We are home

Thank you prayer partners for all your support. We arrived home yesterday afternoon after a smooth-but long trip back. There were many happy family members! The luggage all arrived and all went well through immigration. Fortunately we left Rio with plenty of time to spare as Brasil was playing the world cup that afternoon and everyone was going home early that day. Early afternoon trraffic was at a standstill as the game was at 3:30. We were at the airport at game time-and shops literally pulled down the doors and closed as the game began. Certainly it was a national event-seemingly even more important than our superbowl. Brasil did win!
We were very blessed throughout the entire trip and could see God's hand in it all. Chain of Love is now a part of our lives and we look forward to sharing it with you.
Thanks too for all the rides to and from the airport.
Becky

Today our Hillside Missionaries return to Dickinson but Chain of Love remains in Brazil to serve children in need. Please remember to keep Chain of Love in your prayers and consider how God may be calling you to serve in this special ministry.

Sunday

We had a wonderful day enjoying God´s creation. The plants and trees are so beautiful and Alex and Ruth even spotted spider monkeys in the trees. Despite the beauty of Rio, you do not have to look far to notice the pain of poverty and human need. We are on the home stretch and many of us are looking forward to seeing our families at home. I know I am.
Thanks for your prayers.
Becky

Saturday

Hello,
We are in Rio now. We had a safe trip and the tickets all worked out-story later.
We passed many slums on the way to our hotel-and some of the children from COL came from these areas. This reinforced the amazing work of COL. We visited the houses last night and this was a high point of the trip for me. We prayed with each family and brought their specific requests home. Processing what we saw will take time. We are amazed at our great God.
Internet time is limited....
More tomorrow.
Becky

Friday Afternoon

Bible school ended today and we said 'chow' to the children. It was a very full week and the kids seemed to love the sessions. Yesterday Eileen let the kids put on a puppet show and they are quite talented with lots of rhythm.

Last night we provided a "treat" for all of the children. It was the traditional treat used at birthday parties. It was most like our hotdog althought the bun was like a pocket. They chopped up hotdogs and cooked them with onions and tomatoes. Then they added peas and corn. It all went "in the pocket" and then their version of french fried potatoes was added to the top. We served 243-along with hot chocolate so you can see the kids love this treat. It was definetly a cultural experience.

The colds are improving and almost everyone is better. Thanks for praying.

Tonight we visit the houses. We are in teams and each team will visit 6 houses. We are looking foward to visiting and praying with the families.

We also gave them all the supplies that were donated and we thank you for this.

Keep praying-we have been very blessed here.

Becky

Thursday

Today the puppets "performed" the prodigal son. The focus was on forgiveness and God's love for them. After the lesson, many children raised their hands and told us they love Jesus and were recently baptized.
The lessons this week have been:
Deus te conhece: God knows us
Deus te ajuda: God helps us
Deus e seu amigo: God is our friend
Deus te perdoa: God forgives us
So many of the children made the connection between the the caterpillar puppet that changed to a butterfly-and the change that Jesus brings.
Construction is continuing and supplies are getting low. We hope we can find some more.
Becky

A Photographic Treat From Brazil

Hello Prayer Partners! Trevor must be sending photos home from his cell phone so I got these treasures from Jo Ann's FB page. What a treat. Can't you almost imagine being there with all of these dear folks? ENJOY!

wednesday late night...

Tonight was our free night (meaning we had no night classes-and did not have to cook). We went to a Brazilian pizza restaurant. It was truely a cultural experience and the variety of pizza served will not be met by the upcoming Pizza Ranch in Dickinson. Waiters came around to the tables with trays. These types of pizza were served:

Rabbit
Ostrich
Palm tree (palmetta)
Filet mignon (sorry about spelling....it is late)
tuna
peas, carrots, and hotdogs (together)

salami

banana

shrimp

californian (fruit and cheese)

lots of dessert pizzas

After we returned to the dorm, a missionary from the seminary came and shared her ministry with us. Her name is Lyndell Campbell and she shared the many roles she has.

Thank you for your prayers. Many lives are being touched-both ours and theirs.

Becky

For Dave & Eileen via e-mail:

Hi there, not sure if you will recieve this e-mail. Thank you so much for the daily updates. It is great and we will continue to pray for the prayer requests. If you have a chance please tell my dad (Dave Miller) that Jericho still goes to bed every night wanting a goodnight kiss from papa!!

Love you all

Susan Martinez

Tuesday Night Blog

Sorry this is out of order. Received it in my e-mail from Becky:

300 people have received eye exams. The second day of Bible school went well-and the children were very excited to be back. They wanted to know if we were going to have "snake sandwiches" again (they had gummy worms yesterday).

Construction begins tomorrow.

We learned today that we had made a cultural 'faux pas' by having the children sit on the floor. Brazilian mothers do not let their children sit on the floor...and I wondered why they hesitated so long to sit down during Bible school!

The men staged a late night pizza feed last night....apparently there was some bartering going on and one of the guys (I think it might have been Brad) made the pizza-if someone would do his breakfast dishes. As I overheard Trevor tell one of the Brazlian teens-"the pansy girls just go to bed" Tonight there is no frozen pizza so I believe they will turn in early.

We can tell you are praying.
Becky

wednesday morning

Hello all,

This morning the children are receiving their glasses and are very excited. The guys are working on construction this morning. We are learning the children's names and the attachment to them grows. We are noticing that they are very artistic, even at a young age.....and this is amazing since many of them were neglected the first few years of their lives.

We covet your prayers, particularly as the gospel is presented. As the gospel was shared this morning, the young boys became increasingly hard to manage....we need prayer coverage as tomorrow the gospel is presented again.

Becky

Happy tuesday morning

Hello,
We just finished our morning Bible school. The children arrived very excited and quickly fell into the routine. They love songs with motions. One of the missionaries told us that at least 60% of the children are on the drug ritalin for their behavior-but, they are very attentive to stories from God's word. I am attaching a picture of Charles, an 8 year old who came from a horrible situation, abused, neglected, and in a half way house before COL. He has been all smiles and is a hugger. The children tug on our hearts.
More eye exams happened today-and also more last night.
Time for lunch...
Becky

i am having trouble with uploading pictures....

Monday update

Today was the first day of Bible school. 49 children attended and it went remarkably smoothly! The kids can sing wonderfully (as evidenced in church last night) and are so artistic. One item we brought, as an afterthought, was sidewalk chalk. That was a total hit, during the game time, as we did not have enough translators, and Trevor had a challenging time explaining relays to kids who speak NO English...BUT sidewalk chalk is not available here and the kids loved it!

The optical team saw 65 more patients today-and will finish the COL kids and staff tomorrow. We ate a quick supper, and then had our evening classes for 2 hours. These were for the older kids and were very well attended. Your church bulletins were made into some beautiful jewelry.

Our goal tonight is to get to bed at a reasonable hour......I can hear the puppets practicing for tomorrow's Bible school "show' as I type.

Many of us have read the biographies of the children we are working with and are amazed that we have been chosen to work with them.

Lesson of the day:

Brazilian washing machines can complete approximately 3 loads per day

Brazilian Dryers: the clothesline

Today's "funny": There are no gummy worms here and the kids have never seen them. Our topic for Bible school is bugs and at the end of the story today I took some out (the translator told them they were worms...and I told them we eat them in America-and I ate some. They were totally silent and the little ones were very wide eyed....and then they had some for their snack. ;0

it was very funny to see and they laughed at the end-once they figured it out.

Thank you for your continued prayer. Alex is much better.

Becky

Update from Sunday Night

Blogger was out of service this morning, but I am now able to post the following from the team:

Sunday Blog:
It was a beautiful sunny Sunday. After breakfast this morning we drive to a mountain top. Chris Kidd, one of the missionaries, took us through a winding, jungled path, to an outlook spot (that some mothers would NOT have wanted to see their kids sitting on). From our steep perch we could see the entire city and surrounding area. Chris led us in a devotional and prayer time, focusing on specific scriptures and the needs of the children at COL that we would be working with. It was a moving time for all of us-and today we started interacting with the children more through the puppet show, ice cream social, and church with them. The church service
was evidence that one does not need to speak the language to be able to worship. During our mountail top service this morning chris ahd shared some of the childrens' pasts-and it was a tribute to God's amazing power to see them sitting in church with their families and praising the Lord in song.

Lessons Learned Today:

*Sugar cane juice tastes like grass
*Brazilian kids LOVE ice cream and puppet shows
*It is possible to fit 75 people on a 40 passenger bus-if there are
handlebars welded to the walls, and kids ride on the bus steps and behind the driver :)

Prayer requests:

*Alex has an ear infection and is in pain
*Several of us have colds-and the number seems to be increasing
*Bible school begins in the morning-50 children grades k-6

We know you are praying and thank you!
Becky

If you like amusement park rides.....

You would LOVE being a passenger in Brazil. A stop sign is just a suggestion-and pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. We lost our lead driver only once....and were lost only once. Dogs on a leash are unheard of-but the Brazilian dogs seem to have an innate ability to dodge traffic...at the last minute.
Since I love roller coasters-I found the ride to be an adventure-and we are thankful to have had safe travel and lotos of laughs.

Joanne-Trevor is a huge help. The Brazilian teens and younger kids love him. Today when we got back they shared sugar cane with him. He says to tell you that facebook will have his words of wisdom. :)

More on today

Scott,
Your parents remembered everything-but lost their shower slippers which were in the outside pocket of their suitcase. Someone along our journey has some nice new shower shoes. Your mom planned some delicious meals!

Saturday and What a day!

Today was an amazing day. This blog will be in pieces because I have lost the last 3 messages-not sure why!
Today we the community outreach and over 250 people were given eye exams and over 75% of them needed glasses. Many, many blood pressure and sugar diabetes tests were also done and the line was very long. Brad and "company" stayed 3 hours longer than planned doing exams.
About 100 sweet faces were paintedso many adorabe children from the community.
More....

Saturday-and what a day!

Today was our community outreach day. We drove (bumped, jolted, etc) over some narrow roads to a community center is a very poor section of the city. We quickly learned that a stop sign is just a suggestion-and that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. In addition there are no seatbelts, nor are carseats visible. Several LARGE potholes, taken at high speed, caused those in the back to suffer some hear bumps (Trevor, Troy).
It was a remarkable day. Somewhere between 250-300 (it was hard to tell) were seen for eye exams, and 75% of them needed glasses. Many people were also seen for blood pressure and sugar diabetes test. The lines were VERY long and many ended staying for an extra 3 hours. Troy had MANY small children involved in all kinds of art projects-and they were extremly creative-particularly because there was no interpreter! Probably about 100 adorable faces were painted.
Our ride back only found us lost once-thankfully we had a bilingual 6 year old with us who helped us find our way.
Scott-your parents remembered everything and are only missing their shower shoes-they were in the outside pocket and are missing so someone along our trip has some new shower shoes!

Today in addition to our overall prayers our featured missionary is Eileen Miller. Please lift her up today. When I think of the gift that she has been to all of the children at Hillside it makes me so excited thinking about the children she'll touch at Chain of Love!

we are here!

Hello,
We arrived at COL 32 hours after leaving. We are thankful that the smoke smell on the plane in Chicago surfaced before take off and we were re-routed back to the gate for 2 hours . We missed our flight into Porte Alegre but made a later one. We are currently unpacking 750 pounds of supplies, organizing them, glasses are being put into groups, and we are figuring out where things go.
Brad has already done an eye exam!
The winter weather is cool and rainy.
We are thankful for your prayers!
Becky Pitkin :)

Daily Prayers:

Hello Prayer Partners!

As you lift up the Hillside Missions Trip today please take a few extra minutes to focus on lifting up Dave Miller. You can find requests specific to him on his prayer card.

I can't wait to hear more updates from the team!

More Photos of Missions Team!

Pastor Ron offers the sending prayer

Food & Fellowship

Reminder: We are picking team members to pray for on each day of the trip. Today we are praying for Howard & Nancy Lennick. You will find their prayer card by clicking on the link at the top of this page. THANK YOU!

Here is our fabulous missions team loading up for departure. Please keep them in your prayers as they travel today. I'm smiling thinking about what a grand time they are going to have serving the Lord together. What an amazing group of folks! Use them Lord!

Tonight the team brought their bags to church to be "weighed". Some were close to the limit of 50 pounds but we made it. If you are a mathematician, you could quickly figure out the approximate weight of the bags from Hillside Baptist going to Brazil....1500 pounds! This does not include carry-on baggage!

We look forward to our trip tomorrow and please keep us in your prayers!

Becky Pitkin

The photo shows just SOME of the bags!

We are thankful for Alissa and Wendy for making this great Blog.
Becky

Update on Prayer

In our effort to continue supporting our missions team, we are asking you to devote 10-15 minutes each evening to pray specifically for each team member. Please check the website daily for new prayer requests that may have been added during the trip, as well as your prayer cards.

On June 3 pray for: Howard and Nancy Lennick

On June 4 pray for: Dave Miller+

June 5 pray for: Eileen Miller

Next Sunday's bulletin at Hillside will have an insert as to the prayer request schedule for the rest of the team.