Dear Friends,

Another month passes and so another newsletter arrives in your inbox. I hope that you’re all well and have had a good month. Things have been busy once again over here. Hope you all enjoy the update!

Don’t worry… the straw hat and shirt is traditional dress for the São João holiday here in Brazil.

Only in Brazil - “This country!”

There are many wonderful cultural differences between Brazil and England. Everyday you come across something that we English would find very strange and you just have to exclaim (a lá Alan Partridge) “This country!”…

This month it is the Brazilian attitude in Supermarkets! Now, in England, when you go to Tesco, you wait until you have paid before eating/drinking the things you have bought. Not so here in Brazil where it’s very common to see people walking around the supermarket doing their shopping whilst drinking a can or eating a bag of crisps etc… They then hand over the empty can/bag/wrapper to the checkout girl who swipes it through and they pay. The other day I saw a guy putting his items on the conveyor belt along with 4 empty beer cans and a half eaten sausage… perhaps it helps you endure the weekly shop I suppose. This country.

Project Life

June has been a relatively quiet month thankfully here in the project. I’m pleased say that things have calmed down with Adenilson, his withdrawal symptoms seem to be improving and he continues to grow in his faith. Wanderson, on the other hand continues to be a challenge and this wasn’t helped by him taking drugs on his last home visit. The other boys are doing well, this month has seen its fair share of some pretty competitive footy matches - I still have to cuts to prove it!

The summer solstice (21st June) is the winter solstice here in the southern hemisphere so we’re actually in mid-winter… the temperature still manages to hit the mid 30s - it just tends to rain a bit more. And when it rains it really does rain! During these downpours we’ve discovered that quite a few places in the house leak… leading to the formation of an indoor swimming pool… one of these leaks just happens to be in the room where the girls from the Brazil Team will be staying - hope it doesn’t rain before the team manage to get up on the roof to fix the leaks!

Negra, one of our guard dogs, became really sick this month… number of things could have caused it, disease from rat urine or a tick or someone purposely threw poison over the wall which would be slightly worrying. Whatever it was left Negra at death’s door - she didn’t eat or drink for over a week and became extremely thin. I took on a new role as a vet, bought some antibiotics over the counter (as you do in Brazil) and gave her them and water through a syringe. Thankfully it worked, Negra is a lot better and is back to attacking anything in sight.

São João

It’s been party time the last few weeks of June. São João is a huge holiday here in Brazil and is kind of like bonfire night, harvest festival and a barn dance all mixed together! It’s a very cultural holiday and a time of thanksgiving for the harvest (so lots of food such as corn-on-the-cob) and dancing forró! It seems to be an excuse to get dressed up as a cowboy, wear a straw hat and throw balls of gunpowder on the floor (which make a huge bang!)… the boys in the project tend to only focus on the latter one.

We had a huge party at the farm with stores each selling their own type of food, games and a barn dance! It was a lot of work but great fun… I always cringe slightly when I think that the nearest English equivalent to this Brazilian food/dance festival is May Pole or Morris dancing… I tend to keep that one quiet.

Things I miss about England

#65 - Long Summer Evenings. How wonderful it is this time of year in the UK. Its light until 10.30pm, you can sit out having a BBQ or outside the pub enjoying the long evening. No such thing here in Brazil - being just south of the equator means it’s near enough 12 hr days. Sun sets at 5.30pm, no fuss.

Things I love about Brazil

#74 - Siestas. I have to admit the Brazilians have got the working day right. An early start with a hard mornings work followed by a big lunch deserves a rest. It seems that the body naturally wants to rest around mid-day when the sun is at its hottest… I now realise that the hours between 12.30 and 2pm were created for exactly this purpose.

Menino do Mês

For those of you who don’t read Portuguese this is the ‘Boy of the Month’ section! Each month I’d like to introduce you to one of the boys here in the project. This month allow me to introduce you to…

Gabriel!

Gabriel is the youngest at the project at 7 years old. He came to us around 3 years ago when he was only 4! He is the half brother of another boy in the project called Rodrigo, who used to work on the dump. When our team went to see Rodrigo’s Mum to take him to the project they found Gabriel in a pile of rubbish. His Mum has psychological problems and used to bite Gabriel and even threw him at a wall when our team were there. When Gabriel first arrived he was very scared of people and used to bite when he became angry. Over the past few years he has improved a lot, he’s stopped biting, and is a nice sweet little guy. He loves to play, especially Uno, but can still throw some tantrums. His Mum has been becoming better after some treatment for her problems and Gabriel began to visit her at weekends this year. He’s also started School and is pretty good! His Mum still needs a lot of help so for the meantime the future still remains unclear for little Gabriel.

June Leavers and Returners

Unfortunately this month, Tiago decided to leave us. Tiago is a very difficult boy who wouldn’t respect authority and used to wind the other boys up. He refused to study, stole a bag at School and said that he didn’t want to change. Sadly we can only help boys who want to change and so Tiago decided to leave. We still keep in touch with him as he comes along to church now and again so do keep him in your prayers.

Brazil Team 2008

Well, they’re here! The team from Jesmond Parish Church in Newcastle arrived on the 25th and are staying with us until the 28th of July. It’s wonderful to have some of my friends over here, to see what I’ve been banging on about for the past 4 years and also to see 2 different parts of my life, England and Brazil coming together. After a few days at the beach ‘orientation’ they’ve settled in well to the project. The boys have responded really well to them and are loving the activities that the team are doing, getting to know them and, of course, playing football! Luci, the cook, has fallen in love with one of the English guys - much to his horror! In our first few battles on the football pitch the English have upheld the nation’s honour and I think it’s pretty even at the moment on how many games England/Brazil has won. We’re still to face our strongest challengers - some of the youth from the church! It’s my hope and prayer that this team may have a long lasting effect on our boys.

We’re about to spend a few days up on the favela working around the church and the team are, at this moment, up on the roof of the house fixing the leaks and painting the walls! Last night we went on the traditional trip to the all you can eat pizza place - no one was sick this time but we all had a great time. Michel won after devouring 14 slices of pizza… some way off my personal best of 22 slices set 4 years ago!

It’s not all fun though, some of the team have had a dodgy stomach for the past few days, pretty common due to the change in diet, but do pray for them that they’ll be back to 100% soon.

A Flying Trip Home to England

You might be interested to know that I’m coming back to England for a few weeks this summer. I’ll be back from July 29th - Aug 19th. It would be great to see as many of you as possible so please do get in touch… maybe some people from your church would like to hear first hand about Brazil and the project? I’d be happy to meet you.

Prayer Points

1.      Pray for the team that the Lord would work through them and that they’ll have a great impact and effect on the boys and on the church here. Also pray for those who aren’t really feeling that great.

2.      Continue to pray for our work with the boy’s families - so important and it’s something we need to do more.

3.      For finance. Money at the project is pretty tight at the moment so please pray that the Lord will continue to provide and that we may trust in Him. Also pray for my own finances that I may trust in the Lord’s provision.

4.      For me, that I may continue to delight and find rest in the Lord. It’s pretty tiring but great fun looking after and organising 8 English people and being a constant translator.

Thanks again guys for all the prayer and support that you are showing me and the project. There are still boys available for sponsorship - Wanderson and Diego. £25 per month - if you’re interested then please get in touch with me.

I hope that you’re all well, I’m missing you all and hope to be able to meet up again in the summer!

Please do keep in touch with how you’re doing and what you’re up to.

Prayers.

Andy J

Photos

You can keep up to date with the most recent pics from Brazil by going to this address…

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146417&l=8278a&id=223703888