Brazil is one of my favorite countries. The places where I go in Brazil, they don’t seem to care at all about what shade your skin is or where you are from. Everyone is treated the same way.
The people that we have met have been SO hospitable! They want to feed you, and they are wonderful cooks! No one eats ANYTHING without sharing it. John and I don’t drink coffee! Never, ever! We even drank coffee for the first time. They make it SO strong here, that they serve it in these little tiny cups. It’s often served with amazing flan. I am so happy to be sharing this experience with my husband! This is his first time in Brazil.
The organization that we work with here goes directly into the favelas many times every week and works in the poorest areas. Their # 1 objective is sharing the gospel. #2 is meeting the next deepest needs of the children of these communities. The ways that they help these children are both creative and endless!
Today we helped as Nate (a Missionary from the states who lives here), picked out ingredients that the mothers in the favelas, could make with expired produce, that they can get easily for little or nothing.
He then teaches them to use these items!
One of the things they can get are bananas that are over ripe. Nate asked me to wash some clusters of bananas. I thought it a little odd, but I have told John, “Nate always has method to his madness!” I washed the bananas. Next he asked me to peel them. Then it got more strange! Nate asked one of the summer interns and I to take a fork and shred the banana peels. This made the peel look similar to pasta, dark, slimy pasta. Meanwhile Nate was heating some butter, peppers and onions on the stove, and dancing between that and mixing some concoction in a bowl. What he did next blew our minds. He fried the banana peels in the skillet, adding his homemade BBQ sauce. Then he mixed cilantro with his homemade mayo. He took a bun, put the banana peel mixture in the bun, then topped it with the cilantro and mayo mixture! What came out was a beautiful sandwich that looked like what you would find in a super trendy restaurant. It was a pulled pork sandwich (looked and tasted like it) but made with banana peels that would have been thrown away!
Nate is an organic gardener, and he takes produce cultivated from his garden into this community every week, but that is one or two days a week. He came up with an incredible idea to find out what foods they can get, then teach them lots of ways to use them.
This is just one example of small things that make a big difference in the lives of these children. This group that we are working with, they do countless things every day to make life better for children here, starting with their spiritual well-being.
We are honored to be working with this amazing group of people!
If you are interested in coming on a trip like this, please give us a call!
Nate is an organic gardener, and he takes produce cultivated from his garden into this community every week, but that is one or two days a week. He came up with an incredible idea to find out what foods they can get, then teach them lots of ways to use them.
No comments:
Post a Comment