Sunday, August 27, 2006

Special projects

We are very excited about the fact that this year is a year of emphasis on missions within the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches in Canada (the Fellowship). Part of this emphasis was to get each missionary to come up with some special projects for supporters to get involved with. Here are the three we came up with:

Project #1: Not Just Fun and Games

Since arriving in Brazil in the fall of 2005, the Lord has given us the opportunity to share the gospel by teaching English to business acquaintances. We had been meeting every weekend with four Brazilians through our bank who have studied English, but have little or no opportunity to use what they've been studying. One of the best things for us to do with Brazilians who want to learn English to is play games in English with them. It gives us opportunity to get to know them in a friendly, non-threatening way, plus they get to practice their English through the game itself, and the conversation that takes place during the game. However, we were only able to bring a few small games when we moved. What we would like to have are several board games (like Life, Risk, Settlers of Catan, etc.) to play together. Games that can accommodate 4 to 8 people are best. Card games like Rook are good too.

Project #2: Spinning a Yarn and Salvation

Another opportunity has opened up for meetings between teenaged girls from the favelas (shanty towns) and a lady from our church. Shannon and this lady have been helping the girls gain some life skills by teaching them how to knit. They can make things for themselves, or they can sell what they make as income to live on. While the girls learn to knit, the ladies share the gospel with them. The expense is in the yarn, which is quite costly here. Specifically, we are in need of yarn, needles, cross stitch supplies and simple project books for either knitting or cross stitch.

Project #3: God's Word in Parallel Form

Although Bibles are plentiful here in Brazil. A Bible that has both Portuguese and English is very valuable. In addition to being used for church or personal Bible study, Bibles in two languages are excellent for language learning. We would love to give Bibles like these to the Brazilians we are helping with English.

If you are interested in getting involved in any or all of these practical projects, we would love to hear from you about it. Or you can contact our mission headquarters in Guelph directly.
FEBInternational, 351 Elizabeth Street, P.O. Box 457
Guelph, ON N1H 6K9
Ph. 519-821-4830; Fax: 519-821-9829