Let Them Come

February so Far...

2012-02-12T08:03:00.001-02:00

We are not even half way through the month of February, but so much has already happened so far. We have been busy!

Last weekend, Felipe was traveling (by train to be exact), leaving Sophia and I at home for a girls' weekend! We missed daddy, but had a good weekend together just us girls.

Felipe enjoyed taking photos and seeing the beautiful Brazilian country-side as he traveled to the state of Espirito Santo (translated Holy Spirit) to take photos of a wedding, Isn't it cool there is a state named this?

Felipe was one of the official photographers at a wedding of two YWAM missionaries who are friends of ours and serve with us here at YWAM Belo Horizonte.

Congratulations Rodolpho and Luciana!

To see more wedding photos click here.

Felipe returned late Sunday night and then Monday morning we began our special TEAM WEEK here at the Lighthouse Community Center. Almost all the missionaries who serve here with us are back from vacation and ready to start the programs and activities that we run here for the families and children living in the slum.

Our most recent team photo, taken on Monday!

This week our team spent time praying, worshiping, seeking God, spending time together as a team and planning and preparing for 2012. It was a productive week full of meetings! We are expecting God to do great things in this new season of our ministry!

This week I led the team in a creative activity about VISION. We all creatively recorded the visions and priorities God was giving us personally for 2012 on a sheet of paper.

This is Felipe's and my finished product! We hung our visions up in our house to be reminded of the things God is calling us to during 2012.

We also had a fun night out eating ice cream with the Lighthouse team and family!

Beautiful Sara Joy, the daughter of our friends and team members Joyce and Aldenito. She was all smiles!

Nunes, the Lighthouse swimming coach/teacher, and son enjoying the evening.

Sophia was completely serious and focused on eating her ice cream. She loves ice cream!

We also had our first YWAM Belo Horizonte worship service of 2012 here at the Lighthouse Community Center on Thursday night. The missionaries who serve in the various ministries of YWAM Belo Horizonte came together to worship and celebrate the presence of the Lord!

This weekend we were able to spend time with Felipe's family, who live here in Belo Horizonte. Now that I am driving it is much easier for us to go and visit them. If we were to go to their house by city bus it would take us anywhere from 1 and half hours to 2 hours just to arrive. Sophia is enjoying riding around town in the Lighthouse VW van.

I am extremely thankful to have family living here. Being so far from the USA and my family, it really helps to have Felipe's mom and siblings living close by. They are a huge blessing to our lives.

And Sophia absolutely loves her Tia (Aunt) Renata!

It has been a full and fulfilling February so far!

Encouraging Words...

2012-01-31T15:18:00.000-02:00

Here are some super encouraging videos of one of my favorite worship leaders, Christy Nockels, talking about being a mom, living close to the Lord and being filled with His Spirit. What an encouragement and example! I was so blessed today watching this - hearing words of truth and life. I was so affirmed in my role as a wife and mother - and just where God has me today. I can find joy in the mudane, in the simple things. I can meet Him, know Him, see Him and worship Him.

I hope you are blessed by these encouraging words too!

Officially Driving in Brazil

2012-01-27T18:30:00.000-02:00

I have finished my driving classes and I am now officially driving here in Brazil! During the month of January I have spent about an hour almost every weekday doing driving lessons - driving a manual car (stick-shift) and learning my way around in the crazy traffic and hilly city of Belo Horizonte.
It has been an adventure!

Yesterday, I did a YWAM driving test, with a very experienced driver who is also a missionary here at YWAM Belo Horizonte. He officially approved me to drive the Kombi (A VolksWagon van), which is owned by the ministry. I can now officially drive on my own here in Brazil with the YWAM Kombi! I never thought this day would come...

Really as I reflect on this, I see God at work in my life. God equipped me. He gave me the courage and confidence that I never thought I would have to be able to drive in Brazil. This is amazing to me! I can do all things through Christ!

It is a simple thing really, driving, but I see that God has given me this ability and I want to drive for His glory. Now I can officially serve the ministry of the Lighthouse Community Center through driving. I am also excited as we, the Matias Family, are allowed to use the Kombi to do a few personal things as well. This is a huge blessing to us!

This Sunday we are excited about driving to church! Normally, in order to get to church we walk about 25 minutes to get to the bus-stop, and then we take a 45 minute to 1 hour bus trip. We leave home at 8:30 am in order to get to church by 10:00 am. Then after church we made the same long trip home. It can be exhausting... Now, we are able to drive to church which saves a lot of time! YAY!

Please pray for me as I begin this adventure of driving here in Belo Horizonte. Pray for protection and wisdom as I continue to learn my way around and get used to driving the Kombi. Now I want to practice, practice, practice to be a good driver!

I am thankful and rejoicing to be officially driving in Brazil!

A TRADER

2012-01-21T18:27:00.001-02:00

I stumbled across this video today and was challenged to live my life as "A TRADER". This video is a reminder of what is most important in life -

to have a Kingdom focus,

to pursue Christ,

to live out my faith loving God and others,

to sacrifice,

to fight for justice,

and to worship God in all I do...

I hope you are challenged as I was by the truths in this video.

Let's be "TRADERS" for the GLORY of God!

A Perfect Day for Making Memories

2012-01-17T15:40:00.000-02:00

What are some of your most fondest memories of childhood?

What are the things you most remember with JOY from when you were just a kid?

For me, I nostalgically remember playing "beauty pageant" with my two older sisters. As a talent, we would stand and dance on top of the sofa (our stage) and sing along with our favorite songs from the radio, using a hairbrush as a microphone. Sometimes my sisters would make me be the judge of the contest, and my oldest sister Becky always loved me being the judge because I would "help" her win.

I also remember sunny summer days fishing at the pond in my grandma's backyard - using corn on the cob as my bate. (Who wants to mess with squiggly worms?) My grandma's house was once a full working farm so she always had tons of animals everywhere and of course I loved this! I also remember long walks in the fields surrounding her house, picking juicy blackberries and then later eating the berries in a warm cobbler with sweet vanilla ice cream on top.

These are just a few of my favorite memories from childhood...

This past Sunday, the boys who live here in the Cafezal slum made some wonderful childhood memories here at the Lighthouse Community Center!

Felipe recently was cleaning up the area around the swimming pool and decided to take away an old plastic pool cover, since it was not helping the condition of our pool and taking up lots of space. Felipe had the idea to spread the pool cover out over the hillside, lather it up with soap and water and then let the boys from the slum slide down the hill on the pool cover.

The boys had a BLAST!

Pure FUN!

As you can see, even Sophia joined in on the FUN! The boys were so sweet and gentle with her as they helped her slide down the hill. Our adventurous daughter was ALL smiles and loved every minute!

JOY!

ADVENTURE!

Without a doubt, I think this past Sunday was a day that many of these boys will never forget. An unusual simple afternoon of pure fun with friends at the Lighthouse Community Center. Many of these kids come from harsh realities with broken families. Childhood is often stolen away from children living in slums today. Yet, on Sunday afternoon, their childhood was awakened... They were able to just be kids.

Moments like these make being in missions all worth it. THEY are worth it! Investing in the lives of these children, spending quality time with them, giving them opportunities to make childhood memories, teaching them that life is good because our God is GOOD and He wants to redeem all things - this is our passion of working with children living in at risk situations.

It was a perfect day for making memories...

Justice and the Love of God

2012-01-13T17:57:00.000-02:00

It was a rainy December day here in busy Belo Horizonte, Brazil. I was standing under a covered area just outside the grocery store, with my shopping cart and my daughter Sophia, while my husband was unsuccessfully trying to flag down a taxi to take us home. The rain was pouring, and Sophia and I stood patiently waiting, as it was extremely difficult to get a taxi due to the rain.

Then a little girl suddenly approached us. She was probably about 9 years old, and she had a sad look in her eyes. Her clothes were tattered and worn, but she was well-kept enough to show she was not living on the streets. She spoke to me, asking for some money so she could buy herself a snack.

I turned to her and asked, "Why are you asking me for money? Why doesn't your mom give you money to buy a snack?"

Silence...

I then said with a kind smile, "You know what? You should not be out here in the streets begging for money. You should be at home playing or at school with your friends learning."

The little girl continued to stare at me with her sweet sad face, waiting to see if I would give or not. My heart was aching for her. In situations like these, many times I want to give, but I also know it is not always the best thing to do. I try to stay sensitive to the Lord and what He would have me say or do.

On this day I continued to talk with the girl. She told me that she lives in a nearby slum with her mom who does not work. She then moved on to others to see if she could get anything out of them.

About 5 minutes later I glanced back to see if the little girl was still close by. She was sitting with what appeared to be her mother and her older sister, eating a snack from a nearby stand. Mission accomplished. She had gotten her snack, probably as a result of her begging.

My heart was deeply saddened...

This is all to common here in Brazil. Children beg in the streets everyday here in the city of Belo Horizonte and in other major cities across the country. Children are actually often pressured to beg by their parents, to obtain food, money or other things.

I am not sure if this little girl was being pressured by her mom to beg or not, but my heart did break for her, for the situation. No child should ever be put in the situation to have to beg in the streets. The negative results of this are many...

At the beginning of this year I made the decision to read through the Bible in 2012. So far, so good! I have been reading daily and God has been showing me new things in His Word.

The other day as I was reading in the book of Luke, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, actually correcting and confronting them, about the condition of their hearts.

Jesus said, "What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things." (Luke 11:42)

This verse struck me. Jesus wants us to deeply value JUSTICE and the LOVE of GOD. He wants us to live this. He wants our lives to reflect His heart of justice and love. As Jesus told the Pharisees, yes it is good to tithe, it is good to follow rules, but we should not "neglect the more important things" which is justice and the love of God.

I examine my own heart... I don't want to be like a Pharisee. I pray God would purify me, and give me a heart that is seeking for His justice and His love. How can His love and justice be expressed through my life?

As I was thinking about all this, God reminded me of the little girl outside the grocery store begging for money.

I PRAY... I pray she would have an encounter with the love of God and that He would move in His justice in her life.

I HOPE... I hope for more opportunities to talk to children like her, to tell them of God's love - of Hope Himself.

I PLAN... I plan to work with girls living here in the slum of Cafezal. How many of them are pressured to beg in the streets? How many of them suffer the consequences of living a life of suffering and poverty?

I want to bring light into the darkness, speak God's truth instead of the lies, teach the needy about His promise of abundant life that comes from a loving and just Father God.

JUSTICE and the LOVE of GOD

We can share this only by the grace of God...

Lord, teach us...

What We Are Up To...

2012-01-10T10:27:00.000-02:00

At the moment our lives are out of the normal routine. Where we work, the Lighthouse Community Center, we operate basically on the same schedule as the schools in Brazil. Since December, school has been out for the summer. YES, it is summer here in Brazil (we are in the southern hemisphere). Just like the schools, we are officially closed during the holiday/summer season.

The front entrance of the Lighthouse Community Center.

We take advantage of this special time to work on various practical things to keep the ministry going and to effectively plan and prepare for 2012. Even though our normal programs are not currently running (they will start in February), there is plenty to do around here and we have been busy!

First we moved from our little round house to a much larger home on the Lighthouse property. We are still not completely settled in, but we are already enjoying the spacious place we have now. Sophia loves it too!

Our BIG living room!

We still have some unpacking and organizing to do, as we want to paint the kitchen and this room - which is Sophia's future bedroom. More photos to come of our new home once we finish fixing it up!

Felipe has been cleaning the pool lots lately, as the Lighthouse swimming teacher (who is responsible for cleaning the pool) is away on vacation for a month. Felipe is our new pool man!

Felipe has also been trying to work in the yard, but it has been quite challenging as it's the rainy season here. With the constant rain it is challenging to find a good time to cut the grass. It is raining literally almost every day!

For a few weeks, I, Laura, was responsible for the finances of the ministry (while the 2 ladies, who are normally in charge, were on vacation). It was my job to make sure all the bills were being paid and to handle and document all financial affairs of the ministry. I was intimidated to temporarily take on this responsibility, but I successfully completed the task and I surprisingly enjoyed it too!

Almost daily, Felipe has also been inviting different groups of children to come to the Lighthouse to either play soccer or swim in the only pool that is located in our slum. The kids love to come to the Lighthouse to play!

I think the most exciting thing I have been up to lately is that I am taking driving lessons!!! Here is a photo of me with my driving teacher, whose name is also Filipe.

After about 16 years of driving only automatic cars, I am finally learning how to drive a manual car. In Brazil there are mainly manual cars, so driving a stick-shift is a MUST. I finally had the courage to try to learn so I am taking lessons from a nearby Auto-School. I have my license from the USA, and I only have to register and submit a few documents to the transportation department and I can drive here in Brazil.

Hopefully, soon I will be driving a Kombi, which is a Volks Wagon van, owned by the Lighthouse Community Center. I am starting to drive in Brazil because of a need of more drivers to serve the ministry in various practical ways. Surprisingly, many people do not know how to drive in Brazil. It is very expensive to take driving lessons and to own a car in Brazil, so many people depend on the public transportation system and simply never learn to drive. Felipe does not know how to drive, but would soon like to start the process of getting his driving license.

Please pray for me as learning to drive in Brazil is quite different - I am doing well though and enjoying the challenge! The traffic can be bad, there are LOTS of hills in our city (Belo Horizonte) which make driving tricky, and people drive much more crazy here! On top of it all I am still adjusting to driving a manual car, but I am getting the hang of it fast. I am excited about driving here soon!

Sophia has been enjoying being back home at the Lighthouse Community Center. She especially loves playing outside and spending quality time with all her aunties and uncles (our team members).

Sophia is a great source of joy and brings much happiness and many smiles to everyone she comes in contact with. Our friend Kelly is one of Sophia's favorite people!

During this "closed" time the Lighthouse team does lots of practical work. We use this time to do deep cleaning in various areas. Just last week a team of us did a good cleaning of the Lighthouse kitchen. This week we have some other areas on our "to do" list to tackle.

Also, we start each work day as a team talking, praying and some days we even have worship times together. It is our prayer that God is the center of all that we do here at the Lighthouse Community Center and every act of service is worship unto Him!

For from Him and

through Him and

for Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever! Amen

Romans 11:36

New Year, New Chair

2012-01-03T15:49:00.000-02:00

On New Year's day Sophia received a special gift from Felipe's family, and Felipe was able to get some fun photos of Sophia opening and enjoying her present!

Sophia is saying, "Wooooow!!!!" as she is discovering that the gift is a cute, little, purple chair.

As Goldilocks would say, "This chair is just right!"

Enjoying her gift!

Watching the Muppets - Mahna Mahna!

Focused Sophia with family admiring...

I am thankful to have family here in Brazil. I am thankful for the times they can visit and for the sweet surprise gifts they give that bring smiles to our faces, as we watch Sophia's delight of receiving and discovering. These are the moments that bring joy to our souls.

I praise God for the thoughtfulness of others and I am grateful for the little things-

like a cute, little, purple chair.

My Personal Challenge for 2012

2011-12-27T19:14:00.000-02:00

I am a person who loves a good challenge.

I was recently challenged in a preaching by Jim Stier, the founder of Youth With A Mission in Brazil. We heard him speak several times at a YWAM National conference we recently attended. One night at this conference, Jim Stier said many awesome things about the Word of God...

Here are a few points from Jim Stier's preaching.

The WORD of God comes alive because of a PERSON,  JESUSCHRIST. 

Society is transformed whenJESUS is known.  When the Holy Spirit touchesand moves on a person and brings transformation it is because of an encounter withJESUS CHRIST. 

Everyone has ideas on how tobring change and help the poor, but true transformation comes through anencounter with JESUS.  We can encounterHIM through the WORD and through spending time with HIM…

After hearing this preaching I was challenged, encouraged and inspired once again to know the Lord MORE. To be in the Word more and to come to know Jesus more through spending time with Him and spending time in the Word.

Being a missionary, sometimes I have seen how I am constantly talking to the Lord about our missions work and sometimes I can really be consumed with all that is related to serving on the mission field. Honestly, I have been guilty of putting my focus in the wrong place. During my quiet times I end up praying about problems or situations here in the ministry where we work or for the children and families living in the slum where we live. My quiet times become completely consumed with these things. Of course God tells us to pour our hearts out to Him and to pray about all things, but I know many times I am getting my focus in the wrong place.

Through this preaching I just sensed God reminding me to just be with Him, to be in His Word, to seek to know Him and to purposely FOCUS on Him - His Word, His character. Jesus wants to be the center of my attention during my personal times alone with Him.

I left the service that night with a reignited hunger and desire to know the Lord and to be in the Word more.

DELIGHTING

Today as I was doing things around the house I was thinking about our daughter Sophia. She brings SO MUCH joy to my life and I truly delight in her. In the littlest things she says and does I am amazed. I find myself stopping everything to watch her and spend time with her. I am utterly in awe of who she is, this precious life God has entrusted to me to raise and mother. I deeply delight in my daughter Sophia.

As I was reflecting on how much I delight in Sophia, I felt a stirring in my heart and I prayed, "Lord, I want to delight in YOU more..."

I know that in delighting in my daughter, I am (in a way) also delighting in the Lord. I praise the Lord for Sophia and He uses her life to speak deeply to me of His Father heart, His abundant love, life, joy, grace, goodness and character. This is awesome, but I am realizing lately how little I stop and really delight in who the Lord is... I want to learn again what it means to delight myself in the Lord, to be in wonder and amazement of Him, of His creation, of His Word.

In my quiet time today I read Psalm 1 and this jumped off the page:

Blessed is the one...whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

(vs. 1-3)

While reading I again prayed, "God I want to delight in You. I want to delight in Your Word."

My Personal CHALLENGE for 2012

While still at the YWAM National Conference, a few days after hearing Jim Stier's message about the Word of God, I was looking through our conference packet at the various freebies we had received. I found a pamphlet entitled Read the Bible in One Year, with nicely organized daily Bible readings for each day of the year.

"God do you want me to do this?" I thought.

This week my mind returned to this and now I am convinced that this is something I should try to attempt. I have never read the Bible in one year before, and I know that it's definitely a goal worth devoting myself to.

I want to commit to reading the whole Bible in 2012 and posting it here will hold me accountable and help me to actually do this. From time to time I may post some of the things God shares with me, I am expecting revelation already - YAY! I know sometimes it may be challenging to read daily, but I really want knowing the Lord and reading and living His Word to become more of a priority in my life.

I am not sure what 2012 will hold, but I want to choose to hold on to the Word of God and commit to knowing my precious Lord more.

On the Move!

2011-12-19T12:54:00.001-02:00

Lately, it seems like we have been on the move literally all the time! Here is a look at our lives during the last few months.

In the beginning of October we flew to the USA for a visit. We spent 3 weeks visiting my family in South Carolina. All of my family finally got to meet our daughter Sophia and we made lots of memories.

At the end of October we drove up to Raleigh, North Carolina and spent 3 weeks visiting dear friends and our home church (Covenant Church International – ccifamily.org). We also had the opportunity to share about our missions work here in Brazil through speaking in various small groups. We were extremely refreshed during this time. God encouraged us more than we could have imagined!

For Thanksgiving we drove back down to my parent’s house in South Carolina to celebrate. We had 23 family members attending our Thanksgiving meal and enjoyed seeing all of our extended family!

Just two days after Thanksgiving day, we flew to Barbados where we taught for a week about working with Children at Risk in a Justice Discipleship Training School at a Youth With A Mission base. During this week God was revealing His heart more and more to us about hurting children living in at risk situations all over the world. It was a very special week for us as a family.

We also got to see a few sights on the island while visiting Barbados. To see more photos of Barbados click here.

In the beginning of December we flew from Barbados back to the USA and visited my family for the last time. During our last few days in the USA we were able to see our nephews perform in their church Christmas program, which was such a treat! There was even a live nativity at their church, which we enjoyed while reading scripture and singing Christmas carols.

I was really thankful to celebrate and experience a little bit of Christmas with my family, even though we will not be in the USA on Christmas day.

We were also happy to be able to celebrate my mom’s birthday as a family! We had to fly out on the night of her birthday, but it was nice to spend some time with her on her special day.

After flying all night, we arrived in Brazil on December 9^th . We were tired but happy to be home. Sophia was especially happy to see her kitty Amora!

We rested for 2 days in our little round house and then we were on the move again! This time we traveled by bus (with all the missionaries from our YWAM base) to a city 12 hours away – called Caldas Novas- to attend the YWAM National Conference for all of the YWAM bases in Brazil.

We spent a week in hotel/conference center enjoying times of fellowship, prayer, worship, teachings, and hearing testimonies of what God is doing through YWAM in Brazil and all over the world. We were very inspired!

We also had fun swimming in the pools at the conference center - which are full of warm water from natural hot springs in this area of Brazil. We had fun swimming!

After a 12 hour bus trip back to Belo Horizonte we arrived at the Lighthouse Community Center, SUPER thankful to FINALLY be able to say,“We are HOME!” However, in just a few days we will be on the move again!

Later this week we are moving out of our little round house, across the gravel driveway, to a larger home here inside the Lighthouse Community Center. Our friends, Beckie and Dave, and their 2 boys have been here at the Lighthouse for the last 4 years and they feel God is calling them to return to England for the next season of their lives. We will miss them dearly! With their moving out, their house will be empty and available so we are moving into a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house. We are also inheriting their dog Humble!

We are praising the Lord for His provision of more space as we are praying and hoping to grow our family in 2012, God willing. We will be sure to post photos of our new home once we are moved and settled!

We are thankful that we will not be “on the move” anymore… We are looking forward to settling into our new home and embracing this next season God has for us as we share God’s love and hope with the children and families living in the Cafezal slum.

We are HOME… Home sweet home…

A wife of noble character

2011-12-07T02:21:00.001-02:00

by Felipe

Hi everybody.
This is a quick and special post.
If you don't know (maybe you do) every day seven of the month is a very special day for me and for Laura. We started dating on September 7, 2008, we got engaged on December 7, 2008 and we got married on August 7, 2009.

Laura is a great wife, awesome mother, and a good friend. I never thought I would have found someone so amazing like her. She shows me how to be like Jesus, how to have a pure heart and how much I need to grow in Christ.

And Laura thank you for believing in me.

I love you

And here are two videos that I thought I had lost. One is from when we were dating, and the other one is a slide show from our wedding.

"A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies."

Proverbs 31:10