When you think of the word highway the images that spring to mind are usually ones of long stretches of paved roads, cars flying by at breakneck speeds, several lanes with well labeled signs.  Well, throw all that out the window when you hear the term ‘Transamazon Highway’.

287km of dusty, bumpy twisting road (with speed bumps of all things) stretches
between Marabá and the town of Pacaja where Xingu mission has a church plant just three years young.

Two weeks ago at the crack of dawn we piled five of our youth, backpacks and hammocks, cold water and even a puppy into our beloved Kombi and headed north west. It was an in-country mission trip to Pacaja.

There are two seasons here in northern Brazil, rainy and dusty.  We happen to be in the dusty season which is less dangerous than driving in the mud but the red powder that lays in the road inches deep flies up with every passing truck and billows in front of you like a red snow storm, making visibility impossible.  Several times Phil had to stop.

Could she be any cuter?

Six hours and one rest stop later we arrived and were well received in Pacaja.

We hit the streets to invite neighbours to the first youth service and a children’s event the following day.

The pastors there fed us and took care of us while we ran the events, musical training and a few of our youth performed a skit and a dance.  It was a fantastic opportunity for our youth to be able to pay it forward to this budding young church.

Inviting neighbours

The Kombi is serving us and others well!

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 Hello To all Friends and Faithful Supporters!!!

As always, I am so grateful for all of you. Everyday that I move forward here, I have you to thank for it. Your generosity and sacrifice are a major key to my success.
I want to highlight a special person for you this month to show you yet another way that you are helping to make a difference.

One of my students, Nayara Sabrina, is exceptional. Over the time that I have known her, she has learned English quickly.  She was always a very active participant in class, asking a lot of questions. Her hunger to learn has been a delight for me as a teacher.
Nayara grew up in the country where she was very isolated. The schooling that she received was good but inconsistent. Her teachers were sent from the city, so she and her fellow students could not have class everyday. However, her parents were intentional about encouraging her in her education, and Nayara has a special love for studying.
When she was 17, she received a scholarship to go to the Federal University in Altamira. She and her family moved to the city, and Nayara began studying for a degree in biology.
Nayara had a desire to learn English, and the English classes provided at CDR were affordable for her family. She said that her original reason for wanting to learn was so that she could translate her own worship songs into English!
During my time with her, we would try to get together once a week and practice speaking in English, and I would often help her to translate documents and projects for her college assignments.
I admire her focus and joy. She is only 20 years old, but she knows exactly what she wants. She is always charming and curious. She also says that now, God has given her other desires as well for learning English. Being that she is a biology major, understanding English gives her many more opportunities. She can read articles published in English concerning her field, and she has the possibility of studying at other universities.
A few months ago, Nayara took the TOEFL test, which is an international standardized English test, in order to apply for a scholarship to study in the US. She passed the test, and recently, was accepted by the Science Without Borders program to study in the US. She received a full scholarship to go to the University of Miami for a year and a half, starting this fall. For the first 6 months, she will take English classes, and then, she will continue on to complete her degree in biology there.
It has been amazing to be apart of this process with her. It is such a gift to watch someone’s dreams come true. I have no doubt that Nayara will make the best of this opportunity, and that doors will continue to open for her in the future.
It also makes me very grateful for places like CDR. It is so easy to see how it can make a difference for the people of Brazil. Being apart of investing in the potential of others is a great gift.
Please keep Nayara in your prayers as she takes this big step in her life. Pray that she adjusts well to living in the US, and that her family is blessed as they let her go.

Love, Allison

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“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:28-30

I think a lot of people are burned out on religion.  I know I am.  The word itself makes me cringe.  Jesus didn’t like religion either.

The word religion comes from the latin word religare  which means ‘to bind’.

I don’t know about you but the word bind doesn’t sound like what Jesus is talking about in the passage above, nor does it sound like anything He said in the Bible. Ever.

‘Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly…’

Hm.  Living freely and lightly?  That sounds pretty attractive doesn’t it?

Last night we held the first youth Alpha.  One of our youth, Max, took Alpha last year and gave his testimony.  He said that he learned through Alpha that a relationship with Jesus, is different from religion, it’s something without pressure.

Most people here are very familiar with religion-but the idea that it’s possible to have a relationship with Jesus-that’s new.

Alpha offers a safe and open forum for people to ask and wrestle with the questions they don’t have answers for, without judgment.  We want to introduce them to the Jesus that walked the earth 2,000 years ago, the one who wants to walk alongside them in their lives today.  Alpha is an effective way to do this. It strips away the religion that can bind us and gets back to the basics of what Jesus was about.

And it wasn’t about binding us up, quite the opposite.

‘Get away with me and you’ll recover your life’

That sounds a little more like someone who has been set free doesn’t it?

There are many things that bind our neighbours, family problems, abuse, addictions, the list goes on and on.  

They carry very heavy burdens.

Thirty-two of our young people came last night.  The tables were set with purple satin cloth, the food was colourful fresh, enticing and nutritious.  The groups ate, laughed and chatted before watching the video.

Afterwards we gathered in small groups to introduce ourselves and chat about what they thought about the video.

I have been a part of the Alpha course many, many times now and I have never experienced a time where God did not move, change and transform lives.

I’m so excited to see how He will touch the hearts of our youth who need so badly to be rid of their burdens, unbound and set free.

“I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

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Hello from the States!

May 2014 Newsletter

 

Hello to all my Followers and Faithful Supporters!

I hope all is going well for you! I know that the Spring has finally arrived in Ohio, and I’m sure all of you are especially thankful for it this year! In Brazil, the rainy season is ending, which means it will be hotter and there will be a lot of dust. Here in Altamira, they are working on a project to add a new sewage/water system and have systematically torn up almost every street in the city. The streets weren’t that great to begin with, and now, they have more holes than they have paved parts. As you can imagine, it makes driving a bit of a nightmare and the dust is 10 times worse! Needless to say, I already miss the rain.
Also at this time, CDR classes are ending. This will be my last semester teaching at the CDR in Altamira. It causes me to reflect on what has taken place over the past 2 years. When I arrived here, I had no teaching experience, nor did I speak any Portuguese, and I got thrown into the mix. I had to learn fast how things worked. Luckily, I had some great people around me who taught me a lot, as well as some really great students who were patient with me. I learned that I actually really enjoyed teaching, and that I was pretty good at it. I have learned a lot of new methods on how to really engage the students, and hopefully, get them excited about learning, too. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to God for positioning me here in Brazil, doing something that I love. You too, have been a big part in making that happen, and I am very thankful.
The next few months marks the conclusion to my time here in Altamira, and it is bittersweet. I will miss my friends here so much, but I am also looking forward to my new adventure in Portel. I will spend this time working on my final preparations to move, as well as enjoying my last moments with all those I have grown to love so much. Just to name a few that I am leaving behind, there is Cleide, whom I have already told you so much about. She has been like family to me. There is Gustavo and Marcelino, who both have spent so much time making me laugh. There is Steve and Elba, who have guided me through all the rough patches and helped me to continue. There is Cyndi and Art, who have delighted in me and also listened to my struggles. And many, many more. Leaving people behind is definitely one of the hardest parts about being a missionary.
I am also going to use this time to continue working on my classes for VI. I am currently taking a class called Assimilation. It is about the importance and use of church systems, and how to use them to make your church grow. I am excited about learning these things, and hopefully, putting them into practice in the future. After this class, I only have one more, and then, I will graduate. It will be nice to have that under my belt.
As usual, I will add a link to my pictures below. This past month, we had our CDR project, which involved us going to a local elementary school. This time, we taught about “Safe Touch”. It’s a program that helps kids recognize abuse and how to deal with it if it’s happening. I also included some pictures of my students from our last days together. And finally, there are a few pictures of our Alpha group, which will be concluding in a few weeks. Going through the Alpha program has been a great experience for our church. They are hoping to do another one in the future.
I, of course, want to thank all of you for your continued and faithful support. I have been so blessed and honored by all of you. I appreciate all your comments of support through facebook and on the blog. Knowing that you guys believe in me greatly encourages me. And I want you to be encouraged, too. I pray that God continues to give back to you what you have given. That he blesses you, spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally with refreshment and rest. I pray that he takes away your fear and worry with his constant love. Bless you all.
On a side note, my back has been hurting me a lot lately. Please pray that God will heal it. Thank you!

Love, Allison

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Praying for a woman in our Alpha Group

Last Days at CDR
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