Triathlon X-terra

English

Just ran my first Triathlon (X-Terra in Fort Yargo, GA). Awesome experience, much harder than expected, so much fun!!! Highly recomend it!!! Half mile swim, 10.8 mile bike ride (on very hard/technical trail) and 4.5 mile run on the trails...took me 2:58h to finish. I took it easy to enjoy the race and the experience, and I am glad I did because I was dying at the end. Despite some cramps in the first half of the run, I finished strong and had a blast! Lenore Nix did it too and she also finished strong. She did awesome!

Português -

Wooohhhoouuuu!!! Ontem corri no Triatlon X-terra (extreme) e foi muito louco!!! Eu ia lá só pra dar uma força pra Lenore, irmã da Kimberly, mas ai eu pensei, bom já que vou até lá, vou levar a bike e o tenis só pra acompanhar a Lenore e dar uma força... ora se eu for levar todo o equipamento melhor então participar de verdade e correr pra valer. Então na sexta a noite eu peguei a bicleta da filha do meu chefe (Mike) emprestada e fui correr o Triatlon no sábado de manhã! Detalhe, depois de 7.5 horas na quadra, além de organizar as (800) cadeiras na igreja na sexta (só dormi umas 5 horas...).
Mas lá na hora a adrenalina dá aquele gas e foi muito massa! 800 metros nadando no lago, 17.28 Km de mountain bike (numa trilha super difícil), e 7.2 Km de corrida (em trilhas também). No total terminei a prova em 2h e 58 min. Fui bem tranquilo pra curtir a experiencia e também porque eu tava esgotado da sexta-feira puxada. Ainda bem que eu peguei leve... a natação foi moleza, mas a parte da bicicleta foi muito difícil, tive que descer/pular/cair da bicicleta várias vezes pra atravessar obstáculos e súbidas impossíveis (p/ amadores como eu). A corrida pegou geral, nos primeiros 4 kilometros caimbra nas duas pernas! Mas na segunda metade da corrida (depois de muita oração e louvor) a caimbra deu uma melhorado e achei meu rítimo (ainda assim corri bem abaixo do normal). Até que eu cheguei bem, com uma corridinha forte, mas estava muito cansado. Foi muito mais difícil do que eu esperava, mas foi muito legal! Curti de mais! Adorei! Quero fazer outro : ) Muito 10 completar uma prova tão difícil.
A Lenore completou a corrida também. Ela estava super empolgada : ) Depois da corrida descobrimos que a trilha da bike é a segunda trilha mais difícil no estado da Georgia! Tá doido! O próximo eu quero pedalar no asfalto, hehehehe. Mas a trilha foi muito doida e me diverti muito! Só queria que fosse mais curta ; )

Depois da corrida pulei no lago gelado pra dar uma relazada nos músculos, ai que alívio... depois um sanduba de almondegas e muito gatorade : ) Dai passei o resto do dia descando. Pernas muito cansadas e o corpo muito quente do sol e da corrida. Tive que tomar outro banho frio pra refrescar e baixar a temperatura. Experiência nota 10!!

Viagem à Uganda

Alegria! Já estou de volta da Uganda! Eu tive uma temporada incrível com minha equipe do Teen Missions (agência missionária) e Deus nos usou em grandes maneiras para o Seu reino durante nosso tempo na África. Peguei uma equipe sensacional de 15 adolescentes (11 meninos e 4 meninas) e 3 líderes (eu e mais duas mulheres). Nossa equipe se reuniu primeiro na Flórida por duas semanas para um treinamento intensivo que nos preparou para vida/trabalho na África. De lá fomos para Jinja, Uganda onde ficamos na base da Teen Missions (3 semanas) e construímos uma casa para o diretor da base. Foi um projeto muito grande e estou orgulhoso da nossa equipe pelo esforço e dedicação ao trabalho duro. Construímos quase toda a casa, só ficou faltando o telhado porque não tivemos tempo suficiente. Além da construção da casa nós fizemos evangelismo em várias escolas em Jinja usando basquete e esportes como ferramentas. Nós jogamos e ensinamos as crianças a jogar basquete e depois que havíamos formado uma certa amizade com o grupo, nós compartilhávamos o evangelho com eles através de música e teatro. Muitas crianças (mais de 100) aceitaram Jesus como salvador e muitas outras foram encorajadas, e vieram com pedidos de oração e perguntas sobre a Bíblia, etc. Foi incrível orar com as crianças e jovens e ver a alegria deles em ter um relacionamento com Deus.

Depois da Uganda fomos para Etiópia onde tivemos mais um período de treinamento, dessa vez para nos preparar para voltar aos States. Foi um período bem legal e tivemos tempo de contar as histórias, fazer umas comprinhas e louvar a Deus por tudo que Ele fez através de nós durante nossa viagem. De lá voltamos para os Estados Unidos e agora estou de volta em Athens na casa de um amigo.
Essa viagem à África foi muito rica, e foi uma excelente oportunidade para eu trabalhar e aprender mais sobre responsabilidade, liderança e criatividade. Louvo a Deus por tudo que Ele fez através da nossa equipe e apesar de todas as dificuldades e desafios que passamos, eu toparia fazer tudo isso de novo para honra e glória de Deus. Não tem nada melhor nesse mundo do que seguir os planos de Deus!

No momento eu não sei até quando eu fico nos States... tem muita coisa pra resolver aqui com a namorada (Kimberly) e com o chefe no trabalho, então eu não sei o que vai acontecer.
Muito obrigado por toda força e suporte, e pelas orações!! Eu não conseguiria ter feito tudo isso sem a ajuda e o suporte de vocês! Valeu, muito obrigado!!! Abraços,

João Paulo.

Trip to Uganda

Hello friends! I am back from Uganda! I had an amazing summer with my Teen Missions team and God used us in wonderful ways for His Kingdom this summer! We had an outstanding team of 15 teenagers (11 boys and 4 girls) and 3 leaders (2 ladies and I). Our team first met in Florida for two weeks of training (boot camp) and from there we went to Jinja, Uganda for 3 weeks where we built a house in the Teen Missions base for the base director. This was a big project, and our team did a great job and we finished the entire floor and practically all walls. If we had a little more time we could’ve finished the roof. I am very proud of our team’s effort and accomplishment at the work site. We also visited many schools around Jinja doing basketball clinics and evangelism. We would teach and play basketball with the kids, and once we connected with them and became friends we would sing songs and present drama skits and share the gospel with them. Many kids (over 100) accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, and many others were encouraged and asked questions about the Bible, prayer requests, etc. It was great to be there and see their joy in starting a relationship with God. Extremely exciting and rewarding J.

Once our time was up in Uganda we went to Addis Ababba (Ethiopia), where we met with another Teen Missions team (Malawi) for debrief. This was a time to train for the reverse cultural shock of coming back to America and to share stories and praise God for the great things He did through us. Our debrief lasted one week and on Monday (08/11/08) at 1:30am (after 37 hours of travel) I arrived in Atlanta. Overall for me this summer was an amazing opportunity to practice (and learn) leadership, responsibility and creativity. I thank God for this opportunity and for the lessons I’ve learned, and despite all the tough times and conditions I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! There is nothing greater in this world than to follow God’s plan J.

As of now I am not sure how long I’ll be in Athens, GA. There are a few things up in the air, but once I sort it out I’ll let you know… : )
Thank you all for your prayers and support (financially, emotionally and spiritually)!!! I could’ve not done it without! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Uganda trip in detail

Uganda 2008 – Teen Missions – Team #11

I just had an amazing summer in Uganda, full of challenges and blessings! I went to Uganda with a Teen Missions team full of brave and talented young guys and girls, and we did a beautiful work while we were there. Teen Missions is an international and interdenominational Christian missionary organization that sends thousands of young missionaries all over the world every year. This summer I was one of the leaders of the team that went to Uganda, along with Christa Paap (co-leader) and Camille Headlock (head-leader/ Teen Missions staff in Uganda). The three of us lead a team of 15 teenagers to Jinga, Uganda, where we built a house for missionaries in the Teen Missions base and we went to different schools and orphanages to do basketball camps and share the gospel with kids. We had an outstanding team with kids from all over the U.S. and Canada and their names are: Tyler Renew, Andrew Nelson, Alex Carver, Kristy Kerr, Michael Boone, Jenni Chrock, Andy Brak, Jonathan Davis, Zach Anderson, Jonathan Day, James Jakosa, Scott Dykstra, Jasmine Parros, Aubre Lindsey, Evan Lindsey.

Our team first met in Merrit Island at the Teen Missions’ headquarters for Boot Camp – a very intense training phase. Boot Camp was tough and it really broke each of us individually and at the same time brought us all together and built us up like a team. Boot camp was intended to prepare us for the mission field so we would not experience a big cultural shock once we arrived in Uganda, so we slept in tents far into the woods and away from electricity and running water. We had a very structured schedule that started with an early 5:30am wake up call (by the leaders), 5 minutes to get ready and out of the tents and a long walk out of the woods back to the boot camp facilities. At 6:00am we would ran the obstacle course (OC) which was a lot of fun for my team and at the same time very muddy and wet and challenging. The OC was definitely one of the highlights of the day for my team, and almost every day we finished the OC in first place! Since the Uganda team was designed to be a “sports evangelistic team” we ended up with a very athletic team, which gave us a huge advantage.

After the OC we ate breakfast and for the rest of the day we had many different classes that trained us for the summer ahead. We had classes that talked about the Bible, character, evangelism, cultural differences, etc… and we also had many practical/ hands on lessons such as carpentry, block laying, drama, puppets, music and others. There were no breaks between classes, which made it very challenging for us to go from one place to another and get there on time (it’s a very large property), but this was good to teach us punctuality and prepared us to have long and productive days. It also prepared us for the “lifestyle” the we were about to experience in Uganda with no running water, limited electricity, bucket baths and bucket laundry J.

After surviving two weeks of boot camp we were finally off to Uganda. We were extremely excited to leave boot camp and head to Africa! We flew from Orlando, FL to Washington, then to Addis Ababba (Ethiopia), and finally to Entebe (Uganda). However we were stuck in Addis Ababba for two days because of flights cancelled and mechanical problems with the airplane… but eventually we made it to Entebe and from there we embarked on a very bumpy and fun truck ride to Jinja, where we stayed at the Teen Missions base. The base was very nice and well taken care off – beautiful property. We stayed in tents and we shared the bathrooms (squatty potties) and shower stalls with the students/missionaries that lived and worked in the base. Everything was very simple, but well organized, and we were very content with our living arrangements.

Our main job while in Jinja was to build a house in the Teen Missions property for the base director (Peter). This was a very large house and it took a LOT of hard work and time, and I am so proud of our team for the effort and energy they put into this job. We were able to finish all of floor (which was by far the hardest part), and we built almost all of the walls in the house. The only thing missing was the roof, but we ran out of time and money… I think if we had two more weeks we could’ve finished the whole thing. It was a great accomplishment and a huge blessing to get so much done. Peter and his family have been praying and waiting for this house for 10 years! So it was very exciting to see the project finally take off and see the walls go up. The students and staff that are now in the base will finish the roof and do the finishing touches around the house.

Another part of our ministry while we were in Uganda was basketball evangelism. We went to several schools to play and teach the kids how to play basketball (we also used frisbees and volleyball, but basketball was our main tool), and by doing that we created friendships and we really connected with those kids. Many times in the middle of our basketball practice we would stop for a minute and use basketball as an illustration for some biblical principle and that way it was easy for the kids to understand the message. At the end of each practice our group would do a presentation which usually consisted of two songs, a drama/ skit, and then a testimony or alter call. These presentations were very powerful and many kids (over 100) came forward and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Some kids came forward and converted from Islam to Christianity, some kids came to us and asked for prayer requests, they asked questions about the Bible and how to grow in their faith, they asked for advice on how to deal with different religions, temptations, and other life issues. It was amazing to see God and the Holy Spirit work in their lives, and to be part of their joy as they developed a relationship with God. These evangelism trips to the different schools were certainly the most exciting and rewarding experiences of our summer! On Sundays we would always go to different churches (sometimes 2 or 3 churches/services in one day) to do presentations and share testimonies to encourage the local congregations. This was also a lot of fun and very rewarding. Church in Africa is so different! They are extremely alive and excited, and they love to worship J.

We worked on the house and did evangelism around Jinja for 3 weeks and on our last days there we went shopping for a day in the open market and local souvenir shops and we also got to see the source of the Nile River. We went on a boat ride around Victoria Lake and got to see where the Nile River starts.

After all that we left Uganda (wishing we could stay longer) and went back to Addis Ababba (Ethiopia) for Debrief - a training time that would helps to adjust back to our lifestyle in America. This was a good time and it helped us with the reverse cultural shock of coming back to the Western World. We stayed at the King’s Hotel and experienced outstanding service. The Malawi team joined us for debrief and we were all very excited to have electricity, hot showers and toilets again! We had many classes on how to bring back home our experiences and deal with the cultural shocks, in addition to lots of fun times playing games, and sharing stories, and shopping in the HUGE open market in Addis.
Debrief lasted one week and from there we returned to back to the States, and in Washington with smiles and tears we said good-bye to our leaders and teammates as each of us embarked on different planes to go their respective homes.

It was an amazing summer and I was extremely blessed to have such an outstanding team and great leaders next to me all summer. Praise be to God for all the deliverance of injuries and accidents that we experience, and praise God for all the lives that were touched in so many ways in Uganda and Ethiopia through our team. For me it was an amazing opportunity to practice (and learn) leadership, responsibility and creativity. I thank God for this opportunity and for the lessons I’ve learned, and despite all the tough times and conditions I would do it all over again in heart beat! There is nothing greater in this world than to follow God’s plan J.

Athletes in Action camps done... Uganda next

Wooohhhhooouuu!!!! I just finished working the Athletes in Actions camps and it was amazing!!! The last twenty days were VERY intense! We had almost 200 college athletes in our camps, LOTS of competition, LOTS of running and a LOT of grinding! It was awesome! At these camps the athletes learn how to apply biblical principles into their sport and competition. We worked a lot on motivation, attitude, overcoming trials, etc. By the end of the camp we end up playing harder than anyone else, because we had the BEST motivation, and we knew why and to whom we were playing for. It was very physical, very tough, very real. Unbelievable two weeks!! All the running and training in the spring paid off big time : )

Now I am at my sister’s house in Colorado, but on Sunday I’ll be going to Florida to meet my team and do the boot camp (training) to go to Uganda. I’ll be in Florida for 2 weeks, then in Uganda for 4 or 5 weeks, then Ethiopia for a few days, and finally back in the States on August 9^th.

Please pray for my team! Pray for team unity, good attitude through the tough circumstances, and perseverance. Pray for opportunities to share our love and faith. Also pray for deliverance of accidents and diseases (we’ll be doing construction work and basketball camps).

Starting on Sunday I won’t have access to my phone or internet until August 10^th!! But you can write me a letter! And I’ll write you back… : ) below are the addresses …

Thank you so much for your support thus far! For more news during my trip see www.teenmissions.org (team Uganda) . Remember to pray for me and the team!

Thanks!

JP

Atletas em Ação- show de bola

Alegria!! Estou na casa da Luisa no Colorado e por aqui tudo nota 10! Nos últimos 20 dias eu estive trabalhando com o ministério “Atheltes in Action” (parecido com Atletas de Cristo) aqui no Colorado e foi sensacional. Foram dois acampamentos com quase 200 atletas universitários (de alto nível) no total. Nesse acampamento os atletas aprendem a usar princípios bíblicos na area de esportes. Trabalhamos muito na área de motivação, disciplina, perseverança, etc… Tivemos MUITAS competições, MUITAS corridas, e muita ralação, e no final quando já não podiamos mais correr Deus nos carregou! Foi de mais!!

Domingo estou me despedindo da Luisa e Preston para ir para Florida fazer meu treinamento (duas semanas) e encontrar com minha equipe para ir à Uganda! Estaremos lá por 4 ou 5 semanas, depois passamos mais uns dias na Etiópia e volto para os Sates no dia 9 de Agosto.

Por favor orem pela minha equipe. Por união, por disposição e determinação de encarar as condições difíceis do treinamento e da viagem. Também orem por livramento de acidentes e doenças. Estaremos trabalhando com construção e com esportes (basquete).

A partir de domingo não terei acesso a internete ou telefone até dia 10 de agosto! Mas você pode me escrever cartas! Escreve pra mim que eu te respondo! Endereços abaixo… Fico por aqui… Para mais updates durante minha viagem vejam o site www.teenmissions.org (ver Team Uganda).

orem por mim.

Saudades,

JP

JP’s Brithday Party & Africa 2008

• Grill out at Anne McCullough’s house (1101 Fairway Cour,t in
  Jennings Mill) to celebrate JP’s birthday!!


• Saturday, April 12th - From 11:30 to 3:00pm.


• All are welcome to come!!! We’ll have loads of food and fun J. If you are in the Athens, GA area please come.


• RSVP to jpbatista99@yahoo.com or
  706-410-3069. Bring a chair if you would like. Thanks!

JP Goes Africa Summer 2008

JP is going to Africa this summer with Teen Missions leading a group of 25 teenagers into Uganda, where they’ll run basketball and sports camps for orphans in the local area. Most importantly, JP and this team will be bringing hope and the love of Christ to these kids in Uganda. This trip will make a huge impact in the lives of the American kids going with JP and it will be a great encouragement for the kids in Uganda too!!!

- JP needs to raise about $3500 for this summer project.
- Feel free to bring a donation (rather than a gift) to help JP in this awesome project.
- You can be a part of this project by making a tax deductable donation of $50 or $100 or however much you would like, to Teen Missions.
- Donations accepted on birthday party or at the tennis pro-shop the following week J. If you prefer you can mail a donation to JP at
170 Habersham Dr. Athens, GA – 30606.

- Thank you so much for your support and your friendship these past two years!! I am going to miss my friends from Athens soooooo much!!!
- And if you or your kids want to come with Uganda on this team just talk to JP!!!

Catch the train...

catch the train in Fort Collins.... JP, Luiz and Preston.

Colorado 2008 Easter

Luiz, Andrea, Luisa and I just had a awsome weekend on the slopes in Colorado. Luiz, Luisa and I went snowboarding and Andrea skiing. We had some really good jumps on the ramps and rails, and some big crashes on the half-pipe. More pics soon on the links on the right...

We'll be here for Easter Sunday and then I return to Georgia on Monday.

JP snowboarding^

Estou no Colorado com a Luisa, Luiz e Andrea!!! Acabamos de chegar das montanhas onde passamos 3 dias andando de snowboard. Foi muito massa!!! Altos jumps e quedas nas rampas e half-pipes!! Agora estamos nas casa da Luisa. Vamos passar a páscoa por aqui : )

Luiz 3 jumps^

JP jump and crash^

Fotos e videos de Jampa...

João Pessoa 2007 - show de bola!!!

Amigos queridos, sol, praia e muito amor... combinação perfeita para as melhores férias dos últimos anos!!! Meu tempo em João Pessoa foi bom de mais!!!! Muito bom mesmo!! Curti muito as praias e o melhor de tudo, curti muito os meus queridíssimos amigos da minha ETED!
Primeiro cheguei e fiquei na casa de Neguim que foi show de bola!! Muito legal a casa dele e toda sua família... fui muito bem recebido : )
Depois fui pra casa da super/ hiper/ maravilhosa tia Kátia ; ) que é a mãe de Gabi (foto). Lá também foi muito bom... comi muita comida gostosa, conheci toda a família dela que é muito gente boa também e gostei muito de estar lá com eles.
Eu, Gabi, Cristiano e Luiza estávamos sempre juntos e aprontamos todas nessa semana abençoada de dezembro. Fomos a várias praias, passeamos de barco, andamos de Jet-ski, pôr-do-sol no Jacaré (com música ao vivo), nascer do sol no forte (depois de virar a noite numa festa muito doida), frescobol, frisbee, futebol e muito mais... : ) A gente se deu muito bem, eles são muito jóias!
Além disso quase toda noite nós quatro encontrávamos com o resto da galera pra ver filme, comer tapioca na feirinha, festas, lual (sem lua nem música)... foi muito legal! Em um desses nossos encontros fizemos uma super surpresa para o Cris e demos um Laptop novo pra ele!!! Foi muito massa!!! Ele ficou super feliz : ) Quase todo mundo da minha ETED estava lá... fora a galera da igreja de lá (MIRR) e outros Jocumeros que trouxeram ainda mais alegria!
Foi uma semana perfeita... muito obrigado DEUS!!!! ..

E obrigado a toda a galera de Jampa que me recebeu tão bem e me fez tão feliz!! Já estou com saudades... ano que vem eu volto ein!!! Hehehehe

English-

I Just spent a week in João Pessoa in the northeast coast of Brazil and it was the best vacation ever!!! This is the most eastern point in Brazil, so it gets lots of sun and the beaches are awesome!!! This was a reunion of my DTS class, so it was great to see all of my YWAM friends again. I just love that part of Brazil and these people are so special and so close to me… it was amazing. We did tons of fun stuff… lots of swimming and catching waves, jet-ski, paddleball, ultimate Frisbee on the beach, UNBELIEVABLE sunsets (with live music) and sunrise (after an amazing all nighter playing soccer and swimming), great food, lots of fellowship, and we gave away a new laptop to our former DTS leader (Cristiano) – he was extremely happy! It was a magical week!! Hopefully I´ll do this again next year… ; )

ECO 2007 - Rio - jocum/ywam

Passei uma semana na base da Jocum no Rio dando aulas de esporte e orientação cultural na escola da ECO (English & Cultural Orientation) e pelas fotos vocês podem ver que foi muito louco e muito MUITO bom!!!! Foi uma experiência muito rica para mim. Eu já conhecia a Luciana (diretora da escola - que me convidou) e foi muito bom revê-la e reencontrar com outros amigos jocumeros da base do Rio. Essa turma da ECO é muito legal... eles entraram de cabeça em todas as atividades de esportes, participaram em tudo e até deram aulas de esporte em inglês no último dia!! Eles se sairam muito bem e foi um prazer trabalhar com eles. Que previlégio ensinar e investir na vida de missionários que vão para vários lugares do mundo legar as boas novas!! Muito obrigado Luciana e Jocum-Rio pela oportunidade! Valeu mesmo!
Mais fotos nos links a direita...

English
I just spent a week at the YWAM base in Rio de Janeiro teaching at their English and Cultural Orientation (ECO) school. It was a great week and a very positive experience!!! This school is awsome, the students here are missionaries who are learning English to go to different places in the world to spread the gospel. It was very exciting to work with them because I know that the things they learn here will go with them wherever they go. Wow!!! What a priviledge and honor to work with a group like that!

So I spent the whole week teaching them about sports (popular in the U.S.) and how we can use sports for evangelism and worship. We learned many new "American games" together, and we had a blast playing together! The whole class really came together and it was a blessed week. Loved it!!!
More pics on the links on the right...

Xtreme musical chairs video below... very funny!

JP in Brazil!!!

I am in Brazil!!! I had a good and relatively fast trip home. This trip took me 18hours (better than the usual 25hour trip). Just before coming home I had a wonderful thanksgiving with Miriam and Bob - in the picture-(good friends from home/YWAM). Sooooo good to see them!

The flight was not as good as usual (no movie!) but it was quick and worth it! Only one of my bags arrived with me though... the other one got lost in Miami, but it arrived today in the morning (24h latter), so it´s all good.

When I arrived a few cousins, aunts and uncles were waiting for me at my house for breakfast... it was a nice surpise : ) Now it´s time to go visit the rest of the family and in a week I go to Rio to teach at YWAM. Thank you for your prayers.

Right now it´s 80 degrees, the low tonight will be 64. Humm I think I am going for a run .... JP

Luciana em Atenas

Olha ai eu e a Luciana no jogo de futebol americano aqui em Atenas!!! 92000 pessoas dentro do estádio e mais umas 5000 do lado de fora!! Loucura total! Futebol americano aqui é uma febre!

A Luciana (minha amiga da Jocum-Rio) veio pros States fazer um curso para professores de inglês no estado da Pensilvânia, mas como Atlanta era no caminho ela resolveu passar um fim de semana aqui comigo : )

Então na sexta eu peguei a Lu no aeroporto de Atlanta e viemos pra Atenas (onde eu moro) e tivemos um fim de semana bem relax e divertido. Sábado fomos ao jogo de futebol americano da universidade e foi bem divertido... O jogo é meio complicado, mas acho que ela entendeu mais ou menos o que tava acontecendo. Foi uma experiência bem "americana" ehehahah ahahah : )

Mas o mais legal mesmo aconteceu na sexta-feira quando a Luciana ganhou um super laptop!!! Foi muito legal... eu e uns amigos meus soubemos que a Lu estava vindo e então levantamos um sustento aqui e consiguimos o suficiente pra comprar um laptop ferá pra ela. Eu sabia que ela já estava orando a um tempo por um laptop e aqui os computadores são bem mais baratos, principalmente nas promoções. Então na sexta eu levei ela pra loja e escolhemos juntos o computador dela... foi tudo surpresa (até chegarmos na loja)! Ela nem sabia o que dizer... foi de mais! Fiquei muito feliz de ver meus amigos investirem numa missionária brasileira (ainda mais a Luciana que é ferá né... ). Bom agora a Luciana está super equipada pra dirigir a ECO (English Cultural Orientation) no Rio...

Ela fica na Pensilvânia até 9 de outubro, dai ela passa mais um dia aqui em Atlanta (e vamos nos encontrar no aeroporto) e depois volta pro Rio pra trabalhar na ECO.

Eu estou bem. Super ocupado com meu trabalho, dando MUITAS aulas de tenis. Tá bem legal aqui agora... bem melhor do que em julho. Foi bom ver a Lu também. Me trouxe muitas memórias da minha equipe da ETED e da Jocum em geral : ) show de bola...

On the road... / Na estrada...

Last weekend I had an unbelievable road trip! First I went to NC to visit Maggie, which was wonderful (we had a lot of fun in Ashville). Then I went to Emporia, VA to visit Dr Wray and that was great too (this was my main stop). But while in Virginia I got in touch with Nicole and found out that she was only 70 miles away... so I couldn't miss this chance to see her. So at 11pm I got out of bed and drove to Richmond to hang out with Nicole.

The next morning after breakfast I drove to Louisburg, NC to meet Dr Wray again for lunch and see the campus where he is working now. From there I drove to High Point to meet with Dr Ellenburg and some of my former professors. I spent the night there, and got to see the campus the next day (which has changed a LOT) and after lunch I finally drove back to Athens... it was a GREAT road trip, I got to see a lot of old friends and it was fun to catch up... : )
..................................................................................................................................................

Em portugues.

Nesse fim de semana viajei pra caramba aqui no sul dos States. Sai de Atenas na Georgia, fui para Ashville (na Carolina do Norte), depois para Emporia na Virginia, depois Richmond, depois Louisburg (de volta a Carolina do Norte), de la' fui pra High Point (onde fiz minha faculdade) e finalmente voltei para Atenas. Passei uma noite em cada cidade... foi bem legal rever os velhos amigos e colocar a conversa em dia. Agora estou de volta em Atenas trabalhando muito la' no clube : )

Luisa, Preston, JP & Colorado

Acabei de passar uma semana com a Luisa e o Preston aqui no Colorado, comemorando o aniversário dela e a compra da casa nova!!! Eles compraram uma casa muito show de bola, e bem no dia do aniversário da Luisa eles assinaram os papéis e no dia seguinte fizemos a mudança. Eles estão muito feliz com a casa nova, e pra mim passar esses dias aqui com eles foi muito especial e relaxante. Desde que eu sai do Rio (Jocum) que eu não tinha um tempinho pra parar e descansar, então essa semana pra mim foi excelente!! : )
Segunda-feira estou voltando para Geórgia pra trabalhar no clube.

In English
I just spent a week with my sister and her husband in Colorado to celebrate her birthday and new house!! That's right, they bought a house, and it is a nice one! I really like it. They closed the deal on her birthday and the next day we moved in : ) This has been a special week for me. It was so good to spend some time with family and just take it easy... I've been on the GO since I left Brazil, and it was nice to chill for a second... On Monday night I'll be back in GA and on Tuesday I'll back into the routine (looking forward to it). I love Colorado... and I love being here with Luisa and Preston! Great times... : )

cheers - JP

JP ----> Athens, Georgia

Ja' estou nos Estados Unidos e graças a Deus deu tudo certo em Brasília (na embaixada americana e aeroportos e etc...). Quando Deus abre as portas não tem jeito... tudo vai dando certo e no fim das contas eu cheguei no dia certo na hora certa. Glória a Deus!
Wow, então eu ja' começo a trabalhar amanhã... hj eu joguei um pouco de tênis e o negocio foi feio! Faz 6 meses que eu não pego na raquete... mas em uma semana eu já' devo estar bem melhor, a sim espero ne'!
Gostaria muito, MUITO de estar em Curitiba e rever o pessoal da ÉTER, mas devido ao vários milagres que Deus providenciou isso não será' possível : ( Mas estou super feliz so' em pensar que todos estarão ai reunidos outra vez, contando as historias e tal. Espero que vcs aproveitem muito tudo ai!
Estou morando sozinho em uma casa enorme de uns amigos meus que estão viajando. A casa e' incrível, bem afastada da cidade, tem tudo que vc imaginar menos internete... : ( mas tem uma biblioteca show de bola... ehehehehe. - JP

In English

I am finally back in the States!!! After one year of traveling and working with YWAM in Brazil I am back in Athens, GA working with tennis again. It's good to be back... I'll probably be here until December, and hopefully I'll spend most of that time on the tennis court ; )
I just arrived on Friday and I start working tomorrow! My tennis game is a bit rusty, since I haven't played any tennis in 2007, but it will come back quickly... I hope!
I am housing an amazing house! Perfect timing... I got here just as my friends (the Carters) were leaving town, so I get to stay at their house and take care of the dog and what not. I am very thankful and excited to be tehre : )
God is good and he is faithful! Can't believe that I am finally here... It's all good.

Cheers,
JP

em Brasilia... saindo pros States dia 8

Estou em Brasília!!! Tem tanta coisa acontecendo que ta' difícil manter todos informados! Bom o meu visto de trabalho finalmente foi aprovado, então estou voltando para os EUA dia 7 de junho para trabalhar la' com tênis. Creio que fico por la' ate' o final do ano e depois não sei ainda o que vou fazer, mas estou pensando seriamente em trabalhar com a JOCUM de novo em 2008.

Esse meu tempo com a JOCUM em Curitiba foi muito muito bom!! Gostei muito da ETED (Escola de Treinamento e Discipulado) , aprendi de mais, cresci muito, fiz grandes amigos.... foi incrível! Nunca experimentei tanto de Deus em um período tão curto. O período pratico da escola também foi excelente! Pudemos plantar muitas sementes no estado do Rio de Janeiro e muitas pessoas foram alcançadas pelo amor de Cristo através do nosso trabalho. Foi muito 10!!
bom espero ver muitos de vcs que estão aqui em Brasília! Quinta, dia 8 estou de saida para os States...

Returning to Athens, GA this week

There is sooooo much happening in my life these days that is hard to keep the blog updated : )
So the latest news is that my working visa was finally approved!! So I am going back to the U.S. to work (teaching tennis) at least until november/december of 2007 year. I am not 100% sure what I'll be doing in 2008, but I will probably be working with YWAM again (either in Brazil or Hawaii). I am looking at some of the schools they will be offering in 2008.
I had an amazing experience with YWAM doing my DTS in Brazil. We were able to reach a ton of people with the love of Christ and we planted many many seeds in Paraty, RJ. It was a priviledge to be part of this school. What a blessing!! I just finished the school, now I'll spend one week with my family in Brasilia and on the 8th I'll be in GA! A lot of miracles happened so that all of this worked out.... amazing stuff.
Oh, and UGA Men's tennis won the National Championship!! I am so happy for them! go dawgs!!!

Hope to see some of you soon!

Casa nova / New house

Hoje estamos de folga, e dia de folga é dia de lan-house né?!!! hehehehahah. Tivemos uma semana bastante agitada. O Cris (nosso líder de ETED) veio nos visitar e ver como está indo nosso trabalho aqui e tivemos um tempo muito legal com ele aqui. Foi muito bom revê-lo e saber notícias das outras equipes : )
Segunda-feira fizemos um impacto (evangelismo de rua com teatro e pirofagia) no bairro da Mangueira, que é um bairro mais pobre aqui em Paraty. Nos apresentamos de noite, e ainda estava chovendo... mesmo assim a rua lotou e muita gente ouviu nossa mensagem. Foi bem legal. Só que no dia seguinte estávamos todos doentes (principalmente o Nego e a Lígia) mas finalmente depois de 3 dias de cama eles estão bem J.
Nos mudamos para uma casa no bairro da Mangueira pois o pastor Sanderley precisava hospedar mais 6 missionárias na casa dele (que vieram para um congresso). Então tivemos que sair da casa dele e agora estamos em um sobrado muito simples. Temos 2 sofas muito duros, 3 cadeiras, 1 televisão, 2 panelas, 1 geladeira que não funciona e um frizer que funciona. Só temos água corrente durante a noite e de manhã bem cedo e não temos água quente... mas estamos nos virando numa boa J. Cozinhar com duas panelas requer um certo planejamento ehehehahaha, mas não temos do que reclamar : )
Semana que vem vamos tentar fazer tudo que ainda não fizemos (que é muita coisa)!!! Então orem por nós! Valeu,
JP -ah! Essa semana nossa equipe saiu no jornal de Paraty! : )

In English
We are having a grand time here! Last week our DTS leader came to Paraty to check on us and see how our outreach is going thus far. He was please with our team and our work : ) It was great to see him again!
Last week we did “Impact” street evanglism in a poor neighborhood called Mangueira and we were able to share our message with a lot of people. We even made the newspaper this week! But on this particular night it was rainning and we did drama, and spit fire and all on the rain, and on the next day we were all a bit sick. Our leader and another girl got really sick, but after 3 days of bed and rest they are good to go.
We just moved into a different house because we had to make room for a group of 6 ladies that are comming to Paraty for a congress (and they were suppose to stay at the pastor’s house where we were staying). So moved to this house in the poor neighborhoood of Mangueira. We have no furniture (just two love-seats with no cushion, 3 chairs and 6 mattress), two pots to cook, a freezer and a fridge (the fridge does not work) and no running water during the day (just at night) and no hot water. Cooking is a little tricky (you have to plan ahead how to use the pots.. heheheh) but we are enjoying our new “home”, plus it is good to be closer to the people we are evangelizing ; )
Next week we have a very busy schedule!!! Please PLEASE PRAY FOR US, so we can do ALL that we are planning. We are running out of time here and we want to do
much more here. So pray for us! Thanks! Also, I am making plans to go to GA this summer, so please pray for that too. I need a miracle to schedule my interview with the embassy on June 4th. It’s a very long line... so it’s hard to schedule something for June. Thank you for your prayers.

Cheers – JP

Dia de folga/ Day off

Wow, essa vida de missionário não é facil não viu.... óh céus! O que eu não faço pelo evangelho! Veja bem os lugares que tenho que passar e o que tenho que sofrer no campo!!! hehehahaheheeheheheh

Essas fotos ai são do nosso dia de folga que fomos para Trindade (que fica pertinho de Paraty). Muito linda essa praia! Estava praticamente deserta... eramos só nossa equipe e um cachorro muito doido que apareceu por lá. Foi show de bola... passamos o dia lá, levamos uns sanduiches e fandangos, pegamos muitas ondas, fizemos caminhada e nadamos e uma piscina natural incrível!!! Muito bonito mesmo esse lugar.
Agora já estamo de volta na correria da semana, fazendo evangelismo de rua a noite e trabalho com as crianças de tarde. Até aqui tem sido muito bom nosso prático!

Ah, o meu visto de trabalho para os Estados Unidos saiu essa semana... positivo!!! Wooohhhooouuu... faz mais de um ano que estou esperando essa resposta. Acho que por agora eu vou tentar só dar um pulo lá e voltar pro Brasil : )Aquele abraço – JP

In English...
Wow, the mission is tough!!! Just look at the places that I have to go to... Oh, goodness!!! hehehahahe. These pics are from a beach here in Paraty called Trindade and we went there our day off. We had an amazing day. We had the whole beach just for ourselves... it was great : )

Don’t worry, we are still doing lots of street evangelism during the week and work with the kids in the afternoons... Our outreach is going great thus far. Keep praying for us. This saturday we’ll be doing our big show downtown!

JP stays in Brazil +...

Things are great here in Brazil. Right now I am working with YWAM in Paraty (in the state of Rio de Janeiro). We’ll be doing urban missions here for about 50 days, working more specifically with four values that we’ll try to pass on to the church and the population here (Responsability, Integration, Initiative and diversity) and through these values we’ll share the love of Christ. My team and I are very excited about our mission here. Our first week has been a blessing already ; )
Last week I received an assistantship to do an EdD at UGA, but I turned down the offer in order to stay in Brazil and continue to work with missions and YWAM. This was a very , VERY hard decision!! But after much thinking and praying and seeking God’s voice I am certain that this is where I am suppose to be right now. I wish I could’ve done both... so I could be in GA and see my dear friends and at the same time continue to do the work we do here. Although I am sad to not be able to back at GA, I am very happy to stay here and continue to work w/ missions in Brazil.

It was very hard to turn down the assistantship offer, because it is a great opportunity and it would be great to be back in Athens, close to all of my friends. I prayed a LOT, and I was really seeking God and in the end He confirmed that he was calling me to stay in Brazil and work with missions. At first I am not exactly sure what I´ll be doing, but my desire is to work with sports ministries. I would also like to take another course in YWAM in the near future.

If I get the working visa I’ll try to work in GA this summer, but I have no idea if that would be possible....
Either way I would like to return to the US to take care of my car and other little things I have there. I don´t know if I´ll be able that, nor how long I would stay if I go to GA. For now I have to focus on Paraty and the work and training we´ll be doing here along with the local church.

JP fica no Brasil e mais....

Ja´ estou em Paraty, onde vou passar os próximos 50 dias, fazendo um pouco de evangelismo de rua, dando treinamento para as igrejas locais e principalmente trabalhando nas áreas de influência da cidade, como educação, lazer, mídia, etc... tentando passar 4 valores para a comunidade (integração, iniciativa, responsabilidade e diversidade) e atravez disso evangelizar. Por enquanto isso é o que sei e esse é o plano. Até aqui nos fomos muito bem recebidos! Passamos 3 dias na base do Rio, 3 dias em Angra dos Reis e hoje chegamos aqui em Paraty - por onde passamos fomos muito bem tratados... esse negócio de ser missionário é maior barato. Agora estamos todos na casa de um pastor... ele tem 5 filhos, dois cachorros e agora nossa equip de 6 Jocumeros. Semana que vem chegam mais 4 missionários!!! Quero só ver como vai ser... mas até agora tem sido legal....

Bom recebi uma bolsa para fazer um doutorado lá na Georgia mas resolvi não aceitar e ficar aqui no Brasil por mais um tempo trabalhando com a Jocum... Foi uma decisão muito difícil, mas eu orei muito e busquei a Deus e estou confiante que era isso mesmo que Deus tem planejado para mim. Estou apaixonado pelo trabalho que fazemos, transformando vidas não só no lado espiritual, mas em todos os aspectos desse mundo também. Pretendo trabalhar e fazer mais uns cursos na Jocum, mas esses planos estão incertos no momento... preciso ver datas das escolas e locais onde poderia trabalhar também. A principio quero trabalhar com ministérios de esporte.

Se der, eu vou aos EUA vender meu carro e resolver umas coisinhas por lá. Continue orando pelo meu visto que até hj não saiu... Mas a advogada falou que pode sair algo nos próximos dias. orem pelo nosso trabalho aqui e pela nossa equipe.
..................................................................
Ontem fizemos ´´sombra´´ na rua e foi bem divertido. também fizemos uns malabares, brincamos com as crianças... foi só pra gente mostrar a cara para a cidade mesmo. Foi bem legal nosso primeiro contato ´´publico oficial´´. Estamos treinando os jovens da igreja também. hj é nossa ultima sessão de treinamento.
A igreja que está nos hospedando e que estamos treinando é bem pentecostal e com muitos jovens... é muito legal. Nós visitamos muitas igrejas, dando treinamentos, palavras, testemunhos... então estou conhecendo várias denominações, e é muito divertido e muito engraçado as vezes. A gente vê cada coisa! Muito engraçado! To gostando muito desse lado. Estamos sendo muito usado em todos os lugares que passamos.
Domingo passado mesmo eu mais uma Jocumera fomos a uma igreja Batista renovada e durante a escola dominical o pastor descobriu que eu e ela éramos da Jocum e que estávamos dando um treinamento na cidade etc, e pediu que nós fossemos lá na frente dar o recado sobre o treinamento para toda a igreja, p/ que eles participassem do próximo treinamento que daríamos na semana seguinte. O pastor nos chamou lá na frente e a minha amiga se empolgou e em vez de dar só o recado ele começou a falar da Bíblia e de missões, depois o pastor me fez um monte de perguntas e eu dei um testemunho lá, e depois minha amiga (Arandi) pegou o microfone de novo e ai ela já pregou a mensagem de vez e no fim das contas o pastor pediu pra ela fazer a oração final e acabou que nós fizemos o culto todinho!!! Foi muito engraçado, muito show... foi uma coisa que foi se desenrolando bem naturalmente, bem do Espírito Santo mesmo. Foi benção!!! Vários jovens vieram até nós depois para se inscrever no treinamento da semana seguinte.

Bom essas e mais histórias creio que ainda irão acontecer mais vezes : )

NIKO

We just returned from a 4 day camping trip and it was amazing! This
"program" is called NIKO, which mean winner in Greek. There a few things that are secret and we cannot tell to everybody (for the sake of those who will participate in it in the future)... but it was a major adventure in the jungle! No showers, no toothpaste, no cookies, only allowed 3 sets of clothes and that's is! We had to be very smart with the food we had, we had to make our own camps, sleep in some rough conditions and a complete a lot of tasks/assignments during the day. Wow, I loved it. The trails and the jungle were awsome. We worked a lot on team work and leadership... I certalinly learned a lot and was able to hear God's voice in different ways. It was unique experience... very challenging and certainly worth it.

EM PORTUGUES - Acabamos de voltar da nossa expedicao do NIKO - 4 dias na mata e muita aventura!! NIKO em grego quer dizer vencedor, e esse foi nosso penultimo treinamento na ETED antes de sairmos para o pratico. La' fizemos muitos trabalhos em equipe e dinamicas de lideranca. Foi um tempo muito bom onde ouvimos a voz de Deus de maneiras diferentes...
Tinhamos que montar nosso proprio acampamento, racionar bem a comida, e cumprir muitas tarefas (mata a dentro) durante o dia. Foi muito show e muita aventura mesmo! Bem desafiador, mas com certeza valeu a pena!!

The work we do at YWAM - be part ot if!

Dear Friends

This has been a very special time in my life, where God has called me to work at a YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base in the south of Brazil. The base is in Curitiba and it is the IWT (Impact World Tour) headquarters in Brazil. The work that we do here has brougth thousands of people to Christ and right now we have a very deligent and committed group working here.

One of the strategies of YWAM is to work with youth. Young men and women have their whole lives in front of them and as they seek direction they hear God’s voice and come to YWAM to give God their best, their youth. God is very pleased with these young men and women specially because of the tough choices they make, knowing that supernaturally God will use their lives to reach places never reached before and to face the reality of pain and suffering that only the love of God can cure.

Most of the young men that come and work in this ministry leave everything behind. Most of them quit their job (or are fresh out of school) and have no support from their families or had to go through some tough situations to get here. Being here we all work full time in the base and its evangelism ministries and almost all of us in the team need some sort of help from others.

In our DTS (Discipleship Trainning School) we are a team of 13 young men and women (from 3 different nations and from all over Brazil) and we have experienced a lot of joy serving God in the communities around us, on the weekend evanglisms’, and experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit in the midst of us.

We are almost at the end of the “lecture phase” of our training. The cost of this training here is approximately US$400 per month (this includes lectures, housing, and meals for this first part of our training - 3 months). Next, each of us needs to buy our own airfare to the place where we’ll be doing our outreach – 2 months (where we’ll put into practice everything we learned during the lecture phase).

In this particular team that I am a part of, the financial situation of these young men is very hard, and they have very little or no money to pay for their training expenses before they start the second phase (outreach) of the school that goes from April 24th until June 11th.

God gave me the idea of writting this letter for the people that have a heart for missions and that would like to be a part of this team by helping us with US$100 that will help us go through this desert so we can reach our promissed land.

If you would like to help these young men and women of God to finish their school and accomplish their mission you can send an offer or a check payable to JP Batista with whatever valeu God puts in your heart to the following address:



JP Batista / Mike Carter
4023 Colham Ferry Road
Watkinsville, GA 30677
706 769-8620

Please let me know the ammounts that you’ve sent because these checks will be deposited in my bank account in the U.S. so I can withdraw that money here in Brazil with my debit card and pay for the school and some travel expenses of my colleagues. If you would like more information please contact me at jpbatista99@yahoo.com.

Thank you so much for your contribution and I pray that God will reward you and multiply blessings in your life. In Jesus name I thank you and I bless you,

JP Batista.

Meu trabalho na JOCUM

Bom o que eu realmente faço aqui é um escola de discipulado. É um treinamento/aprendizado bem profundo de como realmente, de verdade conhecer a Deus. É muuuuuuuito legal esse aprendizado pq a medida que eu vou conhecendo mais a Deus, consequentemente eu acabo me conhecendo melhor também! É como conhecer o arquiteto que fez sua casa. A medida que vc conhece o arquiteto vc vai entendendo. melhor pq a casa foi feita daquele jeito e pra que serve cada quarto e cada móvel na casa.

Bom nossa equipe/turma é formada de 13 alunos e 8 obreiros/auxiliadores (que acompanham os alunos de perto, aconselham, e ajudam os alunos a lidarem com os temas mais difíceis p/ cada indivíduo). Temos aulas pelas manhãs e cada semana temos um professor diferente (que vem de várias partes do mundo inteiro) que é especialista em determinado assunto. Alguns dos temas já estudados foram Cosmovisão, Obediência, Graça, Consiência limpa, Aceitação pessoal, reununcia e vários outros... O que eu mais gosto é que todos esses temas tem mesmo a ver com a nossa vida, eles são muito pessoais e são coisas que todas pessoas deviam saber. As coisas que estou aprendendo aqui tem muito mais relevância do que as que eu aprendi na minha faculdade pq elas lidam diretamente comigo e com minha vida e não com meu trabalho ou profissão.
Então pelas manhãs temos aulas e de tarde trabalhamos na base (no momento estamos preparando um campo de futebol, então estamos pegando na enchada todos os dias pra nivelar a terra e enchertar os buracos. Bem legal – eu gosto desse trabalho braçal).
E nos fins de semana nós colocamos em prática o que aprendemos... Muitas vezes vamos a igrejas explicamos para as pessoas a verdadeira liberdade que temos em Deus e o quanto Ele nos ama. As vezes fazemos apresentações de peças de teatro na rua que também falam do amor de Deus para com a humanidade, as vezes vamos à azilos ou hospitais e ficamos lá só escutando as histórias dos coroas (cada história mais engraçada que a outra hehehehe). E é isso que eu faço aqui. Esse nosso trabalho aqui tem um impacto muito forte na vida das pessoas. É incrivel de se ver o quanto uma pessoa muda quando ela recebe o amor de Deus! Nossa equipe nesses últimos dois meses já viu de tudo. Vimos pessoas que estavam prestes a se suicidar (literalmente naquele dia) que depois de conversar conosco e entender algumas coisas largaram a arma e se encherão de um amor que supria todas as suas necessidades. Coisas incríveis que não dá pra se explicar... só Deus mesmo.
Temos mais um 2 semanas de aulas (no total são 3 meses teóricos) aqui na nossa base em Curitiba e depois eu e mais 5 pessoas da minha equipe vamos p/ Parati, RJ trabalhar lá (2 meses) colocando em prática tudo que aprendemos aqui.
Orem por mim e a equipe que está indo para Parati!! Valeu, abraços, JP

1 month of YWAM / 1 mes de JOCUM

Wow, I’ve been here in Curitiba studying at the YWAM base for one month and a half already!! I am really enjoying it and I am learning a LOT! We have a very busy schedule here with classes, drama practices, evangelism, community work, book projects and home work.

We usually work or study from Tuesday through Sunday and on Monday we have our day off (much needed)! We usually have breakfast at 7am, from 7:30am to 8:30am we meditate (quiet hour). From 8:30 to 9:30am we have either a worship or intercession time together (the whole base, which is about 50 people or so...) and then from 9:40 to 12:30 we have classes. From 12:30pm to 1:30pm we eat lunch and then we do maintenance work untill 3:30pm (this first month I worked outside doing construction work, tearing down fences, and moving heavy stuff around – I really liked it. This next month I’ll be working inside, cleaning the kitchen and stuff). From 4pm to 6pm we have either study hall or drama practice. At 6:30pm we eat dinner and at night we either have classes, drama practice, community work, evangelism or free time. Also on every Wednesday afternoon we have community work.

Last week we went to Paranagua to do evangelism there on the week of carnaval. There were thousands of people on the streets celebrating carnaval and we were able to reach up to many of them. I bet over 100 people got saved through the evangelism that we did on the streets. We were there for five days doing evangelism at night and recuperating/interceding during the day. We stayed in a public shool and we slept on our sleeping bags on the floor. There were two YWAM bases there along with some of the local church, making a group of about 100+ people. We evangelised from 6 to 9pm, then we had dinner and a quick rest and we came back and evangelised from 11pm to 4am or 5am. Sleep until 10am, then breakfast... lunch... prayer and worship and at 6pm back to the streets. It was a very intense schedule, but we were all glad to follow it up. We had amazing results and many stories to tell.
While we were there we slipt into 3 groups. One worship team that stayed in one corner and played music and worshiped in public, another group that did shows, drama skits, and “altar callings” (I was on this group), and a third group that did spiritual reading. That’s right, they sat around a table with a big sign (in the middle of a town square) that said, FREE SPIRITUAL READING. Once a person would come up they would explain to them that they would pray to God and if He wanted to tell that person anything He would reveal that to us (the people praying) and we would pass that on to the person. This was very exciting, God revealed tons of stuff about the past of these people and what they were going through and what not. The people would be amazed on how we knew about their most intimate secrets! But it was all God revealing it to us and we would just say it, not knowing what reaction to expect, but every person that sat there was impacted. Many of them accepted Jesus right then.
For the most part I presented drama skits and did some jugling exibition along with other clowns and juglers. We had a blast!!! I never thought I would do jugling for Jesus : ) It was carnaval and things are crazy at this time of year and we had to do lots of improvs due to certain city laws, crazy people, and the rain. By the end of the week I did just about everything from first aid (on a guy that got on bad fight), to cleanning dirty bathrooms, to juggling, to altar calling. And it was great, I loved it, I think Jesus loved it, and loads of people were saved in Paranaguá.



Em Portugues

Ola'!!!! Que saudades de todos! As coisas aqui andam tao corridas que nao tenho tempo nem de entrar na internet. Essa semana eu completei um mes e meio de escola! Faltam mais mes e meio de periodo teórioco e depois mais dois meses de prático. Tudo muito bom ate' agora. Muita oportunidade de praticar o que estamos aprendendo. Viver em comunidade com crente esta' sendo mais dificil que eu esperava, mas estou tocando bem.
Todos os dias aqui temos trabalho de manutenção. No primeiro mes o meu grupo trabalhou fora do prédio (carregando toco, construindo bancos, derrubando cercas, etc.) Agora meu grupo passou pra dentro e agora trabalhamos na cosinha limpando panelas, o chao, refeitorio, lixos e etc... Gosto dos dois ambientes. Dentro e' legal pq tem musica e agua e e' divertido, mas fora e' mais legal pq e' trabalho pesado e ja' da' pra dar uma malhada enquanto faz o servico.
A comida essa semana deu uma caida de novo. Ja' perdi 2 Kilos desde que cheguei aqui e pareco estar mais magro mesmo. Tem semanas que a comida e' muito boa, mas 60% das vezes a comida e' mais ou menos... mas sempre e' comestivel . Fico por aqui. Desculpa ai, mas a versao em ingles tem mais detalhes, quem puder da' uma lida na parte de cima : ) Abraços... - JP

Marau 2007

After an awsome Christmas my family and I went to Marau in the north east of Brazil's coast for new years! It was amazing!!! The beaches here are great, the people are wonderful and the weather is always nice and hot. It was perfect and we enjoyed a ton. The surfing was a fiasco (we needed a longer board) but we had a blast with the waves and all.
My two cousins (Luiz and Marcelo) my aunt Claudete, mom and gradmother, niece and uncle all stayed at my unle's house (Paulo) right at the beach. Great food every day and lots of time to relax and tell stories :)

-more pics on the links on the right... cheers- JP

every body
... Luiz? Marcelo? .... ?? ;)

Kimberly in Brasilia

Kimberly came to Brazil!!!! We had an amazing week :) We were able to catch up, meet the family, eat lots of Brazilian goodness and play with friends and cousins. We had a blast!!!
Kimberly, JP & cousins (Luiz, Marcelo).

She arrived on Saturday morning around 7am and after a super Brazilian breakfast we went for a ride around town and after lunch we went to the lake to ride my friend's jetski. This jetski is super fast and we had some good crashes on the water... hehehehheee. Right on the first day Kimberly met my cousins Luiz and Marcelo and their girlfriends (Andrea and Luana - pic). They all speak English so we all got along really well and we got to hang out a lot during the whole week.

- Kimberly and Claudia (mom).
In addition to the city tours all over the capital, Kimberly was able to meet my grandmothers and the extended family. Almost all of them speak English and they all liked Kimberly :)
We went to church on Sunday, ate Brazilian BBQ, spent a day in the country club (unbelievable place), went shopping on the open markets and fairs, and lots of sightseeing. The weather was great all week long (it was HOT!) and we wasted no time ;) Definetely one of the best weeks of the year! :D


- cute couple after church :)

Goiania - Rio - Brasilia...

The fact that I have no job and no daily obligations make my schedule extremely open and flexible. So I've been trying to do as much as I can these days. A few days ago I ran a 10km race with my cousin Ivan and we had so much fun! We've been running a lot together these days...

Two weeks ago I went to Goiania (200 km from Brasilia) to an Athletes of Christ leadership camp. It was great, very intense. We had lectures in the morning, afternoon and night. The speakers were famous Christian Athletes and the national leaders of Athletes of Christ. I learned a LOT. Sports ministry is HUGE and very exciting. On the last day we did a "Kids Games" and reached about 100 kids. We got to play tons of games and share the Gospel with them :)

I returned from the camp on Sunday evening and on Monday morning I left to Rio de Janeiro (the wonderful city) to accompany my sister. We had to go to Amercian consutale in Rio to get her visa. We were there for only three days, but it was an excelent trip. We got to stay with my aunt and uncle (Thereza and Carlyle) and they were great! We had a SUPER time in Rio - this city is the bomb! We went to Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, the sugar loaf, the Corcovado and more - all very beautiful! We also met up with my cousin Lennyson (he's a trip) and he showed us some more of the city at night.


From Rio my sister return to her husband in Colorado, and I returned to Brasilia to be alone at home. Until next week (when my mom and Kimberly arrive) I am only hanging out with my grandmother who lives upstairs. It's cool... I am jamming with the Happenin and doing my thing. My mom is in Europe this month with some friends travelling through a bunch of countries. Next week she will be in Spain for a missionary congress and after that she will retrurn to Brasilia :)

Please continue praying for my visa! I hope to hear an answer soon. I am really looking forward to return and work at the club. Cheers - JP.

The Latest News

I am stuck in the best place in world- home sweet home. Although I wish I could've been back in the States by now I am not complaining. Things are great here in Brasilia and I am really enjoying my time with my family. My sister is also having some problems with her visa and she'll be here until November 7th. Her husband, Preston, is also here with us and we are doing lots of things together :) Grand times. The new plan (not for certain) is for me to return to GA in January. That will depend on many things that are out of my control, but hopefully things will work out. I still have not heard about my new visa, and I am uncertain about the future of JMCC... Please pray about these things. Thanks!

For now I'll keep on running and playing lots of soccer :) I am also looking for a job, but that's not easy here. I hope to see some special people soon. If you would like to visit, this would be a really good time to come!

Christian soccer camp

Last week was Brazil's independence day and I had the priviledge to be
a councelor of the first CCF - Christian Concentration of Football.
This was a GREAT soccer camp. My cousin Ricardo (professional soccer coach)
organized the practices in the morning and afternoon. We had 32 kids signed up.
In the morning we would have a time of worship and then a quiet time in small groups
(my group rocked). Then soccer practice, lunch, rest, more soccer, dinner, and then
guest speakers at night (like Christian athletes and sports medicine doctors). All
the speakers were GREAT, and the kids got really into it and learned about the TRUe victory
which is in Jesus Christ :)
On the last night I was scheduled to preach, but then the power went out! No problem, we made
a bonfire and I got to preach right there. The Holly Spirit was present and in the end many kids
came forward and accepted Christ for the first time (or rededicated their lives to God). It was
so cool to see these teenagers stand up and put their trust in Christ! It was a very special night!
The next day we finished with a supper soccer tournament and my team (I was a coach) finished
second. I was proud of the guys :) It was a very blessed long weekend!

The week before the camp I hurt my wrist playing soccer and it's hard for me to do some daily things.
Please pray for recovery. I also have not heard an answer from the U.S. immigration, so please
also continue to pray for that. Thank you!!!
Em Portugues
O acampamento da IPN da Concentracao Crista de Futebl foi show de bola. Tive o privilegio de ser
um dos conselheiros/tecnicos dos adolescentes. Foi muita bencao, muitos jovens aceitaram a Cristo
e Deus foi Glorificado ali no Recanto Canaa. Passa la' em casa que eu te conto todos os detalhes ;)