From the Slums of Brazil to Mozambique,Africa!!!

Hardly a day goes by when I don’t think about the slums of Brazil. The slums are places for pain, suffering to millions of people living in shacks and violence and every time I go to visit my family like two weeks ago or maybe when we go up to the biggest and most dangerous slums in Brazil to teach English to impoverished children. People living in such conditions long to leave and have a better future.

This is life in the slum—a life of those remembered by few, and forgotten by most… A life which they seek to escape, because to lead a hand-to-mouth existence is so painful. For most, their only option is to collect what cardboard, plastics and metals they can, to sell to recycling plants in the hope that the next day will bring a transaction through which they may escape their cycle of poverty.

I don’t know if you can imagine how hard it would be to get out of the slums for something better but I want to encourage all of you guys that have invested in my life and ministry. I would like to share with you about my sister. She has been in Mozambique now almost a month and she’s loving it. She’s serving as a full time missionary in an organization called “Dream Project” and you can learn more about her work at www.thedream-project.org

Please know your prayers and support helped my sister to fulfill God’s dream for her life. She is a full time missionary now and she is out of the country. Only God!!! She grew up in a big slum in Brazil and saw and experienced abuse by her own father but God restored her and today she is reaching and loving so many people for Jesus. I want to thank personally all the people that made it possible for my sister financially to go to Mozambique and I know God will use her there in a mighty way and you will be a part of it because you invested in my sister’s calling.

See, God can take a nobody and transform this person into a somebody’s in the Kingdom. My sister was rejected and forgotten by the society and the Churches of Brazil but God saw her and he fell in love with her and he couldn’t take his eyes off her until he could have her full heart and my sister gave her full heart to the Lord and she has never been the same and never will and many people are going to learn and understand the love of God through her life in Mozambique and around the world. I am so proud of my sister and I am so thankful to God for this opportunity that he have to my sister Luciana Pereira de Souza. God is so faithful and good!!!

An E-mail Written by My Editor

Hi Everyone

This is an e-mail that was sent by a great friend of mine in the U.S.A and I just wanted to share with you all that you can do the same. Please tell all of your friends, family and church about my book. I know for sure this book will inspire and challenge you to fight for the millions of kids suffering in the big cities of our world. And of course please pre-order your own book now!!!

"Many of you are familiar with some of the young Brazilians my husband and I have been privileged to work with over the past few years. I am so excited to announce that Sidney, one who we have bragged about on many occasions (and many of you have also met) is nearing the final process of *publishing his life story!* God has blessed us to be a part of this project and we can hardly wait to see the finished result! For those of you who don't know, Sidney was born in the slums of Brazil,and at only 6 years old, he was forced to work in the streets to support his very large and very poor family. After fleeing an abusive alcoholic father at the age of 7, Sidney spent the next three years on the streets of the third largest city in Brazil - Belo Horizonte. Miraculously, by the age of 14, Sidney accepted Christ and began serving God faithfully. He has since traveled the world to preach the gospel, from the suburbs of the USA to the slums of Africa, South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. His mission is to love the forgotten, lost, despised, unloved and unreached. While most Americans were exchanging gifts and enjoying Christmas festivities last December, Sidney was overjoyed to spend his Christmas in Darfur, Sudan.

Sidney's amazing story has inspired thousands of street children across the globe, and no doubt the release of his book will empower him to reach millions more. His heart burns for street children, and with the growing epidemic of kids who are forced to live and work in the toughest environments, this book couldn't come at a more urgent time. I invite you to *visit his new website and pre-order a copy of his book!* Scheduled for release in October of 2009 at $19.99 + shipping, if you reserve your copy now you will only pay $14.99 + shipping *and receive your copy a month before the official release* *date!*

Also at the site you can watch clips from the documentary my husband and I produced that chronicles some of Sidney's powerful testimony, see footage from a few of Sidney's mission trips and have the opportunity to donate to his ministry".

*www.RescuedToTell.com*

God bless you and thank you for your support!

Taryn & Damon Smith
Inspiring Minds Publications

Redefining Christianity

Is it true that the church of today, the church that is called after Christ`s own name, would refuse to follow him at the expense of suffering, of phisical lost, of temporary gain? That is a question that is hunting me down every single day. I have read the book called "In His Steps" over and over again and every time I read it God speaks to me in a powerful way about sacrifices and suffering.

Today, our churches contains for the most part men and women who think more of their ease and luxury than of the sufferings and needs and sins of humanity. How far is that true? Are Christians of Brazil ready to have their discipleship tested? How about the men who possess large wealth in Brazil or the U.S.A? Are they ready to take that wealth and use it as Jesus would? How about the men and women of great talent? Are they ready to consecrate that talent to humanity as Jesus undoubtedly would do?

If every Christian in Brazil or the U.S.A did as Jesus would do, society itself, the business world, yes, the very political system under which our commercial and governmental activity is carried on, would be so changed that human suffering would be reduced to a minimum? What would be the result if all the the church members of Belo Horizonte tried to do as Jesus would do? It is not possible to say in detail what the effect would be. But it is easy to say, and it is true, that instantly the human problem would begin to find and adequate answer.

Is it true that Christian disciples today in most of our churche here in Brazil or around the world are living soft, easy, selfish lives, very far from any sacrifice that can be called sacrifice? What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do in the matter of wealth? How would he spend it? What principle would regulate his use of money? Would he be likely to live in great luxury and spend ten times as much on personal adornment and entertainment as He spent to relieve the needs of suffering humanity? How would Jesus be governed in the making of money? Would he work in a bar and sell alcohol? There are so many christians today that work in bars here in Brazil and they sell alcohol the whole day and then they go to church at night and ask God to bless their job and their hands.

Are we ready to take up our cross? What is discipleship? If our definition of being a Christian is simply to enjoy the privilges of worship, be generous at no expense to ourselves, have a good, easy time surrounded by pleasant friends and by comfortable things, live respectably and at the same time avoid the world`s great stress of sin and trouble because it is too much pain to bear it-if this is our definition of Christianity, surely we are a long way from following the steps of Him who trod the way with groans and tears and sobs of anguish for a lost humanity;who sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, who cried out on the unreared cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

I am ready to imitate Jesus. I am ready to do as He would do. I am ready to walk in His steps. I am ready to rescue the perishing, I am ready to care for the dying, I am going to fight for those who suffer, I am going to be part of the solution of this world,I am going to bring Jesus to those that are hopeless. But my question to you is "Are you going to join us?"

Are Street-Kids more important than your Dog?

On the streets of Brazil there is somethinbg you can always find. Whereve you see street kids or any homeless you will always see some or a lot of dogs. But the dogs hurt their feet on broken glass, distemper kills the puppies meaning the little dogs but on the streets we were big fans of big dogs, while worms, fleas and other parasites would be great part of our dog’s lives too.

The dogs used to come from different parts of the cities or from the slums. In Brazil we have a lot of dogs wandering on the streets and of course street kids too.Coming from the streets myself I'm sure that the kids on the streets owning pets. We on the streets used take such a good care of our pets then we do ourselves due to the fact that they are the only things we had that we could talk to and know we could trust. I remember we had names for our dogs and we used to talk to them like if they were human beings especially when we were drunk or high that’s when we would talk to the dogs the most and we used to tell the dogs personal stories and I still remember the name of my favorite dog on the streets. His name was “Pretinho” and that means “little black”

But I have a question for all of you who are reading this blog, aren`t the kids more important than dogs? Aren`t we supposed to be fighting for kids who can`t fight for themselves? So why do we have close to 10 million kids around the cities in Brazil? So why we do have around 100 million homeless kids in the world? I love dogs but I can`t understand how people in Brazil and around the world can spend so much money on dog food and caring for their dogs while we have millions of kids suffering around the world. Here in Brazil we have so many rich ladies and families who spend thousand of dollars on their dogs and that almost make me puke or cry my heart out because I was just few minutes ago talking so some street kids here in Brazil and they were all looking for a way out of the streets but they don`t have anywhere to go. They were asking me if I could take them home but I told them I didn`t have a place for them but someday I will. I told them about my dreams and my dreams are to have houses around the world that will take in street kids and missionaries and people will educate, love, care for these precious children that God loves so much. Will you consider fighting for these unloved, forgotten children around the world?

Julia "Neguinha"

I used to love Julia because she was about my age and I was really close to her. I remember everyone used to call her “Neguinha” and that means “black girl” and she used to be so nice to me. I remember we did kiss few times but I never had the courage to have sex with her because I knew she had had sex with many people before. She had sold her body many times before and she was always with different street kids. She always tried to have me sleep with her but I was always afraid because people used to say she had a disease that killed but I never knew what that meant.

I remember one day at night we were seating on the streets and we were really close to each other and we started sharing our lives and our past. I don`t know what was happening to me because I hate sharing about my past but that day I was so open maybe because I felt safe around her. I told her about my father and my past and she just listened and many times she used to agree by nodding her head and that meant her father was very abusive to her too.

Then after I was done she started telling me her story by gazing at the floor. It was a horrific story and I will never forget it. She told me that her mother died by her father. Then her father turned the gun on himself and Julia was found sleeping on the bed between her parent` bed when she was only 3 and a half. They were really poor and they lived on the slums and they didn`t have furniture so they had to sleep together. Julia told me about the domestic violence she had to go through and the chaotic living.

Julia tried very hard to forget about what happened to her and her parents but after that incident she started having nightmares and she became very sad and frightening. When Julia was telling me her story she never looked at me and I remember she started crying telling me about her fears and worries. She was in my life for a year on the streets and after I left the streets, I did see her couple of times but now I have no idea if she`s alive or dead. I hope my “Neguinha” is alive because she was truly my friend and I really liked her because she was good to me.

We Forget That He has a Name Too!!!

I think about Pedro constantly when I am thinking back of my life on the streets or when I am telling my testimony. He grew up poor and he was still very poor on the streets. He was considered the fastest boy on the streets because he used to rob people and they would never be able to catch him. The police either!!! He used to tell me that he left home because he hated going to school and he had no interest in those borings subjects. He used to tell me that he never had nice clothes before he came to the streets because his family was too poor. His clothes were always torn, no slippers and he was always out of the house most of the time. He only cared about soccer and more soccer. He used to tell me the number one rule on the streets, he used to say “Bro(Sidney), you can`t be weak on the streets because the streets are tough”. Pedro was a boy that was totally indifferent to what was happening around him and another thing he used to say to me in his Paulista(People from Sao Paulo) accent was “Bro,you gotta live each day as it goes, if that means robbing or stabbing someone you gotta do”.

But he didn`t stay alive very long. They burned him alive with paint-thinner and he was taken to the hospitals and I never heard about him no more. He was cool but he talked too much. He was too crazy but his craziness took him to the grave. I didn`t really like him a lot because he used to dominate all of us on the streets and to tell you the truth I was afraid of him or what he would had done to me if I did something wrong.

The Most Amazing Woman in My Life!!!

I will forever be grateful to mom and her name will always ring in my memory. Her name makes me cry and laugh at the same time. I love my mom and always will. My mom`s name is Juraci Pinto da Silva and she is a strong woman that has been through a lot. My mom has superpowers – the power to love, the power to understand, the power to sacrifice and to give everything that she has. I remember many times we wouldn`t have food or enough food and I remember she would sacrifice her own food for her us. She would give the last portion of rice and she would assure me that she was very full but today thinking back I know she was hungry and she needed to eat but she gave to me or my brothers and sisters.

I think my mom is very patient because she is still living with my father but now there are couple of months that she filed the papers to divorce my father but she is doing that through public service so it will take very long time, my mom is also very humble, caring, carefree and God-fearing.

My mom didn`t grow up in a city with big buildings but she grew up in the rural area and she tells me that she loved that life because life was very simple and you didn`t have a lot of things to worry about. My grandfather married early but he lost his wife because of diseases, then he married again but lost his wife again and then he married the sister of the second wife that died. He has had so many kids and most of them are still alive. He has had more than a dozen of kids and my mom is one of oldest. My mom just like my father didn`t study that much because in the rural area there wasn`t higher level of education. My mom says she would had loved to study more but it was not possible. My grandfather had a big land with a lot of acres and they used to have animals, plantations, a lot of fruit trees, water fountains and horses, cows, etc.

My mom grew up learning how to cook for her mom and take care of the house. My mom tells me some really fun, interesting and exciting stories of her childhood. She tells me stories of when she would steal oranges, bananas, berries with her friends just for fun on the way back from school. My mom grew up with a very innocent childhood and she had a fairy-tale of someday a prince was going to come and rescue her but instead of a prince came someone else. My mom tells me that when she was growing up it was hard for them even to see a car or television because they were living so removed from the city and all those things like car seemed like a dream to be near or even touch someday.

My mom tells me stories of how she and her family would walk for hours to get to a family`s house that had a small Television so they could watch the evening soap-opera or movies. She tells me to have a television back then it was a luxury thing and she used to love to watch the television and she would watch the soap-operas and she would image of someday being married and having her kids .

She tells me that everyone around her would be so afraid to get old and not get married so they would get married very early in their teens and back then it was completely ok. So all my aunties got married very early and my mom too. My mom got married in her teens and she tells me that she didn`t really love my father but she just wanted to get married to get away from home. She didn`t want to stay home until she would be older.

My mom got married and moved to the city and that`s when her life was changed completely from an innocent life to an abusive life. My mom tells me that when she was pregnant with all of us but I mean and especially with me my father used to kick her stomach and belly and he used to scream horrible names. She tells me that my father used to beat her down with pieces of woods, sticks and with his fists in her stomach and many times she thought she was going to lose one of us when she was pregnant. She tells me that my father used to choke her neck when she was pregnant and he would force her to carry for miles carrying woods for the fire because she didn`t have stove to cook with or get water from far away.

My mom has always been Christian and she tells me that when she was a teenager she started going to church and she has always been a member of a Pentecostal denomination called Assemblies of God here in Brazil. The Assemblies of God here in Brazil back then and still today most of them demand their members to wear long skirts and they can`t have their hair cut, trimmed, died and there are other little things like you can`t watch television or the guys can`t play soccer or can`t wear shorts. I think it`s so funny because we are a nation that is crazy about soccer and The Assemblies of God don`t allow the guys to play soccer. I remember when I was a little boy I used to feel like I was sinning by playing soccer or wearing shorts. Since I was little I never really liked those rules but I would go because my mom would tell me so.

My mom is a woman of faith and for me I think she is the greatest woman ever lived and will ever live. She is a woman of faith and forgiveness. I remember days and nights when I would see my mom kneeled down with her face down praying for God to save her children. I remember she used to tell me someday I was going to preach the Gospel and I was going to serve God. She used to call things that didn`t exist like they existed. She used to say that someday I was going to be serving God and today I am. Praise the Lord for my mom!!!

She has never given up either. I bet she has thought so many times to give up but she hasn`t. She had three of her kids running away from home and never coming back and she still never gave up. Even when my oldest sister ran away for a week she still didn`t give. She has been beaten, choked, slapped and she has heard many but I mean I think every bad word from my father and she is still standing and following Jesus.

My mom lost a son when he was just a babe and I never really know what really happened. I keep asking her for the whole story but she only tells me that my brother when he was just an infant and he died in the hospital without being able to breathe. I always try to get more information from her about my brother and I always feel she avoids that topic. I feel there is another part of the story that hasn`t been told and she doesn`t want us to know what really happened. She never mentions my brother that died and it seems like it is too painful to talk about it. But She is still standing and going.

She is a fighter and she will always be in my heart. She has fought for me and she is the greatest example of my life. She has taught me about forgiveness and love. She has always loved me and her love is so genuine and real that is hard to find anywhere I go. I love my mom and she is the most amazing and incredible woman in my life and history. Thank you God for mom and what she has done for me.