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| Our tiny livingroom-office in Brazil |
With one of the walls of the living room painted light green and comfortable pillows on the couch, it is simply a wonderful little corner where we feel at home. We know that we are blessed! However, I have some mixed feelings... Because we are going to move!
Move?!?
We have lived in Brazil in the city of Belo Horizonte for 35 years. During the first 29 years, we started and led a YWAM base there with all kinds of ministries targeting children at risk—street children, deaf children, and those affected by HIV/AIDS. But during the last 6 years we have mostly been teaching in Belo Horizonte and other cities in Brazil and around the world on the subject of reaching vulnerable children. There is a great need for this on YWAM bases worldwide.
Next year: Asia, Africa and the Middle East
We like to encourage, stimulate, teach and train young missionaries and hope to continue doing this for many years to come. Next year we have on our agenda to teach about children at risk in the Philippines, Macau, Thailand, Cambodia, Angola and Turkey.
Our cabin in Holland
So, on December 20th we are traveling to Holland, where we will register for residency again, and will live in our little holiday cabin in the city of Ermelo. This will make it easier to spend extra time with our adopted children Dilma and Davi during Christmas seasons and summer holidays. Both have special needs and have some mental challenges as well. They live in a therapeutic community in a neighboring city where they are very well taken care of and love living and working. But it will be nice and important to be with them during their holidays.
Our other three children with their spouses and our grandchildren now live in England, the US and Brasil, which makes visiting a little more complicated😊
But you guys are ours!
“You guys are ours, here in Brazil, much more than any other country in the world,” said one of the Brazilian YWAM leaders to me. “We miss you a lot when you are away!”
Of course, we still plan to be in Brazil regularly to teach in the different Children at Risk schools, and to spend time with our daughter, son-in-law and our grandchildren. But for the next two years we will mostly be teaching in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Going to the Philippines
Two years ago, we gave a seminar on the YWAM base in Cebu, the Philippines, which was a great success! The base is full of enthusiastic young people and is surrounded by nine different slum communities; in other words, plenty of needy children close by.
There is a great desire to help these children and their families and to see these sad slums transformed into vibrant places, full of people who treat each other with love and integrity, bristling with hope and joy. Where the houses will be secure, with running water and electricity and roofs that don´t leak. Where children will go to school and young people can find jobs. Where there will be supermarkets, health clinics and churches. Where people will know God and His love for them and for the people around them and where they will honor Him with their lives.
Please help us promote this school
On this base in the Philippines we were invited to run the three-month Children at Risk (CAR) School to equip their staff and students. We are really looking forward to this. If you know anyone who is interested in this school, can you please forward the information to them? All lectures will be in English, which makes it easy for international students to participate alongside the nationals.
The dates: 6th of April to 26th of June 2020. The cost is US$500 per month including room and board. After the lecture phase, there is the possibility to do a practicum of 3 to 12 months with children at risk.
For more information, please visit our new comprehensive website: www.childrenatriskschools.com, but you can also write directly to the base: ywamcebu@yahoo.com
Christmas
Outside it´s cold, dark and maybe it snows. Inside warm and comfortable, maybe a candlelight dinner...
Or like in Brazil: It is hot outside, bare feet, thin t-shirts, fans or AC at full blast, maybe a barbeque in the yard...
Whatever it’s like where you are, cold or hot, the message doesn´t change:
Isaiah 9: 6,7 For a child has been born - for us! the gift of a son - for us! He'll take over the running of the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. His ruling authority will grow, and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings. He'll rule from the historic David throne over that promised kingdom. He'll put that kingdom on a firm footing and keep it going with fair dealing and right living, beginning now and lasting always.
At Christmas we celebrate that the Lord Jesus was born for us, to be the Savior and Lord of our lives. This continues to be our prayer: that He will be known by more children and families as their Savior and Lord and that many lives will be transformed.
We wish everyone a very blessed Christmas and a new year of fullness in the presence of the Lord!
Prayer points
- We thank God for all the classes we have been able to give over recent years. Please pray that the experiences and lessons we shared will be of great blessing for the young people as they start their ministries with children, families and communities at risk.
- Thank the Lord for our cabin in Holland. Please pray for a smooth transition.
- Give thanks for YWAM Cebu in the Philippines. Pray that the right students will come to the Children at Risk School in April 2020.
