Passion ~ Sao Paulo

We are extremely grateful to some very generous friends who gave all of us the opportunity to go to the Passion conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We had a wonderful time of worship and fellowship. Sao Paulo was the third stop on Passion's world tour this year. Music was lead by Chris Tomlin and David Crowder Band. The speakers were Louie Giglio and Frances Chan. To find out more about the Passion World Tour conferences, visit: http://www.268generation.com/ or 268blog.com. Here are some pictures...the 2 boys are C and P...they live in our Sombra Road House.

David Crowder*Band

Jeremy, P, Kristin, lil' j, Jason and C

Enjoying Starbucks in Sao Paulo...it hasn't arrived in Rio yet....

We also enjoyed Whoppers at BK...gotta love the American influence down here :)

Hotlanta

Jacob and I had a GREAT visit to the States. The grandparents, etc. thoroughly enjoyed their time with him (and me too, I guess). We were there a little under 3 weeks and the time passed so quickly. It is always like that. I know for Jason those weeks passed slowly and we are glad to be home again with him. Here are some pictures...(somehow I didn't get pictures of a lot of people...particularly Jason's side of the family). Ooops!

Manginhos

Jason teaches an English class in Manginhos, one of the poorest favelas in Rio. His main objective is not to teach English but to recruit one of the youth in the community to live in the Sombra Road home. He teaches his English class in a house that is owned by a ministry called Timones (refering to I Timothy). The director, who invited Jason to work with the youth of the favela, allotted almost US $100 per month to do activities with some of the teenagers. This month they took the money and bought basic necessities (rice, beans, oil, sugar, etc.). They delivered the food products to six deserving families. As you can see in the photo, the families all life in a line of wood shacks. Upon delivery, they prayed with the families and read scripture with them. This was a good opportunity for the youth to give back to their community and the gesture fits well with Sombra Road's desire to disciple youth. The lady pictured above is Oliene, the social worker at Timones. Below are some of the youth Jason works with there.

Beach Fun

The day before I left for the States, Jason played in a football tournament in Copacabana. Yes...American football, not soccer. They play on the beach and have a lot of fun. It's a great outlet for Jason. Here are some pictures...

Here are some friends who came to watch. They are from the church that we attend.

And here are just a few people from Jason's team (actually this picture is of the flag football team, not the regular tackle team...there are like 30 people on that team, but I don't have a picture yet)