Intergenerational friendships

Hello world!

Again, apologies for not blogging for so long. I know I’m rubbish – sorry!

I want to talk about something that came up while I was at the Methodist Women in Britain annual residential conference, in Swanwick. The theme of the weekend was ‘Crossing the Chasm’.

I first came into to contact with Methodist Women in Britain when I met the lovely Jill Baker, the current President, at Conference 2012, and I have got to know the movement better over my year as Youth President. Jill and Rachel, the Helen Kim Memorial Scholar (http://vimeo.com/58792816), spoke during one of the debates about MWiB and particularly the place for younger women in the movement. My two memories from their (very enthusiastic and slick!) speech are Rachel explaining that MWiB is ‘about more than just making jam!’ and them finishing talking about the involvement of younger women by one saying ‘it’s good news for us!’ and the other saying ‘and it’s good news for me!’

While at the Swanwick Conference I was interviewed during the opening session. One of the questions I was asked in the interview was ‘how can we connect with younger women when their lives are so different from ours; they spend so much time surfing the internet and using social media, I feel like we have nothing in common and I have nothing relevant to offer’. What a poignant question! Clearly many older people feel that there is a chasm between them and the younger generation. Can we cross this chasm? Is it worth crossing?

I started my answer talking about the value of real life relationships. I am a fan of social media and value it as a tool to use to keep in touch with friends and family across the country and across the world, but in my opinion it cannot match real face to face friendships.

I became a Christian at the age of 16 and since then have been a part of four different churches in three different towns – one Anglican, two Pentecostal, and one Methodist. They are four quite different churches with different styles, different demographics of congregations and some differing theological viewpoints. Many differences but I want to draw attention to a similarity. In each one I made friends – or rather, I was made friends with! I’m not the most ‘people’ of people (my husband on the other hand is a charmer and does plenty of friend making for the both of us!) but as I look back over the landscape of my life in past 7 years I can see a number of Christian people, particularly women and particularly women who are older than me, lining the way. They have played a very significant part in my life and my journey as a disciple. They have a part in who I have become and am becoming. They have demonstrated a simple, heartfelt, unwavering care for me. Some I have been and am very close to, some I don’t know very well but have received many a friendly smile or hello from. Some have been around for years, some for a few months or even weeks. Two were my youth leaders back at the very beginning; an unforgettable example of how to share your life (including the sucky bits) with young people and by doing this show them how God is there through it all. One was my host for two years; she welcomed the most random of people into her home (including me) and lived a beautiful combination of generosity, prayer and evangelism daily. Another is an elderly lady who always gave fabulous hugs while everyone else shook hands during ‘peace be with you’; the only person I felt comfortable to share a room with at the church weekend away.

 

 

Some of our church friends at our wedding

Young people need these sorts of relationships. They need more than Facebook friends and Twitter followers. They need people who will notice when they don’t turn up for a few weeks. They need people who will cook a good healthy meal with plenty of vegetables for them when they are living on pasta and cheap tomato sauce at university. They need people who will believe in them. They need people who will sit next to them at church. They need people who will invite them round for a cup of tea. They need people who will tell them they are praying for them when they have exams. They need people who will say ‘you look lovely today’. They need people who will send them encouraging cards when they have moved far away from home. They need people who will look them in the eye and say ‘are you ok?’. They need role models, companions, stories to learn from and shoulders to cry on. They need people with wisdom and experience, with love, with hugging arms and squeezing hands and praying hearts who are actually there in their lives.

Church can offer the sort of community that I haven’t found anywhere else. Young people may not often come into contact with people of other generations other than family and teachers – I don’t think I did, until I joined a church. Now I have friends in their 0s, 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s!!

Young people; chat to the older people around you. The chasm between generations needs to be crossed from both sides. Get to know them as individuals. Make an effort to build a friendship with someone outside of your normal comfort zone. It will brighten up your life and theirs. 

Older people; don’t underestimate what you can contribute to a young person’s life today. As I told the women at the MWiB conference, God has put you where you are as the person that you are today. You can cross the chasm. Be brave - reach out to a young person. It really will be good for them and good for you. Your love and care will make a huge difference.  The internet is no match for you.

 

Note - safeguarding vulnerable people, including young people, is important. To find out more about the Methodist Church's safeguarding policy click here: http://www.methodist.org.uk/ministers-and-office-holders/safeguarding

 

 

 

Truth and Lies about Poverty

This morning many of us will have read or heard news reports of Mick and Mairead Philpott being found guilty of starting a fire which killed their six children in May last year.

The tragedy was the result of a plot in which Mick aimed to frame his ex mistress for arson, and gain custody of four of his other children whom she had removed from what had been the family home.

It brought tears to my eyes to see the cheeky little faces of those innocent children. They remind me of the hundreds, maybe thousands of children I have met as I have worked in schools, churches and communities.

One report I read was in the Daily Mail. The front page:

 

It seems to me to be both unfair and completely disrespectful to use this story to take shots at the welfare system. To describe innocent children as being ‘bred’ as ‘cash cows’ dehumanizes them and detracts from the true horror of this story. The true horror of this story is not that this family took home £60,000 per year in benefits. The true horror of this story is not that they had 17 children. The true horror of this story is not that this man appeared on the Jeremy Kyle show asking for a bigger house for his huge and convoluted family.

The true horror of this story is that six innocent children, human children with personalities and friends and tempers and favourite subjects and toys and toothbrushes, died because of the actions of the people who should have loved them and protected them from harm.

I do not think that the welfare system caused Mick Philpott to turn mystically into the selfish, controlling, deceitful man that he seems to be. This is what the Daily Mail seems intent on implying. What makes a person who they are? What makes someone risk the lives of their children, for any reason? To blame the welfare system is a pretty big and unsubstantiated leap. There are thousands of people who need to claim benefits and are honest people and loving parents. At the other end of the scale there are those who are rolling in money yet cheat on their taxes, exploit others and have unhealthy relationships. A recent headline story of a man who killed his parents for their £230,000 inheritance shows us what we actually already know; rich, poor or somewhere in the middle, people can choose to be selfish, or malicious, or deceitful.

The danger of running a headline such as the one in the Daily Mail is that it twists the emphasis of a tragic story to create a rhetoric that demonises those in our society who are living in poverty and relying on the welfare system. This is an abuse of the memory of those children.

Our society is being encouraged to believe a number of lies about people living in poverty. We are told that ‘they’ are lazy, that ‘they’ are cheating the system, and that ‘they’ have an easy comfortable life raking it in on benefits. Cases like this are out there, but they are the absolute minority. Yes, there are people who take advantage of our welfare system, but not many, and we need to know that despite what our government and the media sometimes tell us. According to the Truth and Lies about Poverty Report recently published by the Joint Public Issues Team, benefit fraud is about 0.9% of payments, about £1.9 million. On the other hand tax avoidance is about 6% of revenues due, about £30 billion. Only 3% of families on benefits receive more than £10,000 in housing benefit a year – many struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis. Only 8% of families claiming benefits have three or more children.

People living in poverty need to be helped, not hated – even those abusing the welfare system. As Christians we are called to love people. In my opinion the story of the Philpott family shows the disastrous consequences of selfishness and greed, not the disastrous consequences of the welfare system. And I think that the lies about poverty that we hear – and ultimately the idea that some people deserve good and healthy lives and some don’t – boost the selfishness and greed in our society.

The story of the Philpott family didn’t make me angry that they took home whatever in benefits. It made me sad most of all; sad because of the suffering of those children, and sad because it showed me that the claims of the Truth and Lies about Poverty report are correct. We are being tricked. We are allowing ourselves to be tricked. Stories of individuals behaving in awful ways are being used to turn us against those living in poverty. As Christians we must speak out against this.

‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Defend the rights of those who have nothing. Speak up and judge fairly, and defend the rights of the poor and needy’.

Proverbs 31.9

Learning to be kind.

In January I visited a Methodist circuit in the Midlands. I stayed with the circuit Youth and Children’s worker Vickie, her husband Chris and her son Dylan, who is 8 years old. I visited 2 local youth groups and spoke at an evening service. I also got well introduced to Dylan's train set, the games on his Ipod, the things he likes to do on his computer and his pet birds.

When I left after the weekend I was surprised to receive a text from my hosts saying that Dylan was very upset that I had left – in fact he didn’t stop crying for an hour.

I was surprised because, to me, I did nothing out of the ordinary.

This weekend I travelled up to Lancashire to be a part of Inspire 7, an annual district event with worship, a keynote speaker and a number of interesting workshops. I was involved in planning and running the youth stream. The young people were fantastic and I think spending the day with them was one of the highlights of my year so far (I say that too often!)

There was a 3 year old girl in one of the sessions, the daughter of one of the leaders. He was leading the session, and so couldn’t respond to her tugging on his trousers. I crossed the room, knelt beside her, said hello, wiped off the chocolate that was smeared around her face and found her some papers and colouring pens.

Later on, she came and round me amongst a crowd of people, and with a surprisingly strong little hand dragged me across the room to see her picture. From then on I was her friend – the one she wanted to help her, to pick her up, to look at her pictures.

I was surprised because, to me, I did nothing out the ordinary.

On Sunday evening I visited One Programme Participant Matt Collins at his project, Methodist Action North West. I joined Matt to help at a drop-in in Preston and was given the job of making hot drinks. In the space of three hours the team of nine volunteers, plus me, served hot drinks and a two course hot meal to 50 homeless and vulnerable people. I totally loved it.

I was surprised because, to me, what those volunteers do is completely extraordinary.

During my week off I went with some members of my church to an awards ceremony at the local Young Offenders Institute. A group of the young men there had taken part in a Prince’s Trust Course, which included spending three days painting our church. We heard their stories; why they were in prison, how their time inside had affected them, hopes for the future, messages of love and thanks to their families and the prison staff. We shared tea and cakes with them, and I even volunteered for a demonstration. I totally loved it.

I was surprised because, to me, people who work with offenders are completely extraordinary.

Being kind to children comes very easily to me. I realise that some people see children as a nuisance, but to me they are very rarely anything other than a sheer joy – even the naughty ones. Why do all the other people in the room ignore the bored chocolatey 3 year old? Why do other people not love seeing the enthusiasm of an eight year old with a train set? It makes me quite sad that I stand out when I do these things, because it means that other people don’t do it. A little bit of attention goes a very very long way.

On the other hand, if I am honest, I find being kind to homeless people or young offenders more difficult. I am ashamed to admit, I would be person who sometimes crosses the street to avoid the Big Issue man outside the bank. I’ve never previously visited our local Youth Offending Institute despite being invited numerous times. These things come awkwardly to me. It’s not a feeling of a dislike but a feeling of discomfort. A subconscious avoidence. I imagine this is how some people feel around children.

I long to be kind.

I long to be kind when it is easy and natural.

I long to be kind when it needs conscious thought, a bit of effort, working through discomfort.   

Some challenges to finish with:

Firstly: where, and with you, do you find it easy to be kind? Celebrate this - things that feel natural and obvious to you, don't to everyone. Recognise the gifts and natural strengths that God has given you.

Secondly: where and with whom do you find it a bit more difficult to be kind? This could either be a mild sense of discomfort, an unconscious avoidence, or it might be you can think of times when it's actually really hard. Over the next few days find opportunities to be kind in places where it doesn’t come naturally.

Give another person your attention, just for a little while. Show interest in what is important to them. Wipe the chocolate from the face, buy the big issue, look past the crime. Let's be people who are kind. 

The highlight of my trip!

From Friday until Sunday I had the pleasure of joining in with the biannual meeting of the Confederation of Youth of the Methodist Church Brazil. They were meeting at the National Headquarters, Sao Paolo, and the agenda included structure and organisation, youth training and mission projects for this coming      year. The group consists of the executive – a President (Renato), Vice President (Sinval), Secretary (Cacau), Finance Officer (Simone) and Communication Officer (Julio) – and a president and/or vice president of each of the 8 regions.

 

The Confederation covers the 18-35 age group, so significantly different from the Children and Youth remit of GB which is up to 23 years. The Confederation is the national body, and each region has a Federation. The executive serve for 5 years and the regional people for two, although they can be re-elected.  Their vision is “Being young people committed to the Methodist Church fulfilling their prophetic role in society and in the Church's decisions, reflecting the unity of the Body of Christ” and the team’s theme for this five years is “Connected to Serve”. They have a lovely attitude of serving and wanting to not just pick the easy bits of God’s calling; prosperity theology is common in Brazil and Latin America in general where status is very important. They are all volunteers and extremely dedicated and hardworking. They are doing a wonderful job with little resources compared to Great Britain and no paid national children and youth staff. In fact, it is unknown to have paid youth, children's or family workers in churches or the community in Brazil which really surprised me - the job just doesn't exist. I would love to see an increase in investing in children and young people in this way in the future in Brazil - perhaps the Methodist Church could lead the way?!

 

 

Most of them have known each other and been working together for a number of years so they are good friends and laughter regularly run around the room. It wasn’t a sort of friendship that excludes new people though – in fact I felt completely welcome and comfortable. It’s strange how strong the inclination to laugh when a whole room is laughing is, even when you don’t know why everyone is laughing!

I didn’t attend all the parts of the meetings as they had a lot of business to get through and some just wasn’t necessary for me to be involved in, so I had the luxury of catching up on sleep and emails, and Skyping some family and friends, which was really nice.  The Confederation looked after me really well!

On Friday night I joined a meeting with the ‘Malta’ section of the Confederation. Malta is the mission branch of the Confederation. They are currently planning mission activities during the Confederation Cup (June 2013) and the World Cup (June & July 2014) and I was able to tell them about the missional activities of the church in Great Britain during the Olympics and Paralympics, speaking about national events I’d heard of and on a more personal level of my experiences through my in depth involvement with Refresh, an ecumenical project in Weymouth and Portland (sailing events venue). Got really great feedback and they said it had really inspired them about what a great opportunity sporting events are and how much we can do to bless, engage with and show God’s heart to our communities and visitors.

On Saturday I had the opportunity to talk to the whole group about the Methodist Church in Great Britain and ended up talking for two hours!! I expected I’d only last an hour – can’t believe I had that much information in my brain! Just shows how things sink in when you are in an environment consistently and for a while.  I covered general recent history, national structure, my role, the Connexional team, children and youth work including the Youth Participation Strategy, 3Generate, the Reps, the One Programme, the vision of the church, Venture FX, the development of the Learning Network and the general current situation of Christianity in the UK.

 

 

They asked a number of questions and I really hope the time was interesting and useful. I’ve certainly found it both interesting and useful learning about how the Confederation works and about the Methodist Church in Brazil and the ‘Christian scene’ generally. As I’ve seen things done differently I’ve felt both the warm glow of appreciation at what we have, and pangs of jealousy when things are done better – and challenge is good and inspiring so I am thankful for that. I think it’s really good and important to step out of your bubble once in a while so you can see what others are like, and consequently really see what YOU are like.

On Sunday we got to the really exciting bit – talking about how young people in Brazil and Great Britain can partner together. Loads of great ideas, some simple yet effective and some way out there! Watch this space J

My time with the Confederation has been my favourite part of my trip to Brazil – quite a big statement when I think about the crazy adventures I’ve had here! However cool flying over the Sahara Desert or canoeing down the Amazon is, what I really love is being creative with other people about something that I am passionate about. It was a joy to spend time with young people who love being together, love God and love their country and their church. Seeking the Kingdom with great friends – I think it’s one of the best things in life and it’s great to see it happening in the Confederation of Youth of the Methodist Church in Brazil. I’m glad to have made some new friends and am thankful for the inspiration and challenge God has given me through my time with them.

On the topic of friends, and with the fact that being away from home can make you feel a bit sentimental, I’m also really thankful for the friends that I have made in the Methodist Church in Great Britain, of all ages and from all sorts of places. As a relative ‘newbie’ to all this, it really means a lot when people help me understand something or tell me I am doing a good job as it can all be rather overwhelming. The thoughtful messages I have had from numerous people and prayers of which I have been ensure have encouraged me so much these past 3 weeks, and I’m really grateful. (And of course I appreciate the love and prayers of non-Methodist friends!!)

God, I pray that you would help us to strengthen and deepen our relationships with others, those on our doorsteps, those we love,  those we struggle to get along with, and those across the other side of the world.  Through these relationships may we learn to become more like you Jesus.

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend”

Proverbs 27:17

Manaquiri and being a tourist in Manaus

Thursday was another early morning, leaving at 5.45am to catch a 6.45am boat. We were going to visit a small church in Manaquri. Manaquiri is a largish town near Manaus, accessible by a 2 hour boat ride. You can drive but it's a difficult journey that way. Thankfully the boat today was not a habita (enough of those adventures yesterday!) but a proper chug chug chugging boat holding about 30 people.  Travel by river is very common in the Amazonas region as it is a comparably cheap way of getting around. Despite it being 6am when we got there the area around the dock was very busy and noisy with loads of people setting up market stalls or running to catch a boat with belongings balanced on their heads.

 

Busy Manaus dock

Megabus Amazon style!

2 hours later we arrived in Manaquiri, where I was very thankful to see proper buildings, as this meant proper toilets! There were also lots of cars, and helpful moterbike taxi service from the dock (which you couldn't have paid me enough to use!). Saw one lady hop on holding a tiny baby - no helmets on anyone - madness!

Manaquiri is a community that has been visited numerous times in the past 10 years by the Hospital Boat, with people becoming Christians through the evangelism they do. However, there had never been a Methodist Church here despite it being a fairly sizeable place, so there was no ongoing support and discipleship. Last year the Bishop challenged the local pastors to look into planting some sort of church in Manaquiri. There is now a church of about 40 adults and 23 children led by a lay leader called Wagner.

They were extremely proud to show us their register book in which they write the name and date of birth of each person who becomes a church member. Vast majority people born in the 80s or 90s - the church here is very young in comparison to in Great Britain. We spent the morning with Alberto and his wife chatting, looking around their shop and visiting the rented building which they use for church. They are hoping to build a new church building as this one really isn't up to scratch and is costing them a lot of money to rent. They struggle financially as a small church with no local minister and little financial support from other churches and I heard many of the same questions and worries that I hear in the UK - are we really ever very different? We prayed for them and Karla, who works with the Bishop, was able to give some helpful input from a practical point of view.

We rounded off our short time in Maniquiri by having lunch at Wagner and his wife's house (3 rooms with 6 children age 6 - 17! Lots of fun!). They had been out fishing a few days before and caught over 200 fish - I told Alberto he should give my dad some tips! The fish were kept in a big box of ice in the same room as the toilet - have you ever been to the toilet with a toothy piranha watching you?!

I happened to be looking out of the window at the right time on the boat trip back and saw the famous Meeting of the Waters, the point where the black waters of the Negro River and the brown waters of the Solimoes River meet and begin to run side by side without mixing for about 9km. It was a bizarre and interesting site and I'm glad I saw it - blink and you would have missed it as we crossed over it very quickly. You can see it very clearly on Googlemaps (https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl)

Once back in Manaus we switched to tourist mode. We went to the market and bought some very stereotypical souvineers - indigenous wood carvings of fat tribal leaders wearing loin cloths and the like. It almost felt disrespectful to buy these things after getting to know real local people - really strange. Hope it is good for their economy.

Our final stop was the Amazonas Opera House, a beautiful huge theatre built with English bricks, French glass and Italian marble. Not what you'd expect to find in the busy, sweaty, shouty city of Manaus to be honest. It's a stunning place, naturally cool inside, luxurious in every aspect, made with beautiful craftmanship - including nearly 200 chandeliers. It was built during the rubber boom in the 1880s when Manaus (quite successfully for a short while) aimed to become the Paris of South America.

Our visit to the Opera House quite delighfully coincided with that of a group of about 100 German package holiday tourists, mostly in their later years and looking wonderfully out of place and foreign. I felt positively local compared to them, with my 15 Portuguese words and slightly less gigantic rucksack. Nice to hear a familiar language as I speak some German and I think confused some of them by eagerly talking to them in the ladies loos.

Then home for a shower and to repack before another early night as leaving at 4am to fly to Sao Paolo. Very sunburnt at the end of this day, despite multiple applications of sun cream, going in the shade whenever available, and carrying an umbrella for the latter part! After 2 weeks of avoiding it I look like a tomato coloured British tourist - there goes my pride from the experience with the German tourists. I am no match for the Brazilian sun it seems.

An Amazon Adventure

Pushing a VW campervan down a hill in Manaus at 4.45am to bump start it is not how I ever imagined I’d start a day – and little did I ever imagine the following events of that day! This was the start of our journey to visit a riverside community deep in the Amazon. We joined a man called George who has travelled into the rainforest on a weekly basis for two years building a relationship with the people in one particular area, telling them the message of good news in Jesus Christ, and walking with them in the journey of living as disciples of Jesus and becoming ‘church’.

We drove for 3 hours – the last hour of which, a VW campervan is in no way designed for! I honestly can’t believe how far we go in that van, but time and time again the campervan proved my doubts wrong. After being thrown around the van, it was actually nice to discover that the road had been broken up by recent rain and we would have to walk the rest of the way. We walked for around an hour, first along something like roads, then as we went further into the rainforest, weaving between trees, squelching through mud and balancing on logs across waterlogged ground.  We discovered that we were going to take a boat to get to the riverside community, and waited for the boat at a lady called Josephine’s house. Met some jungle chickens!

 

Four of us perched on two benches in the first little canoe, plus George manning the engine at the back and Josephine manning the paddle at the front!

The canoe took us down little rivers which broke through dense rainforest, trees often touching overhead. The sound of the rainforest around us was amazing - a constant cacophany of who knows what creatures. The rivers are very shallow in some places so a small canoe type boat, called a ‘habita’ is the only kind that can be used. The water is just a couple of centimetres lower than the edge of the boat so you have to sit very still so it doesn’t rock, and you have to bail water out regularly. A motor can be used most of the time, but the paddle is crucial to avoid the random branches sticking out, and to go around the sharp corners. At one point we got stuck on a tree, and George had to get in the water to shove us off. When the shoved, the boat tipped, water poured in and I nearly fall out! Big gasp, life flashing before my eyes, but luckily George steadied the boat quickly and I got away with just one very wet leg! Having visited the Amazon room at the Sealife Centre, I was very keen NOT to go in that water!

The Methodist Church in Brazil has committed to buying 25 habita boats, which cost £230 each, and giving them to missionaries to travel into the Amazon and meet with the communities there. George will be one of the missionaries to benefit from being given one of these boats. Up until now he has had very little support from his church so he made contact with the Methodist Church who are keen to support him both by providing a boat and in other ways. This project is in the very early days and our visit was the first time the Methodist Church in Brazil had visited the community so a very exciting time to be there. The photo below shows George and a habita.

 

We expected the boat trip to take about 10 minutes ... 1 ½ hours later we arrived, very numb in certain places! The river had widened out and more resembled a lake at this point. We jumped out and went to meet the community. We were meeting in the house of one of the families – a really cool house on stilts. When it’s the rainy season, the river comes up very high, so they build up!

 

We arrived at 10.30am and stayed for 3 hours, first of all looking around the house and getting to know the people (about 10 including children) and waiting for the second habita to arrive. When it came, we have a sort of church service, where we each introduced ourselves (and I gave the customary gift of a box of toffee from Weymouth with greetings from the Methodist Church in Great Britain!), then Pastor Juliao gave a sermon. As part of this he told us that when Leo Osborne (ex President of Conference) had visited Manaus he had spoken with him about the dream of starting a project working in the hard -to-reach communities of the Amazon, but had no idea of how this would be possible. Then George got in touch and now just one year later the project is underway. Pastor Juliao encouraged the community telling them ‘you are the fruit of the dreams in our heart. You are a gift from God’. It was lovely to see these people being told that they were valued as they spend much of their life cut off from the rest of the world. Then we prayed, they took up an offering which they asked me to pray for, and they shared some testimonies with us. One gentleman told us about how he used to drink a lot and wander around the rainforest, not letting his family know where he was going or when he’d be back. One time he was drunk in his boat and he started seeing things, thinking he was being chased by policemen, and he fell out of the boat. Later he woke up under a tree with no injuries. He said ‘God had saved me. I am very grateful to God and the church for all you have done for me, it has changed my life. Now I am safe.’  A lady told us about how when her son was little he became very sick, and they were very worried because they live far from Manaus. She had heard something about Jesus, but didn’t know him, but she prayed and asked him to save her son, and he got better and is now 5 years old and totally healthy. She cried as she told this emotional story, and said to us ‘I will never leave God’. It was amazing to hear these stories and know that God is doing really great and loving things in people’s lives in places I’ve never even heard of! I think God is so kind to us.

 

We travelled back the same way, but with an extra two people in the boat for some of the journey, which really scared me as the boat was so low in the water and nobody could move for fear of it tipping. Thank God we got back safely. It poured with rain on the way - rain in the rainforest! Then the long walk, and the long drive. We got back to our host families house at 6.30pm, exhausted, aching, dirty and smelly. I Skyped with my lovely husband then we went out to this amazing pizza restaurant where the waiters walk around and bring never ending pizza to the table. And the best thing was, they had sweet pizza! It was AMAZING! Pizza with banana and toffee, pizza with pineapple and some sweet saucy stuff, pizza with chocolate and finally pizza with a scoop of ice cream. A very good ending to an adventurous day!

Manaus Methodist Camp, the Hospital Boat, and the value of volunteers.

Manaus is the biggest city and the capital of the state of Amazonas with a population of 1.2, 2 or 3 million people, depending on who you ask! It is a vast, sprawling city very unlike the perfectly designed Boa Vista. As we drove from the airport to the Methodist Camp it was clear that in some areas roads and buildings are of good quality, but in many they are not. A car with 4 wheel drive seems a necessity! In Methodist geographical terms, Manaus is part of the REMA region – one of two ‘missionary regions’ in Brazil, which are given extra support from other regions and the national headquarters in recognition of their pioneering work. There are now six churches in Manaus – 2 of about 120 members, and 4 smaller church plants. One interesting historical point is that both the USA and Korea (not specified North or South!) did missionary work in this area, so buildings or projects can often be traced back to one or the other of them, including both of the larger churches.

The Methodist Camp was built by the Korean Methodist Church for Central Methodist Church Manaus. Central Methodist Church has two camps there per year and other groups also use the camp. It is directly next to one of the rivers and surrounded by beautiful rainforesty vegetation.

 

After a lifetime of camping with my family, girl guides, the Camping and Caravanning club, and various churches, it was cool to experience Camp Amazon-style! It chucked it down with rain and most of the electricity went out – leading to muddy campers eating dinner in the dark! Proper camping J This particular camp was one they have during Brazil’s annual ‘Carnaval’. Methodists (and I think Christians in general) in Brazil don’t tend to participate in Carnaval seeing it as a negative time of excessive drinking and unhealthy relationships. During our short time at the camp we had yummy dinner, watched a muddy game of football, saw a hilarious but very confusing (for me anyway) camp talent show, and joined with the church in a time of passionate prayer and worship. It was fab to see the (mostly young) people there really going for it, particularly when praying for their communities and country – it really challenged me about how seriously I take prayer and the effort that I put into praying for our world.

 

The next day, Tuesday, we visited the Hospital Boat. As the name suggests, it’s a boat which is a hospital. It was bought 10 years ago and paid for by the USA Methodist Church but now responsibility has passed over to the Brazilian Methodist Church. The boat is moored on the Taruma  river and travels down the rivers in the Amazon visiting tiny riverside communities which are pretty much cut off from the rest of the world. It administers vaccines, treats a variety of illnesses and health problems, and also has the facilities for dentistry. Volunteers come from Brazilian churches and overseas to spend a week on the boat; some medical professionals, others people who chat to the communities about God, play with the kids, etc.  Jan – March the boat goes out once a month and April – October it goes out 3 times a month. In 2011-2012 36 villages were visited with 17,000 people given medical treatment. The church has a good relationship with the government, which is necessary to do this work – they could easily tell them to stop. However the government appreciates the good work being done, and even sends a member of their health team on each trip.

After this we visited two Methodist Churches – one of the larger ones and one of the smaller ones. The smaller one is based in a deprived community rife with drugs and violence. We met with the Pastor, Katia who shared her heart with us, talking about her dreams for the church and the area, and also the struggles she is experiencing in this work. When Katia arrived 4 years ago the church was in a sorry state – there had been some issues with three consecutive church leaders and the church had been abandoned and had a very bad name in the neighbourhood, receiving regular threats. The church has grown but is still pretty small, with less than 30 members. However, Katia is running a successful and worthwhile ministry among children and young people, with 50-70 children enrolled in the ‘Shade and Fresh Water’ project which provides education and healthy food, and 150 teenagers attending a programme educating them about the dangers of drug abuse. I asked Katia who helps her run these programmes, and she introduced her to her one helper. That’s right, just one. I could hardly believe this, so I asked Flavia, who translates for me, about it. She explained that in Brazil they don’t have a culture of volunteering and social responsibility in the same way that we do in Great Britain – ‘in Great Britain children are brought up with a heart to help other people, but that doesn’t happen here’. Even in churches, volunteering is not a part of the everyday culture. It broke my heart to realise that Katia does so much good work with so little support from her congregation. We’re quick enough to moan that we work too hard, that we don’t have enough helpers, but really we are so blessed to have a culture of volunteering, and an understanding that using our time for the benefit of others is a part of our calling as Christians and a part of our discipleship. I thank God for every person who makes the snacks for the kids club , or hands out the hymn books, or does maintenance on the building. Thank God for all those who use their gifts for our church and our communities. Imagine working with 150 young people who are possibly involved in drug taking and violent behaviour, and having just one helper. We prayed for Katia and I assured her that people in the Great Britain (and around the world) would pray for her when I told them about her (I hope you will, now that I’ve said it!!).

 

 

Tuesday also involved a stop off at a road side stall selling gorgeous tropical fruit, most of which I’d never seen before, and barbequing a massive fish for lunch!!