What do the Amazon rain forest, Iraq and Rio de Janeiro have in common? A Children at Risk School!

Today we woke up to the sound of screaming monkeys! This is because we are currently in the Amazon rain forest where we are teaching in a Children at Risk school. We are at the YWAM base in Porto Velho, capital of the state of Rondonia in Brazil. The YWAM property is a beautiful piece of land, located on the bank of a major river called Madeira and surrounded by a jungle. Almost everyone lives in wooden houses built on high poles. Various brightly colored birds live in the trees, and every day we eat delicious exotic fruits. The monkeys however, are not as well behaved as those in our local zoo. Yesterday they used the clothesline as a public toilet. Unfortunately, many clean clothes had just been hung out to dry there….

During our stay some Indians were baptized in a small lake close by. 

The YWAM base’s main ministry focus is to help the different Indian tribes and the many small communities located along the riverbanks in the region. Now there is also the Children at Risk School to train missionaries to reach out to the many children in these communities who are often at risk because of abuse, neglect, and the lack of education. Upon finishing the school, the graduates will have more understanding and resources on how to help the children to know their heavenly Father, trust Him, obey Him, and receive His healing touch.

Lots of trips
Since we arrived back in Brazil at the end of April, we have already been teaching in several different schools working to train more YWAM staff. In the coming months we have a whole string of trips scheduled to teach in different schools, seminars, and conferences inside Brazil. Normally when I arrive at home, I put away our old well-used red travel toiletry bag, and I organize all our soaps and shampoos on the shelves in the bathroom. However, in the coming months, we´ll be on the road so much that I have not even bothered to empty it. There it hangs in the bathroom ready for the next trip, which is coming up shortly.

The “Children at Risk Seminar” in North Iraq
Let me tell you about the month of April, when we were still in Holland and Iraq. Ever since we visited the province of Kurdistan in North Iraq in February of this year, many doors opened. We went to Kurdistan to see if we could be of any help by giving training to Christian refugees, so that they would be able to help their own children and the kids in their community deal with the traumas they suffered from having to escape conflict and war. This was quite new for us, because although we had done similar things in Brazil, India, Haiti, and several countries of Africa, we had never really worked in the Middle East.

Together with a local team, we decided to go back in April and run a Children at Risk seminar for two weeks. The local team members did all the preparations through the interested local churches. Those local churches are hosting hundreds of refugee families on church premises and in unfinished buildings.

Johan teaching in Kudustan.

When Johan went back to Kurdistan in April, they had recruited a group of 22 students who enthusiastically participated in the seminar. Lectures started early each day and went until late afternoon. During these two weeks, the students also had four periods of practically applying what they had learned with a group of refugee children. This was done in a Unicef tent beside a local church, which functioned as a safe place for the children to play and learn. Some very able translators helped to translate the lectures and had beforehand prepared all the handouts and booklets in Arabic. The material looked great, and all the children received a little workbook explaining how to have hope for themselves and their country. Our students helped them to work through the workbook and to talk about some of the traumatic things they had experienced. It ended up being a very successful time.

Student working with the children from the refugees.

With games and maps of Iraq, the kids tell about the travels they made, fleeing with their families from terror.

“Please, would you come back for another seminar?”

“Can you give the same seminar in other locations, so more people can be trained?”

“Could you also teach in the evenings, so another group of people could participate?”

It was good to receive such positive feedback, but it´s also difficult to see how big the need really is.

A teenager made this drawing of what she had seen: girls being captured and taken away to become sex slaves...

“Lord have mercy”
As Johan, the local team, and myself prayed about it, we felt we should plan to go again to Kurdistan at the end of this year. Of course, such a decision needs to be continuously evaluated and lifted up in prayer in order to see if it will really be possible. Every day we read about more fighting and conflict in the region. Just last week another 100,000 people had to flee because of the war. Things can change so fast, but at the same time, there are so many opportunities. People hunger to know a God of love who can truly be a source of comfort to them.

And what better thing could you give to these refugees than the opportunity to know God better, have a personal relationship with Him, and to help them teach their children to deal with much pain and trauma? There is nothing better really!

Please, would you pray for safety and stability for the refugees, their children, the local Christians, and for us as we travel there again?

Moving to Rio de Janeiro
In the midst of all these travels, we are also busy preparing to move to Rio de Janeiro for eight months in 2016. Yes Rio, with its breathtaking nature, white sandy beaches, and coastline dotted with tropical islands. Rio truly has idyllic scenery for postcards and paintings.

However, Rio is also a city with over 800 slum communities, the so-called “favelas.” In some of the favelas, the old drug gangs have been removed and a police force is present there to keep the peace. While in other communities, the drug gangs remain in charge. In both types of favelas there are still many problems with crime. Drug related killings account for 50% of the deaths among teenagers, with boys running 12 times higher at-risk of being killed than girls.

Youth with a Mission has been working in some of these communities for over 30 years, and has seen remarkable results.

In 2016, the year of the Olympic games, when the eyes of the whole world will be directed towards Rio, we are planning together with the different YWAM bases in Rio, to offer an 8 month training program, consisting of a DTS (Discipleship Training School) and a Children at Risk (C@R) school (both in English and Portuguese).

Miracle: Free housing for 80 people in Rio de Janeiro.
The planning for this program started already two years ago, but we were struggling to find an adequate location for the training. We wanted a place close to the city center, close to the favela Borel (where YWAM runs a big successful community center), and still reasonably close to the beach! But, where could we find such a place during the Olympic year?

Last month one of the missionaries from YWAM reported a miracle: A big church offered the use of an empty building next to the church. It has a big auditorium, a kitchen, and various rooms that can serve as dorms. It is exactly what we were looking for, and only 20 minutes by metro train to the beach. All we have to pay for is the cost of water and electricity. This will help immensely to keep the costs of the program low. Isn´t this great?

The first applications are already coming in, but we need help with the promotion of this very special opportunity. We would like to see 80 to 100 students come to participate in this training program.

Do you know any young people who would love to come to Rio for 8 months and do a DTS and C@R school? We have a website with all the information and application forms: http://jlukasse.wix.com/ywam-rio-2016, but you can also tell them to contact us through our blog, facebook, or email. Please could you help us to find the right participants?

Various newsletters
For a few years now, we have written only a personal newsletter. Other missionaries at YWAM Belo Horizonte now write the base newsletter, which has news about the houses and projects. Some of you only receive our personal news, while others receive both newsletters. If you would like to change this and receive less or more news, please write me at jlukasse@gmail.com. I will make changes according to your indication.

Prayer Points
Pray for the refugees from Syria and Iraq, for protection in the new place where they now live, and that they may know God deeply and personally: His love, comfort, forgiveness and grace. We thank God for the doors opening to teach them, so that the children in the refugee camps will receive help.

Pray for protection for Christians in the Middle East, the local churches and local teams, and also for us as we make long trips. We praise and thank God for the great things He is doing in these countries.

Pray for the training program in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, that God will send us the right students. We thank God for the wonderful building we will be using during the training.

Thank you very much for your prayers for us, for your faithful financial gifts, and encouraging emails. We are grateful for the friends we have in you!

God's richest blessings to you!

How can we help the refugee children of Syria and Iraq?

“We were all in panic as I sat with my crying children in a taxi, fleeing the city, while a transport of the militants of the IS passed us on the other side of the road, firing their guns in the air, moving into the city” a young woman from Kurdistan told me. “We made it save out of the city as the taxi raced as fast as possible, but we still have nightmares” she added.

She is only 28 years old, she could be my daughter. Her son of 7 is playing in the room, but her little daughter of 4 hides behind her. She is wearing a beautiful long blue robe with glitters and looks at me curiously and expectantly. There are not that many foreigners here. Did we come to help?

Children at Risk school in Iraq?

We have indeed come to see if we somehow can help the children of the refugees. Those children have witnessed terrible things, have felt the fear of having to flee, and have been traumatized by all they have experienced during their escape.

When we were praying for the children in Syria in Iraq a while ago, we were reminded of the Children at Risk (C@R) School we were able to give in Haiti, ten months after the earthquake where over 300,000 people died.

We had a group of 39 Christian young men and women from 30 different churches, which mostly were living in tents after the earthquake, and couldn´t go to university because they were destroyed together with many houses.

We were able to give those young Haitian students a course to train them as child care workers and counsellors in order to equip for the work with the children in their own refugee camps. We still maintain contact with some of them and hear wonderful stories about the many children they are able to help.

Picture of our Haitian students in dec 2010, during their graduation.

We wondered if something like this would be possible for the children in Syria and Iraq. Would Christian young people that had to flee, and as they are waiting for things to be resolved, be available and willing to do such a training for Children at Risk, in order to be able to help the children around them? Wouldn´t it be great if the kids in the camps could be helped and counselled by Christians who themselves went through similar traumas and can really understand them, much better then we western Christians ever could?

We started praying for this: “Lord what you want us to do? We want to do what you tell us!” We were also worried to even go to the region considering all the awful stories about the cruelty of the IS. Would it be even a responsible attitude to go there? We started taking some careful steps, writing people who had been there, and contacting people who are actually there. We reserved a flight and asked God to give us a sure sign to confirm if we were to go which He gave us within days after we asked. He is so faithful!

Opportunities opening in Kurdistan

So in February we were able to visit Kurdistan in the North of Iraq. It was wonderful to see how many doors opened up: A high government official invited us to meet in his big office. He listened carefully to our proposal, “Yes that is what we need “, he affirmed. “If you train these young people for three months”, he suggested, “then we could actually employ them for the next 9 months, and give them a salary to work with the kids in the camps, so it would become a program of a year…”

Someone else offered: “We have a house with 6 big rooms and a van for 15 persons which you are welcome to use during the time of running the course”

“We can help paying for expenses”, yet another person offered.

Wonderful!! There are still a lot of details to come together, but right now we plan to go for two weeks in April to offer a short course as a sort of pilot program, to see how things could work. And if it looks favourable, then we plan to organize a full three months C@R school in September for Christian young people who are refugees themselves so they can have a practical and possible a job to work with kids in the camps. In such a way a lot of children could be helped.

Many things still need to be worked out. It is a great challenge to run a school there. Lots of things may still hinder this initiative. Please pray with us for this.

I am also busy writing a book with the teachings for the C@R school. With the different travels and the surgery of our son Davi last year I haven´t come as far as hoped, but I continue with fresh resolve!

Our children.

Since his surgery, Davi has improved a lot, for which we are so thankful to the Lord. During the Christmas holidays he and Dilma both stayed with us in our cabin here in Holland. We were quite busy with assembling furniture from the IKEA for Dilma´s new little home. It is very cozy and beautiful and she is so proud and thankful!

We are also enjoying spending extra time with our grandchildren that live in Holland. They have come and spend already a number of weekends with us. ”Staying with our grandparents is always like going to a party”, they say when they come. Just great!

Of course we miss the ones in Brazil a lot. But Michele and Romeu surprised us with their decision to come to Holland in April as a family to do a DTS (Discipleship training School), a five months Bible school with Youth with a Mission. They´ll do it in Heidebeek where we started our time in missions 35 years ago! Isn´t that wonderful?

So we´ll still see them here in Holland, because we´ll only return to Brazil the end of April. When we will get there, it may be a little quiet, because not only Michele and Romeu who lived in the apartment below us, won’t be there, but also Johanneke and Jonathan who lived next door to us, won´t be there, as they just moved to another YWAM base 500 miles further south in Brazil. Talking about empty nest…

Although that will be a bit hard to adjust, we´re of course very happy that they are seeking God´s will for their lives and seek to obey Him. What more would parents really desire? We are very proud of our children and very thankful for them and our children in law and grandchildren that God has granted us!

When we´ll arrive back in Brazil, there is already a full agenda waiting for us to teach in churches and YWAM schools. I´ll also continue to work on the new book, and we´ll continue the preparation for the possible school in Kurdistan. In 2016 we plan to give the same school in Rio de Janeiro around the time of the Olympic Games!

Rio de Janeiro

Who wouldn´t want to go to Rio, the most beautiful city in the world? From January to August we´ll offer there in 2016 a DTS, followed by a C@R school with lots of practical opportunities, like reaching out to the kids in the slums, or spending time with the street children on the beaches of Rio.

Are you free for those 8 months, or do you know someone who would want such an opportunity? Please click here for the website http://jlukasse.wix.com/ywam-rio-2016 to get more information. Pray and come!

Grateful

Dear ones, what a special group of family and friends we have in you! People who pray for us, help us practically with newsletters, data files, administration, meetings, who pray some more, encourage, treat us with food, time and pray even more... We are so thankful! May God reward you all.

We pray God´s blessings on you!

Love, Johan and Jeannette

Prayer points:

• Please pray for the many refugee families from Syria and Iraq. For help, comfort and healing: Gods arms around them. 
• Pray for the plans to conduct a seminar of two weeks in Kurdistan to train Christian young people in Child care and counselling. And also for the possibility of a 3 months school in September. Thank God for the opportunities that opened up so far.
• Pray for the plans of an 8 month training program, with a Children at risk school included, during the Olympic year 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. Thank God for the YWAM team in Rio that is already doing lots of preparations. 

34 years since our last autumn, Johan in S-Africa, and 60 years!

The sun shines on trees that are decorated in the most vivid yellow, orange and red autumn colors, in stark contrast against the dramatic dark gray sky—we are enjoying a wonderful autumn in Holland!

We just calculated that is has been 34 years since we spent an autumn in Holland! All these colors call our attention to God’s beautiful creation.

I guess it helps that I am doing a little photography course—only five classes—but it seems that it has sharpened my attention for all I see around me. I enjoy this very much!

Temporary move to Holland

We have moved our “office” (read: two laptops) from Brazil to Holland for a few months and are working for a while from Ermelo, Holland. One of the reasons is that our youngest son, Davi, had to undergo a serious operation in October to receive a urinary stoma. And of course we wanted to be in Holland for that occasion. The surgery was done at the University Hospital in the city of Utrecht.

Davi had his surgery

It went well, but a big hurdle was that it took a long time for his intestines to start functioning again. At a certain point he even said: “Maybe I should never have done this”. But there wasn´t really any other option. 

His kidney function had deteriorated badly two years ago, and he ran the risk of needing hemodialysis. For nine days after the surgery, he couldn´t keep even a sip of water in his stomach. That was tough for him. But after that ninth day and lots of prayers, suddenly everything changed for the better. His intestines started working again and his kidney function improved. Now he is at home and recovering quickly.

The first Children at Risk School in South Africa

Johan went on a trip from Holland to South Africa for two weeks at the end of October / beginning of November, to teach in the Children at Risk School in Cape Town. We started this school 25 years ago in Belo Horizonte, Brazil to train our own staff. 

Since then, we have run the school every year, and Johan has taught in every single school--hasn´t missed a single one—quite an accomplishment! In addition, we have started this school in many other cities of Brazil and in other countries.  It is a very good and practical school that helps students immensely if they want to start a new project with children in need or improve an existing one.

Andrew from India

Some years ago we lead a Children at Risk School in Kolkata, India. One of the students, Andrew, was a very gifted Indian young man. A year later he came to Brazil to co-lead a school in Belo Horizonte (and happened to meet his future wife, Eliane, but that is another story!)

.At the wedding of Andrew and Eliane

Multiplication of the school in Africa

Since then he has lead the school in different Indian cities, and we have been there various times to teach. Last time in Mumbai, we also spoke at an international conference, where we met Toby and Aukje Brouwer, a wonderful couple from Holland who started a project for children affected by HIV/AIDS 20 years ago in Cape Town, South Africa. 

They wanted to bring the school to South Africa to train African young people and see projects for children multiplied on the continent of Africa. We couldn´t go this time to lead the school for three months, but Andrew and Eliane were available.

So they are leading the school, and Johan went to teach for two weeks. It is wonderful to be able to invest in young people, passing on different principles and encouraging them in their dreams to minister to children.  Toby and Aukje plan to lead the next school then start multiplying them into the continent of Africa.

Next year: the first Children at Risk School in the Amazon region.

Andrew and Eliane are going to Brazil next year to lead a school in Porto Velho (Eliane’s home city), which in the Amazon region. Here the children of the ribeirinhos (people from communities along the big rivers) are seriously at risk. Afterwards they plan to return to India and start a work with children in one of India’s poorest regions.

Every year

In the meantime the school in Belo Horizonte continues under the leadership of Oseias who is the King’s Kids leader on the YWAM base. In Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil, there is a school led by Regina, and in Recife in the northeast region, there is a school led by Mati and Julie (he is from Samoa and she´s from Canada). In Perth, Australia there is a school with a focus on Thailand and other countries in Asia, led by Cloe (from Kenya). Enough to confuse you.

Who wants to go to Rio?

In each of these schools, we teach whenever possible. New schools are being planned, like the one in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympic Games in 2016. Wonderful! A great reason to spend a couple months in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and reach out to the kids on the streets and in the slums. As one of our sons-in-law mentioned, “Who doesn´t want to go to Rio?”

A picture taken in a special mirror!

Sharing

We are enjoying this new beautiful and natural phase of our lives. After having started various projects, ministries, shelters and community centers for children in need in Belo Horizonte, having helped start various other projects around Brazil, and having lead the YWAM base in Belo Horizonte for so many years, now is the time to share with the next generation about our experiences—the mistakes we made, the goodness of God, the things that worked well and all the lessons learned.

A gift

Johan is a wonderful teacher and enjoys teaching. The students will listen for hours at a time to his stories and classes. This is a real God-given gift, which is still developing.

So much suffering of children

Now that we are not leading the YWAM base in Belo Horizonte anymore, we are able to focus more and more on teaching, as well as multiplying the Children at Risk School and seeing projects for children opened in many more locations. There is a huge need for this.  When we read in our daily newspapers about the suffering of children in the Middle East and other parts of the world, we want to see more schools and projects happening everywhere.

Writing a book

Together we are compiling a book of lessons we have learned through the years, which we can use in future schools. It is quite a job!

60^th birthday!

Last week we celebrated Johan´s sixtieth birthday. We are thankful for good health and for all the family members and friends who were able to attend the party. So much to thank our faithful heavenly Father for!

Thank you so much!

We are also grateful for all our friends who have stood with us through gifts, carried us in prayer, encouraged us with emails and cards, shared a coffee with us, listened to us, laughed and cried with us and reached out to us in many different ways. 

Thank you so much! We pray that during this holiday season of Christmas and New Year, your eyes, ears and hearts may be open to the love of Jesus who came for all the world, so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. Glory to God in the highest!

We wish you God’s richest blessings!

On the road to recovery

 

Here a quick update about Davi! The surgery for the urinary stoma was successful, but afterwards his intestines didn´t want to start up again. He couldn´t eat or drink anything, and whenever he tried, it would come back up. This lasted nine full days. He lost quite a few pounds and became very weak. But he stayed in good spirits.
 

A visit from Olaf (!) with Johan and Dilma

With his brother Pieter

Hundreds of people prayed for him, and his hospital room is decorated with lots of get well cards. Whenever there was a little emotional dip, he had his daddy’s shoulder to lean on!

  

If everything progresses well, he should be released from the hospital in the next few days and will be able to recover at home, which will take another four weeks, the doctor told us.
 

We would like to thank everyone who has stood with us in prayer, has come to visit, and has sent cards, emails and messages. We have felt carried by the love and faithfulness of so many people and especially by our heavenly Father.

The surgery went well.

The surgery Davi went through yesterday went well! Thanks to all who prayed, sent emails, texted, phoned etc. It was a great encouragement to know so many people stood with us on behalf of Davi. Please continue to pray for a speedy recovery.

It took a little longer than expected for Davi to be admitted to surgery, so it was quite late in the evening when he returned to his room. I had been allowed to stay with him until anesthetics put him under and was allowed to sleep in his room the first night. It’s been wonderful how nice all the doctors and nurses are towards us. To fight the pain they put him on a morphine pump, which works fantastically! Besides this, he’s got lots of drains and lines hooked up to him, but we hope they will be taken out over the next few days.

Right now we are listening to some of Davi’s favorite music from Hillsong!

Okay, now I am ready to help the nurse with his general cleanup.

Please pray with us for Davi during the coming weeks. We´ll try and post regular updates on our blog and Facebook.

Thanks for standing with us. We wish you all God’s richest blessings!

Davi's surgery

Here is some news from our side, especially about the upcoming surgery of Davi. As some of you may remember, our youngest son Davi (27), was born with Spina Bifida and as a result became paraplegic. 

One of the other symptoms is that his bladder keeps cramping all the time, which in turn deteriorates his kidney function so much that 2 years ago, his doctors told us he needed hemodialysis. 

But against all expectations, we believe because of a miracle, his kidney function improved to about 45%. To keep this stable he will need another surgery to create a urinary stoma. This is a big surgery in the abdomen and is planned for the 8^th of October. If all goes well, he will still need about two weeks of hospital care.

Davi has already undergone lots of operations, mostly on his spine. In Brazil it was always possible for me, Jeannette, to go into the operating theatre until the anesthetics took over. We thought that might not be possible in Holland, but to our surprise both the surgeon and the anesthetist approved it. This is a great consolation for Davi who also has an intellectual disability, and is a bit fearful to go into surgery.

We are in Holland for a couple of months right now, as we knew this surgery was planned. We also moved our office over here as well, which wasn´t too complicated as our office only consists of two laptops! While preparing for the surgery we are busy working on our next book, and doing a lot of planning for future Children at Risk schools around the world, where we train young people to start projects, working with children in need.

Please pray with us for Davi during the coming weeks.

We´ll try and post regular updates on our blog and Facebook.

Thanks for standing with us.

We wish you all God’s richest blessings!

Are there only Christians in Brazil?

It was really fantastic to be able to join with so many people from different missionary organizations, Christian athletes, churches and outreach teams from all over the world to plan, pray, and then see it happen: hundreds of young people who enthusiastically went to the streets at every soccer game, evangelizing, singing, dancing and inviting, not just in one city, but in all twelve host cities of the World Cup!

Biscuits with Bible verses
What wonderful and different people we encountered as we were preparing for the World Cup: pastors who are fanatics for soccer, professional soccer players who love Jesus, movie makers who are championing the cause of sexually exploited girls, a great African choir of more than 50 people from Madagascar, who worked and saved money for two years to be able to be part of this, businessmen that financed the printing of some very attractive evangelism material, thousands of young people from all over the world and even a man from Indonesia who started a biscuit factory in Brazil, to make cookies with Bible verses printed on them, to be distributed during the World Cup. He sent us a big truckload of those cookies!

Are there only Christians here?
Walking through the streets just prior to the games it appeared as if there were only Christians in Brazil; you saw them everywhere. We counted 244 churches that went with their members to the streets before every game (64 matches in total). They sang, danced and made a big party with special drum bands. We had boxes and boxes full of the most beautiful and free evangelism materials in many different languages. We joined to pray at strategic places, just before the evangelistic outreaches, and all groups could take as much evangelism material as they needed.

A great and professional communication team
To communicate everything the Lord was doing before and during the World Cup was quite a job! We made two blogs, one in English and one in Portuguese, and over a period of three month posted 54 articles. Every two weeks we sent thousands of emails with the latest news and also posted many items on multiple Facebook pages. One of those pages even climbed to 80,000 likes! We did a number of video clips and had hundreds of photos taken. Our team here in Belo Horizonte was very professional and also received lots of material from all other 11 cities. It was great to see how everyone was able to use their talents.

In the slum communities
In various slum communities there were mini World Cup competitions organized for the kids who were all on break from school during the World Cup. During the actual World Cup games, TV screens were put up in strategic places so people from the community could watch. Before the games and during halftime we had the opportunity to share about Jesus and what he has done in our lives. In some communities a Bible was given to each family and attendance at the Bible studies was surprisingly high.

Movie based on the life of Hosea
Two YWAMers with experience in movie production, Diego Traverso and Daniel Silva, had decided to use their talents in the battle against human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Together with 48 employees, Daniel produced a full-length feature film called “Internal Labyrinths” in only one-and-a-half years. The movie demonstrates in an impressive way how girls get entrapped in prostitution, how their self-esteem often drops below zero, and how Christians through their ignorance or through judgmental attitudes, often make the problem worse. But it also shows how Christians inspired by the unconditional love of Christ can become God’s answer in the lives of these girls. The story is set in today’s world, but is based on the biblical story of Hosea. It’s really a fantastic movie. Look for more information on the website: www.pontefilmes.com

1 real (50 cents)
Last year Diego filmed the situation of the girls in red light districts in all 12 host cities for the World Cup. It resulted in a 22-minute documentary called “1 Real, the Other Side of the Coin”. This title was inspired by a little 8-year-old girl, who was standing at a traffic light, offering sexual services to the drivers in the cars for only 1 real (equivalent of 50 cents).

Bus
This film is an intense documentary portraying the shocking reality of these problems all over Brazil. During the World Cup, Diego brought a team and a special "1 Real" bus, in which they toured host cities to exhibit the documentary in red light districts, on city squares and on beaches. You can watch it on the internet with English subtitles: www.1real.org

“He offered me the sky” 
During the months prior to the World Cup, we used the program `Libertodos` (“Liberate All”) in many local schools. This curriculum was written by one of our YWAM missionaries to educate and warn adolescents about the danger of lover boys, human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
“Auntie, I think this happened to me yesterday”. One of the girls had raised her hand, and with a horrified look on her face, told one of our staff: “One of the guys from our neighborhood was promising me all kinds of things, too good to be true--now I know what it was all about”.
This program is really good, easy to use, professionally done and is being used by more and more YWAM bases, churches and schools. There has also been interest in some other Latin American countries.

1500 people praying together for a total of 720 hours
The 24/7 prayer rooms in the prostitution areas were a great success. 1500 people had signed up to pray during various hours every week so that there would be 720 uninterrupted hours of worship and prayer in the darkest places in every one of the 12 host cities.

The power of prayer
Lauren, one of the girls from a US/Panama team that came to help us during the World Cup told us: “I could just feel the difference. When I visited the girls in the brothels before the World Cup it was as if I had to push away a dark cloud. It was heavy and sad. But once the prayer room started, this room became like a safe haven to me and the atmosphere in the brothels and the neighborhood changed. It was still difficult, but you could see more joy, peace and the presence of Jesus brought light in the darkness. It was easier entering the brothels, knowing that in the same street a team was praying. It was a wonderful experience to see how the power of prayer brings such an obvious change for the better.”

This World Cup was won by the church!
When the Brazilian team lost 7-1 in the semi-finals to Germany, it was such a big shock to everyone that people still talk and write extensively about it. But for us it didn’t make much difference--it was clear that at this World Cup, the real champion was the church, who went en masse to the streets to demonstrate the love of God in many different ways. Together we showed that our passion was way beyond football. Our passion was the Lord Jesus! This was the World Cup which was won by the church!

Davi, our youngest son came to Brazil.
For our family, it was also very special time because Davi, our youngest son, could come for a visit here during his vacation. We had a great time together, and the half-Brazil, half-Holland soccer shirts I had made for him and Johan yielded many comments!

The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
So what´s next? We’ve already gone to Rio de Janeiro twice, preparing for a Mega DTS (Discipleship Training School) and Children at Risk School we will conduct in 2016. We´ll keep you posted over the next months!

To the Netherlands
In September we hope to go to Holland for a number of months. Davi needs another surgery in October, and we want to be close when this happens. We also hope to use this time to write our second book, and Johan will teach in YWAM schools at different bases including the one in Cape Town, South Africa.

Prayer points

• Thank God for all the people who heard the Gospel during the World Cup. Pray that the seeds sown will grow. 
• Thank God for all the people who helped in various ways. Pray that each will continue to seek to know God better and to make Him known. 
• Thank God for the film, the documentary and the school program, all directed against human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Pray that together they will reach millions of people, and will lead to prevention of and intervention in forced prostitution. 
• Thank God for all the people who participated in prayer. Pray that we as Christians will grow to understand and experience even more the power of prayer.
• Thank God for Davi. Pray for the operation that he must undergo in October.

We would like to thank everyone who has been a source of encouragement to us over the last months through prayer, gifts and messages. Thank you that you stood by our sides, helped us and supported us.

May God bless you abundantly!