A moment of your love today, could forever change someone else's tomorrow.

Hello my fellow travels:)! How goes your journey on this road call, "Life”? 

I hope everyone is ok and safe with all the extreme weather I saw the US was getting. There have been some really crazy storms here in Brazil as well. I told you about the rain storm that trapped us in for a few days with only the flatbed truck to shuttle people in and out right? Similar thing happen again with flooded roads while meanwhile a coke a cola truck backed into the main power box and knocked out all the power. While trying to fix that, they broke a water main which added to the flooded streets and killed the water as well as the power, so yeah, cool! Since getting the tid bit of new about the alligators flooding out, we don’t wade through the water any more:)

My famous rabbit Gracie bringing a smile to a sweet little boy during a magic show we put on at a restaurant. 

The other day I was thinking about how many times throughout our day we could bump shoulders with someone who may be near giving up. Someone who desperately needs what we could easily give, just a little time, love, or care. If we could just be sensitive to the moment, maybe we could be the answer to someones prayer and their lifeline to reality. But sadly, sometimes we are often too wrapped up in our own problems to notice and we go our way, they go theirs and we miss a moment that could have change us both.

I once had an on-call waitress job at a restaurant, so I wasn't there too much. There was this line cook who always greeted me and smiled. I didn’t know his name and never really talked to him. One day I came in to work and when I clocked in, there was a picture of him up on the board. The notice said that this man had lost his battle with cancer and would be remembered by the staff. It hit me hard to think that I would never see him again or get the chance to talk to him. There would be no, ‘I’ll ask him how he’s doing next time”. 

A photo I took from the favela Vidgial.

Love. Such a simple, completely free thing to give. It requires no special schooling, no special equipment, and no money.  We can show love with even just one simple word or thought or action. But tragically, as I travel to so many cities around the world, and touch so many lives, it becomes apparent that multitudes will go their whole lives without ever really touching this thing called, “Love”. 
Thus the tragic drug epidemics, high suicide rates, mental illness, violence  and over populated prisons. So many kids grow up in broken families without the security of a loving father or mother. Sometimes a tragic school shooting is traced back to a disturbed young person who never received loved. It can sound sappy or cheesy to talk about love as being the answer to so many problems, and if you are thinking of a shallow feel good or romantic love, than it probably is. But if you think about love as belonging, knowing you matter, having a purpose, knowing your seen, it is the love we all crave and long for and the love that could cure many issues we deal with.

Flying kites is one of the main activities that everyone enjoys. Children and adults of all ages can be seen flying kites along the roads and up in the favelas. 

Another time I worked with a chef who was just mean as hell. Always yelled at the servers for everything. One day we were in the office and I asked him if he was doing ok. In a second he dropped his guard, tears started welling up in his eyes and he told me his wife was battling stage four breast cancer and not doing so good. From that day on we became friends and I was able to share with him and see him as a person who was suffering, not an angry chef. At times if we  can forget ourselves and be the bigger person, we just might find that God can use us to touch another life.  

Favela at night. 

Here in Brazil we write and stay in touch with a lot of the students and people we minister to. Each of my brothers and sisters and have over 100 or so individuals we write in either Spanish, Portuguese or English. My brother was writing a young man named Joao for a while, when one day he lost touch with him and a few weeks went by with no contact. Then my brother got a message from Joao’s dad saying that his son had been murdered by a gang. It made us cry. Sadly we have had many similar stories to this one. I don’t mean to depress you, I just want to make the point that sometimes we touch other lives, maybe just once, and maybe that once could change their life and shape ours. Maybe a moment of your love today, could change someone else's tommorw forever. 

A group of kids we regularly work with. 

So the events we did up in the favelas ended up working out and being really cool. The guy who set up the first one, in a favela called Vidigal, randomly saw a flyer of a previous event we did on the status of a friend of his. Knowing it would not be easy to get there, he literally begged us to come and perform at an event he was trying to organize for his community, around 1000 people. 
His name is Rodgerio, and he is a motorcycle taxi driver who lives in the favela and shuttles people up the steep hills. We nicknamed him "Batman", because he is a one man show trying to do a lot of good in a very dark city. He is poor as well, but was able to get sponsors so he had a lot of food, candy, cake, drinks and gifts for the kids.  He is as poor as the people he is trying to help, his wife suffers from epilepsy, he has four kids and yet still dedicates his time to help others. He such an example of what someone can do with a big heart, even if they have just a little.

Up in a favela. 

Since it was so steep to get to the location, there was just no way we could take our 17 year old van up there;) so he arranged for a few little vans to carry us and all our equipment to the top of the mountain. It was a crazy ride up with endless, steep curves but we made it:) 
Our driver was crazy and laughing as he floored it around blind curves. Defiantly gets your heart racing. All the way up we drive by guys standing around with machine guns and our driver informed us that this was all gang territory. Nearly every day there are shootings here. It is tragic. (A week after this event, we had another event scheduled here at the same place and they had to cancel it because of shootings that broke out between gangs and cops.)

Many of our events take us into very remote places or up steep mountains. 

We performed in the evening and he announced for all other activities to stop so everyone came and watched and we had a big crowd. For so many it is the first time they see magic, hip hop dance, fire poi, and of course...my bunny!!;), so they were very excited and there was a lot of screaming and cheering. 
We were able to plant many seeds and teach about the true riches of knowing the Father and His kingdom. Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven..."Mt.5 

We helped distribute the food and gifts afterward and the organizers were grateful for our help because giving out things in a poor community can be difficult, but since my brothers and sisters and I have a lot of experience handling extreme chaos;), we survived. It was so beautiful seeing the sunset over the ocean, through the favela with a full moon rising across from it. We drove down so happy and full that the Father would use us to reach these beautiful families. 

My sister dancing ballet up in a favela. 

We did other events in the favelas of Mare, Alemao, Maunguiers, and Rochine. Getting to the event we did in Rochine was one big (dangerous, terrifying, crazy, whole life flash before your eyes...) adventure:) This is one of the largest favelas in Latin America, which houses over 100,000 people and the event was at the top;)  (This is the favela where they filmed the most recent "Hulk" movie and they running on the roofs, in case you really wanted to know that:)) There are no city services in these favelas. No water, waste or trash service, and they only get electricity by tapping into existing sources.

We could not drive up the crazy doctor seus type hill which led to the area where we were to perform ). So we had to walk all our equipment up. It was actually harder than I first thought when I assured my dad it would be no problem, piece of cake;). It was slippery with water running down it and our stuff is so freaky heavy it was hard to keep your footing. Two steps forward, one step back. Then when we made it the top wheezing and panting, we then got to lift all our equipment  up a narrow steep staircase (and of course, all this back down when it was dark:)).

But it was totally worth it all the work, a dream come true and I would do it again ten times over. To get the chance to reach these people in the far corners of the earth and see the sun setting in the distance while surround with favelas, and simple beautiful people everywhere, was a sweet experience. 
We shared so many things with them and taught the Gospel in a clear, simple way. Many did not have bibles and we had enough to give out many, as well as toys for the kids, candy, flyers and inspiring posters for their walls. We even had a fun easter egg hunt for them:)!! My sister does a beautiful ballet dance where she starts wound up in black fabric. She unwinds revealing a white ballerina. She speaks a poem about being wound up in our fear, pain, past and suffering and that the love of Jesus can free us. It is special to bring high end acts of magic, theater and dance to such dark, poor places. 

The requests that we have been receiving to perform at schools has been incredible and at times, overwhelming. One performance will lead to three or four more requests. Suicide, drugs and being forced into gangs are some of the main issues the youth is facing, besides constant violence and shootings in their neighborhoods. I can’t tell you how many kids I have talked to who tell me they have or are contemplating suiced. Many with cuts on their arms and a deep sadness and hurt in their eyes. Makes you want to weep.

I write around 200 kids on a regular basis sharing things to help them. So many have no parents or bad parents and are left alone in this cruel world to figure out who to be, where to go and how to make it. They see the  corruption in the churches and find no answers or help there and so when we teach that Jesus is not a church, pastor or preacher, but a Father, they really listen and find hope. 
Seeing the great need and knowing that we can help, makes it impossible to turn down requests if we can logistically figure it all out. So to reach as many as possible,  we have had to split up and go three and three or two and two to some schools. It takes a lot of work to handle crowds of around 500 to 600 students and pull off a good show, but so far, it has been fantastic! We have to modify some stuff and we defiantly get super exhausted with the transporting of all our equipment, set up, break down and then keeping everything smooth but we are able to reach so many young people in all corners of the city that God had been giving up great grace.

One directer who runs a school in another city called, Sao Gonzales, far across a bridge, got word of the work we do from a random facebook post from another teacher, wrote to ask us to come to her school. She said she heard how we put such a high value on life and that we taught about the purpose of life. She said that they had had three cases of students committing suicide there the last two months and asked to please help. 
At one school we were able to reach the whole school by doing one performance in the morning, and one after lunch, making for a nice short ten hour day;);) Despite our initial impression, the students were all very respectful, grateful and into everything we did. When we did our, "leadership challenge", which is when we bring kids up on stage to read quotes and role play in different scenarios, at first no-one volunteered. There was just so much peer pressure. Then one brave girl walked to the front and was a beautiful example of how to be an individual. After her, like 20 kids all wanted to participate! Later, a few kids sent me a message specifically saying how this activity showed them what w different they can make and that they can find purpose in being a leader.

A performance of Capoeira, fire and drums. 

Performing Irish Step dance. 

We have been working in a large mens prison here and have had favor with the director. He organized each of our performances so that with each group we reached around 400 to 500 inmates and eventually reached the whole prison. He wrote me to ask if we could put on a performance for the children in the school where his wife teaches in a city called, Santiismo. 
He told me that many of these children have parents in prison and said that he knows our performance could pick them up and give them hope. 
Hope is one of the most under rated words but it is what makes life livable. Without hope how could we go on? Hope is the reason God gave us His Son. Hope is the reason Jesus rose from the dead. To take this hope to the world, is my joy, purpose and great privilege. 

The prison directors wife is maned Anna, she has worked as a teacher for 20 years and had a beautiful spirit and genuine care for her kids. Her school was younger grades than we normally go to, but they were all very precious, obedient and respectful. All 250 would be dead quite when we asked them to, (but unbelievable loud when they were cheering or enjoying the magic or a certain rabbit appeared;)).  
For this age group we put on our play that includes my brother on stilts in a magical prince costume, a giant frog costume, a dwarf, a treasure chest which holds a light up book, (used to teach about the Scriptures), And a cocoon from which comes a butterfly. Using this platform and story, we are able to teach the Gospel in a beautiful and simple way for the children to understand. 
At the end the children all wanted hugs, to be thrown in the air and of course to pet Gracie (the bunny::). It is always hard to say goodbye at these events and the teachers and administrators all want to talk and receive attention as well. Anna, (the prison directors wife) was moved to tears and very grateful. Their daughter suffers from epilepsy and a few days earlier had a bad seizure that put her in the emergency room. You could see the pain and suffering in her eyes and we were able to bring her comfort and encouragement in all her work.

Another  school we visited was in one of the worst areas we have yet seen here in Brazil. The scenery that filled our windows as we drove there was nothing but mud, trash, pigs, shacks and gangs all around. It all shouted one word, "Hopelessness”. When we drove up we were warmly greeted my excited teens who helped us unload all our equipment. It ended up being my favorite school so far! There were around 350 teens, ages 14 to 20 and they were just locked on every word we shared. 

The area surrounding the school in Belford Roxa. 

We ended up doing a long performance of over two hours then staying another 2 hours just talking one on one and with small groups. All the teens were asking the most important and relevant questions about life, purpose, how to come to know God, how to read the Scriptures. It was very encouraging and made us realize how the youth is the hope here. One young girl told me that this morning she had decided that after school she was going to take her life. She wept in my arms and told me that she believed we were the answer to her prayers and that we were there just for her and that we saved her life. She said she will never think that again. It just so tragic that these kids have no one. No love. No direction. I was so tired after this, both physically and emotionally that I almost fainted;). 

My brothers doing a rap they wrote. The neon costume my brother designed is used to convey that our free will can be like a super hero and take us to where we want to go. 

We all ran got the chance to run a cool race here that benefited the handicapped and people in wheel chairs. It is called "Wings for Life", and the motto is "Running for those who can't yet". All the runners leave, then 30 min after a car leaves behind you, gradually picking up its speed. When it catches you, thats your finish line. We ran this same race in Chile a few years ago. That year I actually almost won the whole thing in the female devision but got passed in the last mile and took third:( Here it was super hot so I didn’t get as far but it was cool to run through the city and support all the wheel chair runners and handicapped. Those folks are my heroes.

After spending time in a wheel chair myself years ago after I shattered my leg in an accident, I always hold a great respect for others in this situation. It takes courage and fortitude of attitude to conquer life from a wheel chair. Maybe take an extra thought when you see someone who is handicapped. Give someone in a wheel chair a little extra care and attention next time you get a chance. Ask them how they are doing in a sincere way. Sometimes we shy away from asking someone what happen to them because it could be awkward and we don’t want to single them out of course, but I have found that most every one, even folks who have lost a limb, want to share their experience and are grateful when you ask them what happen and listen to their story. They want another to sympathize with what they went through. Keep that in mind when you get a chance, maybe in a walmart, or park you’ll come across someone that needs a little attention. Worst case they don’t want to talk and you just apologize and tell them you respect them and to keep their head up. 

One of the days we split up and did two schools on the same day, at opposite ends of the city, both in extremely poor and dangerous areas. I went to the school in a city called, Belford Roxa which gets the most shootings annually. My brother has an app that shows where the shootings are in the city so we can be advised. Here in this city his app is always going off. We performed for around 300, older students, each with so much pain and suffering in their eyes. When we start, often this age group is skeptical of who we are and what we are going to do. Most are not in agreement with the churches here and do not want to be preached at. That is why we use acts like hip hop dance, Capoeira (which is their Brazilian martial art), Magic routines, comedy acts about their two rival soccer teams which gets the crowd screaming and roaring in laughter. Then, by using these “keys” we unlock the “doors” of their minds and hearts and get inside. We then win their trust and can now teach them things and talk about the tougher issues of life, relationships, drugs, gangs, suicide and how to make it through life. 

We had a phenomenal time teaching these kids so many things. My genius brother built this ball that has a microphone inside it so we can toss it to the students and they can ask questions. It is a really cool way to interact with them and here they asked such good questions about life, their purpose and how to really start to seek God.

We went to another school on the far outskirts of the city. It was raining when we left but the director told us that it had not been raining there and the children would still be able to make it to school, and we would be able to make it there (since it was three hours away, we asked). However as we neared the location it was pouring, had been raining all morning and many areas were flooded. Hmmm, “hello dear director, it seems it is raining here….ummm.. you sure the kids will be coming to class….” Director - “Oh, yeah, Im sorry, it is raining, I didn’t look out my window when you texted me...all the kids might not come”. Ok great:(. Since we had already driven three hours to get there, and they had a covered area we decided to perform for the kids that were there. 

We were expecting 500 kids and they were only around 100 so it was disappointing, but the kids were very grateful and we were able to spend more personal time with them. However, as we got caught up with the kids, we forgot that we had driven across a mud field to get to the covered areas and that it had been pouring continually. We looked it over and thought we could make it back through if we drove quickly but we were wrong. Our van got stuck hard in the mud. We spent the next four hours digging out, getting boards and pushing. One of the kids had a tractor and it almost worked to pull us out but the only rope we had snapped. 

All the kids helped push us out and eventually we were free. Just when we were almost in the clear, my brother fell against the van window and it shattered. I thank God he was not hurt but now we also had a smashed window to deal with it as it continued to rain. As Jesus said, “In the world you will have trouble...”! Too true:) But I thank Him every day for the second part, “...But take courage, I have overcome the world.. (Jn.16:33)” Our Father was with us and we were able to tape up the window, make it home and then get it replaced a few days later. Just part of the price you pay. 

At a juvenile detention center. 

We have worked extensively in all of the juvenile detention centers here in the city. It is always a very long day and a lot of work, but well worth it! At a facility at a location that is actually on an island, we did two performance, each with over 100 young men and around 40 workers, guards and teachers. Since the young men are apart of rival gangs, peer pressure is strong and we have to work really hard to get through to them and teach them. We do a piece of theater where we get a volunteer to act as if he is going to run drugs for a gang leader and get him to say a price. Then towards the end of the act we play out that it was a set up and he is going to prison. We have posters that show how horrible the prison is and then ask him how much he would pay to get out f prison. The volunteer normally answers everything he has and the point hits home. There is no price worth risking your life. We teach how all this ends in either prison, or a grave. When we use these kinds of ideas to teach as well as making them laugh and have fun with magic, hip hop and Capoeira, it is very effective. 

So many of the tough, "bad" kids were all in tears saying goodbye and just wanted to be hugged and listen to. Sometimes the situation here reminds me of the child soldiers in Africa. Many teenagers, who are basically just children,  forced into situations that they never should be. Forced to do things and see things well beyond their years that damages their minds and hearts. After this performance we received many requests to visit others.

A restaurant near where we live asked us to put on a magic show during there dinner hour and it was fun entertaining the guests, plus they gave us a free meal;). 

So here is a thought for you ;) If you were to get up two hours earlier each day, you would actually add a day to your week. That would be 48 extra days a year you would add to your life;). Even just one hour and you would add 7 hours! Duh, I know, I’m not thinking I came up with some genius idea or anything;) I just started trying to do this sometimes and taking advantage of hours that I usually don’t. So even when I am tired, I try to get up earlier and get more in. It helps a lot to have your shoes, clothes and everything set out, especially if you are going to go for a run first; ) And don’t tell yourself you MAY get up early, tell yourself you have to, then you won’t talk yourself out of it. Plus you would get to witness a beautiful sunset, painted just for you by your Father. You could dedicate these hours to mediate on the scriptures and seek out Jesus. 

Live every moment. Pursue every dream. Love like never before. 

Bye for now, love you guys!

There is this spot on the coast I love to go. Massive waves crash on a rock from every direction. It is almost winter here so it is cooler and the breeze off the water is beautiful. Noting beats music, sunset and ocean breeze after a long day!