Don´t switch off the light during Carnival in Rio!

“Over the last month I have seen how God takes care of me in the smallest details: when I ran out of toothpaste, I found a new toothpaste on my pillow, and yesterday when I needed 30 dollars for the evangelistic outreach during the carnival, someone put a banknote in my pocket”.

“I couldn´t sleep the other night, I felt so agitated. The lectures had been very profound for me. Suddenly someone put a hand on my shoulder. It was my roommate.

“Shall we pray?”, she whispered.

She also couldn´t sleep. But after we prayed and brought all our thoughts and anxieties before the Lord, we slept like angels!

A new YWAM family of 50 people

We hear testimonies like this one after another from the students. In the beginning of January, we started this training program with 31 students and 19 staff in the city of Rio de Janeiro. But it was preceded by a number of miracles. We had announced the program, believing that it was his plan, and that He would go before us. We created a website, and even had already accepted the first students, but we still didn´t have a place to run the program. We had been looking at some buildings to rent, but it was all much too expensive.

Big and small miracles

Suddenly a pastor offered the use of his almost-empty, big church building. It was perfect with several dorms, a dining hall that also functions as a class room and an industrial kitchen. It´s right in the center of Rio de Janeiro, very close to the Metro system and train system, and various bus lines serving the neighborhood. And that was just the beginning. The existing small YWAM bases in the city joined the effort, and recruited volunteers to help paint the place and remodel some of the bathrooms. Another person rented us her partly furnished apartment next to the church for the 10 months that we need to be here. Dozens of students from 7 different countries applied for the program, and staff came to help from different parts of Brazil.
  

DTS and C@R School

And so now we have a whole new “family” of 50 people in the heart of Rio de Janeiro who want to know God and His will in a deeper way and proclaim His love all around. It is very special and precious, and we are enjoying very much being with such a wonderful group of mostly young people that God has sent us.

The whole program consists of a DTS (Discipleship Training School) and C@R (Children at Risk) School. We have many opportunities for outreach in the slums, putting our classroom lectures into practice.

With Carnival, all restrains come off

Carnival here in Brazil is a feast of 4 days and nights with lots of drinking, partying and sex. The government even gave away 5 million free condoms, just during the days of Carnival… It´s a time when many people pass their limits and often regret it afterwards. Most churches warn their members not to participate or come close to the celebration. Often they organize retreats and Christian camps during this time.

Don´t switch off the light!

“But”, Johan explained to the students, “if we are the light, and then leave the city during Carnival to protect ourselves from the world, we are actually switching off the light. What is already dark becomes even darker. As Christians, we need to go to the streets during Carnival to the people who are looking for attention, love and fulfilment in the wrong places like alcohol and sex, and tell them where to find true love.”

Staying with friends in a poor community
During the four days of Carnival we were all able to stay at the site of a partner mission organization in the middle of a very poor community. Very thin mattresses next to each other on the floor, a bit of a challenge for many of us! But what a wonderful time we ended up having. During the day programs for children, another program for the mothers and for the male students, a ministry time in a rehab center for drug addicts.

Big plastic cups of beer

At 10PM we went all together to the main street, which was closed off for the festivities, and participated in different forms of evangelizing until 3 o´clock in the morning. Whole families walked down the main street in the strangest attires and costumes. We saw fathers and their teenage sons dressed up in provocative female clothing. Mothers with red, plastic devil’s horns that would light up every now and then on their heads, dragging around their toddlers and carrying their babies. It touched us to see how empty the celebration really is, and how many people are looking for a bit of happiness and a purpose in their lives, which they hope to find in big plastic cups of beer.

“Let´s go for it!”
The staff and students had put together a nice and varied program for street evangelism, with drama, dance, puppet theater, circus acts like spitting fire and a human pyramid. This caught the attention of a lot of people. After the presentation, someone gave a short testimony, then all our students went around talking to the people. Really great! Many people received prayer, and several gave their hearts to the Lord right there on the streets.

Even though everyone was very tired from the intense program and short hours of sleep, they became more excited to go to the streets and share the gospel with people. What a privilege to work with such a group of dedicated young people! It is very satisfying!

“Empty nest”

Now that we are living in Rio de Janeiro for ten months, for the first time we are living far away from where any of our five children and grandchildren live. Before, we always had some of them living right next door or relatively close. So we are really experiencing an “empty nest”, and we miss them all a lot. 

But in December we had a quality time with Johanneke, Jonathan, Michele, Romeu and their kids. We did lots of fun stuff, like eating wonderful, big meals together, talking for hours, baking cookies, camping in the garden, inline skating, etc. It was so good to be together, but of course, we missed the ones who live in Holland a lot as well!

MANY THANKS TO ALL!!!

We would like to thank all who have been helping us in any way over the last couple of months, be it through prayer, encouragement or finances. It is so special to know that there are people who believe in our ministry and support us in many ways. Without you, we would not be able to do all these things.

We wish you God´s richest blessings,

With lots of love,

Johan and Jeannette