May/June Open Arms News

Open Arms e-News May/June 2010 Edition

For the community of Jardim III Américas two dates stand out in the recent history of their neighborhood. The first was the 14th of October 2009 when a 11 year old girl murdered her 6 year old neighbor with a kitchen knife in a crime that shocked all of Brazil. The second was this past Saturday May 29th when, at the invitation of the public school and a local church, Open Arms Brazil began the work of proclaiming the love and redemption of Jesus among the children there. For our inaugural party more than 200 children and adults came for an afternoon of fun and games, food, music, and a theatrical presentation of the gospel. Now the hard work of weekly teaching and modeling of God’s love begins. The path to restoring joy and hope to a community that has been shaken by violence and despair is long so please stand with this

community in prayer.

January 2007

For the past four years Patricia and I and the kids have been in Brazil and not able to maintain face to face contact with you all, manage the financial administration of the ministry headquarters, or act as the face of Open Arms Brazil there in Virginia. But not to worry, we have had a faithful friend, more like a sister, who took it upon herself as a labor of love to be ambassador, advocate, administrator, advisor, and prayer warrior for us since January of 2006. Kim Reynolds is more than a volunteer. She is family. Kim was part of our very first short term team to Assis back in 2003 and we never let go of her. She was my right hand (or maybe it was the other way around) during my time at Reston Bible Church, best bud to Patricia, and adopted Aunt to our children. Her tireless ministry of friendship and care to so many is unheralded but is a beautiful picture of what Christian living should be. It occurred to me recently that beyond my regular, “you rock” emails, we have never taken time to publicly thank her for her volunteer work on our behalf and for the Lord, for putting up with me and my dreams, and for loving us unconditionally. So thank you Kim. And just for good measure, “You really do ROCK!” Love - Michael, Patricia, Michael Jr., Rapha, and Bela

Swim Team Ministry Update As you may know from following our newsletters and facebook posts, we have been looking for a sponsor for our swimming ministry since last year. The search continues. So in the meantime we have had to hold back on our plans for expanding swim lessons and team membership. We now have a competitive team of 5 Open Arms spon-sored swimmers and 13 in swim lessons once per week. The two most popular activities for chil-dren in Brazil are soccer and swimming. The team trains 9 times weekly and is engaged in a twice a week Bible study. Our 13 entry level swimmers all participate in our weekend ministry as well where they are now studying the Sermon on the Mount. We would love to give more children the opportunity to participate so please continue to pray that a sponsor would be found. If any of you knows of a swim team or club that would be interested in adopting our program please let us know at [email protected]

“we went through fire and water,

but you brought us to

a place of abundance.”

Open Arms FC Unveils Their News Uniforms Thanks to their sponsors at Mclean Bible Church’s Frontline soccer ministry, the boys who train at the first Open Arms soccer school in Assis unveiled their new uniforms this past week. They are anxious to face their next adversary in style and win one for their friends in Christ at Frontline. That same week the team was blessed with a visit from 3 professional players who came to give their testimony to the boys and encourage them in their walk. It was a very good week! Please continue to pray for these young men.

Open Arms U17 Squad

Oh what a night. As we come to the winter recess, yes it is winter here, our mission outposts are reviewing, finishing up art projects, and holding end of semester festivities. At our flagship project the volunteer staff put together a night of worship, the Word, and fellowship to celebrate a wonderful 6 months of ministry. I was privileged to see the children present in song, dance, and art for their relatives and friends gathered there and to share briefly with them why we do what we do at Open Arms. It was an amazing night and the spontaneous worship from the children, as they went on stage to sing, brought tears to our eyes. God is moving. Many of the relatives in attendance approached me afterwards to say thank you. “Thank you for helping us by helping our children follow a different path, Christ's path.” I gave glory to God and accepted their thanks on your behalf. Your prayers and gifts every month make it possible for Open Arms to mobilize and train the local church to do the work of discipling children, their families, and communities for Christ. Do not grow weary in doing good my friends. Thank you for standing with us.

Prayer Requests

• For fruit among the children and families among whom we minister • For the physical, spiritual, and financial well-being of our volunteers

both in Brazil and the US • For the team preparations being made for the mission to Belém do

Pará (northern Brazil) in June • For the wedding plans and full-time support needs of missionaries

Marcelo dos Reis Vieira & Holly Smith. • For the Lord to provide financial resources to meet or surpass our

goals for 2010

Where are we now? As of the writing of this newsletter we have increased our reach to 350 children per week. Current combined (US & Brazil) monthly giving averages $4,296, which represents a short fall of $3,581 each month or $42,972 annually. Currently, our ministry costs are only about $16 per child per month.

Counting the cost & keeping you informed: This section will be a regular part of our newsletters at least through the end of 2010. As prayer partners, financial supporters, and believers in the goals of this ministry, we think it is important to keep you informed, not just of the many ways God is working among children in Brazil but also of the plans and needs of this ministry. In order to reach our 2010 goal of reaching and discipling 500 children per week, there will be a lot of heavy lifting required in the area of volunteer training, mobilization of the local church, and fundraising. The good news is that the heaviest lifting, the work of transforming lives is in the hands of the Lord! Below is a breakdown of the 2010 OAB budget:

What are we doing to meet these needs? • Raising up the need to the Lord in

prayer • Making the need known to the

Lord’s people the Church • Actively pursuing businesses in

Brazil and the United States willing to invest in this ministry.

Thank you for standing with us for Christ, Mike, for the entire Open Arms Brazil team

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18,466

$76,058