News Letter: By Jamie Lynn Hills (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)

(Forward to everyone you know)

Dear Friends and Family,

This is a News Letter coming to you from Jamie Lynn Hills in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

I am in a discipleship program called Master Commission here in Brazil. Let me tell you, it’s amazing! It’s teaching me a lot. I am a first year in this program and I graduate my first year at the end of June and I am doing a second year as well.

Masters Commission is a discipleship program that is here to make God more real to us then ever before. It is here to help young men and women become more in love with God and to become better people. We don’t want to live just to merely exist anymore. We want to make a difference, and this is where we are making it. We are making the difference in our lives and being an influence to those around us.

Masters Commission has 3 main parts; discipleship, Mercy Ministries, and working with the local church. I already told you a little bit about the discipleship aspect, so I’ll tell you about Mercy Ministries. Mercy Ministries is where we have a partnership with JOCUM, Youth With A Mission. JOCUM houses x-street kids and bring current street kids off the streets. We live and work in the different houses. I live in the Recanto House where they house x-street girls and give them a family, someone to look up to and I work in the Refuge House. The Refuge House is a house for kids with the AIDS and HIV virus. Their parents either cant take care of them and cant afford their medication or they were rescued from the streets.

Being in Brazil is so amazing but so heart breaking. I had a chance to go out to the streets where streets kids hang out and sleep. It broke my heart to pieces. These kids, these boys and girls that I saw, the youngest one there was around 8-9 years old. All of those kids sniff paint thinner to get high just to take away the pain. To take away the pain of being hurt, of not having a family that cares, of not knowing any other option of taking the pain away. Seeing this made me realize the I would never be able to just have a 9-5 job and be satisfied. Knowing there are kids dying and hurting around the world.

In December I have the opportunity to go to Africa for 20 days. We leave December 1st and get back the 22nd. It’s going to be an amazing trip. A very intense trip. We will be going to two countries in Africa, Uganda and Sudan. We will be spending 10 days in both Uganda and Sudan!

In Uganda we will be working in 2 different orphanages and showing love to kids that don’t have love. I’ve always had a heart for adoption and I remember when ever I would see the commercials for “Feed The Children” in Africa I always used to be like: “I’m going there one of these days. I’m going to Africa to show the love to the unloved.”

In Sudan we will also be working in 1 orphan. We will also be working in Refugee camps in Africa. There is a big civil war going on in Africa so we will also be working with Child Soldiers. Yes, I said Child Soldiers. They have been recruited to fight and die in a war, a war made of man, not of God.

Now I have that opportunity, the opportunity to go to Africa and to show the love of Christ to the unloved. So you see with your help, I can help a dying nation. It’s not about me. God has taken me out of my comfort zone, out of my country and place me in a place where I can change lives. A place where I can make a difference. So with your help, I can take Christ’s love to the unloved. I can be used to change lives.

So if you would like to donate, email me and I will let you know how! Thank you for your prayers!

God Bless you and you Family!
~Jamie Lynn Hills~

Living in a world where the streets are called "Home"

Being here in Brazil is amazing, I've learned a lot and am continuing to learn everyday. Can you beleive that: You can walk down the street and see kids, yes I said kids, sleeping on the streets because the streets are what they call "Home." That breaks my heart knowing that kids, in Brazil, and many other countries go without the love of a mother and father. It kills me that they don't have home cooked meals and the encouragement of family. Why is the streets called home for many children? I don't get it. I wish I could be like, "Vin ca" Come home with me. I'll give you love, I'll give you support, I'll give you everything you've ever needed and more. I'll be your mom, I'll be the one to tuck you in at night and give you a kiss good night. I'll be the one who will love you unconditionally. No matter what you do, I'll be there for you. But that's not possible for me right now.
At barely 20 years old, I have realized that the love of Christ can heal anyone's heart. But the love of a family is what every orphan needs. A good family gives kids stability, love, encouragement, the track to God, a home to call their house, and a bed to sleep in. I have such a big heart for adoption that it literally kills me that I'm only 20 years old and cant become that mother for someone yet. Not yet. Right now I can give love, encouragement, and the love of Jesus. The one who has their future planned out, who will give them hope and comfort. Walking down the street of Brasil seeing any street person let alone a young kid makes me want to stop and think, "What are you doing for your world!" As I see people walking by these kids and not even looking at them, I see people just get farther from them like their scared of them or something. These kids have no love, no support. They bribe people for money and then go by glue and drugs. Why? Because they would rather feel numb then feel the way they feel living on the streets. How can we make it better for them? How can we change their perspective on life? So I am here in Brasil trying to give them love and a smile. To show them Jesus cares.
Living in a world where the streets are called home, it's not easy, but totally worth it!

In The Hands Of God!

Being here in Brasil has made it more of a reality that I am in God's hands and He is preparing me for a destiny unknown to the human population, unknown to me. When someone tells me, "Well, the only reason they are saying this or doing that for me is because I know where I'm called, I know what God has for me." Do you think that makes me upset? Well no not really it just makes me wonder what God has for me. But who am I to question God? Who am I to question my creator. He knows the plans he has for me right? Jeremiah 29:11 states it: For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you to give you a hope and a future" That's from memory so it may not be word for word right, so sorry. But really I am in Gods hands, He carries me when I'm weak, He picks me up when I fall, He comforts me when I'm sad and because of Him I have joy. The Lord is my strength! The Lord is my joy! Although I am in the Lords hands, and so are you. I am also my Gods hands and feet. God never said, go out to all the world and condemn those who do wrong, no He said go out to all the world and preach the gospel. Being here in Masters Commission has made me a better person and has help me so much! So for my God I will go to all the world if He asked me too, I'd climb the tallast mountain and sim the longest ocean if He asked me too. This is where I am suppose to be at this point in my life, the look on those kids' faces. To see them smile, to see them interact and to see them responde to a devotion makes me know I am doing the right thing. No for me, but for my God! It brings joy to my heart to see those kids talk about how God has transformed their lives. Once street kid, now going to school and having a purpose, a hope, and even a dream.