Recife!!!

We have been here in Recife for just over a week now and I se loved every moment of it!! The Recife YWAM base is located about an hour outside of downtown Recife on a 30 acre piece of property with an amazing view of the city and a huge jungle! They didn't have enough room for us in the actual base housing so we are staying in the Hope House which is a house for street boys. I have loved staying here as we have such an amazing ministry opportunity within our home. There currently are 8 boys living in the house (between 11 and 17 years old) and it has been such an amazing opportunity to love on them and spend time with them.

We have also been doing tons of manual labor for the base which I have loved!! There are 2 main projects we have been working on; the first has been making a brick factory. The goal for this brick factory is so the base can use the bricks for future projects and then also sell them. The factory will also give the boys in the hope house a chance to get work experience and learn how to hold a job and it will also give them the chance to make some
money.. The second project is making a wall along part of the property where there is none and people are able to just wander onto the base (and they have had
break-ins without a wall there). Both of these projects are being done by hand (with the help of a few shovels, pick axes, and machetes). So far we have done a lot of clearing, digging and cement making which has been hard but so fun and so rewarding!!!

I was also giving the opportunity to help out with a hockey ministry that the base has started. One of the families on the base is from Switzerland and they have started a hockey ministry for the kids in the community and it was a blast to be able to help with that!!!

My favorite time here so far though was last night. A group of us drove into a really rough part of Recife to do street ministry. We met up with a group of homeless people who the base has been spending time with for about a year now. It was so amazing as we just sat down on the dirty ground with them and painted their nails, played dominos with them, and just spent time with and loved on them. It was a little tough to communicate with some of them as everyone from 10 and up was high on glue but it was also so refreshing to not only give but also receive so much joy