My last days in Brazil

Right now, I'm sitting in a comfortable lazy chair in the Dallas/ Fort-Worth Airport not know what to think. I have so many emotions going through my mind. I just left a place where there are many people that I have come to love and may not see them again on this earth. On the other hand, all of my family is waiting for me at the airport in Minneapolis. Plus, my girlfriend Becky is coming next Wednesday! There is so much going on in between the ears! I cannot give a reflection on the entire trip yet. That will take a bit of thought and time. What I can do is tell you about this past weekend. There were so many goodbyes. I hate them. Too many tears... I'll tell you about some highlights from last weekend.

On Friday the 29th, we hosted about 15 girls at Tom and Penny's house for a sleep over. At first I was thinking, "Get me out of here". Way to much noise. But Penny asked me if I was willing to do an interview in front of the girls about Biblical womanhood and manhood. I love the subject so I immediately said yes. Just before I was about go downstairs I was talking to Becky on Skype. I had the idea of Becky being involved in the interview as well over Skype for a woman's perspective. I went downstairs, called Becky up and Penny interview her on her faith, her relationship with me and advice she had for the girls. I did the same thing from my perspective. It was an amazing experience. I feel so blessed to be able to give that to the young girls in the church. It was an amazing bonding experience for Becky and I as well. We really want to do that again.

On Sunday, I had the amazing opportunity to preach for the first time to the church I have been attending during my stay in Brazil. I chose to speak about the blind beggar from John 9. It is my favorite chapter in the whole Bible. I wonder how many pastors preached their first sermon through an interpreter. It is really interesting. I pray that the message that God wanted came through the translating. After I was finished, one of the deacons and his wife came up and washed my feet. I have never felt so humbled. I felt so undeserving of such a service. I will always remember that gift Paulo and Nubia! There was many tears after the service as I said goodbye to the congregation for the last time. I truly love every person in that church. I am overwhelmed with the love that they have shown me. I will miss them so much!

Finally, yesterday we made our way to the airport to send me off. I rode with Tom and Penny and their son's family came to send me off as well. They have been such an amazing blessing! Their names are Shane and Erin Latham. They are missionaries in Gravatia as well and are in need of support! Pray for them. They are doing so many wonderful things for the Lord. I'm getting a little of topic. Sorry. We ate at the airport and relaxed for a while and slowly but surely made our way down to the gate. My great friend Martin arrived just before I was to leave. It was such a blessing to meet him and get to know him. I'm so glad he came. 

A few thoughts:

-It's crazy being able to understand everyone's conversations going on around me. 

-I never knew what it was like for the security guard in the airport to say "Welcome home". Amazing phrase! Made my day so far!

-I don't know how I'm going to react to getting back in with American culture. Please pray for my transition.

-Please pray for my heart. My desire is to stay committed to the Lord as I plug back in to daily life in America. I have been taught so much and my heart for the Lord has grown fonder and fonder for Him and His glory. I still want more. Please pray for growth. 

The girls from the church listening to my beautiful girlfriend Becky speak about womanhood.

My great friend Gabriel. He was a great help in basketball. Amazing guy!

Paulo and Nubia washing my feet after I preached.

My great friend Samuel. He told me and showed me everything I needed to see and know about Brazilian culture. He was such a great blessing!

From left to right: Gabe, Martin, Me, Penny, Tom, Camilla, Shane, Erin. This is in the airport right before I left. 

Update from Brazil

I'm going to try and post again to sum up everything that happened during my trip but I need to share a little update on some answered prayer. In my last post, I asked for some financial help to buy some clothes for a family that is in the church I attend here in Gravatai. Very soon afterwards, my prayers were answered with just the right amount of money to supply this family with a haircut, clothes and a load of groceries. Praise God for what He has done! 
I'll tell you a little bit about their haircuts. During my stay here, I've needed a few haircuts. So the place that I chose was a salon in Wal-mart. I ended up meeting the owner of the salon due to my lack of language skills. She was the only staff member that could speak English. We ended up talking for a really long time at the store and I found out she had just moved back to Brazil from South Carolina. She gave me her card and invited me back before I departed Brazil. When I realized that the boys needed haircuts, I knew where I would be going! Our first stop in our big day of shopping was in the hair salon. They got their haircuts done pretty quick. I brought them up to the counter to pay, and the employee told me, "No pay". What?! That was so cool to receive that kind of generosity from people that I barely know! With the money that we saved we were able to buy socks. Little did I know that they had been sharing socks with their mom for the entire winter without having any of their own. After the haircut we headed over to McDonald's for an ice cream treat.  I don't know how often they get to go to McDonald's because in Brazil, McDonald's is where you go if you HAVE money. A Big Mac meal runs you about 15 dollars. So I'm sure that was fun for them :) After the treat we went shopping and I was able to get them two nice shirts for church, and a pair of new shorts. That may not seem like a lot but Brazil is very expensive. It is unbelievable. A pair of Nike running shoes costs about $300! I had some extra money so I decided to head to the grocery store and fill their refridgerator. It was so awesome to see Nelci's (the mom) face when I saw her. She had tears of joy! God's grace is so humbling! It's crazy how He uses undeserving sinners like us to carry out His purposes. What an amazing privilege to be able to serve God! 
It was an amazing day! One of the many highlights of my stay in Brazil! I have already started my "farewell tour". It has been really tough saying goodbye to people that I have grown to love for the last time. Lord-willing I will see them again on this earth. I have so many other thoughts in my mind about Brazil, missions and God I could type forever! I will try to get a few more of these written before I leave! 


Oh! One last update! I will be preaching on Sunday for the first time in my life! It will be on my favorite chapter of the Bible; John 9. Please pray for God to speak through me to the thirsty souls of whoever comes to hear. Thanks!

Outside Wal-Mart before haircuts. Gabriel on the left, Mateus on the right.

Fitting rooms

McDonald's

The family outside their house. They look mad, but it is customary to not smile in pictures in Brazil. They're happy I promise!

Missions trip within a missions trip. Oct 16th

My time is running out in Brazil.  I now feel so comfortable here that it doesn't seem like I will be leaving in three weeks. I have fallen in love with the people. It will be one of the toughest times of my life to say good-bye. I am currently on my way back from Argentina where I accompanied other Baptist church in Porto Alegre on a mini missions trip. This weekend has been the highlight of my stay here for sure. I'll tell you a bit about it :) 

I didn't really have an idea about how it would go. All I knew was that I was going to be teaching basketball to some little kids. Little did I know was that there was much more God had for me and the team that I was with. On Saturday, I got to meet everyone on the team that came. There was around 40 people in all. We spend the early morning inviting kids and their parents to an afternoon of fun in the park. The kids had many little games for them to play and the parents could receive free hair-cuts, manicures  pedicures, and free legal advice from a lawyer. The turnout was amazing! I'm not sure how many kids were there but it must have been around 100. We shuffled the kids to each activity station, let them play the game, and for the last five minutes, we shared part of the salvation story with them through the salvation bracelets we gave them at the beginning. It was a great experience to share the gospel to the little ones. 

After the game day, we went to a praise rally in the park where some of the team members lead worship music and we listened to a pastor share the gospel again. Many people attended. I'm not totally sure what was said. Even with my interpreter friends helping me. But from what I know, it was a great message of salvation. After the message, a famous soccer player named Lucio shared his testimony and gave out a ton of soccer memorabilia that was used on World Cup games and professional league soccer in Brazil. I was lucky enough to catch a soccer ball that was used in an Internacional (Brazilian pro team) game! Crazy! God blessed me with enough height to catch it over the crowd :) 

Since I don't speak Portuguese, I never know what our schedule is. So I have to expect the unexpected. This morning, we had a choice of many different ministries. The choices were: helping with clothing donations, painting, yardwork, soccer and going to a prison. As soon as I heard about the prison, I knew that was where I needed to be. God led a new freind of mine named Martin to come with me to interpret and translate for me. I didn't know what to expect, but it turned into the most powerful evangelism I have ever been a part of. I looked through a dollar sized crack in a door and told prison inmates about true freedom in Christ. I looked in there eyes and saw grown men with hearts that longed for hope. I pray that God gave them hope through the words that He gave me. One group of inmates asked if I would read Romans to them in English after I shared. I have there names somewhere and I will try to get those on the blog soon so you can pray for them. I also had the opportunity to pray with a lady named Debra. She is the only Christian that works at the prison. She is responsible for bringing us there. I prayed for strength and comfort for her. She is in a really tough position to be a light in her workplace. Just imagine! 

I expected to look at the inmates with pity something similar to that. To my surprise, by the grace of God, I saw them no different than I was before God opened my eyes to his beauty. They are created in God's image and in need of a savior! Praise God for sending His Son to humble broken sinners!

God also sent many people on the trip with me that speak fluent English. It was great making some good friends and hearing some of their testimonies. I pray that I will see them again someday. In the United States, Brazil, or in Heaven. I have been so encouraged my them and how they have found Jesus to be the treasure of their hearts. 

On a different note concerning my health. One or two times a day, I have been having a difficult time breathing. It feels kind of like I am breathing through a straw or there is a weight on my chest. I went in to the doctor, they did a bunch of tests and they couldn't find a thing wrong. They said maybe allergies or the pollution in the city ( there is so much pollution in the air!). If you could pray for healing, I would love for this little bug to fly away! 

And last but not least, God has placed on my heart to help a family in my city of Gravatai. There is a single mother named Nelci' and two sons named Mateus and Gabriel. They go to Tom and Penny's church. They are poor beyond belief. They live in a little shack with dirt floor. They barely get by each month. Both of the boys are in need of some summer clothes and new shoes. If you feel led to help someone, I know that this family is in need of it. Personally, I do not have the funds to help them. I wish I could just pick them up and take them shopping but unfortunately I cannot. If you would like to help, email me at erik.aleckson@gmail.com. Thank you!

The painting that the team created in front of the church in Argentina.

Me in front of the prison after we visited.

Kids playing basketball at Kid's Day on Saturday.

All the kids that showed up.

Mountains of clothes that the church donated to the community.

The 24th of September

Hey! This is getting kind of crazy with all these blog posts that I'm pumping out huh?! 


I just want to give a quick update on the Argentina missions trip that I had talked about in the last post. It has already been taken care of! I didn't know that I had been given a large amount of money two weeks ago! Praise God! Crazy how God works things sometimes. So I will be going to Argentina on the 15th of October for 4 days I believe to teach basketball and to help with evangelism activities. 
Another exciting item... I attended a youth praise rally tonight at a neighboring Baptist church about 40 minutes away from me. I randomly ran into an American missionary family who have been in Brazil for 10 years. We got to talking for a while about what we are up to in Brazil and out of nowhere, they asked if I would like to preach one Sunday before I leave Brazil! Whoa! I couldn't do anything but say yes! I'll be preaching for two different services on a Sunday sometime in this next coming month. I would really appreciate prayer for this huge and exciting challenge! I pray that God's light will shine through me to their congregation. I will keep you updated! 

PS It's getting warmer in Brazil! Should be in the 80s or higher until I leave! Sorry MN!
Go Vikes!

Three of my favorites from the wrestling ministry. This was at our tournament at our church today.

The youth praise rally. Can you spot me?

Finally Back! September 22nd

Greetings from Brazil! It sure has been a long time since I've written one of these things! I apologize for the laziness. I sure have been busy though! I'll try to let you in on as much as I can! This has sure been an adventure so far! Many, many ups and downs. As a Christian in America, most of us never really think about not being able to communicate and what that does to your spiritual health. It can get really tough! I have made a huge attempt to listen to at least one sermon a day from a solid pastor. Usually I listen to one while I run and then another for my devotions. It has really helped my Bible study. Listening to Paul Washer, Mark Driscoll and John Piper have ignited my heart with a thirst for the Bible unlike any other time in my life. I had to make the choice to either wallow in despare because there is limited chance to learn spripture and thus losng my grip on my joy for God, or wash myself in sound teaching and Biblical truth. It still has been a struggle though. Busyness can deter anyone from drinking living water. Meditating on maybe just one Biblical truth or a Bible verse throughout the day has helped me so much.

I'll let you in on a few of the hightlights of the past month.

I went to the park in nearby Porto Alegre to play some basketball. I didn't know what to expect but was surprised by a couple of fellows that spoke English! We eventually got a game of 5-on-5 going. It was really fun to play ball again. One of the guys I met is not a Christian for sure and I really hope to share the gospel with him next time I see him Lord-willing!

I had the pleasure of meeting some church member's son one evening at their house named Samuel. He speaks fluent English and was really excited to talk with me supposedly. We hit it off pretty much from the start. The day after he took me to my first pro soccer game! We went to watch Internacional. There are two pro teams in Porto Alegre. The rivalry is much like Cubs-White Sox or Auburn-Alabama in football. One team is Internacional and the other is Gremio. And everyone in the surrounding cities is a die-hard fan of one of them. I am still not sure which team I like. Many people have tried bribing me in a certain direction but neither has succeeded yet. Either way, it was really fun to spend time with Samuel  and watch a pretty exciting game (4 goals in the first 15 minutes!)

Basketball coaching is going really well. I have been blessed with a helper named Gabriel who translates and helps a lot with coaching. Hopefully he will take over full coaching responsibilities when I leave. Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to share the gospel with them. I wrote it out, had it translated, and then Gabriel read it to the team. I pray that seeds were planted. There were about 20 kids there. Just this last Saturday, we had our first official game. We didn't have anyone to play this time so we played against ourselves. It was still really fun. I reffed and coached at the same time while Tom ran the scoreboard. After the game, we had the team over to his house for a soccer game. Including the church kids, 30 people showed up. After the game, I was able to share my testimony to all of them. Again, I pray that seeds were planted or watered. This nation needs Godly men and women. I have been told that 80% of married men cheat on their wives. And the wives tolerate it. It has turned into part of the culture. Blows me away!

I recently started teaching English to a man named Junior. Yes, that's his real name! He is studying to be a flight attendent and would like to be a more desirable applicant when he starts applying for jobs. He is a Christian guy and we have had some good conversation on what we believe. We can't go too in depth because of the limitations on communication but nevertheless they have been encouraging! We study three days a week for an hour and a half each time. He is steadily getting better and better. I can't wait to see how much he has improved by the time I leave!

Many of you know I like to run for exercise. Recently I had been discouraged on the lack of evangelism I was doing. So I brainstormed a bit and had an idea. While on my runs, I could pass out gospel tracts to the numerous people I see on the road or at bus stops. I usually try to pass out around 20 before I stop running. Sometimes the miles really rack up! Please pray for those people that recieve them and for me to stay fired up to run!

This Sunday Lord-willing I will be singing a special number at church. How Deep the Father's Love. I am taking a big step of faith by doing this! I haven't performed any song in front of anything but my steering wheel so I suppose I'll be nervous! Please pray for that!

One last thing! I was approached my Tom's son Shane about going on a missions trip to the slums of Argentina in 3 weeks to teach basketball and help share Christ with the neighboring Argentinians for a week. I immediatly said that I was on board for the trip. But there was a catch. It costs about $90.00 for me to go along to cover expenses. Please pray that I can raise the money. If it isn't in God's plan, I'm alright. I can still fill my time with other things. But boy! That would be a great experience!

That is all for tonight! I'll try to keep up with this a little better! It has been tough with the amount of time in the day! 

A couple more prayer requests:

-Please pray for my girlfriend Becky. She has been nothing but supportive, understanding and patient with me throughout these first few months. It gets tough sometimes for her though. Pray that she, as Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith..."

-Pray for my family also. They are such a great encouragement to me with how faithful they are to the Lord and to me.

PS Sorry about any words that aren't spelled correctly. The spell check won't work for me!

Laurissa, Andressa, Ezeikial and I about to eat the biggest hotdog ever! There are 3 hotdogs and 3 fried eggs in each of those buns. Never has my stomach hurt so bad! Delicious! 

Part of my basketball team after our game.

The big group that showed up to play soccer at Tom's house after our basketball game! (This is the group that I shared my testimony to.)

You can see Ezekiel and Andressa on the right. The others are Ezekials's parents and grandparents. Great family!

My first ride on a horse comes in Brazil!

I'm dressed up in native Brazilian gear about to take a bite out of a sugarcane.

Eziekial's extended family. I took a day and hung out with them.

I float in the parade in Gravatai. It was the states independence day last Tuesday. The state independence day is much bigger for them then the national independence day.

Tom's son Shane (right) and his son Gabriel (left) playing Xbox Kinect at Gabriel's birthday party.

August 27th, 2011

August 27^th, 2011

It sure has been a while since I have been blogging! I had a very busy week on vacation in the mountains in a city called Gramado. Supposedly the biggest tourist town in Brazil. I pretty much hung out in the time share and video chatted with family and Becky J. It was so nice to see their faces and hear their voices! We got back Thursday night. It was a great trip! Back to the grind!

I had my second basketball practice on Friday. This time I had hoops on the backboards so that made a bit easier to run a practice. An 18 year old Gabriel and his girlfriend came this time. He’s 6’5’’ and plays a lot of basketball so it was really nice to have a helper there to interpret and coach a little. I had 13 kids come to practice again. Most of them were there for the first time so I had to explain the defensive stance and defensive slide again. They learned how to pass correctly, do a proper lay-up, and the correct shooting form. Rome wasn’t built in a day! We have a game next Saturday! That will for sure be an adventure. They don’t even know the rules yet. So I told them to go home and look up the rules on the internet because I don’t have time to explain them J It is so fun to be in the gym! Basketball is basketball no matter where you are in the world!

Today (Saturday), I got to experience my first wrestling tournament at the church. 80 kids showed up from the various schools we travel to. It was so interesting. My job duty was to control the scoreboard. So I was pushing buttons for four hours. Many parents showed up. So the church members took advantage of the opportunity and went out and talked with them about the church and about Christ. One parent is for sure coming to church tomorrow morning. Praise God!

For those of you who are praying for me, please pray for my heart to keep looking to God not only as Savior and Lord, but as my Treasure. Encouragement from other people is slim a majority of the time since there are so few people to have an in depth conversation with. I can’t minister to others with the message of Christ without a heart that treasures Him and is committed to staying free from sin. When sin creeps in, I do not find joy and contentment in my salvation. Sin is always caused by us not treasuring Christ. The root of every sin is that. I pray that God will give me that heart that gives Him authentic heartfelt worship! 

The only picture that would load!! Tom, Penny and I at a Fondu restaurante in Gremado

Monday August 22, 2011

I listened to a sermon about six months ago. I can't really remember what the main point of the sermon was or what text John MacArthur was using but the key thing I remember was that the Gospel needs to be preached daily. In every sermon the Gospel needs to be made clear. It was hearing and confessing with our lips that Jesus is Lord that saved us from our doom. In addition to hearing the Gospel from the pulpit, we need to preach it to ourselves daily, even hourly. I need to see God's majestic love and authority each and every second to keep myself from sin. So what it is the Gospel or Good News that I speak of that saves us? I'll do my best to explain it. What I am about to write is not exhaustive by any means. The Gospel has an
infinite amount of discoveries that come to light each day. Infinite amounts of eternal joy. In the words of C.S. Lewis "Stop settling for mud pies in the slums when a holiday in the Alps is offered in allegiance to Jesus."
The world we live in wasn't always like this. It was perfect and without sin. Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world. But Adam let his guard down and Eve lacked discernment and they messed up and ate the forbidden fruit. And that was the first sin. From that sin, everything changed in the human race. Everyone after that comes in the world "hostile to God", "an enmity with God", we want to set the terms on how we get God. And the proof is all around us. The world we live in so evil! Jeremiah 14:7 says, " Although our iniquities testify against us, O Lord, act for your name's sake! Truly our apostasies have been many, We have sinned
against you!", Isaiah 59:2-3 says, "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness." Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." You see we are all destined for hell if God doesn't step in somehow. You may say that you are a good person and you donate money to the poor, or volunteer at a school or something like that. But be careful who you are comparing your goodness to. Don't compare yourself with other sinners. Compare yourself the perfect God. Righteousness is what He demands. We fall way short if that's the case and we are no longer "good" people. We are filthy. Isaiah 64:6 says, "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."This filthy garment the author rights about is a menstrual period cloth. You see our sin condemns us before a righteous God. We cannot satisfy God's righteous requirements. A divine rescue is necessary! We need some kind of Savior because we are destined for eternal torment in hell due to our sin. Romans 6:23 says" For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Since our sins deserve death, someone needs to die or atone for that sin. That's where Jesus Christ comes in the picture. God treated Christ as if He were a sinner, as if He had committed every sin that every believer had ever sinned, even though He wasn't a sinner, in order to treat us as though we had never committed a sin and appear before God as sinless and lived a
perfect life. 1 Peter 2:24 says, " and He Himself bore or sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." And 1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ also for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit."By realizing that we are sinful and our sins are taken away IF we believe that deep in our hearts, God's infinite beauty and grace should pour into our hearts. That death on the cross frees us from the captivity for the sin that held us down and sentenced us to death! God's infinite beauty and love makes anything that is not of him gross and unattractive (drunkenness, sexual immorality, greed, lust, pride, dirty talk). Those kinds of things are binding us down anymore. We are no longer a slave to that! We are now a slave of Christ! He purchased believers on the cross! In response to everything above, we need to repent and believe in Him. That is a requirement! Mark 1:15 says, "The gospel of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel!" Turn from your sinful ways! Do not live to please others or the culture you live in! Live to please God. Remember,He's the one who PURCHASED you! Please your Master, not the culture and what it says is ok. God's Word is the only ultimate truth! For God so loved the world; that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not parish, but have eternal life. John 3:16. We give our lives to God because He sent His Son to give His life up for us. Don't deny Him, nothing on this earth is
worth compromising His eternal riches. I'm not writing this to scare anyone into Heaven, but the truth needs to be heard of the reality of what the consequences of sin are. We need to weigh our options. There is no middle ground. Does eternity in torment or eternity in heaven being full of joy in God appear more attractive? Do not believe to just escape hell and pain though. That brings God no glory. And His glory and worship of Him is why we live and why we were created. We want to go to heaven because God is there. God is what makes Heaven so good! Not eternal life, or seeing dead family members, or escaping hell. God is in Heaven and being with Him and glorifying Him, and magnifying Him should be our aim.  Our eternal joy depends on that! I'll be writing more on this during the next few weeks. There is so much more to say of God and His glory! I pray that God's love and mercy towards us causes your eyes to be opened to more eternal and glorious things. Rather than anything money can buy. Do not worship yourself by the way that you live. Worship God. Trust in Him at all times people. God is a refuge for us.

I pray that I got this right. Be in prayer for yourself for God to open you eyes just like He did in John 9!

"There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity today, which many have, and think they have enough-
a cheap Christianity which offends nobody and requires no sacrifice- which costs nothing and is
worth nothing." -J.C. Ryle



Me putting up brand new rims at our gym!



Sunday August 21, 2011

Sunday August 21, 2011

I want to apologize for being such a slouch and not posting for a few days. There simply has not been enough time! I'll fill you in a little on the main events that have transpired since Friday.

Friday was by far the most memorable day thus far. There was a family member of mine that was having some health problems in Minnesota. And it was really tough for me to be sitting in Brazil while family is hurting. It made me really homesick. I came down to the kitchen for breakfast and Penny and their maid were waiting for me. Right as I walked in she says, "We're going to pray for your family member right now if that's ok". So they both prayed in Portuguese. It brought me to tears I was so moved by the Godly love that was shown to me and my family member. That was by far the highlight of my trip so far! Friday was also the
that an opportunity to teach English came about. I have about four hours of free time during the late morning and early afternoon and I thought that time could be used better and more for God's glory. So now I'll be teaching at least 4 people every week how to converse in English. Please pray for wisdom and opportunities to share my faith. I haven't ever taught  English. So this will be a new experience for sure! Friday was my first day of basketball practice as well! I wrote out an introduction to myself in Portuguese for the kids and I read it to them when they all arrived. I told them my background in basketball and coaching.I also told them that above all these things, I am a Christian and my prayer is that you come to know the glorious savior Jesus Christ. I don't think many of the kids know much about the Gospel. So in the one a week I have for practice, I need to install the Gospel with the power of God to these kids. I am so excited! Practice was very interesting as well. Only two of the thirteen that came had ever played basketball. So this is going to be about the basics. Rules and fundamentals are going to be the only things we will basically do. AND I have to make that fun as well. Phew! It's also a challenge to do this with an interpreter. Think about trying to teach or coach through a medium. Tough to say the least. It seemed as though the kids had fun though. Most of them said they would be back next week. I'm so excited! After practice I came home and ate dinner and hoped on the computer for a cyber date with my girlfriend :) While attempting to do that, I made a monumental discovery! Gmail has a voice chat. Its kind of like Skype with no video. So we had the opportunity to hear each other's voices. About brought me to tears and it surely did to Becky. So now anyone that wants to talk with me online can just add me. My email is erik.aleckson@gmail.com. I'd love to talk.

Of all the times in my life that I have thirsted for the Word of God. There has never been a time that I have thirsted more. I am making so many new discoveries each day in my reading! Maybe it's because of my lack of communication with the people or my looming loneliness. But many times people try to figure things out on there own when times get tough or sticky. I have found that the opposite, seeking God through his Word, prayer, and Biblical preaching from a pastor and myself have proved to be so much more full of joy and contentment. Seeing the richness and fullness of God in His creation blows me away. There is no other place to be if I desire to minister to anyone. My heart needs to be seeking to magnify Him, to glorify Him, and to honor Him in my daily reading, my conversations, my theology, and my thoughts. After that, just let the chips fall where they will in the words of John Piper. I can't be a second-hander who seeks to please men. I need to focus on what pleases God.

Yesterday was pretty much a day off. In the morning, the assistant pastor, Pastor Edilson and I set up a trampoline at a school in Gravatai for an event they were having. We then went to wrestling practice where I was yet again pummeled during the demonstrations thatTom does. I am getting better at teaching the moves though. In no way am I good at it yet though. After practice we came home and pretty much called it a day. At night, Becky and I had Bible study over Gmail chat again. Romans is such a deep and glorious book. If you want to know how you were saved. Read it. Study it. Listen to sermons on it. John Piper preached over 250 sermons on Romans. Desiringgod.org has every single one. Becky and I are only through the first one, but oh, we are so excited! The Gospel really is Good News! And the Romans is filled with Gospel!

I'm going to start taking the city bus into Porto Alegre a few times a week to go and play basketball in the parks there. I really need to feel a little independence. I currently only leave the house without Tom when I go jogging. So I need to get away occasionally. Hopefully Porto Alegre is a rich ministry field that needs harvesting. I'll be sure toalways carry Gospel tracts.

Today, after church is another lounging day. I am filling it with reading, study and worship. I'll have to admit that it is really easy to do today since its in the 40s outside! Brrrrrr! I'll hopefully be able to keep up with my posting this week. I should have a lot to share about my studying since we are going on vacation in Gremado. Tom says all we do is swim in the pool, watch movies and eat chocolate! So I'll have plenty of time to read and skype. If anyone wants to skype this week, I should be available a good portionof the time! Thanks!

"I used to want a lot of things. All that stuff that's on TV. Education, cars, and clothes. Fashion lights and jewelery. Focused on the wrong stuff. Now I got my eyes on You and now I know that God is enough!" -Lecrae



Joanie and the church kids playing "ninja" after church





Tom teaching Carla how to run the scoreboard in the sanctuary for the wrestling tournament next weekend at the church.

August 17th, 2011

Even with all my efforts to communicate with the Brazilian people, I talk a lot less here in
Brazil. This gives me a lot more time to think. I listened to a sermon before I left the
States that talked about God's love. One could write and write and write all about he many
different facets of God's love. Before I say more about that, what about God's wrath? The
Bible also speaks abundantly about this. Many people in the world today say that God isn't
real because so much evil is going on in the world. What is evil though? It's anything that's
against God. Anything morally bad or wrong. Lying, stealing, cheating, rape. But if we want
God to stop evil do we want Him to stop all of it or just a little bit of it? If God stops all
the evil things what about OUR evil thoughts? Where does God stop it? The murder level, the
lying level, or the thinking level? If we want to stop evil we have to be consistent. We
can't just pick and choose. That means you and I would be eliminated because we think evil
things. If that's true then we SHOULD be eliminated! But thanks to God that Jesus stepped in
to save us from our sin! Christ died for all evilness! So many people ignore the wrath of God!
Why would a loving God allow the mass murder of thousands of "innocent" people in a tsunami?
Many people think that it isn't fair. Don't fall victim to a fallen understanding of fairness.
God works on a different wave length. Isaiah 55:8, " For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord." So be careful before you start beginning a
sentence "I don't think God would do..." Do what? Do something your fallen ways and mind
wouldn't do or think? Remember this is the same God who sent His only son to DIE for we
"filthy rags". I wouldn't do that. God did. Before you criticize God, thank Him for the love
he shows even to the unsaved by bringing the sun up in the morning. I could go longer but I
think I'm done ranting. The main theme: Repent of your sins and turn to Jesus! God's worth
is higher than any hardship or persecution this life offers.

Inviting kids to basketball tomorrow! Please pray that it goes well! Pray for humility and
patience too. I was on low supply today. Thanks!

The wrestling scoreboard Tom and I installed at the church for the tournament next Saturday.

My second option for basketball practice if the first school doesnt have enough kids show up. Stands, lights and rims!

August 16th. 2011

August 16th, 2011

Day one of going solo! No more Americans for comfort and easy conversation. All I have now is Tom and Penny as fellow English speakers! I didn't come down here for comfort and a vacation. I got up today at 8:20 and had my first opportunity spend a large amount of time emailing family and friends. I got a surprise instant message date with my girlfriend for about an hour too :) It's such a treat to talk to her. Even if it's on a computer. I came downstairs at about 10 am and found a big jar of peanut putter and waffles on the tables. Random fact: Brazil does not sell peanut butter or ranch dressing! America runs on that stuff! Brazilians don't even like it! Crazy. It is abnormally warm for this time of the winter in Brazil. It got up to 85 degrees today. Everyone is in shock. Tom says Al Gore could sell a lot of books here. Hehe. Looks like I'll have an extension to my summer instead of a shortened summer. Went to wrestling practice again today and had 22 kids show up. With just Tom and I running this thing, it was a lot. And I avoiding wrestling like it was the plague my entire life so I'm no help with teaching. I just make a good demonstation dummy! I hope God brings these kids to himself. They all seem so lost. Tom has so much patience with them. After practice I
had my first opportunity for a good run in Brazil. I only had time for four miles but man did it feel good. I plan on running every day from now on. Tom said he would get me in to a few races while I'm here. I am so excited for that! I'm starting to ask questions to Tom about his heart. I'm finding he's an old time navy-type guy who pretty set on his ways and if I don't conform to him I don't think we'll get along. He's not doing any changing it seems! That's just the way it is. Please pray for my heart to stay humble, patient and resting in God.

Erik getting smushed during a wrestling move demonstration.

Brazil gas stations still have workers fill your tank up. This van takes propane!

August 15th, 2011

This has definitely been a crazy last 15 days! I apologize for not keeping up with the blog! I caught the flu on Friday night. It took me out the whole day on Saturday. I slept 22 of the 24 hours of the day! I got so worn down with such full days all week and so much touching little kid's hands that someone in the group was bound to catch something. I'm glad I was the one to take the hit. I'm the one staying for the long haul. If anyone else in the group would have gotten sick it would have really cut in to their time in Brazil. We said good-bye today to both the California and Kansas teams. I'm really starting to dislike airports. I get emotional every time I go there now days. Ususally cry my heart out... Call me a sissy but it is what it is. I loved both of the groups. They both turned out to be a huge encouragement to me. I had a great conversation last night with the pastor from the California team about doctrine. We don't agree totally, and he's naturally trying to sway me in his direction, but the conversation was a huge gift from God and I was so excited to have had that talk. I couldn't sleep! Please pray for more conversation with him. Then this morning on the way to the airport, God gave me the opportunity to share my testimony to all 17 people in our van. My story is A LOT different than everyone else's it seems and I think they were a bit in shock to hear it, but it spurned on the most God glorifying conversation the group had the whole time they were down here. Praise God! So now its just the Latham's and I! Please pray that I can stay content with God and Him
alone! The Lathams are the only English speaking people I will talk to for the next 2 months basically. This is going to be more of a challenge than I thought! I'm so excited to see what God will do with me! Tom and I will be going around to several public schools this week to invite kids to basketball practice on Friday! I'm hearing through the grapevine that many kids are excited to come. I'm very curious of the skill level of the kids. This will be the hardest coaching job I've ever done! Like teaching I baby how to read. All they know is soccer. I'm really excited nevertheless! My girlfriend and I started listening to a sermon series on Romaans today. This is going to be so exciting. Husbands and boyfriends, it is so crucial that you base everything you are as individuals and as a couple on God and what he has done for you through Christ.Without that, what kind of relationship do you have? One build on sand is what it is. When the storms come and the rain
comes down on you, your relationship fails because you fall into sin. And sin is so destructive! So many insecurities arise from sin. Don't venture there. I'll end with a little of scripture. Romans 1:1, "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God". It kind of sounds like Paul starts his letter to the Romans by firstsaying who he is. But I really believe that he is saying whose he is. He has been purchased. In 1 Corinthians 7:23 Paul writes," You have been bought with a price; do not become slaves of men." Paul is bought, owned, and ruled by Jesus. If Christians are bought, he bought me, and he owns me. If you are owned you are owned by virtue of creation by God and by virtue of purchase. Doubly owned. Doubly not your own! Galations 1:10, ".... for am I striving to please men? If I were still  trying to please man, I would not be a bond-servant (greek- doulos- meaning slave) of Christ. We are not our own Christians. There is no better life or Master to have!

The entire team

Tom and Chip making his famous churros

August 11th, 2011

Wow it has already been a week in Brazil! Time has definitely flown by so far! I had to skip a day of blogging yesterday.
I was so tired last night that I couldn't put a thought together. I'm struggling tonight as well so bear with me!
I started reading a missions book by John Piper today called Let the Nations Be Glad. All I read was the first three pages
and I was super charged for being here! I'll give you a few quotes and thoughts on the book so far.

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't."

"Therfore worship is the fuel and goal of missions."

"The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God."

"You cannot commend what you don't cherish. Missionaries will never call out "let the nations be glad!", who cannot say
from the heart, "I rejoice in the Lord.... I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O most high"
(Psalm 104:34; 9:2)
There is no way you can go and preach the Gospel to the peoples of the world if you are not in awe of God and what He has  done. Piper goes on and quotes Charles Misner. Misner talks about Albert Einstein and why he may not have been a follower of Christ.

"The design of the universe is very magnificent and shouldn't be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that this is why
Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religios man. He must have
looked at what the preachers said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing. My guess us that he simply felt that religions he'd  run across did not have prosper respect... for the author of the universe."

Do we know who this Being is that we talk and sing about when we go to church, ride in the car, and stand in the shower?
It's the God of Isaiah 40:25-26. "To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the holy one. Lift up
your eyes on high and see: who created these stars? He who brings out their host by numbr, calling them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing." He knows each star's number? He has them aLL named? To ignore Him is suicide! A God this powerful, should put you in awe. This is what blows me away, I can talk to this God! I can talk to the one named all the stars? Not only that but He answers! That alone wants me to get to know Him a whole lot more! I pray that God reveals Himself to you through what I just said.
Tomorrow is also the last day of our drama. Every school we have visited has been very different. Yet no matter where we are, we are celebrities. Pray that I can use that to lead souls to Christ. I'm starting to learn some vocabulary words, verbs, and phrases to communicate so hopefully I'll be able to somehow witness to them. That's all for tonight! I can;t focus anymore! God Bless!

Autographs after the perfomance.

Pastor Jimmy and Mckenna from California at the Latham s

Day Seven August 9th, 2011

I've been reading through John for the past few months. Boy-howdy! (New phrase I've learned for the Kansas team :)) There is a lot to learn in it! Pastor John Piper is currently preaching through it if you want a deeper insight on the book. But I'll tell you what I learned tonight! Quick side note: Today was pretty much exactly the same as yesterday. With the exeption of having dinner at Carla's house. Great time! So with the time I have I'll share with you a little bit of John chapter 10. Discussion on this is invited! So post something if it is interesting to you. So in John 10, Jesus just finished up healing and seeking out the blind beggar. Boy-howdy did Pharesees hated that! And Jesus spends the first 21 verses of the chapter 10 saying He is the door to the sheep and the shepard of the flock. Then the Jews, starting in verse 22 start to manipulate Him trying to get Him to say "plainly" that He is the Son of God so they could have a reason to kill him for blashemy. Jesus responds in verse 25 that He already told them that He is the Son of Man.This whole time I'm thinking. "Why don't these people (Pharesees, Jews) believe Jesus when he tells them that He and God are one? Many of His doubters know the Old Testament very well and know that I foretells of a Messiah that performs many signs.Why are they so ignorant?" Well, verse 26 tells the story. They are blinded. It says, "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know the, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of my hand." (vv 26-28) You see, they don't understand because they are not one of God's chosen. Their lifestyle of ignorance, pride and Law says that they worship themselves instead of Him. In verse 47 of chapter 8 it says, " He who is of God hears the words of God, for this reason you do not hear, because you are not of  God." So the Jews that sought to kill Jesus were not of God. Becuase they didn't hear Jesus, who IS God. Oh, how breathtaking it can be to be one of the "called" of God! Romans 1:7 says it wonderfully when Paul addresses the Roman chrisians as beloved called by God. Why is it so breathtaking? Because it is all by GRACE that I am called by God to be His slave! I should be crying out "thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you oh mighty God for imputing your righteousness into a dirty, evil, prideful, arrogant, undeserving sinner like me who could have never come to God without Him taking
away my blindness and giving me a sight to His spendor, beauty, and glory! And now that I know that I have salvation and an eternity with God that was undeserved, I am able to give God the glory that He doesn't need from me, but deserves from me! note: God doesn't need any praise from us. He is all-suffient. God doesn't rely on any other being for glory. He is glorious in Himself. If you are not sure that God has saved you from your sin, you may not be saved or your being too intospective. If you are not saved, and God has revealed His beauty upon you right now, pray that God would become your treasure and that He would give you the desire to live for Him for the rest of eternity. Then read Romans 3:22-26. Heck, read the entire book. It is
the greatest and most life changing letter ever written! God, change the hearts of the unrepentant today!

Day Six August 8th, 2011

Whoa! What a day! Today by far had the most variety of activities! I got up at 5:55 am to shower and hop on the computer to email someone special... and to do some blogging and other emails. I ran in to a bit of a challenge when I turned the knob to the shower. The water wouldn't come out! All houses in Brazil rely on gravity for their water pressure. There is a big tank on the top of every house that water from their well runs into. I guess the circuit broke last night and prevented any re-filling of the tank. Just another small adjustment in Brazil! Oh, another adjustment, we can't flush our toilet paper down the drain. It would mess up their system. So we have to put our used paper in a trash can next to the toilet! I never thought I would do that! Anyways, after email time, I had a good breakfast of eggs, apple crisp, and squash bread. Next was
putting make-up on for the drama we would be performing three times today at a local school. Random fact: There is 80 public schools in the city we are in and the population is 240,000! Doesn't seem necessary to me. We got to the school and performed the drama and Pastor Tom shared the Gospel with them and we handed out pamphlets to each kid about how to get saved and about Pastor Tom's church. Afterwards, we were able to interact with the kids a lot. I was very surprised at how aggressive the students were. Especially the girls. Screaming and yelling and giggling. Very overwhelming! I'll have a ton of new Brazilian Facebook friends within the next few days I suppose. I pray that God opens the door to witness to them. What a blessing to be able to share the gospel message in public schools! Some places in the world are still doing it OK! After our drama, it was time for my first wrestling practice at a different school than the one we were at for the dramas. Wrestling is one of the avenues he uses to reach the youth in the city. He has found it to be his most effective form of evangelism. Praise God for the passion he has for the Brazilian people. When we got to the gym, Tom mentioned that this will be the gym that I would be coaching basketball in. It's sort of a piece of junk. Roof leaks everywhere and only to baskets but the Lord provides how He sees fit. It will be so much fun! Anyways, I got to try on my first singlet today! The wrestling gear designers need to find a new design for those things! They are ugly! Nevertheless I got to get my first experience of wrestling on a mat.
Got dominated in every way by a 17 year old. Not my sport. After packing up the van after practice. The whole group went out to eat at a pizza place in town called Roda Pizzeria. Roda means wheel in Portuguese. In the restaurant, the waiters kept coming around like a wheel with the most unique pizza I have ever seen! Corn pizza, beef strogenoff (spelling??) pizza, salmon pizza, broccoli pizza, chicken heart pizza. Crazy stuff! Then most of the dessert pizzas had some sort of chocolate as the first layer and then cheese on the top. Very different but I guess that's how they do things in Brazil! After dinner, we came home and had missions class where we are learning about Tom and Penny and their lives as missionaries and why other missionaries quit the ministry. It has been very informative. I love learning this stuff because God has really placed long-term missions work on my heart. So it is really a blessing to learn from one of the best in the world. Today is much of the same
as today! It's been a tiring day! Time for bed! God bless!

Jonie s house for dinner. He is in the front in the red shirt.

Kids at the school. Joe and Mustova

My attempt at wrestling...