Wonderful times with friends in Brazil

Vanderlei and Elemar

We had an amazing time in Brazil with 2 churches in Brazil! Our first weekend was spent with our friends in Campo Grande at the home of Pr. Vanderlei and Elemar. What an amazing God loving couple they are. They had a young lady named Stefani living with them to help her out and Elemar was so loving to her. This little lady needs the love of Jesus so badly and Elemar was able to be the hands and feet of Jesus and minister to her. We are blessed to call this couple friends. We went to the newly formed men's and women's groups where Jackie gave a short message on Romans 12. What a great time of prayer and fellowship. They spent a good deal of the time in prayer over the child of one of the members that is struggling. This group was formed to help the women come together to support each other and to study the bible. They also had the most amazing food!



















We spent a lot of time sitting around the kitchen table eating and talking. Elemar speaks a little English and Jackie speaks a little Portuguese and the guys both talk in hand signals but we seemed to communicate just fine! That was a huge concern for us but God broke down that barrier with translators and language skills. Bianca and Thiago were a huge help in translating for us. I don't know what we would have done without them!

Thiago
Bianca and Rob





















Church is held in Vanderlei and Elemar's Home. Fabricio did a wonderful sermon and there was fellowship and snacks after the service. We sang songs we knew and some we didn't. It was so awesome to be in communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Campo Grande. They are very close to our hearts.

Dinner our last day in Campo Grande. Vanderlei, Myllena, Stefani, Rob and Elemar.






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Our next few days were spent on a renewal for Rob and I. Originally, we were going to be taking a missionary couple on a retreat during this time but due to unforeseen circumstances they had to leave Brazil before we got there. So this gave us time to renew our relationship with each other and with God. We enjoyed our Pousada (similar to a bed and breakfast), the ocean and the food! We met some local people and took a long walk around a golf course (yes I said golf course) just before dark and ended up not getting out of there until after dark. Some scary animal growled at us from the forest and we were later told it was probably a wild pig....and they are not happy campers when it comes to humans invading their territory!
Here are a few pictures of our time together in Angra dos Reis.




































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From Angra we drove back up to the Rio area to Niteroi. Niteroi has a thriving church of about 150 people. Pr. Moises and Fabiane were our hosts for this weekend.


<- Pr. Moises and Fabiane We spent time touring Niteroi and a really awesome Fort built during the colonization of Brazil. Niteroi is a huge city right next to Rio De Janiero City. It's next to the bay and the points of land around the bay form a natural encampment for protection of the two cities from the enemies. The famous Sugar Loaf and the Christ Statue were both visible from the Fort. The tour was given by a member of the Brazilian Army as this is a working Fort where barracks are set up for the troups. Moises and Fabiane were great tour guides! Below are a few pictures from the Fort and dinner before.



Moises and Gabriel with a server and Chicken hearts on the right...Rob's Favorite!


























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The church was putting a new ceiling in the facility while we were there and we helped to clean up for a Sunday evening service. Rob was able to give his testimony and share the message with the congregation for that service. During the service a young lady came up to rededicate her life to the Lord. Everyone prayer over her and you could feel the power of the Holy Spirit moving in the room. After church 2 women make a few Brazilian treats to sell to purchase kitchen equipment for the church. The items are awesome and really hit the spot after service.








<- Ceiling tile being "mudded". Father and son ->
work together washing chairs in the
church






Yes, That is a power washer they are washing the floor with and the pews. Everything was then squeegeed off of the floor and the pews were wiped down. This is in the upstairs of a building so the water went downstairs and they then power washed the stairs and the sidewalk out in front of the store below the church. So many people showed up to help out to get the church cleaned up for services that night. Was amazing to watch the body of Christ work together.


A trip to Niteroi just isn't the same without a Pr. Moises Churrasco (Brazilian Barbeque) and wonderful salad and dessert by
Fabiane!



Two Women that sell the snacks
Getting ready for Sunday evening service

Prayer letter for Brazil 2010

August 8, 2010
Dear Friends and Family,
As many of you know, Rob and I have been working in missions at our church, Maple Grove Evangelical Free Church for several years now. We have been to Brazil, Peru, Poland, New Orleans and Haiti between the two of us. The Lord has called us to many areas to do so many things and we feel so blessed to be used by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to carry the message of hope around the world.
We again have been called by God to go to Brazil. We will be leaving on September 23, 2010 and returning on October 4, 2010. This trip is a little different than our other trips in that we will be going alone. We are the “team”. We will be going down to love on the missionaries and to care for them, pray with them and let them know that they are loved and supported. That is our number one goal of this trip. Our secondary goal is to visit the ministries we have been involved in in the past and bring our love to them and to see where God is working and calling the Brazil mission for the future.
The field missionaries have been given some wonderful opportunities to minister to the some of the poorest people in Rio De Janeiro recently. These people live in what we would consider slums. They live in small shacks made of whatever they can find on the streets. The children are recruited at a young age to help in the drug trade and many fall into sin without knowing what they have gotten themselves into. Our missionaries are teaching English at a school in one area, ministering to those young people in another area, and doing outreach and evangelism in several of the worst areas of Rio and the people there are accepting them and are asking for prayer on a daily basis. God is working in amazing ways in these new ministries. The blog that will explain more in detail about these ministries is http://droogsmanews.blogspot.com/
We are writing to ask you to be on our prayer team. The specific requests we have at this time are the following:
1. That hearts in Brazil will be opened even now before we arrive.
2. That the details of our trip will come together
3. That our time with the missionaries will be one of renewal and fellowship and that we can bring the love of Christ to them.
4. For safety in our travels to, from and around Brazil.
5. For the in-country team to feel that we will not be a burden but be a blessing.
6. That all the details for Brad’s care while we are gone will come together.
Let us know if you are interested in being on our prayer team. We want and need your prayers.

Blessings to you all!
Rob and Jackie Passer
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Cap Haitian Hilton

Hi Everyone

I want to thank you for all of your support and prayer while I was in Haiti. I have made it home. I landed about 11:30 last night after a long two days. It started at 5:30 Monday morning driving to the airport in Port-au-Prince. We got there after about getting smashed by two big trucks. Thats the closest I have been to death in a long time. We got to the airport at 7:30 AM. There were eight of us so we took two planes over to Cape Haitian. The plane I was in wouldn't leave the airport until the first plane landed and radioed back to let our pilot know if they could land or not as the weather can be bad this time of year as far as the fog goes. So we got confirmation and took off and landed just in time to catch our next flight to Ft. Lauderdale. We had to run in to get checked in. Well Bimini Airline's big airplane had some trouble so they brought a smaller plane. Well this plane could only take 19 people and yes I was number 20. So I was left in Cape Haitian and they told me they were trying to get me on another fight that left in an hour. Well the other airlines wouldn't work with them and after sitting around the airport till 3:00 P.M. they said they were going to have to put me up in a hotel and maybe I could fly out tomorrow. Well I'll tell you what this was a 5 star hotel. You will all be lining up for this one.


Bathroom facilities














Bedroom with Box Springs...no mattresses?




















Last Meal in Haiti














View from the Veranda














Enjoying the pool!














Our ride back to the USA...








There was no toilet paper. There was no shower head, just a pipe sticking out the wall. There was no mattress just box springs. The TV didn't work. And no lights. I don't even think they had electricity. But they called all night to see if I was alright. Makes you wonder what kind of neighborhood it was. They said about 8:00 pm that they had a plane for me at 10:00 AM and they would pick me up at 7:00 am. So I was back at the airport at 7:30 after a wonderful night to sit and wait till 10:00 AM for my flight. Well at about 9:00 AM they said it would be noon and it finally did happen at 12:00. My plane landed to take the 5 people that didn't have a seat on yesterday's fight back to the U.S.. It was a twin prop 8 seater with absolutely no leg room and it would be a 4 hour fight back to the States. I'm glad I'm not any taller I wouldn't even have gotten in the seat. Thank goodness we had to stop in the Bahamas to get fuel so we could get out and stretch and go to the bathroom...only two more hours. It was 2:30 PM when we pulled out of there and I had to catch my plane out of Ft Lauderdale at 5:30 and we were due into Fort Lauderdale 4:30. I had to go through customs, get across the airport, get a boarding pass, go through security and to the gate in an hour and I forgot go to the bathroom. Well I made it with enough time to stop at a deli to grab a sandwich as I hadn't eaten anything yet and was starved. I reached the gate to load the plane and eat on the plane. Then we had an hour delay in Detroit cause of an ice storm in Atlanta. But I made it home at 11:30 last night and am feeling mighty grateful for everything about my life and life itself.

Thanks for being there with me and believe me I could feel your prayer with me and couldn't have done it without you.

Thanks and God Bless you
Rob

Winding down in Haiti

Well things are winding down for me in Haiti. We have really gotten a lot accomplished, but there is so much to do. The house after tomorrow night will be able to sleep 12 people and the two bunk houses can sleep 32 more. That is a lot of people down here to do the Lord's work. We put up these 24' x 16' Bunk houses for about $1200.00 US a piece. These would make great houses for these people and we are having a lot of people stopping and watching us. They probably have never seen construction like this. We may be starting a new trend. They do have termites but you can paint under the floor with diesel fuel and that will last a long time. Then you can call the exterminator (Ha!).

















You know it is and has been really hard to not be doing something for the people that need so much. But I am only one person and I can only do what I can do and this is what God had me doing and now 44 people can come down and do what I wish I could do. But how much more 44 people can do than I could ever dream of doing. So I did my part and am thankful and blessed to do it. And now the people will also be blessed 44 times greater. Cool isn't it. Now if YOU would like to experience the mission trip of a life time, this place is going to be awesome. I cannot wait to see what God is going to be doing down here. It is already happening in the relationships that have been formed. The presence of the Holy Spirit is so strong you can feel it everywhere.

Even though the people look so sad they are really friendly and are really good people. They just are stuck in a world that has no guidelines. By the government or anyone. It is really sad that there is so much going against them and yet they do not blame the Lord, they are just the opposite. They are praising the Lord and I think we can all take lessons from them. I really feel God is going to make some major changes here and it is going to be exciting to see.

God bless you all
Rob

Could use some prayers-began on Tuesday 2/23

Hey all
We have all had a rough last two nights. If you could please say a few prayers tonight that the earth could be calm tonight. We all are exhausted and need some rest. Two nights ago at 4:00 am we had a 4.7 earthquake or after shock. That started our day a bit earlier then we intended. We all were standing out side after running out of this house trying to calm our nerves. Then we went inside and had our breakfast. There was a little talk all day about the security of being inside and maybe the Haitians are outside for a reason. Well Last night we had another wake up call at about 2:30 AM and it pretty much rumbled all night and I believe we had at least six tremors and then another one at breakfast about 7:00 AM. Well today (Tuesday) we spent the day putting up temporary housing for us outside. Tomorrow we will be putting up some frame work that will last for future teams. We had 7 more people come in today so now we have 15 people here. 2 of which will be helping with the construction. One is to take my place. I am excited to pass the baton along because it has been challenging to say the least as everything has had to be repaired in some way, shape or form in the whole house and I am just exhausted. And then not to be able to sleep just added to the frustration. But as a whole, the team has hung in there and we have stuck together and under these circumstances that is God and his presence here and each and everyone of us is here because God asked us to come down here to help the Haitian people. And we all are here for His purpose and His purpose alone and He will take care of us. In my devotions yesterday morning I was reading Philippians 1:20 and 21 "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, But will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me." I love to be here and I know this is where I am suppose to be. But this passage gave me peace about being here. But it is still unnerving when the earth is shaking under you. Just as Peter felt when he was walking on the water and he was in the presence of Jesus. We all have our faith put to the test.

Wednesday night now....Well the generator got shut off and this didn't get sent out in time. So this is the next night and we all prayed before we went to bed for a calm night so we could get some rest and God answered our prayers. Amen. We all got a good night sleep. But we continue to build outside. Had a little tremor about an hour ago. Hope its not another rough night.








The guys are doing an awesome job. There is a lot of switching from one job to another, and about face. And they have done great, very flexible if you can't do change its hard to go on a mission trip. You have to be flexible it's Gods plan and His agenda and sometimes we don't understand it but we need to go with it. It always turns out in the end and you sit back and say Wow did you see what God did? It is awesome to see every time and I never get tired of it. Well I need to get this out tonight so you can be praying.

Thanks for praying
Rob

"Wanted you to hear before you watched the news"

This is Jackie, I received a phone call from Rob this morning. There was another earthquake in Haiti at 4:00 AM this morning. The entire team is safe. He said it was really scary. Everyone bolted out of bed and ran outside. There was no damage to the house they are living in or no damage to the new construction on the upstairs of the house. He said he imaged that buildings in PaP that were already falling down or close did fall. He said the epicenter was close to where they are. PLEASE keep praying for safely for the team.

This is what was on a "The Strait Times" website this morning.

"A MODERATE 4.7 earthquake hit the Haiti region early Monday, the US government reported.

The epicenter of the tremor, which occurred at 4.36am (0936 GMT, 5.36pm Singapore time), was located in the sea 35 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, according to the US Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage."