Fogo em meu coração

These last two months have come and gone before I have had a chance to blink. My eyes have been opened to more things than I could put into words. The disparity among classes in Brazil is some of the worst I could have imagined. The rampant disregard for life is not something I expected in the culture where people will take another's life for a missed drug payment that is the equivalent of less than $1 USD. The idolatry of futebol is more of a religion than even some of the most devout Christians I know.

At the same time, the veracity of many of the believers that are walking after God is inspiring. Their devotion to God and intensity of prayer is powerful and is provocative to spur my own faith forward. The Iris base in Fortaleza is full of people that lay their own dreams and desires down to serve one another and to encourage each other.



Unfortunately, my phone was taken in the midst of a crowd and so I am without many pictures other than what I can borrow from others. After all I know, you'd think I'd have more wisdom in certain situations... At the same time, it was good to not be tied to technology and simply BE in the moment. So bear with me!

While there:

- our first night, 8 brothels for children were closed and pimps arrested
- established a house of prayer that ran nearly 12 hours a day
- partnered with local churches and brought teachings as well as equipping for outreaches
- outreaches in the favelas to children and others that lived there
- I was able to go to a match and see the world champions play
- held a banquet for the women we met, which ended up leading to a couple giving their lives to Christ
- saw physical healings
- outreaches to those caught in sex slavery
- went undercover to find brothels
- worshipped in the midst of the streets and had a block party
- learned more than I could discuss about community and family



This was just a glimpse of some of the things that we encountered while there and there's so much more to it that I have yet to even unpack myself.

I will continue praying for Fortaleza and earnestly desire that you would be led to do the same to stop the injustices that are allowed to happen. Pray for the enforcement of police to shut down brothels, for legalized prostitution to cease, and for the church to awaken to bring restoration to the streets.

Bom dia!

Headed to the World Cup

Since my last post in Switzerland, a lot has happened and I have yet to unpack it fully. These months in America have been laced with some good moments as well as times of forced resting and letting go of what I was wanting to make happen in my own efforts.  I was severely tempted to re-enter the workforce and seek my own satisfaction in Colorado, to be surrounded by things I enjoy doing and just make something happen rather than wait for what God has next. This desire led to my "dream job" in Boulder which I didn't feel peace on and I chose to wait for what was next.

Through a series of dreams last year, reconnecting with good friends, prayer, and counseling I found that next step: Brazil.

I'll be joining Exodus Cry in the Liberdade movement (http://exoduscry.com/liberdade/) in Fortaleza, a northeast coastal city in Brazil. We'll be partnering with locals and other missionaries to set-up a house of prayer in each of the twelve cities hosting the World Cup as well as seeking after an end to sex trafficking in the country as we love on those in the cities.

My heart is full to see this slavery movement ended and I could not be more prepared and excited to be partnering with this mission.

Whenever a large worldwide sporting event takes place, the demand for sex tourism increases and the injustices that are permitted to occur will no longer take place without those standing up for freedom in this day and in this hour.

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”  - William Wilberforce, a key figure in the emancipation of slaves in the 1800's across the world

If you have a desire to find out how you can become involved in putting an end to sex slavery in your area please don't hesitate to reach out and I can put you in contact with others. 

Expect to see updates during the course of the World Cup here. 

Additionally, there are a number of future ventures that have been put on my shoulders that will be coming to fruition as time progresses. If you would like to receive additional updates in the form of a newsletter please send me your email address to imsmith456@gmail.com.

And of course the part I know you're all curious about, what about my amazing beard? Well... I have set it free to be all it was created to be apart from me.

Our external circumstances follow what we've created inside of ourselves. Make sure to take the time to know you and be the change you want to see.

Namaste

Winter Wonderland

Well after my last post I certainly didn't think I'd be saying that I'm now in Switzerland. Due to some visa problems, my Swiss compatriots were not going to be able to have their child in India. Rather than stay in India by myself for over a month, last minute it was decided that I would join them in their home town in Switzerland.

Our last month in India was busy working everyday to build the bunk beds for the future children's home. We ended up building three triple bunk beds and two double bunk beds. We learned a lot in patience caused by the manual tools breaking, paying entirely too much for Indian prices for power tools that ended up breaking, daily power outages, unable to acquire basic parts to build, and a host of other issues. Needles to say, I'm a pretty laid-back person now at this point (at least comparable to my previous self). Sometimes there's only so much you can hope to accomplish in an entire day, just one trip to buy some screws that are "brand new" only to find out you have to wait for them at the store for an hour and then when you get home find half of them are broken or the wrong size. These different events are what make you realize that this truly is a different country and things don't always work out the same as in the western world. The saying "low and slow" takes on an entirely different meaning every day.

Finally, a saw that I didn't break

The prototype

Let's get our weld on

Metal and wood. True beauty.

Climb on up the tower of rest.

The ministry work we did took on a whole new look as our mission field truly was the men at the hardware shop, power tool store, the welders, our neighbors and local food shop. We formed relationships with the men at all the stores and when we would go to gather more supplies there would always be groups of people that come to assemble around us. It was an interesting phenomena to observe how the demeanors of the shop owners would change as we continued to see them again and again. Several of the owners asked us when we would be visiting their shops again and truly enjoyed spending time with us even though we had difficulties communicating.

Sometimes it's good to know where your food comes from. We visited our local chicken shop a few different times to make some delicious chicken curry and it's really quite an experience. You decide how large of a chicken you'd want and then well they knock off the head right there and let it run around in a barrel. After the squawking is done, they chop it up based on the size of pieces you'd like. I miss my vegetarian ways.

The day traveling from India was unlike any other travel day I've experienced. Our neighbors whom are normally already quite noisy at night, took things to a new level. The entire night long it sounded as though a full orchestra and football match were taking place inside my room. As we left our house at 3 AM we were greeted at the airport with several unfortunate events that almost prevented us from boarding the plane. Praise God He gave us all peace and He fought the fight for us to make a way for everything.

Who drew the short straw today Miss Chicken?

Nom nom nom..

Since here in Switzerland, things have been 180 degrees difference from India. I've been partaking of the best honey I've ever had and let's just say that all you who know me, know I love my honey! Oh yeah and the cheese, bread and chocolate of course is amazing as well.

I stepped in to a dream

I belong in this environment

I've had the chance to help take tourists snowshoeing and having fondue at a fire pit while it's snowing. I've also been able to assist in building igloos with a school group. I've become an "expert" in cross country skiing and love the feeling of my lungs burning as I press myself deeper and deeper into the mountains and snow in solitude.

Kids with saws...

One of the finished products

Good work boys and girls!

The largest fondue I've ever had

Like a boss

I'm fortunate enough to have the chance to build relationships with a number of amazing people here and love learning more and more about the Swiss and German culture (and a bit of the language) while I'm here.

Castle fun

Cross Country Ice Beard

A few nights ago I went with some people from the church to learn line dancing. Who would have thought I'd be practicing line dancing while in Switzerland!? This has to have been one of the funniest and best nights I could have imagined. I certainly do love listening to music from my
homeland while throwing down some dance moves on top of it.

Hard work makes a great view

Yee-haw!

A german salute

I'm hoping to head out ice climbing and to do a bit of skiing before I leave Switzerland. Speaking of leaving... I'll be returning to the good 'ole U.S of A. in March.

Until the next update, salü!!

 

A new year and a new home

First, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years to you all! This was my first year not with family to ring in the holidays, but thankfully I was surrounded by my new family members here in India. We had a wonderful Swiss fondue Christmas meal and stuffed our faces with Swiss cookies at night.

Christmas fondue. Fancy.

One of our neighbors had a little get together

Our New Years night was a failed attempt at staying awake and ended with me in bed by 10… however I stayed up for the American midnight which counts for something, right?


We also were able to attend a wedding this past week in a different city which was quite an ordeal and a bit different than I could ever have imagined. However, I have to say I enjoyed the event that was littered with gorgeous flowers, music, a plentiful feast, lots of new friends, and all the unique fashion choices people adopted.

Stylin'

There are only a few of us that remained here at the base, as others have left on holiday and will be returning in another month. We have been working on building bunk beds from scratch as the ones that are sold here are of very low quality and quite expensive for what they are. Now, why are we building these you may ask yourself (or maybe you weren't until I just put that there…)? We're believing that we'll be starting a children's home later this year and are working on the first steps to make that dream a reality. The tool selections here aren't like your normal Home Depot or Lowe's that have an endless selection of choices and friendly faces to help you out. No, instead we're greeted with blank stares of people who would rather not sell us anything and then if they agree to, will double the price on us. Normally, we could go to another store, but the thing is that there are often no other stores that carry what we need. Power tools are nearly nonexistent as well. As such, I've been reduced to learning metal work and relearning wood work on manual tools which have been breaking in the process. Praise God I'm a patient person… or at least becoming one.

Greasy

I will say that it is a wonderful feeling to start working early every morning on something that will (eventually) be used to house children that currently have no home. It's also remarkable how I'm able to work in long sleeves and pants in 32 degree plus temperature (or 90 degrees Fahrenheit for all you in the states) and still remain chilly at times. My how my body has adapted. I think should I be back in Kansas City at this time where the temperature has been at 10 below Fahrenheit I'd literally freeze and have to be shipped back here to thaw out.


I'm working on learning hindi and will be fluent soon (or at least within a lifetime).

Saturday night market is the place to be

We have a few kids that have been coming around to learn more English, experience Jesus, and recently to learn to play guitar.

Strum away

Another bit of fun news is that it looks like I'll be remaining in India for the foreseeable future and not venturing to any other countries with the prospect of setting up home there.

If any of you would like to learn the Indian head bobble (which I'm beginning to master) or would like to learn how to cook some amazing food, just let me know and I can give you a great step by step tutorial, or at least point you to google maps to find a good restaurant.

Namaste!

 India can be stinky even when sleeping

Incredible India!

I'm struggling writing this post because I don't fully understand what all has been happening around me or within me. I'm learning the paradoxical way of living that is India. The people are direct and honest, yet they would rather tell you to come back tomorrow as their way of telling you no. I am met with a friendly greeting in English from one on the street, yet I am met by the next person scolding me with no words to match my greeting in Telugu. The language is not tonal, yet if I say the same thing as someone else with a slightly different enunciation on a syllable, people go from not understanding me at all to making perfect sense. As a person, I enjoy learning rules that I can apply to put people in a box and to have consistency and a sense of control. Everyday this paradigm of my life is getting shaken and undoes what I've learned previously.

Needless to say, I'm beginning to simply let go of everything I'm used to "knowing." I meet each person with no preconceptions and an open mind about every situation I walk into.  I've had to choose to do this otherwise I have found myself becoming frustrated and having the urge to leave this place and just pass judgment on everything about this country.

We had 12 village pastor's that ended up coming in for the training school. The spirit moved upon all of us every day and night. The people were taught an overview of the bible, practicing the presence of God, what missions looks like, faith and finances, what love looks like, connecting to God's heart, signs and wonders, being released into the prophetic, and many more. Oh and great dancing!




Almost every single one of the pastor's was touched by God a number of times and had different visions or encounters of seeing Jesus or dreams for their future being unlocked.

Some of the girls that are here with me prophetically painted for each one of the pastors as a gift. They had yet to have ever painted like this and all of the pastor's were undone with these gifts.

Right after the school we had an engagement party to go to which was a wonderful way to see more of the culture.



We left for an eight day village outreach after the school. The day we were supposed to leave ended up being the same day as a massive shutdown of the region due to political factions and there were riots all along where we would be. We went out the next day completely unknowing what we would be walking (or driving) into.

After ten hours of fun family time and high hopes we arrived at the first village for the night. That night set a precedent for the rest of the trip. We were honored in more ways that I can bear to write down and it shifted many things in my heart. The food we had was incomparable to anywhere and we never had to worry about going hungry. Apparently if you ask for a little, that gives them the impression that you want a huge heaping again and again. I'm grateful for my iron stomach and fast metabolism.

In the morning we stepped into stories from the bible for the next week. We saw people healed of intestinal problems, back pains, migraines, partial blindness, paralysis of multiple limbs, the pastor's and congregation getting refreshed and a number of other things that I can't put into words on here but would love to share individually.

We had lots of great experiences with the kids everywhere we went and I'm continually learning more from them than I could ever offer to teach.



We heard continuously how the people there feel they are unwanted, unknown, and forgotten about from the rest of humanity as no one comes to visit them. We were the first white people that had ventured to a lot of these places and many Indians don't dare to go where we did. I met several people that had no idea that America is another country. It truly is a different world.

Upon return from our trip, a couple of us ventured to the Joy House (http://thejoyhouse.myshopify.com), which is a kids home. I have been wanting to visit this place for the past almost two years since it's been open. I had no idea when I came here that I would be so close to this place. It truly was another dream come true to visit and play with all the children.

Now that you made it past my rants, enjoy the pictures!