This last weekend

Oh, here's a little piece about how I spent my weekend:

Friday (a national holiday because it was Good Friday) the youth group from my church headed to a small city (Atibaia) about an hour and a half away to hang out with the youth from a church there for a couple days. We scaled a huge hill (1450 meters high... um... just over 4757 feet) up to the top of a huge rock (known as Pedra Grande in Portuguese) and went rapelling! It was a first for most of the teenagers, and it was fun to be there to take pictures, and remind them that they weren't going to die in the process of trying it (I could speak with some confidence because I've been once before - about six years ago, down a waterfall)! I went again of course... although as I started stepping over the edge of the rock I wondered if I it was such a good idea after all... but I couldn't not do it after the confidence I had shown for everyone else!

After a slippery course down the mountain, we spent Friday night and the day Saturday with the Atibaia youth at a small, beautiful campground that included a swimming pool, a soccer field, a small zoo, and amazing food! It was tons of fun, although after hiking most of the day the day Friday, I was rather exhausted by half-way through Saturday! We had a lovely Saturday night service at the campgrounds before heading home that evening.

And that takes me into my reflections on Easter, which are in the next post!

He is risen!

It's a calm Sunday night, and I figured I'd write a post for those of you who enjoy the more rambly pieces over the more official "this is what's going on with the ministry" news.

My mom is home, and I'm enjoying it immensely - only praying it will last. Karis is doing ok (well, sort of), other than the continual struggle of keeping up with school work and the increasing pain in her hip. I'm chatting with Valerie on-line in between writing this, and listening to some music from a cd that three college friends of hers sang for - http://cdbaby.com/cd/ypjfvc3 - it's good stuff! She got to be a part of a small invitation-only audience that heard it recorded live this weekend. Dan is doing well at his new job and learning a lot, as well as being supportive of his girlfriend's horse training profession.

It's Easter folks! How strange to spend Easter in a Baptist church who celebrates it through nothing more than special sermons on Sunday, after spending my last few Easters in Anglican churches that go all out to make it the spiritual highlight of the year! During college, I got into starting my spiritual preparation 40 days earlier with Ash Wednesday, and then doing special services for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday! At my home church of the last few years - Rez - the Easter service is 4 hours long - full of choreography and incredible worship and celebration! I kept up with it all a little through doing the readings in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, but it's not at all the same as celebrating it with a church body!

We did get to go to a really good service at Calvary International Church here in São Paulo this morning that definitely took me into a deeper and more real appreciation of Christ's death and ressurrection - they managed to combine Good Friday and Easter Sunday into one powerful service. The service was full of beautiful worship written by Keith and Krystin Getty, the authors of In Christ Alone, as well as other songs that really brought Christ's sacrifice and victory to life! I was deeply reminded today that God is in control and knows what he is doing during this difficult time with my family... that Good Fridays in our lives are always followed with Easter Sundays that far outshine them! our present suffering is not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us! (Rom. 8:17). Praise God for his victorious grace!

Anyway, regardless of church denomination, etc, He is risen! And that is the best news on the face of the Earth!

News, March 13, 2008

Dear ones,

Here’s an update about what God is doing here in Brazil which I sent to many of you by e-mail. If you didn’t receive it by e-mail and would like to receive further updates that way, let me know!

In the teenager’s small group I am co-leading on Thursday nights, our biggest problem has been having too many participants! My job has been to come up with ice-breakers and write questions for the Bible studies. We have stressed commitment and joint responsibility, and several of them are taking on important responsabilities within the group. We are studying what it means to be the body of Christ, based on 1 Cor. 12, and it has been a blessing to see them grow.

Starting this month, I will be having three different roles in my church’s Saturday program for slum kids: leading the 4-6 year olds in a Bible lesson and related activity; giving the teenagers English lessons; helping individual kids talk about traumas and find God’s healing through a system of story-sharing and prayer.

I spent two days in the Sepal digital team office a couple weeks ago, and have really enjoyed it! Since then, I have been working with them about 5 hours a week, translating interesting articles from a site called allaboutgod.com (I encourage you to check it out!), helping monitor the discussion forum, and doing a few other things. It is exciting to see this ministry grow!

The MAPI (acronym in Portuguese for Support Ministry for Pastors and Churches) website that I administer is undergoing a time of transition, with the possibility of changing from a static website to an sql-based interactive portal. This requires a lot of work, thinking and attention, and I request your prayers that the process go smoothly. If it all works out, the website has the potential to reach countless new Brazilian pastors and leaders.

Unfortunately, even as these exciting ministry options have been arising, my support level has dipped significantly. I would like to request that you pray about renewing or commencing a partnership with me so that this work in the Kingdom of God can go forward. If you would like to contribute financially, you can do so on-line at www.onechallenge.org (just click “donate” in the left-hand column and follow the directions) or send checks to OC International, P.O. Box 36900, Colorado Springs, CO 80936-6900, with a note letting them know to whom the support is directed. If you would like to partner with me in prayer, which is just as important, please let me know at rachel.kornfield@gmail.com so I can keep you more directly informed about what is going on here. You can also find regular news about me here on my blog: rach-comesthedawn.blogspot.com.

My biggest prayer request at this time is my family: my mom has been in the US for the last month, helping Karis handle the pressures of continuing health struggles and getting through her last semester of college. It has been hard on me to have my mom away, but if all goes well, she flies back this Tuesday, March 18th! I request your prayers that nothing will keep her from being able to come and that the rest of Karis’ semester will go smoothly. You can find out more at www.karisblog.com. I also request your prayers as to whether I should renew my commitment to OC for one more semester or year, as my initial commitment to them expires this August.

Thank you so much! May the wonderful blessings of the Lord be upon you!

Rachel Kornfield