kids of Sao Camilo and it was AMAZING!!!  Saturday was a FULL day.  We were up at the Salon at 8:30 to get things rockin and rolling for the day.  First we had breakfast and got to meet the kids.  I met the CUTEST little boy EVER.  He had lil glasses and his name is Wellington.  I have decided that when I get a dog that will be his name.  Anyways, the Brazilians did a drama explaining creation and then we broke into groups, talked about it more in detail, and  colored these fun little books talking about what happened on each day.  After that the boys headed out to play soccer and the girls got to dance.  I’m telling you…I fit in so well in this place for the fact that everyone dances all the time…and I dance all the time.  After that we had lunch and then after lunch we played games.  We played a lil sit on the balloon and pop it (haha don’t know if there is really a name for it), Simon says, and then we had a relay race in which the kids had to run around a chair with a balloon in between their legs, run, put on a shirt and jeans, run, take off the shirt and jeans, run and leap frog an American, run and make a crazy face for Christ to take a picture, crab walk, chew some bubble gum and blow a bubble, crab walk, look up and spin in a circle 10 times, then run and tag your party.  It was chaotic to say that least…but SO much fun.  The kids enjoyed every minute of it and that’s all that matters.  After the day was over we took the kids home back up to their houses in Sao Camilo.  Lisa, Taylor, our translator Anna Lisa, and I got to witness to a mom and tell her about creation, sin, and the need for a Savior.  What made this situation different from the others is that this was her very first time to hear any of this.  God was clearly evident throughout the whole conversation.  We weren’t having to do all the talking…she asked the questions and would comment on how choosing to have Christ in your life is a very big and important decision.  She didn’t accept Christ…she wanted to think about it, but she asked if people from the church would come up and talk to her more about it.  It was such an awesome experience to be apart.  I was so blessed from it and thank God for putting the words in our mouths to say.  The devil sure was out to ruin that conversation though.  In the middle of is this crazy guy comes up out of no where and just starts yelling at us.  He was mad about something dumb and after 5 mins of arguing with our translator he left.  Even though the devil tried to use that as a distraction, he was once again defeated…haha sucka!

After that we headed to our house churches.  Me house church consisted of my, Hillary, Cole, Serenity, Nikki, Taylor, and a whole lotta Brazilians.  Let me just take the time to tell you how much I love the concept of house churches.  We spent time sharing our testimonies and what God has done in our life and then also encouraged each other to continue to be on fire for God and be an example to everyone.  As for me and a few of the others, its hard not to get discouraged during this part of the trip for the fact that we get to not only see, but experience a passion, excitement, and desperation for Christ that the Brazilians have.  Sorry to everyone at home (and this doesn’t go to everyone….but a huge chunk) but we think that we have it all together and have God all figured out….we’re wrong….way wrong.  There is so much more to God….SO much more.  We put him in a box that fits our needs and time and it breaks my heart.  Our prayer (both the Americans and Brazilians) is that when we come home, THE church will see and understand not with just their mind, but their hearts that God has so much more in store and can use us in GREAT ways if we DECREASE and let Him INCREASE.  As hard as it is for us to have to leave our family here, we must not give up and continue to be a light to the people in America (both the “churched” and “unchurched”).

We’re gonna come home with the mentality of expecting and experiencing GREAT things from God.  You’re more then welcome to jump on this bandwagon

Joshua 1:9

Day 5 August 2, 2009

For the record…desfazer means UNDO in Portuguese.  Thought I would let you know just in case you decide to accidentally delete 2 pages worth of stuff and loose it all like i just did

So…my bad on not giving yall the update from yesterday.  I’m not gonna lie..I was super tired annnnd super lazy yesterday.  Sorry I’ll update yall about today (day 6) and tomorrow (day 7) tomorrow since I’m the smart one that forever deleted my lovely story of the past 2 days.

Yesterday was a lovely/eventful day!  First off, I challenged myself to read the whole book of Romans and was successful at it!  It was nice.  We also learned a dance we will be doing with the Brazilians on Sunday night.  It should be….interesting to say the least.  Just picture in your mind Cole Hegwood and Randy Chunn doing a semi serious interpretive dance…that should make you smile haha!

We went up to Sao Camilo to remind the kids about the VBS we were putting on this weekend.  As we were walking up the street towards Sao Camilo, some police drove by us super fast…stopped a few houses down from the Salon…got out of the car…pulled out their guns…then started pulling out some SWAT action.  As much as I wanted to see what was going on, it was at this point that we decided maybe we should turn around..so we headed back to the Salon.  Come to find out there was some kind of drug bust going on.  Anways, we spent the next 45 mins in prayer…this was one of the first humbling moments of the day.  It was def needed and God oriented and our focus returned to God.  We prayed for the children of Sao Camilo that are apart of the Projects.  The Projects is held every Saturday at the Salon.  The Brazilians feed, play games, teach them about the Lord, music, soccer, dance, and what not every Saturday.  Big commitment to say the least.  We also layed hands and prayed for the Brazilians.  Once again I was amazed by their hearts and passion for Christ.  At one point I was praying out loud for them and straight up felt God.  Its kinda hard to explain..and ya might think im crazy..but i can honestly say I know that wasn’t me speaking those words.

After we prayed we attempted (for the 2nd time) to go up to Sao Camilo.  This, of course, was another humbling experience of the day.  Its hard not to be humbled when you visit Sao Camilo.  We split into 7 groups and each group had a list of kids we had to go visit.  When I think about Sao Camilo and even when Im there I don’t get scared, but this time was a little nerve racking only because there were a group of guys with walkie talkies who started to surround me annnnd not gonna lie that made me a lil uncomfortable.  Sadly at the same time I also got to witness the cutest lil 4 year old girl get her head slammed into the wall by a grown man…all the while Im trying to have a conversation with a family about Jesus.  Satan was definitely working hard to distract us…but our focus was solely on God.  Towards the end of our time in Sao Camilo, we came to a part that looked super familiar to me.  Then we went to the house and I realized that I had been to this house and talked this family last year about Christ and got to pray and hang out with them.  Talk about a God moment…out of all the 22,000 people I could have seen, I got to go back to the one family that prayed for throughout the year.  It was an emotional reunion haha.  Natalia is apart of the Projects and is one of 6 kids.  Her mom is basically super mom and one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met.  Last year she was very depressed and going through a rough time due to her husband…or lack there of.  She was basically raising 6 kids by herself and living off 120 reals (Brazilians currency) a month which is equivalent to about $60.  Ya this is the moment where you stop and think about this situation.  However, things have greatly changed for her since then.  She divorced the man and is living happily with her 6 children and making it through Gods grace.  Once again she invited me into her home (which is no bigger then most American closets) and we just got to sit and talk.  Gah, I love that family.

After that we returned back to the Salon, ate dinner, and got to hear from the head Pastor of the Salon (which is my Brazilians mom’s father just in case you wanted to know).  We talked about what the church is and what the church isn’t.  This is the part where I go on my rant.  The American church is jacked up…seriously.  I have grown up knowing that we the people are the church, but sadly I didn’t see that actually lived out until I came to Brazil last year.  He emphasized that Jesus Christ is the mystery of God, and the church is the mystery of Christ…or at least this is how it should be.  First off, the Lord defines the church.  There is only ONE church and it has been planted already.  There technically is no such thing as “your church” and “my church” and

it should not be limited to TIME or a PLACE…………………..

If we miss this…we are missing out on the fullness of God.  We must comprehend this with our hearts, not just our minds.  We will only know what this is until we experience it..and sadly I don’t think all of us have experienced this.

Rant over.

God is SO good!

Day 4 July 31, 2009

Today was a muito bom day…pretty positive i didn’t spell that right…I really should stop acting like I know how to speak Portuguese.

We started the day off by fasting.  We had the choice to fast for one meal (breakfast) and it was a cool experience.  I never eat breakfast so I didn’t think it would be hard, but oddly it was kinda a challenge.  It all started when I saw some candy.  Wait lets back it up…for the record…Ive been eating like a maniac down here.  Really…I’m pretty sure Ive gained 10 pounds…and I still have 7 days to add more to it. ANYWAYS, I saw some candy this morning and what was my natural reaction…I eyed that sucker down.  As soon as I was about to grab it I remembered that I was on a fast.  Now here is when the cheesy connection comes in.  Satan is out all the time to tempt us…even during the times when we feel we are side by side with God.  The choice is up to us if we’re going to fall into that temptation.  As followers of Christ, we are called to be examples to this world.  That doesn’t mean we are immune to the temptation, but it does mean that we have to fight with all our strength.

Ive also made sure that I have had a legit quit time with God.  Its been awesome cause I haven’t been worried about the time…and today I spent an hour just reading my word.  Definitely needed and well worth it.  And I’m done with that random lil tid bit.

Today we went to the outskirts of Sao Camilo and went door to door.  It was once again an experience where God was glorified and people came to know the love of Christ.  We performed our skits and shared our testimonies. All in all it was a GREAT day!  I did get asked to be someones girlfriend today by a 14 year old boy…cutest thing ever…and when I told him I wasnt sure if it would work, he told me “ya..I might need to wait till I’m a little older.”  Ha another kid also asked us if we were aliens.  We hung out for a bit and then they went on to ask if I had been to Las Vegas.  I told him no and with a serious (well as serious as a 13 year old boy can be) tone he said “oh..they sin A LOT in Las Vegas” haha!  Guess you had to be there to get the full effect, but know that it was super cute!

Tomorrow we are going into the heart of Sao Camilo to remind the kids about the VBS we are having this weekend and to hopefully minister to their families.  Once again we are asking for your prayers for the fact that Satan is attacking.

Day 3 July 30, 2009

Well today is officially day 3 in Brazil and God has already done some awesome things.

Great news…I FINALLY figured out how to work the showers…thats right…after 2 years Ive got it down.  No more freezing cold showers for me.  Another random lil funny…my family had one of those automatic air freshaners right beside the sink…and  it somehow knows that Im there.  Example..I was brushing my teeth this morning and had my face down in the sink (aka right by the air freshaner) and the stinkin thing decided to squirt out some smell good at the same time that I decided to open my mouth and needless to say I had very nice breath this morning haha.

The past couple of days we have gone to a poor neighborhood about 45 mins away called “New Horizon” in English.  Tuesday we spent the day going door to door just telling people about Jesus.  Its been cool to notice growth in this area for myself.  Last year I freaked out, forgot my testimony, and started crying haha.  God has given me boldness this go round to get straight to the point without any hesitation.  A lot of the people we talked to Tuesday were Catholic or believed that God and Jesus were two completely separate things.  My group (which consisted of me, Taylor, Lisa, our translator Anna, and a couple other Brazilians) had an amazing conversation with a man who used to be Jewish.  He went to church for 9 years and then stopped after getting into a disagreement with the leaders.  Basically he does not understand the Trinity.  He couldn’t understand how God can be 3 in 1.  You could tell he had a wall built up, but God def gave each of us the words to say and by the time we prayed his whole appearance changed.  From the tears in his eyes, you could tell that his heart was softened.  Later that night we had a performance in front of the “Mosquito Market” as we Americans called it and that same man came with his wife and 2 daughters.  It was a good time.  At one point it started pouring down raining so we had a random dance party…which of course had my name all over it.  A couple of people shared their testimony and we did the lifehouse skit which was very affective which is always good to know.  One man turned around to Paula and said “This is me..this is my life.”  Then the Brazilians did their thing and of course did amazing.  Summary of the night 7 people came to know Christ and others got to experience his love.

Today we went back to the same neighborhood and put on a backyard bible club for the kids…SO MUCH FUN! The kids loved it!!!  We had face painting, skits, songs, and of course we Americans taught then the chicken dance and the 500 miles dance.  After our afternoon with the kids we went back to the Salon (which is the church we are working with) and we basically had a Wednesday night youth service.  Some of my favorite times in Brazil are the worship services.  At one point we sang a song in Portuguese and I started singing it Portuguese cause I couldn’t remember what it meant in English…it was awesome though cause I got this epiphany that even though I couldn’t always remember what I was saying…God knew every word and knew my heart.  It was a good reminder that even though at times we don’t know what to say or how to say it, God knows our heart…and if you ask me…I think that’s pretty stinkin awesome

Tomorrow we are going to be going to Sao Camilo.  It’s a slum run by drug lords and its pretty intense.  There are multiple drug deals happening around us, and guys with big guns and walkie talkies all around that place.  Just pray for safety for us.  We are going to be going door to door witnessing to these people.  Im not afraid cause I know God will have control of the situation, but I also know that the devil is out to get us.  Mom (and everyone else) dont be scared…I wont do anything stupid, and dont be worried…God’s going to be glorified tomorrow.

Thanks for the prayers everyone!

LOVE YOU!!!!

I have brought news from America…Michael Jackson is dead…but Jesus is alive July 29, 2009

Welp…I’m in Brazil and can I please just tell you how stinking awesome it is to be back!!  Really…I’m pretty sure that I can count the times Ive experienced joy (not to be confused with happiness) on one hand and Monday was def. one of those moments.  Getting to reunite with my Brazilian family again put the biggest smile on my face and my heart.  I cant explain how I felt, but know that it was good and it has been needed.

I guess I should start from the beginning.  Plane ride lasted forever.  Had a lay over in New Jersey for an hour.  I like to think that I saw NYC from afar..but I’m not sure that I did haha.  It was a fun plane ride though.  Ive got to hang out with my ole pals Cole and Chris a lot and its been very nice.  I love those 2 boys!  And of course riding on the plane only ignited my desire to one day be a flight attendant annnnd my love for airplane food.  Random I know…just laugh!

We landed and met up with our families and rested basically all day Monday then we (the Americans and Brazilians) met up together later that evening to talk about the week, update each other on life, and got the chance to get fed from Pastor Tony.  He is awesome…I learn so much from that guy!  I love how they see and do church here.  Family is the core (which is how it ought to be) and it doesn’t matter what color you are, denomination, or what language you speak…we are all apart of One body of Christ.  At one point he said “When the family lives as the church, the church lives as a family.”  I dunno why…but I love that.  We are the church and we are called to be a family.  It made me think of all the people I see in the halls of North Side and I’m pretty sure “this is my family” is not the first thing that pops into my head….but it should be.  I do think this with the youth cause I worked with them for a good 3 years, but it should be my thought for all the people who claim themselves as children of God.

Its so good to see and hear about God moving in the Brazilians life.  Many of them have gone to the Amazon to witness to the people there and a couple of them have also gone to Africa.  It reminds me of how good God is and how powerful He is.  Each of us have such a big part to play right now…its up to us on whether we choose to obey Gods call or sit there and let someone else do the work.

We got informed of the current status of Brazilians which is basically the same as last year.  Many of the Brazilians are very religious people.  They go to church and think they know everything there is to know about God, but they are missing one important aspect…..the concept of a relationship.  It truly is a spiritual battle of religion vs relationship.  They know about God, but don’t experience His love.

We also got encouraged to take the opportunity to know, experience, and focus on God.  We dont need to worry about what to say (which I was guilty of last year).  We ought to take the intemacy we have with God and share it with the people we come in contact with so that they may know what a relationship with God is rather than a religion.  We just need to walk with God…

Prayer is def needed right now.  A lot of the people here have walls built up and its going to take Gods power to break down those walls.  I got reminded last week at camp what can happen when we expect God to do great things.  We are coming into this trip expecting God to  show up and use us in ways that we have never experienced before.  It’s going to be a good 10 days!

*Love* February 16, 2009

So do you ever have those moments in life where you feel completely overwhelmed.  I’ve been having those a lot lately…with lots of different things…but I just experienced/am experiencing/have been experiencing this overwhelming feeling of God’s amazing, unconditional, LOVE.  This actually happened awhile back, but like I forewarned, I am not good at writing things down and never got around to sharing it with the whole like 3 people who read this haha.  

 

Back when school first started this semester I got overwhelmed with school.  This by far is my hardest semester and is requiring so much time from me and to be honest I have not been used to this much work…but Im survivin…however if you would have asked me this 4 weeks ago I probably would have told you I was dropping out of school.  I was sitting in my room at DBU and was just looking at all my syllabuses and freaking out when I thought of Psalm 46:10.  It was a nice little reminder and it also reminded me that in times of craziness I still need to go to God and it is only through Him that we will receive peace and be able to do things.  So I get out my Bible and read for a bit, then open up my lovely devo book and can I please just tell you how awesome of a time I had with God.  God spoke the exact words to me that I needed to hear.  It was like He was right next to me whispering them in my ear.  What happened…?  I bawled like a baby…not because I felt bad or convicted from anything, but I was simply reminded and overwhelmed by God’s love.  You read it…(sorry guys kinda its kinda worded all girlie and what not…but it can definitely go for yall too)…
 
 

“…The love story continues. You are God’s beloved. He is daily pursuing a relationship with you. He is aware of every joy, sadness, struggle, and victory you face. He thinks of you, calls for you, and fights for you-even this very moment.

You need to know how important you are to him. When you read the Bible from cover to cover, look closely for the thread of his love from creation to this day. He pursues you and cherished you. He fights for you and wins the battles. He does all of this, every day, on your behalf, as he did for those in the Bible.

He sent Jesus-Immanuel, God with us. Clothed in human flesh, he faces hunger, tiredness, loneliness, and betrayal. He was challenged and tested, belittled and misbelieved. People spat on him, tortured him, and then murdered him. And yet, he overcame it all for you, his beloved.

Know he understands your frustrations, your mistakes, your sadness, your disappointment. He cares about each difficult moment you face, and pleads with you not to face them alone. he is available and approachable right now, as your Priest, King, Lover, and friend.”

 

He is AMAZING and He wants to love each one of us personally!  Over the Christmas break I desired to gain a more mature relationship with God.  I started to see Him as my groom and have that same love as I would for my husband to be.  I want to be like Mary who breaks her most expensive jar of perfume and wipes His feet with her hair.  That’s love and that is what I want and that is what I felt that night and what I have continued to feel.

So after having this amazing time with God…Mr. Phil Wickham comes to DBU and puts on a lil worship set for us and plays his songs and I sing along with them like I would…but then he plays Beautiful.  Ive sang this song and heard him play it tons of times but that it became so real to me.

 

I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say 
You’re beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It’s all proclaiming who you are
You’re beautiful

I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You’re beautiful

When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring 
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re beautiful 

I see Your face, I see Your face, I see Your face
You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

 

Yes…part written in bold…that is the part that came alive to me and I sang those lyrics like I never have before.  I felt once again God whisper “I love you” in my ears and became overwhelmed with Him.  I really can’t explain it and you probably are like…”oh Hannah…” but really…it was such an awesome moment.  

It is just awesome to know that the God of this universe loves me.  Loves you.  Loves all the people you will walk by today.  Loves the crazies.  Loves the people on the other side of the world.  Loves the ones who we think don’t deserve His love.  Loves the people around the world who are 100% sold out for Him. HE LOVES US!

Fact: God ought to be priority numero uno on your list January 6, 2009

Commandment # 1 “You shall have no other Gods before me.” Exodus 20:3

 

It’s really funny cause I remember as a kid looking at this commandment and thinking that this was an easy one to obey. I was not going to bend down and worship some statue.

I was FALSE. This commandment is an easy one to disobey.

The minute you begin to put ANYTHING in front of God…you’ve broken this commandment. You have disobeyed God. That becomes your idol.

 

Commandment #2 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:4

 

Anything…other people, school, sports, relationships, friends, yourself, the list goes on.

Im guilty of doing this….recently even. It’s so easy to say you love God with all your heart…blah blah blah…but really….when was the last time you dug into your word. When was the last time you scheduled your day around HIM instead of trying to fit him into YOUR busy schedule.

Don’t do it. If ANYTHING is number one on your list, do whatever it takes and re prioritize your list/life. Now im not saying go off and quit school, but re arrange your schedule to where you make Him the center of your day.

If you need to get yourself out of that relationship to make this happen…do it.

If you need to not be as involved in everything…do it.

If you need to quit whatever it is that takes up the most time…do it.

If you need to make new friends…do it.

Who cares if someone gets mad at you…I say let them. If you are doing it to make things better between YOUR relationship with your Father who loves you….do it.

You were bought with a price. It was not cheap.

And it was certainly not meant to be taken for granted or put 2nd on your list of priorities.

Take a closer look December 29, 2008

So one of the reasons that I wanted to have this thing was so I could take time out of the day, chill, and hang out with God and write down my thoughts on passages of scripture and this sweet new devo book Im going through (it’s called “Take a closer look for women”).  It’s my first “woman” devo book haha, but I believe if a guy could just get over the fact that everything is pink, he could read it and get just as much out of it.  It’s a good one.

 

Honesty time…

Ive had it for awhile.  In fact I bought it originally for a friend over a year ago, but never got around to giving it to her.  I decided to take it with me when I moved to DBU in hope that I would give it to her, but ended up cracking it open, reading the first devo and decided I was going to keep it for myself.  No worries…I bought her another one and gave it to her a month later.  

It’s crazy how awesome the timing was for me to crack it open and dig into it.  Moving to Dallas and leaving everything I was used to including my family and job as a youth intern was super hard and with that brought super hard other things in my life that I knew I could not figure out on my own.  For awhile I was doing pretty good at having a daily quiet time in my word that I enjoyed and took out because I wanted to, not because I had to prepare for a lesson or feel obligated to do.  Then came the distractions.  Im really bad at letting things like school and “not having enough time” to take time out of the day to read my Bible and spend time with my God….lame…I know…trust me…it bothers me too.  Im not gonna lie, I kinda started to coast off what I was receiving from things around me instead of searching for myself.  Im finding this is a very easy thing to do at DBU, but I can sit here and sincerely say that that is not enough for me…or for anyone for that matter.  You can’t just coast and expect for your relationship with Christ to continue to grow and be what it was meant to be by coasting off experiences, other peoples testimonies, or the occasional prayer.  You HAVE to center your daily schedule around God…not fitting Him into the right time slot that is more convenient for you.  It’s such an easy thing to do, but I’m one to admit that it is such a hard thing for me.  If you don’t center everything around God, the distractions (including facebook lol) will find their way to becoming priority in your life.  It’s happened with me lately and Im tired of it.  Not only do I see the difference in my relationship with my father, I have seen the huge impact of not having a quiet time has had on myself…especially my attitude and I really don’t like it.  So…I am going to put a stop to it before I sink more.

 

All that to say that I am going to use this here wordpress to help keep me accountable.   In fact, Im going to go to the extent of making it my home page to help remind me to stop what Im doing and dig into my word.  Call me a nerd or whatever…I don’t care…I’m on an awesome journey with God.

Random’s the name December 27, 2008

Well to start this thing off Im going to warn everyone who might be bored enough to read this that I reeeealy stink at these type of things.  I get the motivation to make one, but rarely do I get the motivation to actually write, but hopefully that will change.  

 

I decided that during the Christmas break I would be productive.  Writing in this thing and restarting a book that I never finished (and hopefully actually finishing it this time) are some of the things I hope to accomplish during my month off of school.  

 

I also want to warn everyone that Im not the best writer.  Im kinda a random person with random thoughts and  those random thoughts come out randomly…not fancy.  So this will be my random blog where I type out all my random thoughts.  

 

It’s official…I am a blogger!  Now to start the random thoughts…