We're Home!

Hey everyone!

   We are home!  We got home last Friday after a long flight from Rio De Janeiro.  Our time in Brazil has been incredible!  People here keep asking us how Brazil was and that is one of the only responses we can give.  The whole DTS did so well there and it was very rewarding for us to be leading a group like that.  Ministry was like cutting through butter because of God, and we tangibly felt the prayers that people poured into our time in Brazil.  Really, it made such a huge difference to have a lot of people praying for us, and for that we are thankful.

We have been waiting to share a story with you guys until we got back to keep it as a surprise....so here it is!!  I know it is a little long, but I promise if you read the whole thing you'll be glad you did :).  It takes time to tell from the heart a small piece of what God did on our outreach.  Again, we are so grateful for your prayers.  We feel like this was a total divine appointment of which you are a part, also.

     This is a picture of a lady named Rosana (pronounced Hozana), and her husband.   We met her in Curitiba, Brazil, in the south.  We did a soccer ministry in the mornings there, and then visited the parents of the boys that came to play in the afternoons.  So one day, we were walking around the poor community with our ministry contact, and felt like God was leading us to go Rosana's house.  We found out quickly that she was very upset with something that was going on in her life: she had recently been told she would die of cancer within the year.  She told us that she was going to the hospital at the end of the week to sign a document refusing further treatment, as the doctors gave her little hope of it making any difference.  So we prayed for her there and then invited her to a weekly worship service that the YWAM base was having.  She showed up with two of her sons, and we all prayed for her at the end of the service.  She seemed to appreciate it, but left without saying anything.  The next Monday we visited her to see how she was doing, and she was very excited to see us.  Through the translator we found out that her doctor had run tests and scans again and came back completely dumbfounded.  He was confused at the fact that there was NO CANCER IN HER BODY!!!  Rosana told him that she had been prayed for the night before and that it felt like fire had gone through her body as we were praying. She told us that she slept through the night after we prayed for the first time in forever, without pain, because God healed her of cancer.  Needless to say the doctor was stunned, we were stunned, and she was incredibly grateful that God gave her life again where death was coming to take it away.  It was so exciting and wonderful to celebrate what God had done with her  and her family that day!

There were many more things that happened on this outreach, but this is definitely a taste of what it was like in Brazil.  We love this country and would go back again any day!  Feel free to call us or email us if you want to hear more about the trip.  There will be a ton more pictures to come.  Check out our Facebook pages as well for pictures.

Love,

Jason and Erika

Update from Curitiba, Brazil

Hello Everyone! 

We are very excited to share a bit of news with you guys!  We left for Brazil a month ago having no idea what to expect.  In such a short amount of time Erika and I have so enjoyed our time here: with the people, the culture, and the ministries we've worked with.  Though we have come to serve, we have experienced the most amazing hospitality here.  We have learned so much about friendship, and have been blown away by the way that even people who have hardly anything will bend over backwards to show our team that they are cared for and loved. (The food is also really good...we have both been saying they really know how to eat down here.  The Brazilians take their food very seriously, a lot like us..haha.)

Our ministry times in Curitiba have looked like this: 

-Reaching out to a poor community by going door to door and praying for people and sharing the gospel with them.  We have seen several people healed and touched by God so far. Amazing to be a part of! 
-Playing lots of soccer and sharing testimonies of how God has worked in our lives afterwards with kids from the surrounding community.  They come for English classes, soccer coaching, woodworking, and discipleship with an amazing YWAM ministry here in Curitiba called Hope Project.  
-Helping build a home for an older widow whose home was destroyed by termites :(. 
-Teaching English and much more! 

We are very thankful to be here and work alongside the long-term Brazilian missionaries here...we have learned so much from them!  They are amazing and so hospitable and loving to our team.  Wish you guys could see and hear everything for yourselves, but here is a little taste :).  Bless you today! Hope you are doing well! 

Love, 

Jason and Erika 

Reaching Out To Brazil

        What an amazing country Brazil is!  We feel so blessed to be here doing God's work.  We are in one big group of 57 people (including Jason's dad for 11 days) and man is it fun to be together like this!  It is our first time to do outreach with such a big group, and our ministry times on the streets attract people right away.  Worship has been an amazing way to draw people in, as well as dramas, dances and testimonies.  Wow, has it been fun to be able to encourage each other from different perspectives of what God did during these times.   Jason's dad hasn't been on an outreach in about 10 years, so this has been an incredible experience for him as well to be able to go out with a group of people and minister again.  He is such an encouragement and example to all of us, as staff and students.

One highlight of our outreach times so far has been doing evangelistic programs at schools in a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro.  At 3 different schools, we have been able to share the gospel with close to 3000 teens!  It is so evident that the Holy Spirit is touching their hearts, by their tears and their desire to pray with us.  We also had the opportunity to prayer walk/worship through a favela (slum) that used to be one of the most violent ones in Rio.  A man named Pedro has been ministering there for the past 22 years, and said that through God's intervention and doing prayer walks there in the past 5 years, it is now a safe place for everyone!  They no longer war with the neighboring favelas.  Also, the top drug lord of that favela came to watch us pray and worship for a while, and Pedro said that he had an experience with Jesus recently that changed his life!

Thank you for sending us to Brazil.  We feel so privileged to be a part of what God is doing here.  We have seen a lot of lives touched and we still have 6 weeks to go!  Please pray that we would have energy to continue to press into what Jesus has for us here; we want to be involved in all of it!  If you want to see a few photos of what we are doing here, check out Erika's facebook page!

Love, Jason and Erika

Hello Seattle!

Hello from Seattle!

The entire Winter DTS and staff are here for the week to share God's love with the people in this city.  We are being hosted by an amazing church, Westminster Chapel, that is the home church of some good friends of ours who are on staff in Montana.  We are partnering with them for some outreach opportunities, as well as just showing up in parks and places where people congregate and asking God for opportunities!  So far, our group has been able to talk to a lot of people and pray for them and bring encouragement.  Seattle has a very diverse culture, and our students are so excited to understand and share God's heart with people who are often ignored or marginalized.

This week is such a great opportunity for us to put into practice all that we have been learning these past 6 weeks.  I think one of the most important things is that ministry MUST flow out of our own place of rest in God's love.  If we aren't filled by him, we don't have much to give.  The little that we do have is then given out of our own strength, and then, we burn out quickly.  If we learn how to stand at our full height as daughters and sons of Father God, we can see people the way He sees them, and have something to share whether or not we have anything in common with the people we meet.  Jason and I personally have been so challenged and refreshed by the reminder that we must be continually going to the Lord to fill us before we try to give anything away.  I hope it is an encouraging reminder for all of you as well - don't go it alone!  The Father has so much rest, love, and peace that he wants to lavish on you today.

Please be praying for divine appointments, health, and safety for us this week!

Love, Erika and Jason