Dilma goes to Holland, and Human Trafficking in Paraguay

Dear friends, 

Great news! Dilma (31), our adopted deaf daughter who is also intellectually challenged, moved to Holland! We were planning to go together with her in December, but because of the need to finalize all the necessary paper work for immigration by November 30^th, she had to go to Holland a month earlier than us. (We will go on furlough to Holland in December-January) Two of our good friends from Holland were able to visit us in Brazil and travel back with Dilma.

Saying Goodbye

The last couple of weeks of the month of October were dedicated to saying goodbye to everyone dear to Dilma. Goodbye to the many deaf people in her church and the YWAM staff at the base. We were even able to pay a last visit to her biological mother whom Dilma hadn’t seen for 8 years. Through contact with one of her biological brothers we were able to find her. This was very important to Dilma.

Ice Cream Party

On the Saturday afternoon before Dilma left we gave a farewell party with ice cream for all her friends. With temperatures between 35 to 40 degrees Celsius (around 100 degrees Fahrenheit), this was a great success. During Dilma’s last afternoon home, just before leaving that night, we had a final farewell barbecue with just our family. Then she was ready (and so were we J). Her biggest challenge is going to be communication. She can of course sign very well in Brazilian sign language, but the Dutch signs are different. She can write in Portuguese and English, but not in Dutch yet. Please pray for her as she is trying to adapt, and pray she will learn this new sign language really fast. For those who would like to send her an encouraging card please send it to: Dilma Lukasse Pinnenburgerweg 73, 3881 VC Putten, Holland.

Human Trafficking in Paraguay

One of the other things that needed our attention during this time was the second seminar on Human Trafficking that was organized at the base in Belo Horizonte. A wonderful group of very motivated people participated in this.

Straight after this, Johan and I went to Paraguay to speak and give workshops in a mission congress called Call2All in Paraguay. Many pastors, mission leaders, business people and civil servants attended. The current Minister of Justice and the former president and his wife, who have become Christians, attended as well. 

Paraguay is still a country with lots of poverty where there is very little attention for the hundreds of thousands of children at risk. It also has the highest index of all South American countries for girls who are trafficked into sexual exploitation and prostitution. Please pray that God will bless the messages we were able to share.  It is our hope that people would not just listen to the things we share, but find a way to put into practice what they have heard.

We would like to thank all of those who supported us in the past months through prayer, finances or any other actions. Without your support we would not be able to do all these things.

Christmas

We would also like to wish all of you a blessed Christmas season and a wonderful New Year. May the Lord Jesus Christ, who became Emanuel, God with us, inspire and comfort you with His everlasting presence, until the end of this age!  Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all people on earth.

We wish you God’s richest blessings,

Love,

Johan and Jeannette

One of our seven grandchildren 

Fewer streetchildren, but more drug addicts and more children forced into prostitution.

Dear friends, 

Brazil changes at a rapid pace. When we came here in the beginning of the nineteen eighties, it was “normal” to see hundreds of young children living in the streets, scores of teenagers with young babies and “independent” children from ages six and up.  Very little was done to attend to those needs. The government and educational institutions had little to offer in the way of programs or degrees in social studies. The Protestant church also did not offer many solutions.  In order to distinguish themselves from Catholic and Spiritist groups, that often defined “good works” as a way to qualify for heaven, the Protestant and Evangelicals limited themselves to evangelizing.  They preached a message of salvation through faith and grace, but otherwise didn’t give much thought or attention for other values of the Kingdom of God.

Our family in 1986 with staff and some ex street boys.

The taxis in those days were mostly little yellow VW beetles, and besides big colored buses you didn’t see many vehicles like private cars. In the slums you saw little shacks of black tarps and most of the kids there didn’t go to school at all.

And now??

The city of Belo Horizonte, as well as all big cities of Brazil, suffers with major traffic jams. The road system cannot keep up with the enormous number of very fancy cars. Everywhere construction is going on and high-rises fill the horizon.

Brazil is a much richer country and is already recognized as the sixth largest economy of the world. Much is lacking however in terms of human development, which is measured by life expectancy, education and the distribution of wealth among other things.  Brazil finds itself on the list of the 187 countries on the 87^th place. In comparison, Holland is number three on that same list…

There are still more than 32 million Brazilians who actually go hungry on a daily basis, and another 65 million that are on the edge of poverty. The wealth of the country is in the hands of only 10% of the population.

Crack, Youth Prisons and Prostitution

There are fewer children on the streets today than 30 years ago, but second only after the USA, Brazil has the highest number of drug addicts in the world.  It is estimated that at least 6 million people are addicted to either crack or cocaine. Youth detention centers are full with young people without any significant activities at all.

Prostitution is on the rise, and last month there was even an attempt to lower the age of consent for sexual intercourse to the age of 12. In that way it would be very difficult to even prosecute those who have sex with minors even though they may be exploited in the sex industry because they may already the 12 years old! There are even voices to bring the age down to 10 years old! Imagine how that would have an effect on the already huge amount of women and children being trafficked into sexual exploitation.  With the two biggest sports events in the world just around the corner here in Brazil, the Soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, we are greatly worried and moving towards many different actions and interventions.

The end of October we will have our second seminar on Human Trafficking, moving towards more mobilization and intervention. Please pray for this event and the actions afterwards.

Brazil is changing, the needs are changing, and therefore the focus of the work of the 60 full time missionaries that are currently serving on the base in Belo Horizonte is changing. We are in a time of seeking God for a renewed vision. Many things are being restructured, and at the same time Johan and I are handing over the base leadership to the next generation by the end of next year. In this process we meet with staff, the leadership team, and recently we were part of a weeklong international leadership meeting seeking God for new direction on a global level. God’s direction is key during this crucial time, with the many fast paced changes all over the world.

Students of the Children at Risk school in Belo Horizonte, 2012

Teaching

Besides many meetings that we alternately lead, that are mostly prepared by me (Jeannette), we also lecture in many YWAM schools. I have been involved with the students of the last DTS (Discipleship Training School), during their daily intercession time.  

Johan just finished a marathon of lectures. First he taught for a week in Brasilia with a video link to 3 more location in Switzerland, Columbia and Costa Rica. Soon after that he spent a week teaching in Sao Paulo for an all Korean DTS, then 3 to 4 weeks teaching at the Children at Risk school, 4 days teaching for the DTS on the base here, and 3 more days teaching at the DTS in Contagem, which is 26 KM from here. 

Our students in Mozambique

At the end of October we will have the second seminar on human trafficking and straight after that a congress form Call2All in Paraguay. As you can see, there is never a dull moment. 

http://traficohumano-jocumbh.blogspot.com.br/

A couple weeks ago my laptop got stolen. Although we have had things stolen from us before, it is still a shock to realize that people would get their hands on MY stuff. Luckily, I had made a back-up just a few days before. I am happy though that there are things that no thief can steal from us, like my relationship with God, bonds of family and friendships.  These are the things that are precious treasures for us. In all the challenges that come our way, we know that God upholds us and that there are many people who stand with us in prayer and deed. We are so grateful to all of you! May God bless you all richly!

Two of our grand daughters!

Changes

Dear friends,

Johan is waiting up front in the classroom while young people enter and sit down. He already installed his laptop and projector, and while he waits, he tries to clean the dust off his black leather shoes by wiping them secretly on the back of pants…

Then the school leader introduces Johan to the students.  This introduction is being translated into others languages, and at last it is Johan’s turn to start teaching!

Teaching gives energy

The theme of the week is, “What can be done among the children at risk in our city?” With Bible studies, stories and power points, Johan shares from all the experience he has accumulated. He loves to teach and interact with students. It gives him new energy.

Of course, he always teaches in the Children at Risk school in Belo Horizonte (which we will run for the 23rd time this year), but he has also been able to give these same teachings in many other countries at YWAM schools, conferences and churches.  Johan has the gift of teaching and enjoys using it. He would love to spend even more time teaching, if possible.

To write a new book

I would really like to find more time to be able to transform all these teachings into a good, readable book.  Until now, this has not been possible as we have been too busy with the leadership of the work here in Belo Horizonte.  Overall, there are 70-90 full time missionaries spread out over 8 different centers, consisting of different projects, homes, community centers and training schools.  Together, the many volunteers, students and missionaries, reach out to children and families with the practical, healing and inspiring love of God.

Transition of leadership

We have been praying for quite some time already, and understand that the time is coming near, to hand over the leadership of the work here in Belo Horizonte. One of the first steps we took in this direction was to write two separate newsletters (instead of the combined personal and ministry newsletter). In our personal newsletter (this one), I write about what Johan and I are doing.  The second newsletter is specifically about the work of YWAM in Belo Horizonte.  It is quite fun because our daughter, Johanneke, writes most of the ministry newsletters now, while our son-in-law, Jonathan, does the design and organizational side of creating the newsletter. They both work as fulltime missionaries, and for us as (grand) parents, it is great to have them living so close to us with their three daughters.

Together with the rest of the leadership team, we are prayerfully working toward handing over the daily leadership by the end of 2013. We certainly hope to have the health and ability to still be connected to the base for many years, but more in a mentoring role as we pursue our goals to do more teaching and writing.

World Cup Football (soccer)

Johan is coordinating the international (YWAM) outreach teams planning to come to Brazil for evangelistic events during the 2014 World Cup.  This is a big job in itself!  The evangelistic events will have a focus, among other things, on the problems concerning human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children, teenagers, men and women during that time.

Dilma may move to Holland

Many of you may remember that besides our three biological children, we also adopted two other children named Dilma and Davi.   Dilma is deaf, Davi is paraplegic and both are mentally challenged.  For three years now, Davi (25) has been living in Holland in a Christian community for people that need support.  He loves it there! It’s a great place for him as he has a beautiful big bedroom, a nice job and fulltime care, all adapted to his intellectual and physical level. We can see how good it is for him to have a certain level of independence, with all the care and encouragement he needs.

We would love to see something like that for Dilma (31) also. Here in Brazil she has reached her full potential developmentally. In December, when we will go on furlough to Holland, we hope to take Dilma to this Christian community to see if she will adapt well there as Davi has. As it will be a big change, please pray for her concerning this situation.

We would like to thank all those who have prayed for us, encouraged us with finances, emails and messages.  We wish you all God’s richest blessings.

Prayer points:

• We thank God for the committed leaders and staff in Belo Horizonte. Pray for this phase of transition.
• We thank God for Dilma, and please pray that she will adapt easily in Holland.

Love and greetings,

Johan and Jeannette

Interesting links to some of our staff websites:

www.pinkyinbrazil.blogspot.com

www.thematiasfamily.blogspot.com.br

Newsletter February 2012

With delightful screams and loud laughter the kids slid one after another downhill on a big blue plastic tarp. The staff from the Lighthouse (our community center in a large slum) had made the thrill even bigger by lathering it up with lots of soapy water. Certainly this will be an afternoon the kids will not easily forget. It was an extraordinary afternoon of pure fun, together with the staff of the Lighthouse!  Many of these kids come from harsh realities with broken families and have experiences of alcoholism, violent fights and all sorts of abuse. That afternoon they were able to play and just be kids for a carefree moment - it was wonderful!

There is no such thing as unwanted children!

Schools have started again after the Summer holidays in December and January, and so have the programs with the groups in our community centers like the Lighthouse. Tutoring, sports, arts and, of course, Bible classes where the kids can learn that they are wanted and loved by God and that He has a wonderful plan for their lives. They learn about a living relationship with their Heavenly Father.

Wisdom in leadership

Also in the Rock House, the House of the Sower and the Reborn Hope House, our other community centers, activities have resumed, while in our shelters, the Restoration House and the Recanto House, the boys and girls have returned from their holiday family visits and/or King’s Kids camps. And the Rescue House team resumed their visits to the streets and the juvenile prison, offering new opportunities to the kids. Please pray for Johan and myself for wisdom in giving leadership and guidance to all these different aspects of ministry on the base, in order for  good and growing efficiency in reaching children and teenagers and their families, so in need for the love of God. We know we cannot do this in our own strength!

Call2all

Johan and I are also part of a steering committee of the “Global Compassion Network” (GCN) which is part of the Call2All movement. From 16-19 April 2012 there will be a congress in Holland for Western European and international Christian organizations, but also for Christian leaders in different segments of society, like government, business, and education.

Over the last 3 years we have participated in several of these congresses, giving seminars about children at risk, and teaching strategies on how they can be reached with the love of God. We would really like to recommend this conference. It’s only three days, with plenary sessions and workshops given by very experienced speakers in their respective fields. There are great networking opportunities as the participants discuss and pray in roundtable sessions about how to apply the different messages.

Least, last, lost

We hope that the “Call2all Western-Europe Congress” will lead to new and deeper partnerships to reach the “least, last and lost” with the marvelous message of God’s love. Our own participation will be about reaching children and teenagers. Come and participate. You can sign up on the following website: www.call2allwe.org

Freedom Sunday

The last two months we have been busy preparing material for Freedom Sunday, the 26th of February. We hope that all over the world churches will bring modern slavery and human trafficking to people’s attention, so more praying and action will result from this.  Johan and our son-in-law, Jonathan, made a very clear 10-minute video clip for the churches in Brazil. We put it on our Portuguese blog and on YouTube and Vimeo. People can download it and use it during their church service. For ideas in English, please go to www.freedomsunday.org

Johan national coordinator for World Cup events

The next Soccer (football) World cup in 2014 and the next 2016 Olympics will both be in Brazil. As YWAM, we see this as a great opportunity for evangelism and reaching out to people from many different nations. We expect churches from all over the world to send teams to help. Johan has been asked by the national YWAM leadership to coordinate such efforts on a national level. During this time we would like to emphasize the fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, teenagers and vulnerable women. Please pray with us for the preparation of all these efforts.

Our emotions go up and down: Such great opportunities, but also: How to do this all? We need God’s constant guidance in all this, and we would like to express our gratefulness to all of you who partner with us and pray for us. For those of you who have given financially, we extend special thanks! We pray for all of you and wish you God’s richest blessings. 

New Year

After teaching for a few weeks in Angola, we were stopped at the border on our way back.

“Ma’am, you have to take off your shoes and socks, I want to look between your toes!”

“What?!?” Who wants to be looking between my size 7 sausage toes?

But soon it became clear: they were looking for brute diamonds. The contraband was on

its peak. It made me angry and sad at the same time. Angola, a beautiful country, so rich in oil and diamonds, should be one of the wealthiest countries if it weren’t for the corruption.

I had the same feeling when I drove through the capital of Haiti and saw the need among the people. A tremendous earthquake in a gorgeous land, also known as the pearl of the Caribbean, where hundreds of years of corruption had ruled, the poor were very poor, the rich very rich…

And I also recognize this around me, here in Brazil, where the slums rise in the midst of huge rich neighborhood; where there are still kids living on the streets; where people with a handicap suffer prejudice; where girls and boys are sold to work as slaves in prostitution…

This makes me angry. Angry at the devil, who comes to steal, kill and destroy. But wait a second! There is Hope! Jesus came for the people in Angola, Haiti and Brazil; He came for us! Emmanuel, God with us, what a privilege to be able to carry out this hope. To see true difference where we can work along our coworkers and reach out for children in need.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. Even when you have sausage toes!

We wish you all a New Year in which we together can carry out His life, love and hope.

Quality time with the family

It started with making cookies...

They all enjoyed it very much! 

Eva however put more icing in her mouth than on the cookies... 

Iara is the perfectionist; she really concentrated and stayed on it the longest.

Naiomi liked the eating more than the making... 

Igor enjoyed it also, he was the fastest...  

Iara, proud at the end result! 

I loved it!

Afterwards two of the youngest got to take a bike ride with grandpa! 

Then, on the 24 th, it was Igor’s fourth birthday! 

Cars, cars, cars... 

Naiomi and Eva had the same dress for the party; they are only two months apart in age.

And then it was Christmas eve. All the kids in bed and a quality time with our daughters and sons in law. Last year’s Christmas we were in Haiti. Was a contrast! We enjoyed it very much and count ourselves blessed. Thank you Lord Jesus!

Three conferences in a row

Just some pictures about the last couple of weeks:

In November we were invited to speak in a conference of  Call2all

The conference was held in the convention center of Long Beach CA. Almost 30 years ago we lived in the neighborhood when we worked on the Anastasis, one of YWAM’s mercy ships which was docked at San Pedro Harbor. It brought back wonderful memories!

In the afternoon we gave a seminar and participated in the Global Compassion Network. We are both part of the international steering group. The main focus is to strengthen partnerships between different organizations, churches etc.

Besides seminars and plenary sessions, there were many information booths. World Vision had built a whole African village where you could take a digital tour to learn more about the children in need in Africa.

With instructions and explanations through a head phone you were able to follow the story of one African child of this village. 

You could choose from 4 different stories. Mine was about a little girl from Uganda.

You enter her house

Learn about her problems, 

Hear about her mother who becomes sick and has to leave her,

And then find out that she becomes sick herself and needs to do an AIDS test.

I have never seen such a powerful display on any mission conference!

In a little chapel you were invited to pray for the children

and you could chose to adopt one of those children financially.

Wow, I hope that many of these kids will be adopted financially! 

Another display was about a flying car for missionaries in remote areas. It can be built by missionaries themselves, and will help to get to places where the gospel still hasn’t come because of difficult access.

I loved the "FLY" button...Can you imagine just hitting that switch?

It really works. Wow, wouldn’t you love such a car? You can click on the link to know more about it:

http://itecusa.org/index.html

There were many very informative presentations about unreached and unengaged people groups. It was great to get a clear picture and to see then how many leaders of churches and mission agencies committed to send team to those people groups that have never had an opportunity to know about Christ.

A good thing of such a congress is that you see very clearly that you cannot finish the job of world missions alone, but that through unity it will be possible. The biggest take away of such a congress is the opportunity for networking. Wonderful to see so many friends who work in different parts of the world, and to get to know more people with the same calling as us: reaching children at risk. It was great to be able to make plans with them for the coming years.

One of the highlights was the visit of  Aubry Beauchamp.

Aubrey translated my book “A cry from the streets” into English, and is a longtime friend. She lives in the L.A. area. It was great to meet her again. Thanks for taking the effort Aubrey, we enjoyed it so much!

Afterwards we were able to stay the weekend with Joe and Wanda Parker. We are so thankful for such hospitable friends. Thank you so much, Joe and Wanda!

Straight after this we flew back to Brazil for a week long leadership meeting with about 50 Brazilian YWAM leaders, which was following by our by-annual staff conference. It was a great celebration with about 600 participants.  

Johan was one of the speakers

An immense world map was laid out on the floor, where you could walk around and pray for the nations….. 

Johanneke and Jonathan were there with their three daughters, Iara wanted to sit on my lap on a beautiful island...

And during the afternoons we had plenty of opportunities to jump into the swimming pool with the (grand) kids. 

After three weeks on the road and three different conferences it was great to be home again! 

The next job was baking Christmas cookies! 

With the expert help of our grandkids that was a piece of cake!