Children's Day--October 12

This is the day they celebrate children! Schools, churches, and family have a "festa" to honor their children. On Saturday, October 10, Restoration Ministry threw a party for some of the kids from their community outreach program. These children were rewarded for their faithful attendance at the bi-monthly VBS as well as their behavior during the meetings.

Much preparation was done so that the kids felt special. Most of the young people and adults from the church served as volunteers as well as a group of volunteers from the Chinese Brazilian Church.

Four hundred and twenty were invited and that many showed. They came by bus, walked or were brought by parents. The kids from two slums were the special guests in the morning and then the rest of the kids of the other two slums were honored in the afternoon.

We sang, played games, worked crafts, and ate hotdogs. The theme was Nehemiah 8:10b, "the

joy of the Lord is our strength." The Bible story of Samson on was acted out. They each made a bracelet that reminded them of the Biblical truth.

More than one thousand hotdogs were served to the children and the volunteers.

At the end, each child was sent home with a special age-appropriate gift. What joy appeared on

each child's face! The reward for lots of prep, prayer, energy, creativeness and time.

Reporting from Sao Paulo,

Arlene