Philanthropy

I’ve never thought much about philanthropy. And to be honest, becoming a missionary seemed the farthest thing from that. However, as we become more aware of our roles here, that might not be a bad way to describe a part of what we do…

As you can imagine, our expenses here do not change much from month to month. However, occasionally some of you (or a church) may give an extra gift. As money comes into our fund, above and beyond our needs, we are blessed to be able to pass that on to those in need. We are learning that the needs here are so great. The average Brazilian makes about $150/ month. It is not uncommon to hear that a church family is without food. More than once Brin has gone into our cupboards to give away food. The other day we helped a woman get dental work done that she never could have afforded on her own. We have been blessed by many of you, and in turn we have the opportunity to bless others. We can’t pass on every story, but one recent experience stands out:

Every year in Brazil the Christians brace themselves for the celebration of Carnival, a celebration like Marde Gras. One of the ways the church has responded here is by putting on a retreat for young people called “Christoval”. There are four churches in Altamira that joined together this year for their Christoval retreat, held at a retreat facility we are building outside of town. Each church was allowed a certain amount of participants, each who had to pay the $15 for the 3-day retreat. One of the churches is from a particularly poor part of the city. I asked the pastor of that church if he had any students that needed help. He shared with me that they were thinking about dropping out and doing their own mini-retreat at the church because he had so many kids who couldn’t afford it. I used to be a youth pastor, and before that a youth, so I knew that the “retreat” held at the church would not be nearly as effective (I think the whole point of a “retreat” is the leaving). I told him I wanted to help out. We devised a plan that would satisfy even the staunchest conservative, we made all the kids work for a day to “earn” their way to the retreat. Below is a picture during the retreat. I didn’t miss leading the cheesy retreat games, but I was thrilled that I could play a part in helping some of the kids attend.