Day of Departure - God for the Nations

 “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” Genesis 28:14

    These past two weeks, I’ve been focusing on serving with the refugee ministry with my leader, Marlon. I’ve also been a volunteer every day for the first week of September for the 11th World Meeting of Visual Impairment. I was able to meet many outstanding individuals from the States, Jordan, Myanmar, Nepal, Malaysia and Lesotho. I learned so much from this experience and every day I looked forward to seeing them. They don’t complain. They are patient. They need a lot of help. Without sight, it is hard to find their way. There were over 190 nations and many of them were in Brazil for the first time. Unfortunately, most of the volunteers didn’t speak another  language other than Portuguese. So, many of the participants felt helpless. This event is sponsored by the United Nations. We, as in JOCUM, didn’t know that. It was the Bible Society of Brazil, who have a partnership with us, because of the Bible Translation Ministry that we have, invited us to volunteer at this event. And sure enough, they needed a lot of help. It was tough seeing these visitors in need of assistance but we were so short staffed! But there is only so much we can do. I felt really small and realized that God is the greatest, the King of kings, and the only One who is able. He is my Living Hope and I don’t have to keep my eyes on the discouraging and heart breaking situation, I can choose to lift my eyes and focus on my beautiful King. I learned that the sky is the limit. Many of these people who are visually impaired have degrees and are leaders or CEOs of their company. The girl from Jordan, who is completely blind, used to work in the UN office in Jordan. She was super sweet. She is a Muslim but was there with her father and her father directed her to give me a big hug. I was talking to another woman from Myanmar. She was super kind and smart as well. She isn’t a Christian, but she said that many visual impaired people in Myanmar are Christians. In this world meeting, I’d set myself as a prayer warrior and to share and be an example of Jesus’ love. I learned so much from each of them. There shouldn’t be any reason for me to complain about life. I need to be thankful. God is good. I learned to be more content with little or with much. 

     During these two weeks, I was still going to the Federal Police twice a week giving out free breakfast to anyone in line. 95% of them are foreigners. I would say a good 40% are from other Spanish speaking Central or South American countries. The other 40% are from African countries. And 15% are from Asian countries like the Middle East or China. We don’t meet many from the States or other first world countries. Through these encounters, we were able to build relationship with them and make house visits. There was one family that has known my leader, Marlon, for about six years. They are from Syria and they are refugees. They own an Arabic restaurant. They are amazing, wonderful, cute, funny family. I am getting to know more about the Islamic culture and to understand how they think and how they do things. I am very intrigued. I can see God’s hand in their culture. We met another man from Morocco. He was seen by some of his friends entering a Catholic Church in Morocco, so his family got angry and he was under death threat. So he fled. He came to Brazil after a long journey. He believes in Jesus as his Savior. He has a hunger to know more about Christianity. So that is our ministry. Because São Paulo already has many non-profit organizations who help provide food, lodging, job search, free Portuguese classes and more, but none of them provide Christian spiritual food and discipleship. Therefore, we were super excited to start this new journey with this man.

    Today is the day, the day that three Brazilians and I are going to go on a mission trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal to complete the Great Commission. Please pray that the rest of the team will be able to fundraise all that they need. Pray that we can have safe travels. Pray that the communication within the team and with the people there will be smooth and clear. Pray that we can be united in the Spirit. Pray that we can truly follow and obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Pray that THE KINGDOM OF GOD will be built on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. 

     Thank you for being on this journey with me. Love you all very much. 

We are finally departing from BRAZIL to go to Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal!!!

I will surely give updates!

This was a 2 day conference at the Bible Society of Brazil. It was wonderful! Learned a lot about reconciliation.

Another day taking breakfast to the Federal Police. Marlon would speak Portuguese. I would translate to English and the other girl beside me would translate it to Spanish! It was wonderful!!! Love it!!! 

There was one time where I spoke English and Mandarin as well!!!

We were visiting the refugee family that owns a restaurant! Their food is like... the BEST!!!

As we hand out breakfast to the foreigners, we also seek to pray for them and assist them to any resources that they need. They are welcomed to Brazil to start a new life, no matter what race, what past they've had, they deserve to receive blessings from God because of who they are, THEY ARE GOD'S CREATION.

This is a dear friend that I met in the city of Americana, a city close to Campinas, and 90 minutes from São Paulo.

These 2 blind men play football! (Soccer)

Me and the team volunteering at the World Meeting Visual Disability. I became really close to these people as well. We all serve at the same base, JOCUM Casa, but we are doing different ministries. So it was actually really good bonding together.

Giving out breakfast at the Federal Police. This time, Marlon wasn't there so I became the leader of the ministry here. It was awesome! God is good and He loves and takes care of the foreigners.