The Reconciliation of All Things

One happy girl!

Teaching 5th graders how to plant strawberry plants.

This morning I (Ben) went to Joy's school (my 10 year old sister) and taught over 60 kids how to make tire gardens. Goodness, those 10 & 11 year olds can be noisy! Nonetheless, we were able to plant strawberry plants in these tires, and the kids are supposed to water them daily before school (7.20AM!), and keep the weeds out as well. It's been neat to be involved in different aspects and areas in the community here. It's been exciting and challenging, but fulfilling too. We'll attach pictures as soon as we have some uploaded.

Both of us in Brazil, April, 2005.

Hello folks! Well, there are more and more babies at the orphanage! It's neat, yes, but not necessarily good, since some parents are not able to care for them, so they then end up at the orphanage. At least it's a better place for them than with their drunk dads and prostitute moms. At least there's a chance for them to have a better life here at the orphanage. It was interesting for me (Ben) to find that out of the 17 teenage boys I've started a short Bible commentary/study for (in Proverbs), that only 4 or so called themselves "Christians". Wow. Here we are at a "Christian orphanage", and only 4 out of 17 teen boys are Christians. Makes you realize what an impact you can have on these kids. On the other hand, it makes you realize that you can't do this on your own. God's the one Who blesses the work, not men. Becky's been helping more regularly now with the newborns and infants, as well as staying busy with Portuguese. The teen girls at...

Hello there again! Sorry it's been so long since we've written you. We've got much to write, but we won't make it as long as it could be. :-) First of all, we want to thank you for your support and encouragement toward us while here in Brazil. Since we last wrote, there have been many exciting things that we've been able to be a part of. First of all, Easter was great! We were priveleged to share the holiday weekend with the kids at the orphanage. Kids from a church in the US committed to doing some community service to raise money for the orphanage. All the money they raised ($400) they sent to the orphanage for the kids here to have a celebration like no other! Saturday night there was an Easter celebration with the older teens doing a drama of "The Last Supper", and on Sunday there was a big Brazilian style barbecue (aka "Churrasco") accompanied by rice, beans, cassava root, and tomato salad. There was plenty of meat left over for the rest of ...