New Blog: September 11, 2012: Ondas do Amor

I've been in Recife for a couple of days now and I’m starting to notice how different it is from anywhere I’ve been before, even when I lived in southern Brazil two years ago. Florianopolis, where I lived before, was beautiful and had many nice things, but I think Recife is a lot more Brazilian. It’s a city of contradictions. On one corner you can see starving dogs looking through a pile of trash left on the side of the street or a dog get hit by a car and limp off the road. But just around another corner, you might see the most amazing view of one of the beaches with exotic trees everywhere and kids playing soccer. You can see a homeless man begging for food in a wheelchair or a business man in a suit going to work. Even though it may look a little rough around the edges, I think I’m going to like Recife because it has a lot of character. From the graffiti on the walls to the vendors selling chicken heart on a stick or hot dogs on the street (both of which are very good!), Recife has its own personality and it comes to life the more you explore it. I am having a little trouble adjusting to the way of life here though. Some things are hard for me to get used to like not having AC, walking or taking the bus (which is about 50 people over capacity usually!) everywhere, constantly feeling sticky even when I go to bed, always seeing Brazilian soap operas on T.V. even in restaurants, and being surrounded by a language that I can’t really understand. But I know that the Lord will help me to fit in here and become like one of the natives so I won’t feel and look so out of place! When we took a really sketchy boat ride to this beautiful island yesterday, the guy driving the boat called me a galego, which is a nicer way of calling me a pale, blonde hair, blue-eyed foreigner! I guess he's right though... haha!

Tonight was my first time going to the streets for church. Shores of Grace started a church outside in this plaza in the most dangerous part of the city (don't worry mom and dad!). Before church started a few of us went early to go look for people to invite and to talk with people on the streets. I was surprised to see so many people living there. There were a few older people but for the most part they were all young people. I saw babies sleeping on the ground on cardboard, little girls with barely any clothes on laying on the ground, young boys yelling obscenities to each other, and young women with their shirts half up walking barefoot around the park. While all this broke my heart into pieces, it wasn't the worst part. Pretty much everyone had these water bottles that they carried around with them everywhere. Even the kids were holding these bottles and putting them in their mouths or sniffing them constantly. I didn't know what they were so I asked my friend from Brazil. He told me that because they are so poor and can't afford real drugs, they all get together and gather up enough money to buy this type of glue that makes them high. Then, they put some of the glue in each bottle and pass it around and it lasts a long time. The adults use these bottles but I saw more kids using them than anybody. Since they are so hungry, this glue makes them feel less hungry and helps them to feel nothing. It makes them forget where they are or how hard their life is. What is the worst part for me is seeing the deadness in their eyes and when you look into them, it is empty. I know that they don't want to feel anymore because they have no hope for life, nothing to look forward to but a piece of cardboard and some glue. They don't realize that there is someone who loves them more than they will every know and wants to come into their lives. That's where Shores comes in.

Since none of the people living on the streets would come into a building anyway, Ondas do Amor (waves of love) meets in a big plaza where many of the homeless and prostitutes hang out. At first, I didn't see anyone around that looked interested in coming. But within minutes, something supernatural happened. People started coming from nowhere and kids started showing up left and right. Some moms just dropped off their kids but some stayed to see what was going on. We laid a blanket down on the ground and started passing out blank sheets of paper, crayons, pictures cut out from magazines, and glue. I thought that only the kids would color but teenagers, old women, and men got in on the action too. My friend told me that many of them don't know how to worship in a church setting so coloring and expressing themselves through art helps them worship even if they don't realize they are doing it. While they were coloring and drawing, Nic, the leader, started playing his guitar and singing in the middle of the people. He has such a rich, deep tone to his voice and has such authority when he sings. Even though we were in a dangerous area in the middle of a city, there was a supernatural feeling to it all. I felt like we were just sitting in a normal room that was completely safe from anything that could harm us. I believe God was covering us with his protection and nothing was going to harm us.

I got to hang out with many kids, which is when I come alive, but one kid in particular, Victor, got my attention fast. His mom just dropped him off and went somewhere else. You could tell that he was hurt and he didn't want to be left alone with some random white guys. I asked him a few questions in my bad Portuguese and he didn't want to answer and just looked down on the ground. After a few minutes, he sat down and I gave him some paper so he could draw. There were many cut out pictures from magazines so he would pick one up, hand it to me, and I would glue it on for him. We did this until he filled his entire paper with pictures. I could tell he was loving that someone was paying attention to him and was soaking it up. We also had some colored sheets for the kids to play with and he told me he wanted to have one. Him and some other girls started dancing around with them and soon they put them on like capes and started running around everywhere acting like superheroes. It's crazy how something so simple can create so much joy. When Victor finally left, he kept coming back just close enough so I could hear him and wanted me to chase him and play with him. I had made a friend. I'm learning that to love people, you don't need to speak their language or understand everything they are saying, you just need to pay attention to them, give them your time, and words slowly become meaningless.

If you would like to send some some art supplies like colors, coloring books, stickers, or crafts here just let me know and I would be glad to tell you where to send it!