Karis got out of the hospital today! Hurray!!! So much new life.

Gosh. I'm exhausted. in an odd way. emotionally, i suppose. not so much that i can't deal with what is going on in my family. just enough that i can't deal with much else. i guess i have to accept that for now. later, everyone.

Hey folks!

Since I've started sending out monthly prayer/news letters by e-mail, I'm going to start using this blog for more of what most people use blogs for - thoughts, prayers, feelings, recollections - and not so much just for ministry stuff. If you are interested in receiving my prayer letters, though, please let me know at rachel.kornfield@gmail.com.

Right now, I'm feeling a little tired. Pretty soon I need to go get dinner ready because 5 people from my dad's ministry team are visiting this weekend for a retreat. It's been a good day, a lot going on, good conv. w/ my mom. It's been hard recently finding time to get together with my discipleship/mentoring group. I need to work on that. I've also been working on getting a doctor's apointment scheduled... I haven't been to a doctor for... um... years and my mentoring group has been getting after me about getting a general check-up. Nothing's wrong as far as I can tell, but I suppose it's a good thing to do occasionally.

It's funny how fun and tiring it is at the same time to have my dad's ministry team here. I love them - they're wonderful people - but it's a lot of work hosting them... although I shouldn't complain, I haven't done hardly any of the cooking or cleaning these last days - we've paid someone to help. Maybe it's just the fact that it is a lot of people :). Sometimes I'm such an intravert, but I also don't like living alone. Go figure...

Anyway, this is short, just to get me going on blogging again.

Love,

Rachel

Dear friends,

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have written! Things here in Brazil are pretty crazy buzy, but going well! Many of you received the intercessors e-mail I sent out, letting you know I was preparing for another Promifé (for more information about what that is, see my January post)! Well I'm back! Here's the news:

It was a wonderful week. It is always exciting to see a group of people passionately seeking God and His will together. With a record 215 participants, we were able, for the first time, to create three distinct evangelism groups, focusing on different sections of the city of Santa Rita do Passa Quatro. I had the privilege of co-leading one of these groups.

The city of Santa Rita has a population of about 26,000 residents. We quickly discovered some of the challenges the town faces: strong Spiritist and Catholic populations; high rates of drug and alcohol addiction; and one of the highest suicide rates in Brazil today. According to Moody Bible Institute, Spiritism is the, “science, philosophy and religion of continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication, by means of mediumship, with those who live by the spirit world.”[i] As Christians, we know that there are only three type of spirits active in our world: angels, demons, and God’s Holy Spirit. Brazilian spiritism, one of the most prevalent religions in this country, opens people directly to be possessed, oppressed and used by demons. I believe it is due to the prominence of this religion, more than anything else, that spiritual warfare is such a blatant part of Brazilian reality. Unfortunately, Brazilian Catholicism has merged with Spiritism to the point where involvement with one often signifies involvement with the other. Santa Rita contains one of the largest Spiritist centers of Brazil, which is visited by people seeking help from the world-over. Visible spiritual warfare occurred during our week there, but God used the situation to reassure us of His power and strengthen our dedication to Him.

So what did God accomplish through our week in Santa Rita?

1) We were able to have significant conversations with adults and young people in 353 different homes in the city, bringing words of hope and purpose through the Gospel. As a result of this door to door work and the mass evangelism in the evening, 356 people accepted Christ. Many more were prayed for and encouraged in their spiritual walk.
2) We organized a VBS that reached 475 children, 425 of which accepted Christ.
3) The evangelical churches of Santa Rita grew in unity through our example (the 215 Promifé participants represent at least 15 churches and 4 denominations), thus being strengthened and equipped to better face the challenges of their city.
4) Twenty-seven evangelical pastors and leaders from the town received encouragement and strengthening twice during the week through afternoons of leadership training.
5)A council of pastors from 7 different churches in the town agreed to participate in the follow-up work with those who were saved or were considering a decision.
6) Over-all around 2000 people heard the Gospel, and 781 children and adults accepted Christ!!!
This is such a tiny summary of what God did, but unfortunately, to tell you about all of it would take weeks! Thank you for your prayers, and praise God for His good works! I would be happy to answer any questions - just write me at rachel.kornfield@gmail.com.

Blessings,
Rachel

[i] Taken from the pamphlet The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error, compiled by Keith L. Brooks and revised by Irvine Robertson; published by Moody Bible Institute in 1976.

Hi friends!

I'm safely back in São Paulo after an eventful three weeks in the US. During that time, I got to:

1. See several friends graduate from Wheaton College
2. Celebrate my sister Karis' graduation from Notre Dame
3. See my mom and sisters' summer apartment in Pittsburgh
4. See my brother's new job location and apartment in DC, and hang out with his girlfriend (whom I hadn't met before)
5. Hang out with various friends and supporters in the Chicago area
6. Do a "Brazil Night" - an evening of sharing about my ministry, and providing yummy Brazilian snacks - in the Chicago area. If you're interested in seeing the power point I presented at this even - with lots of pictures - please let me know! rachel.kornfield@gmail.com Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to attach it to this blog.

Thanks to all of you who contributed to this special time!

Monday my dad and I leave for his yearly "dream team retreat."

Blessings to you all!

Rachel

Plans for these next few months

So... I just wrote an update about this last week (if you haven't read it, you should!), and now I should write one about the future, because a lot is coming up!

This month is the calm before the storm, although it's not feeling very calm. Being gone from daily activities for a week leaves one with a lot to catch up on!

Here's my schedule for the next few months (TAKE A DEEP BREATH... and plunge):

• May 5-8 - helping put on the Sepal Annual Congress - an event that serves over 1000 Brazilian pastors and leaders
• May 9-29 - in the US for Karis' graduation and support raising! I'd love to see any of you who live in the Wheaton, South Bend, or DC area!
• June 2-6 - participating in a major MAPI planning retreat known as the "Retreat of Dreams"
• July 12-20 - Promifé!
• July 22 -Aug. 8 - back in the US with my family (probably. My parents will both be there living with Karis and Val in Pittsburgh while Karis recuperates from hip replacement surgery. Our house in São Paulo becomes a lonely place with them gone!)
• Aug. 9 - 16 - in Guatemala to celebrate the publication of the Ixil New Testament, the completion of my grandfather's life project
• The rest of Aug - not sure yet whether I'll be in the US or Brazil
• September - if all goes according to plan, back in Brazil for another 10 months of missionary service - pray with me about continuing to support me during that time!
  

Meanwhile, back here in São Paulo, my involvement with ministry continues... even from afar I will be:

• Writing studies for the teenagers' small group for my church
• Working on the MAPI website
• Working for the Sepal digital department

Technology does amazing things. Unfortunately, while I'm away I will not be able to:

• Actually participate in the teenagers' small group
• Participate in CEVAP
• Participate in the structuring of the youth ministry at my church
  

God has already begun to provide people to take my place in these ministries while I'm gone. Pray that he would continue to provide and consolidate their participation. Pray also for his grace amidst a rather hectic and crazy schedule - that I might truly be able to enjoy and be fully present at each place while I am there. In the end, of course, we can make whatever plans we want, but God decides what will actually happen! I trust him to guide me day by day, week by week, and month by month.

God bless each of you!

Rachel

Last week in a São Paulo slum

Hi friends!

I figured I should tell you about last week, because it was a pretty unusual, big event! I spent Mon-Fri in the Northern end of my city (about an hour and a half drive from where I live in the Southern end) helping to translate for a short-term mission's team from South Dakota! The trip was organized by one of my Sepal team members, Val Gill. It was a cool experience - seeing the way God is working through a church/preschool in one of the poorest neighborhood's in São Paulo, and being able to contribute to something that was blessing them! The church (which is actually still in the construction phase) looks out over a slum and a group of government high rises that were built several years ago to replace a lot of the slum shacks. It was sad and sobering to get to know more about people's lives in that area, but here are some things God has been doing:

1. When the church opened the preschool in 2000, there was an average of three shoot-outs a day in the immediate vicinity. Kids and parents would often barely escape them on the way to or from the school. The church began to pray that God would bring "peace that passes all understanding" to the neighborhood, and one day a whole set of undercover police men showed up and managed to take away most of the gang members. Since then, the whole area has been much safer.

2. A huge fire destroyed most of the slum a few years ago. Hundreds of people were left homeless, and the church provided them with food, shelter, and hope. As a result of that occurrence, and the continual services the church/preschool provide to the area, all those involved are held in high respect in a neighborhood where respect even for your own family is relatively rare.

3. The preschool was originally happening in three small houses on a plot of land donated by a friend of the pastor's. However, the buildings were barely functional. Through old business associates, the pastor has gained grant after grant allowing them to tear down the old buildings and create new church and classroom space. They went into the project without a cent to their name, and God has already provided several million reais (Brazilian currency - currently a real is worth about 50 cents). And get this - none of the donators are Christians! While we were there, the vice-consul of the Japanese embassy here in São Paulo visited to see what the project was like and make a final decision about whether to donate all of the furniture necessary for the church and school, including a couple rooms of triple bunkbeds for visitors.

4. The leadership of the project discovered that if they provided full scholarships for kids to go to the pre-school, people did not respect what they were being offered. But if they charged SOMETHING - be it R$ (reais) 50, or some labor at the school or on the construction project, each month, people began to take what they were offering seriously and really appreciate it. This has once again created relationships of dignity and respect between those who work at the school/church and the neighborhood.

5. A little boy at the preschool was born with a huge head and a tiny, malfunctioning body. One day, God told one of the workers at the school that he wanted to heal the boy. They prayed for him, and he was completely healed. I got to meet and play with the little boy. If you saw him today you would never know there had ever been anything wrong with him.

These are just a FEW of the miraculous stories we heard about the way God is working in that neighborhood. As I studied sociology at Wheaton, we talked often about how the coming of God's Kingdom transforms not only individuals, but the context in which they live. I never before had seen this reality in such dramatic, clear ways as I did last week. May God's name be ever praised, His will be done, His Kingdom come.

I pray that all of us would turn to God when circumstances are beyond us, and as a result, be able to rejoice in the work He does.

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