Prairie Ridge Church Mission to Lar Batista June 5th - 16th

by Grace Fragoso on June 8th, 2009 | 1 comment

June 9th - 14 - Mission accomplished!

Dear friends, I am sorry that these updates were not more frequent. We had a great time and it is a joy to share this experience with you. An extreme Make Over without the cameras and the budget of the TV show, which I actually like a lot, is  not only very interesting, but also an opportunity to trust the Lord in every little way.  As I got a bit stressed to gett hings done soon, the guys would tell me  that "the show is not until Sunday" but for me, I just wanted to get things done before we left on Saturday morning. We got so much done in such a short time and I'm sure everyone was pleased!

I mentioned before that the team coming from the USA was small in size, but we could never say that the team was small in their ability and desire to serve the Lord by giving the girls at Lar nothing but the best! We moved the girls out of their dorm and it was a fun time to have ALL of them with us at Rute and Raquel's house. We had a full week of slumber party, which was wonderful for everything but sleep!

The team worked really hard, starting early in the morning and going on until late in the afternoon. Several of the older boys at Lar came from the farm and helped us a whole lot, but it was the effort of the younger guys that really impressed me. We did have to hire two skilled workers to help tear down the roof and putting the new one up. We did most of the work and we had a great time in the process.

Pai, in his kindness got us the supplies to work. Choosing the color for the building is always a fun process, since those who use the building get to choose the color. The girls mentioned colors like purple, red, orange and other colors as well. It was impossible to please everyone, but with a little creativity and help, we were able to create a special purple/lavender color using the off white paint we had with a deep purple that had previously been mistakenly bought and the rooms got the off white paint and the new purple made the hall, bathroom and living room a very beautiful and pleasant dorm for my little sisters. We had a rainy day, but we made a good thing out of it, working on the inside of the dorm and also playing with grandma Cheryl and the team, spending time in the classroom working on puzzles and games. We also got to go to town that afternoon and let the team walk around town for a while. We had a great time at the shoe stores, which is an advantage to having a team with mostly women. Evan was nice and understanding and found himself a sporting goods store really soon!

Wednesday
We had church at our beautiful chapel as opposed to the church. It was a beautiful service and a dream come true, to be able to have a service there. Over the week we used the chapel several times and it was always great. We had a light dinner of hot dogs that night and everyone seemed to really like hot dogs, Brazil style and all the add-ons that we typically would not have here! We had a great time!

Thursday
We woke up to a sunny day and worked hard again on the outside of the building. We worked until late, cleaning the dorm with the help of the team and also the girls who will live there. Ingrid, Gabriela, Cheiyenne and Bia, the youngest residents of the dorm were there, working hard to make their house beautiful! also Jhennifer and several of the boys worked with Rute until the end! We and also played. It reminded me of a sentence I once heard: Do not play where you cannot do your ministry and don't minister where you can't play! Lar is a wonderful place for just that, minister and play!

Friday
We could not believe Friday was already there! We worked in the morning and after lunch, we headed to the farm. Lar Batista had just received a memorial gift in honor of Aunt Janice, from Iowa, who passed away recently. We headed to the farm and were able to have a wonderful time of prayer for her family, thank the Lord for her life and also, in her honor, plant a fruit orchard! Several citrus trees as well as peach and apple were planted and it was even more special to have a team from Iowa there to help us in this project. Having known Janice for so many years, it was a blessing for me to be there to plant that in her honor. That is a gift that will keep on giving and it will be great to see that orchard in a few years! God is so good! Later that day, we finished the cleaning, and touch ups on the paint job and after the beds had been cleaned we brought them into the beautiful rooms. We made each bed with a new set of sheets. The team brought each girl a new bath towel, tooth brush, paste and little girly things that were on each bed as we brought the girls in, one at a time, to see their new rooms. They were SO happy! We all got lots of hugs and smiles for a job well done! It was an amazing feeling, to be able to do something like that for them.

Saturday
Morning came fast... that is never an easy time. We had breakfast and said our goodbyes. As we got to the bus, Cheiyenne came up to me, gave me a tight hug and said: Thank you for my room! It is beautiful! What a way to leave! We had a good time at the falls and a good de-briefing time as well. I told the team this rest was a reward for a job well done and that is absolutely true! It is our prayer that God will continue to do the work He has started in us. It is our desire and prayer as a team, that we have impacted the lives at Lar and not impressed them with anything we have done or said.  We got back to the USA and  we had a safe trip back home.

Please continue to pray for the team as they go back into their lives back home, jobs, etc. Also pray for Cheryl and Evan that are at Lar until the end of the month. Thank you so much for praying us though this mission and thank you for praying such an important role.

Lar Batista is very thankful to God for Prairie Ridge Church, from Iowa,  for sending us this team and the funds to make this renovation possible. We love you and have you in our prayers.

The boys' dorm at Lar is in as bad of a shape as the girls' was. Please pray that we will be able to do the same renovation in their dorm as well.

In Jesus' love,

grace,

for the Prairie Ridge team

 

June 8th 2009 - Extreme make over - Lar Batista Edition

We are glad to let you know our team made it here to Lar Batista really well. We did not have any delays and got to Lar about 6 PM on Saturday night. We were received with lots of cheers and smiles from every one at Lar. It was so good to be home again. The size of the team is small and it has helped a lot in the bonding process with the children and family here. Food has been great, fellowship also. Our time at church, both Sunday morning and evening were wonderful! There is something about worshiping in different languages with other believers that I love so much!

Today we woke up and started the demolition process. The girls were so happy to find out their house was the one getting a face lift this time. We brought down the roof and also the ceiling, which was in extreme bad shape, we are in the process of fixing things up and cleaning a whole lot of bird nests and things so that we can get the new roof and ceiling up. We will paint the inside of the dorm before the ceiling goes up!

The outside of the building also gets a fresh coat of paint and it will look really good. I will keep the suspense, but it should suffice to say that the girls in that building got to choose the color of their dorm. Think BRIGHT! I will also post some pictures in our next blog update.

Until then, please keep us in your prayers and we will do our very best here at Lar, to do every thing in a manner worthy of the Lord who sent us here.

Blessings to you,

grace

 

June 5th 2009  Off to Brasil we go!

There is so much involved in taking a team on a short term mission that  unless you are in one, either as someone going or helping put it together, it is hard to fully understand. I also see it as a huge opportunity to see the LORD at work. With this team it has not been any different. We believe God wanted us to go to Brasil and together we overcame every one of the many obstacles we had. God has been good and placed people in very strategic places to go to bet for us. Cecille, at our visa office did a great job and would not take NO for an answer until the last visa was approved yesterday, June 4th! Talk about the 1th hour! She would call and remind me that "we really need to pray hard for this one" and God honored that and granted Ella her visa. Another angel was placed at  FedEx here in Memphis. Linda Lucatelli. She went out of her way to  make sure  this passport was available for this trip and I know how involved it was. That in itself is a long story for later.

All that to say... there is so much that goes into a mission trip BEFORE you can get on a plane and go somewhere. No wonder we call it a mission!  Well, we are happy and excited and we are getting ready to meet up in Houston, TX tonight for our flight to Brasil. Lar Batista is excited we are coming and they are praying us down there. I would ask you to do the same. I would ask you to pray especially for Cheryl Pittman's mom, Fran, who is in a fragile health condition. Pray all will be well in Cheryl's absence.  Well, the weather forecast is 52F where we are headed and it has been colder than that this week. Enjoy your summer and we will keep you all posted on this Adventure in Love.

Here is our team, please pray for us:
Cheryl Pittman, has been to Lar at least 7 times, all others are coning for the first time.
Ella Broadbooks,
Evan B Burger,
Tara Hogan,
Angela Timp,
Amy Blize,
Grace Fragoso, well, I have been to Lar a time or two :)

We will check in with you when we get to our Brazilian home! Thank you for your prayers.

God is good!
Grace

"For I know the plans I have for you" says the Lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and hope"

Next entry: Back to Lar Batista, Brazil!

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