Only when we forget ourselves, do we truly find ourselves.
Only when we forget ourselves, do we truly find ourselves.
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| Schools are back in session now, and we have been receiving numerous requests for our performance. At the school pictured above, we performed for around 600 kids per session. A lot to handle but it was awesome and we touched a lot of precious kids. The teachers were hesitant to bring all the kids together because they were afraid it would get out of control. But after driving three hours to arrive, carrying 1,000 pounds of equipment up three flights of stairs, and not wanting anyone to be left out, we insisted that they would all get to come. The Lord gave us His grace and wisdom and the teachers were blown away by the attention and order we maintained throughout our show. |
Hello beautiful people! How goes the battle? I heard that the US got hit with some real severe weather and a bad cold front a while back. I pray everyone is doing ok and that by now its past. Here we got a terrible heat wave with temperatures up to 106 and 90% humidity! It has been tough to be working on the streets and prisons with the severe heat.
The heat wave triggered a series of bad tropical storms that knocked out the power and caused flooding and bad mud in various places (We have not had power for the last two weeks and now today the water went off:) welcome to Brazil:!).
In certain areas, the storms have also caused animals from the amazon jungle, such as crocodiles, macaws and anacondas, to come down into the rural areas. When someone warns you not to go to a certain area because there are too many anacondas, you know you are not in Kansas any more;)
In certain areas, the storms have also caused animals from the amazon jungle, such as crocodiles, macaws and anacondas, to come down into the rural areas. When someone warns you not to go to a certain area because there are too many anacondas, you know you are not in Kansas any more;)
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| Performing on a boardwalk weekend evenings. |
So here is a funny question for you ;), do you ever really think, about thinking? Even though thousands of thoughts cross our mind, sometimes we go days without really thinking. Our brains are phenomenal machines. They process 70,000 thoughts a day! When we think about the same thing often, perhaps a memory, past experience or certain habit, we create paths in our brain. Like clearing a path through a jungle, once there is a path, you are always going to travel on it and the more you “walk” it, the wider and bigger it becomes.
So think about a negative thought you often have or a series of thoughts. Maybe there is something specific that triggers a specific reaction in you. For example, ever since breaking my leg really bad, any time I start to stumble or fall in a similar way, my brain triggers a sense of fear and pain. It's just an automatic path my brain travels.
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| We designed these large boxes with and image on each side. When they are stacked up, they make a complete picture, each side something different. It is a teaching tool, a game, a way to interact with our audience and a visual guide to things we share. They have been extremely effective and better than we hoped, but we made them out of cardboard so they would fold down and be lite and they are not as durable as we hoped. We fear they are going to get worn out fast:( |
"Education is not the learning of facts, it’s rather the training of the mind to think." Elbert Einstein -
Because there is now a path in your brain from you traveling it multiple times, it is now your default and since the brain will automatically choose the easiest route, you will fall into that path again and again.
I talk to so many prisoners who are living in the past, reliving one particular moment in the past. There is a path in their minds of an event or action of either something they did, or something that was done to them. They walk this path over and over again, day in, day out so now its a 6 lane highway and really the only place they go to in their mind. We have lived thousands of moments in our lives but so often, we get trapped reliving a very negative one over and over. It's like frozen in our mind.
But you know what is so awesome? We can change! no matter how long we have let something go, even if we knew it was wrong, we can change it from one day to the next. If we are not changing, growing and learning, then we are just dying. So if we want to change our bad ways, habits and attitudes, we have to identify and start to eliminate the paths.
When Jesus was on the cross, He bore every one of our “frozen” moments. He knows our worst pain, hardest struggle, all the things we want to forget or our dark past. He conquered despair and death and created a new path, called "faith". He said “I am the way”. We can create new paths in our mind. We can think new thoughts.
God does not offer us a second chance on life, He offers us a life of second chances.
No matter how many times we blow it. No matter how many times we say we will change and don’t, or say we will start something new and don’t, its ok, God doesn’t count it against us. As long as you have a "today", it can be the first day of something or the last day of something. It can be the second chance of the second chance on our second chance, thats how big God is and how massive the work that Jesus did on the cross is. His forgiveness is eternal.
We can start to think new thoughts. These thoughts will become actions, actions habits and habits define our life. Even pre calculate before hand and plan that when a certain trigger thought comes, and you know you are going to go down a certain dark path, instead you will think this. This is why it is so important to study the Scriptures, especially the Gospel of John. Because this will give you new things and thoughts to fill your mind.
If you make a deliberate effort to start to care about others, it is a sure bet, money back guarantee way, to create new paths in your brain and start to change. When we forget about ourselves, our problems become much smaller as our minds become occupied with someone else's problems and how we could help them. So many opportunities right out our door to bring the Fathers love to another.
We can start to think new thoughts. These thoughts will become actions, actions habits and habits define our life. Even pre calculate before hand and plan that when a certain trigger thought comes, and you know you are going to go down a certain dark path, instead you will think this. This is why it is so important to study the Scriptures, especially the Gospel of John. Because this will give you new things and thoughts to fill your mind.
If you make a deliberate effort to start to care about others, it is a sure bet, money back guarantee way, to create new paths in your brain and start to change. When we forget about ourselves, our problems become much smaller as our minds become occupied with someone else's problems and how we could help them. So many opportunities right out our door to bring the Fathers love to another.
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| Performing on a stage in a poor community. |
We have had a very full schedule here in Brazil lately:), and it just keeps getting fuller;). The Lord has mercifully opened many doors for us and we have had a lot of opportunity to minister in schools, prisons, cities and up in the favelas. The need is just overwhelming.
We had an opportunity to perform on a big stage for a large crowd in a poor community. We were the main event so we had a two hour time slot which allowed us to perform many of our acts and share many things. It was families and people of all walks of life. There was a group of immigrants from Venezuela that the community had taken in so we made sure to speak in Spanish as well so they got everything.
We recently developed a new theatrical act to a high energy song that conveys the prodigal son retuning to his father. My brother (who is a heck of a dancer;)), dance/acts out the prodigal son coming back to the fathers arms as the father runs out to meet him and puts a gold coat on him. We have these beautiful gold wings which a company donated to us that we do a choreography with on the sides. We read parts of the passage from Luke 15 through it and although it is hard to write out for you, it is very moving. When we did it here on stage the crowd was really impacted and it reached a lot of people.
We recently developed a new theatrical act to a high energy song that conveys the prodigal son retuning to his father. My brother (who is a heck of a dancer;)), dance/acts out the prodigal son coming back to the fathers arms as the father runs out to meet him and puts a gold coat on him. We have these beautiful gold wings which a company donated to us that we do a choreography with on the sides. We read parts of the passage from Luke 15 through it and although it is hard to write out for you, it is very moving. When we did it here on stage the crowd was really impacted and it reached a lot of people.
This city is so huge that there are a lot of sub cities in the surrounding areas that are also large and just packed with people and crowds, so we have been visiting many of these as well as working here in the center. Sometimes we take busses out or rent a car so we can split up and reach more places. Over the carnival season we have been taking trips to take advantage of the large crowds and people being on vacation in a lot of cities. The Lord Jesus has given us His grace and strength to keep an intense pace of back to back ministry and although we are tired and a bit beat up;) (One of my brothers broke his nose, another brother tore ligaments in his wrist, I sprained both my wrists and broke a finger and my dad has a really serious condition with his vocals cords that we are praying will not need surgery, plus with a big family when one gets sick we all do), we are so blessed to be used by God and privileged to touch others. When we really lose our self, that is when we find ourselves. As Jesus promised, "...Whoever looses his life for My sake, will find it". Mt.16:25
It has been really an incredible experience working up in the favelas (which are what they call slum type villages of shacks stacked on top of each other where the poorest of the population live). All the way up steep mountains there are “houses” if you can call them that and the roads up to them are so steep that only these dirt bikes can make it up them. So the people all line up to take a motorcycle taxi to their house.
One evening I was up in one with my brother, talking to the people as they made their way home and it was just amazing to see people from all walks of life, politicians, teachers, government workers, athletes, all making their way up to these shacks. This particular village houses over 100,000 people. I guess sometimes you see these folks down town, nicely dressed, going to work and you don’t ever think about where they live, or that they might not have running water or electricity our a toilette that flushes. Just makes you think you know.
It has been really an incredible experience working up in the favelas (which are what they call slum type villages of shacks stacked on top of each other where the poorest of the population live). All the way up steep mountains there are “houses” if you can call them that and the roads up to them are so steep that only these dirt bikes can make it up them. So the people all line up to take a motorcycle taxi to their house.
One evening I was up in one with my brother, talking to the people as they made their way home and it was just amazing to see people from all walks of life, politicians, teachers, government workers, athletes, all making their way up to these shacks. This particular village houses over 100,000 people. I guess sometimes you see these folks down town, nicely dressed, going to work and you don’t ever think about where they live, or that they might not have running water or electricity our a toilette that flushes. Just makes you think you know.
Not far from where we are staying there is a boardwalk near the beach. The people come down from the favelas and far areas to walk the boardwalk and enjoy the ocean. Besides the risk of having our sound equipment near the salt water (which we wrap in plastic to try to protect), It is and ideal place to reach people of all walks of life in this area and from up in the favelas where we could never get otherwise.
One day we had a large crowd and my dad was sharing about how fragile life is and that we have to seize today to draw near to the Father. Suddenly, a helicopter comes in real low and lands on the beach next to us. A guy had gotten swept in the undertow of the waves while swimming and had stopped breathing. The medics rushed out and began to attempt to restart his heart. He had flat lined.
Over our speakers my family and I prayed for his life, that the Lord Jesus would have mercy and spare him. At that moment the man suddenly breathed and came back to life! He got taken away in the helicopter and there was a fear of God over the whole crowd. We had just been talking about how fragile life is, and it was clear to everyone present that God had intervened to save this mans life.
We were able to share many things because there was a sense of respect and fear over the crowd. A man came up who was a former cop and told us that he had just decided to take revenge on someone who had stolen all his money and was going to kill them. He broke down crying and said that he would have ended up in prison or dead if not for the message we shared today about forgiveness. He said he normally never even comes to this beach. We were so blessed to be used by God in this way and felt His Spirit at work.
We have been having some trouble with our van since it is over 16 years old and so we have had to rent cars now and then to make it to certain events and places. My brother and I were going to take our van to a mechanic one day that someone had recommended. We finally find the address we were given (which is verrrryyy difficult in this city;)), and there is a guy standing in a street waving us over. We ask him if he knows were the mechanic shop is and he says, "You bet! Right here":)!. No shop, no employees or tools, just a guy on the side of the road:). We politely found a way out of that one.
The other day we were leaving the center after ministering at the Sambadrome, when a severe storm hit. Within one hour the entire city center was flooded and the streets were like rivers. It was hard to find a way out since road after road turned into a lake and cars were stalling everywhere. We had to walk ahead to see how deep the water was in some places. At a certain part over a mountain pass, the water was just pouring down from a favela like a waterfall and the road was quickly becoming very dangerous (one lane road with no shoulder and drop off a cliff). I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit rattled:) It is already dangerous driving in this city without flooded roads. At one point we had to push our car for about 6 blocks through the water. Thank God He got us home safe.
One day we had a large crowd and my dad was sharing about how fragile life is and that we have to seize today to draw near to the Father. Suddenly, a helicopter comes in real low and lands on the beach next to us. A guy had gotten swept in the undertow of the waves while swimming and had stopped breathing. The medics rushed out and began to attempt to restart his heart. He had flat lined.
Over our speakers my family and I prayed for his life, that the Lord Jesus would have mercy and spare him. At that moment the man suddenly breathed and came back to life! He got taken away in the helicopter and there was a fear of God over the whole crowd. We had just been talking about how fragile life is, and it was clear to everyone present that God had intervened to save this mans life.
We were able to share many things because there was a sense of respect and fear over the crowd. A man came up who was a former cop and told us that he had just decided to take revenge on someone who had stolen all his money and was going to kill them. He broke down crying and said that he would have ended up in prison or dead if not for the message we shared today about forgiveness. He said he normally never even comes to this beach. We were so blessed to be used by God in this way and felt His Spirit at work.
We have been having some trouble with our van since it is over 16 years old and so we have had to rent cars now and then to make it to certain events and places. My brother and I were going to take our van to a mechanic one day that someone had recommended. We finally find the address we were given (which is verrrryyy difficult in this city;)), and there is a guy standing in a street waving us over. We ask him if he knows were the mechanic shop is and he says, "You bet! Right here":)!. No shop, no employees or tools, just a guy on the side of the road:). We politely found a way out of that one.
Mardi Gras season was just massive with block parties drawing up to two million people each. As I mentioned in a previous post, as well as our performance, we also have these large beautiful banners we hold in crowds that have inspiring messages on them like, "To anyone who is hurting, Don't give up, find the Fathers love for you in Jesus ". This is very effective in reaching the masses and the response has been amazing. People have never seen anything like it and will stop in their tracks at times to talk. One of our banners says, "Sometimes a happy face hides a heart of sorrow. God knows your pain, talk to Him". So many people told us this was exactly what they were going through. They come to the parties to drink, listen to music and have fun, but inside they are dealing with so much pain and often a tragedy. Beyond all the hype, it is so completely empty.
A women came up to me at a large crazy party and told me she is here all alone to try to drown out her pain. She lost a child last year and can't get over it. She said how much it meant to her to see my banner. I stay in touch with her now as well as many others.
Another young guy told me he can't stand to be home and deal with depression so he comes here to try to forget it. He said he was sick of all the hypocrisy and corruption in the churches here, but never really caught God all on his own and was really thinking. We gave out over 60,000 flyers in ten days to people who were desperate for hope.
Sometimes the situations at these mass parties are intense with crime, fights breaking out, riot police taking control and more than once we have gotten stuck in the middle of tear gas (not fun). But our Father always protects us.
The press here has done many stories on us and printed our work in the papers and live tv so its a blessing to know we are also reaching people we may never see. People constantly tell us they saw us here, or perform there so its cool to think that even in a city this massive we are effecting a lot of lives with the love of Jesus.
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| Nothing more beautiful than to lift up the name of Jesus. Anytime. Anywhere. No other name that can instantly be the answer to any problem or situation. |
The other day we were leaving the center after ministering at the Sambadrome, when a severe storm hit. Within one hour the entire city center was flooded and the streets were like rivers. It was hard to find a way out since road after road turned into a lake and cars were stalling everywhere. We had to walk ahead to see how deep the water was in some places. At a certain part over a mountain pass, the water was just pouring down from a favela like a waterfall and the road was quickly becoming very dangerous (one lane road with no shoulder and drop off a cliff). I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit rattled:) It is already dangerous driving in this city without flooded roads. At one point we had to push our car for about 6 blocks through the water. Thank God He got us home safe.
We took a trip to São Paulo and had a very effective trip. The city is so large, with a micro center of over 12 million people! We talked to so many both individuals and huge crowds. We also spent some time helping the homeless. There were so many homeless it was just tragic. So many stories. We made up lunch packages that we kept with us throughout the day, it made for very heavy back packs, but some really blessed beautiful people. There is a market down town in the center that is just mobbed with shoppers. The best place to reach them is half way up a Dr. Seus type steep hill:). So it took a lot of effort but was well worth it! You definitely understand why Jesus used the word "work" so often:). "..Work for the food that endures..."Jn.6:27
Just after we left, São Paulo got hit with a horrible flood. The entire city shut down, traffic was at a standstill (for like 40 miles) and many people were killed.
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| Group shot with some of the students after performing at a school. |
Another woman who has been in prison for 12 years had her friend on the outside write us and ask us if we could be the ones to pick her up and help her when she gets released from prison in a few weeks. She explained that she is afraid to begin living on the outside and after seeing our presentation we did for them and knowing our sincerity, she asked that we could help. It is such a privilege that someone could see the love of Christ through us and ask us this.
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| So you buy some furniture and ask if its free delivery. Yeah, absolutely the guys assure you! Ok great! Then you see this dude, with your stuff on the cart, trying to perfectly line it up over a bridge it barley fits over:) (The river he is crossing is full of aligatores;)) |
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| Did I mention that right down from where we live, like in the center of the town, there are a lot of large crocodiles;) |
Both here, in the US and so many countries around the world, people are suffering and in desperate need of a word of hope. So many people I talk to are instantly at the point of tears and just trying to keep it together. The world is crying. Men and women, both the rich and the poor are about to give up. You and I can be the ones to hold them back. To offer the answer and the cure for their pain. To tell them that no matter how alone they feel, they have a Father and no matter what they have done, they can be forgiven.
Literally every day people are dying here and being shot in gang wars. Every day the news is full of a tragic story of a child caught in cross fire, or a stray bullet killing someone. There was a story about how a certain city has completely run out of space for graves and they have no where to bury the bodies. The need for salvation is imminent and urgent. There is just no guarantee. No sure bet we’ll make it to a certain year or reach a certain goal. Every night the sun sets and every night it takes men with it. Life is so precious, yet so fragile. Ok, your welcome for that uplifting segment:),
Seriously, sorry, I don’t mean to get too heavy or depressing, its just that I think if we thought about death a little more, we would live life a little more. Who are we? What are we doing? Where are we going?
Do you ever play one of those video games where you only get a certain number of moves to complete a level and then you die:)? If you get too caught up playing the game, and forget to keep track of the moves, you can run out of moves before you beat the level (Not that I have ever wasted time playing stupid useless video games on long drives:)). Well in this battle called life, we only get so many moves, so many steps, so many days and so many choices. There is no meter counting down, but we are on the clock and so we have to make our moves count.
Life is precious and there is so much we can do, so far we can go and so many dreams that can become a reality. One effort to begin to create a new "path" in your mind, could turn it into a highway that could take you somewhere you have never imagined.
Schools are back in session now, and we already have a lot of presentations booked around the entire city. We are also working in a new, large and very bad prison here but I'll write about this next time since this is already long.
Don't let your heart die my beautiful friend. Even if you feel forgotten or alone, you are not alone. Jesus is a Good Shepherd and He is near you, just call His name. Even if you already know a lot of the things I write here, think about them in a new way. We can always grow and we can always become bigger. Presumption guarantees failure. Humility guarantees success. God is not like a box with four sides then you know Him. He is as big as the mounatains, as high as the heavens, as deep as the ocean as new as the morning and as near to you as your shadow.
Take care, keep your head up and until we meet again:).... (aka, until I get time and internet signal to write another too long, badly written, full of typos post :))
ps. special congratulations to you select few who made it all the way down here to the end ;)
love you guys.
love you guys.
Ruth
