Death, Divorce and Despair...

This morning I hugged a mother at the funeral of her son who was murdered because of his involvement with drug trafficking. Last week I heard an old friend say he had no hope for his marriage and was going forward with a divorce. This week, also, brought word that a little girl we have been praying for to be healed from cancer is terminal, and the doctors are ceasing treatment.

This is not a shock-effect opening of a blog post that quickly turns your attention to another issue. This is the issue. In recent months I feel that it has been a bombardment of hard and bad news. We have been counseling some young married couples, one facing an impending divorce and another on their way to the same fate. Our years around the families of students on campus now leads us to witness the end of one girl’s life, and to witness others face shutteringly painful treatments of complicated diseases with little hope of recovery. Death, also, has been present; both natural and premature, anticipated and unsettlingly unexpected, from afar and from very close by.

In many years in Brazil relating to young, healthy and capable students from the campus ministry, I admit this is one of the first times we have faced such, well…harsh reality. Of course, here and there, there has been sorrow, bridges burned, passing away of loved ones, and hard times to help people seek God when life doesn’t make sense. This time, it has been an onslaught of such apparent withholding of God’s mercy that I am feeling it weigh me down a bit – and am not sure how to help the ones who are facing these difficult times.

We do believe in our good God and His purpose… sometimes it just takes a lot to face a fallen world and also try to abide by Galatians 6:2, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Pray with us, and for us, please.

"What Moves You?" Recap 2014

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Last weekend, I had the privilege to travel 890 km (550 miles for the gringos) to another capital city, Goiânia, to take part in our annual weekend retreat with the CCP this year. Our investigation of Goiânia is fruit of many connections in and around Brazil, USA and the CO network, and of the FIFA World Cup making it difficult to have a CCP in Belo Horizonte this year.

Students from the Federal University of Goiás (UGF) and the Catholic University of Goiás (PUC-Goiás) and the Cross-Culutral Project (CCP) from Campus Outreach Atlanta took the weekend off to travel outside the city and continue the theme of their weekly discussion groups: "O Que Te Move?" in Português - "What Moves You?" in English. A group of 45 people made the trip, and I loved being a part of this weekend and seeing first-hand how the CCP has connected with students from Goiânia.

The theme "What Move You?" was used in 4 sessions with 2 extended discussion groups and the use of a movie Elysium. Alan Andrioni, our UFMG Campus Director in Belo Horizonte, did a great job weaving the idea of the underlying human desires for eternity and love through the storyline of Elysium, quotes from past philosophers, theologians, and from the Bible itself concerning how Jesus spoke of those exact same things. I served as translator for Alan and for the discussion groups.

Lastly, the CO staff from Belo Horizonte spent Sunday evening with the church that is receiving and helping our CCP during their stay in Goiânia, Igreja Presbiteriana Luz. It was privilege to be with them and hear their gratitude and excitement for what is going on at the universities of their city.

Colleague For A Few Months

I’d like everyone to meet Paulino Oliviera. He is the newest member of our team, but will also be one of the first to leave our team.

I met Paulino at PUC-Minas in 2009 while he studied Economics, and over his years in college he stayed connected with our ministry as he investigated about Jesus. Shortly before graduating became a Christian and joined our church.

I sought to hire Paulino, even for a short stint, because he is go-getter and has skills in everything financial. God’s timing was quite good, because Paulino had just quit his job at one of the largest banks in Brazil to dedicate time to pursue entrance into a Master’s Degree program.

Paulino will spend the next months helping us answer some pertinent finance and tax questions, with some accounting issues mixed in there. He has already shown his professionalism, humility in his work and excellence in getting the job done!

Paulino was accepted to participate in a Brazilian Federal Government program and in August of this year will move to New York City to begin his Master’s Degree in Financial Engineering at NYU Poly, Brooklyn. He will study right next to the Financial Center of NYC, and, well – the world. Such a great opportunity for him to speak of his Savior!

Home, Sweet Apartment!

There it is, the light at the end of the tunnel! It's the light reflecting off our new apartment keys. After a much desired and necessitated move, it is happening.

The saga is long and frustrating, but after 7 years in our first home as a family - most of them happy and good - we are leaving the first Elam abode because of problems in the apartment that neither the owner, rental agency nor building seem very eager to get resolved. So, to all those folks, we say, "Bye! Have fun with those leaky pipes!"

Now, the great news. We have our keys in hand, already sent the exterminator in to poison all the creatures of the INSECTA class, bought paint and set-up with our painter to GET THIS DONE! 

The new place is a bit larger, literally right around the corner from Tathiana's sister, Fabiana, still in the same neighborhood we really like, and, as we began to pray a while back, still within our budget. God does amazing things in even more amazing ways. Thank Him with us for grace - we do not deserve it.

Our guest bedroom is back, so here is an invite to come visit. 

Miles, Miles and More Miles

When you live overseas, you know some tricks about how to accumulate frequent flier miles. So we started counting our American Airlines miles. Combine the fact that not since 2010 have we been in the US for purely vacation and time with family. Lastly, Brazil has a week-long holiday and basic country shut-down for Carnaval (Mardi Gras to us gringos). So, all that cooks up a perfect storm to book our flights to the US.

We're coming into Chattanooga at the end of February and will be heading back to Brazil on March 20th. Our plans consist of family time in Chattanooga, one week in Pigeon Forge just Tathiana, Isaac and I, some good rest, coffee-shop mooching of free internet, sleeping in late while the grandparents take care of the munchkin and other vacation-ish types of things.

This post is basically a nice way of saying, "if we run into each other on the street, this is why." If we don't run into each other, we probably won't see much of each other. Hopefully everyone understands, we so appreciate your partnership, and thank you for helping us to have the time of rest and recuperation.

Project Fortaleza 2014

A group of 18 staff and students from our Belo Horizonte ministry ventured to Fortaleza, Brazil in January to work side-by-side with a Christian orphanage and, also, to use this time as a training project for the students.

Alan Andrioni, our UFMG campus director, led the project and has sent us numerous messages about how well it has gone. All the components - from working with the orphanage, to Bible study with the students and even building vision for a hurting world by participating in a campaign to grow awareness of child sex tourism in Brazil - have really been encouraging to our staff.

The team is finishing up already and heading home. We thank God for this opportunity and for what He will do through it in our student's lives.

We are trying to raise a small amount, $1500 to help off-set the student's costs. Would you consider giving above and beyond to this project? If so, you can send any checks made to Campus Outreach, and 1599 Brazilian Summer Project on the memo line to:
Campus Outreach
PO Box 43737
Birmingham, AL 35243

Feliz 2014

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We would like to wish you all a Happy 2014, Feliz 2014 here in Brazil. Our 2013 was full of transition and travel, but we made it through. Now, in 2014, we will be filling up our tanks with some dedicated personal development, time dedicated to the overall structure of our organization in Brazil, and a new website! This site is 100% formatted for mobile devices, tablets and computers. We will be updating periodically so everyone can keep up with what is going in in ole BH.