God Moments

During story time in the VBS, the teacher told that one of the little girls was very shy and rarely talked because of things that had happened to her in the past. The teacher encouraged Barb to ask the little girl her name and get her to talk. She would not speak throughout the bulk of story time; however, at the very end, right before the kids left, she whispered to, “Meu nome e Julia.” (“My name is Julia.”)

Half of the VBS team went to a local community church in the favela to help the pastor with church building. As Barb and Shaun were walking with the wheelbarrow, they saw one of the little boys from the preschool who had attended the morning session of VBS. That day the craft that they made was a sock puppet. As the boy walked down the dirt road with his mother and little sister, she was using the sock puppet, which he had made for her, and moving its mouth as if it was talking to him.

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!!!!!! Let’s celebrate…

Tonight we did something incredible with some of the boys from the City of Youth. Philip Smith, the director, explained to us the importance of the birthday outing for the boys and girls. Every month, there are two birthday outings, one with the boys and another with the girls that are born in that month. It is so important to the kids because some of them have never celebrated their birthdays. In fact, some do not even know when their birthdays are. During the outing, the kids are taken to the mall and they get to look in the electronics store and play arcade games. These things that we take for granted, these things that we’re bored with, these kids are overjoyed at the opportunity they have once a year.

Another part of the birthday outing was going to Walmart. The children were given 8,00 reals, converting to about $5.00 to spend. It was incredible to see the kids being overly content with so little. Some of the things that we look at as necessities are more money than they have to spend all year. As Philip described, “Some of these boys have never even been to a mall in their lives. Things like riding up and down the escalator are a novelty to the boys.” As our team sat around the table to listen to Philip as he shared each of their stories, we were deeply moved by how God’s love and faithfulness has given the boys a second chance at the City of Youth. For example, one boy, a recent graduate, has been living at the City of Youth for seven years. When he was rescued, he was living on the streets because his father was in prison, his mother abandoned him, and there was a death warrant issued against the boy. However, God provided a second chance and transformed his life. Today he was celebrating his last birthday outing at with the City of Youth because on Saturday he is moving into the graduate house!!!