I guess as parents and grandparents one of our greatest desires is to see our children and grandchildren go all out for God as they become teenagers and adults.

However, statistics show that many children from Christian homes do not go on with God in their adult lives. There are some alarming figures that indicate as many as 80% of Christian young people ditch their faith in their teens and twenties. Gavin Calver, UK director of Youth for Christ, wrote: “It breaks my heart to think how many of my mates got lost along the way. Of a group of 10 to 15 people, only one other person and myself are still going for God.” Unfortunately this seems to be a pattern repeated in most churches across the UK.

So what can we as Christian parents and grandparents do?

First of all let us remind ourselves that there are no guaranteed answers. However we can stack the odds in our favour. Deuteronomy chapter 6 is amazingly practical in its advice to parents about how they can bring up their children in the faith.

The next few posts will look more closely at this wonderful chapter to see what can be done. You may be surprised at just how practical and relevant the answers are!

It’s a relief at the end of such a long wait! Pastor Bill Wilson says “The only way to win is to not quit” – and he’s right. If there’s something in your life you’ve been waiting a long time for, keep going – God is faithful!

So, Susan’s children will finally all be leaving home… She has been very supportive and patient considering I am still living at home, 18 years after I left school! She has made this preparation time possible, so a big thanks to her.

Meanwhile I am waiting to hear from the Happy Child Mission office in Brazil, to see when they may be ready to receive me. God called me to Brazil in 2002, so of course I am really looking forward to going back having now been away for two years. Hopefully I can continue helping children to learn to read, training more staff to teach reading and start the Maths project I have been wanting to begin for so long. Soon it could be time to book the plane tickets! As soon as I get any more information I will let you know.

Thank you for all of you who prayed – it was well worth it! Now that the time of waiting is over, a few verses come to mind:

Psalm 25:3 “No-one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame”
Psalm 28:6 “Praise be to the Lord for he has heard my cry for mercy… my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.”
Psalm 30:11 “You turned my wailing into dancing… and clothed me with joy… O LORD my God, I will give you thanks for ever.”

A big THANK YOU to everyone who prayed and helped secure the visa, and so hastened my return to Brazil. Please pray: that I’ll be able to get out to Brazil without further delay and will choose wisely which resources to take on this occasion.

If you would like to be added to the list for the email version of the newsletter, or if you have any questions, please contact cocacola2000@hotmail.co.uk. You can see more about Happy Child International at www.happychild.org or call 01372 375 848 for more info or donations.

Many thanks for all your support, Alistair.

Other people might give the answer “God – if there is a god – is out there.” Maybe these people realise that the physical world can’t be all that there is. They’ve haven’t ruled out the idea of some kind of god existing, but if he does exist then he is very distant – “out there, somewhere” or “up in the sky.” And this answer is partially correct; God is out there (the Bible says “the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain Him”), but it misses out the more amazing reality that God is also near.

So the third answer, and the one that we would give, is that God is near. Rather than being a distant, impersonal force, God is a Person and He is interested in being in relationship with us. But where do we get this idea from? What does the Bible say about it? We’re going to take a quick hop, skip and a jump through the Bible to see what it says about this theme…

God’s intention – dwelling with man
It all starts off with man and God in perfect relationship. Well, for a while at least. God desires a close relationship with people – people, who aren’t just another type of creature, but are fashioned in His own image, formed and known by Him.

Genesis 3 verse 8 says: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

This verse hints at the kind of relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God, but by this point sin and rebellion have entered the picture. Adam is aware of who God is – holy, perfect – and that he has sinned, and so he and Even hide from God. The perfect relationship has been tainted by sin, and leads to Adam and Eve being exiled from Eden (Genesis 3 verse 23).

God is near – but sin separates us.

God’s intention remains
Sin has entered the world, but God’s intention – to be near us – remains. He picks out people – Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph – and then a nation – Israel – to be His own people. In one place, God says to His people:

“‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit… I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.’” (Leviticus 26 verses 4 and 11-13)

This phrase crops up again and again right through the Old Testament – “I will be your God and you will be my people.” God is pointing His people ahead to a time when the original way of doing things is restored, when once again He will walk with us. To me, this verse speaks of how valuable we are to God, how He desires us to be “His people” – it’s not about possession, but about restoration.

God travelling with His people – near but apart
Over the last few weeks at Crossroad we’ve been following the story of God’s people as they journeyed towards the Promised Land. God was with His people on that journey in a visible way – the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud travelling with them were a reminder of His presence and His power. Also, God set up the Tabernacle – the place where His glory rested, and the place where sacrifices were offered for the people’s sin.

But even though God is obviously near, there’s still a separation. When the people of Israel set up camp, it’s the priests who live closest to the Tabernacle. The priests and Moses offer sacrifices and meet with God on behalf of the people. The Most Holy Place in the tabernacle can only be entered by one person, once a year. The curtain in the tabernacle emphasises the gap between God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness.

God is near – but sin separates us.

God’s remedy
So, down through Israel’s history, God’s promise – God’s desire – keeps ringing out: “They will be my people, I will be their God. I will walk among them again.” And then Jesus arrives on the scene – God actually walking with His people. Jesus has come to deal with the separation that sin causes, once and for all.

When Jesus was on the cross, He called out with a loud voice “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

For Jesus, God was distant, so that sin would no longer have to separate us.

The end result – life with God
And because of what Jesus went through on the cross – separation from His Father, taking the punishment that our sins deserve – we can now live in relationship with God. The barrier between us and Him has been removed. The book of Hebrews puts it like this:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10 verses 19 – 22)

And, looking ahead to the future,

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.” (Revelation 21 verses 1-3)

God is near – sin no longer has to separate us from Him.

One of the most important things that every farmer and gardener knows is that a seed has to stay in the ground if it is to bear fruit. Every Christian has to learn to keep the seed (the word of God) continually in their hearts until they get the promised crop. The Bible says that we bear fruit with perseverance, however we often expect immediate results after God has spoken His word to us, or gives us a promise. We are tempted to dig up the seed to see if it is growing.

In the book “Ever increasing faith” by Smith Wigglesworth, when asked the reason for his faith being so strong, he answered “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Hebrews chapter 11 speaks of the heroes of faith, but remember that these great saints had a faith that matured over many years of testing. We need to guard against bringing the world’s thinking into the church. If we do, we should not be surprised if we become disappointed when we don’t see immediate results.

God’s words planted in our hearts, like seeds, need time to produce all the potential they contain. Jesus said that the seed planted in good soil (heart) brought forth much fruit with endurance. Every promise of God planted in our hearts will indeed come to pass if we stop digging them up and realise that there is a due season for the seed sown.

But having always eventually returned to Seaton, from wherever I’ve been, it seems strange learning to call a different town “home”. Seaton has been the most familiar place in the world to me since 1977, and in Minehead it’s rather like being in a foreign country to have to learn so many simple things now, that were previously so easy. Although the experience is rather like being an uprooted tree, the positive side is that I’ve lived longer in Brazil (approx. nine months in total) than the two months that I have been in Minehead. Consequently Brazil feels more like home than here, and I am looking forward to going back! But how? What about the visa and travel costs? Well…

Good news! I received an email this week confirming that the remaining documents I need are now on their way in the post from Brazil. Only when they arrive will it be possible to apply for a two-year visa.

Good news! The same week as the email, I was offered a job at Butlins to work in Guest Services on the Reception desk. This means that I can save for the cost of airfare and other important items, such as a bicycle and a fan, within just a few months.

Good news! This month I received a gift in the mail. This cheque was the final amount I needed to pay for my visa costs and health insurance for the trip.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has given and hastened my return to Brazil. God’s timing is great: my visa documents, visa fees and job have all arrived at the same time!

So, when should I apply for a two-year visa? The visa can take up to 60 days to process but sometimes longer. Once it has been issued it is only valid for 90 days. I need it to arrive after I have saved enough for my budget, because if it arrives early I may not save enough funds before the 90 day expiry. Also, my contract with Butlins lasts until October (June to September being the peak season). This means that I shall aim to apply for my visa at the end of May or beginning of June. I hope the visa will arrive in August and then I will have until the end of October to travel. An added bonus is that I can also be here to help Mum in her final move to a more permanent address.

It is also excellent news that Happy Child International have offered a very warm welcome to return to Brazil and I am very grateful to accept. The road to becoming a missionary permanently based in a developing country has been long. There were no earthly guarantees that it would all work out in the end. But God is always faithful in his direction and it is with great relief that I’m beginning to leave the road called “Journey” and turning the corner onto the street called “Destination”. In one sense, I have arrived at my calling and the journey is over. But in another sense it is just beginning when I arrive in Brazil and focus on the purpose of my calling and the reason that I have journeyed this far: to make a difference in children’s lives and learning. And I have to say it was worth the distance! My heart has found its home in Brazil helping others.

Please pray that I will be granted a two-year visa when I apply and that the process goes smoothly. Thank you to all who have prayed and given over the last year, and so have made this trip possible. Your prayers for a job were speedily answered!

You can see more about Happy Child International at www.happychild.org. Or call 0207 385 0724 for more info or donations. If you would like to be added to list for the email version of the newsletter, or if you have any questions, please contact cocacola2000@hotmail.co.uk.

Looking back
The six months period I spent in Brazil in 2007 was a probationary stay to evaluate my future as a missionary with Happy Child Mission. It was a success: at the end of my time there, they were just as eager for my return as I was! Some of the highlights of 2007 were:

A Sense of Calling: I was grateful for every day working with Happy Child and for being in Brazil. Living life on purpose and making a difference each day in the lives of the children was a very fulfilling experience. There is no doubt in my heart and mind that this is the place that God has called me to be. In my report I wrote:

“It has been a joy, a privilege and truly rewarding to have been given the opportunity to help the staff and children of Crianca Feliz! I did not have one day where I would have preferred to have been in England. I feel as though I have been helped as much, or more than I was able to help others, in the time that I spent in the mission homes. In Belo I feel like a square peg in a square hole! Each day, I get up looking forward to new successes and a chance to help change lives.”

The Reading Project: When I arrived in July, about 25 children needed reading lessons- some of them knew only a few letter sounds. Now, only ten require ongoing lessons. Eighteen staff members were trained in teaching the children to read and each given a full resources pack. This staff training means that whilst I am in England, each child can have lessons: every house has a trained staff member who can teach children to read -some houses have 3 trained staff members! I hope that in 2008 I can train the remaining 24 staff members so that every staff member is trained to teach reading, and monitor ongoing reading lessons while I begin “The Maths Project”.

The English Class: My Church English Group was so appreciative of the advanced English lessons that they held a surprise party with food, drinks and gifts. I hope I can be back there to continue teaching when the classes start again in March 2008.

Education: It was very gratifying to see how many future opportunities there are to help with the children’s education, and how eager the staff are to help them.

Discipleship: Teaching large groups of children about Christian life can be very hard. It was wonderful to spend time teaching just a few kids when time allowed. In 2008 I look forward to developing a discipleship scheme with a full curriculum for children who are serious about learning more about God.

Language: Speaking everyday Portuguese seems a familiar thing now. In the coming year I shall be seeking lessons to improve my grammar- Portuguese grammar is notoriously complicated! Towards the end of 2008 I look forward to beginning a course in Spanish to improve the scope of my communication in Latin America.

What’s happening in 2008:
Helping Mum move house. What good timing! I am back in the UK in time to help my mother move from Seaton to Minehead and say goodbye to the old house of 23 years. My aim is to help make the move as smooth and as stress free as possible.

Getting the visa. The process to get this “all-important” piece of paper is complicated, requiring over fifteen documents of which some of them need to be signed by a notary. The approval for the visa can take up to 60 days and there is no guarantee as to whether the visa will be approved or not – a bit of a lottery. At over £250 it is also expensive, so I will need to be…

…Getting a job. I will need to wait until we have moved to Minehead to get a job that can pay for the visa, airfare, & health insurance that I need to return to Brazil. No-one is sure when the papers can be signed to allow for the move. So to answer the most asked question:

Q: “When are you going back to Brazil?” The answer goes something like this:

A: “When the visa is approved which will have to have been paid for by the job that I’ll get in Minehead. But I don’t know when I will get a job because no-one knows when the papers will be signed so we can move house. But I can’t apply for the visa until I know that I will have enough money for the airfare and health insurance when it might be approved. It’s an unknown chain of events…”

So the simple answer is “Only God knows”, but at least the most important Person is aware of what is going on. At the right time, He will put all the pieces of the jigsaw together so that I can return to continue His work. I would like to be back in Belo Horizonte by March, if possible.

1. Teaching children 10-15 years old to read
Some children run away from home and fail to attend school for long periods of time. When they are brought to the Happy Child homes they have to attend school. But by then it is very hard, or nearly impossible, for them to catch up: to read and understand the work they are given. Some children here know the names of letters and can write a full page of writing. But afterwards they are unable to read anything they have written, except their name, and a few don’t even know the sounds of letters – even though they are able to copy a full page of writing!

In the first three weeks here, I was able to test all of the 80 children in Happy Child for reading levels and select the oldest children with the lowest reading levels for the first “wave” of reading lessons. This includes four 10 year-olds who are beginning to learn the initial sounds of letters! The older children have less time left of their school life and so their situation is more urgent.

On a typical day I begin reading lessons at 10am giving time for each child individually. Initially it began with 8 lessons per day, but due to much pleading by other children this number has grown to eleven. Travelling time has to be included between the three houses that I visit for these lessons, so time can be quite tight, particularly when I have evening commitments. But some of the children are making rapid progress and this number should return to 8 once those at the higher levels have “graduated”! The children with the lowest reading levels also seem to enjoy the “therapeutic” aspect of quiet concentration with reading games, moments to talk and have undivided attention. Perhaps it was a lack of attention before they arrived at Happy Child that was a factor in their slow reading progress?

In the next few months I hope to train one or two staff members in each house in how to assist the children with learning to read. This will allow me to move on to Maths lessons for children and Maths training for staff all the houses. Multiplication is the life breath of ministry.

2. Continuing to learn Portuguese and adapting to living in Brazil longer-term
I am using two computer programs to help me with Portuguese. One translates in both directions, which is very useful for producing educational training guides for staff. The other is a full trainer which speaks, listens and uses flash cards for language training. Much lighter than carrying a library of training books! I have had ample time to get organized, adjust and move into the house that I stayed at last year, a very familiar place to live with people that I know well. The sun shines every day, all day, the food is delicious; the people are friendly and the work I do can really make a difference to the children in the Happy Child homes. I have everything I need – what more could I want?!?

3. English lessons for staff.
I attend a Baptist Church here with friends, and the church has just begun an English course for members, for a small fee. Having attended as a volunteer for two weeks, they invited me to teach the advanced group of students. This has made planning English lessons for Happy Child staff very simple – the church provides the materials I need! The staff here are very keen to learn English and the response has been overwhelming (in a good way). I hope this will help them communicate with visitors who come from other countries to see the Happy Child homes.

Please pray: that the children will continue to make good reading progress and that my contribution to Happy Child will be valuable enough that I may be considered for longer-term mission. Thank you to all who have prayed and given over the last year, and so have made this trip possible.

And finally… You can see more about the mission at www.happychild.org. Or call 0207 385 0724 for more info, donations or to sponsor a child.

Alistair will be working in an inner-city slum area in Belo Horizonte, on the east coast of Brazil, as a volunteer worker for the Happy Child Mission. His main focus will be helping children who are victims of poverty or abuse, who have been forced to move into sheltered homes by the judge and court system. After helping at the Holiday Club in July, Alistair will begin a project in August providing reading and maths help for children and young teenagers.

Over the next six months, Alistair’s main goal will be to teach children aged 10-15 to read, using daily reading recovery sessions. In Brazil, children sometimes run away from home and fail to attend school for long periods of time. Around the age of 10, many children realise the importance of education and try to return to school. Unfortunately, by then it is very difficult, if not impossible for them to catch up on what they have missed, and so they struggle to understand the work they are set. Alistair aims to spend one hour a day with each child on the program, giving them extra help, with the children working in pairs. By December of this year, Alistair hopes that his work with the children will enable them to equal their classmates in reading level.

Alistair will continue learning Portuguese and adapting to life in Brazil longer-term over the coming months. He will also work on updates and translation for the Happy Child Mission website, and provide English lessons for staff.

If the next 6 months are successful, Happy Child Mission can then consider Alistair for a 1 or 2-year visa. Then in 2008, he will hopefully be accepted as a volunteer member of staff. For Alistair, this trip is the final stage of progress in a journey which started back in 1993, when he first felt led by God to work in a developing country.

Please continue praying for Alistair and his work; that the children will make good reading progress; and that his contribution to Happy Child Mission will be valuable enough that he may be considered for long-term mission. Alistair would like to thank everyone who has prayed and given over the past year, so making this trip possible. He will provide regular updates of his progress in Brazil.

To read more about the work of Happy Child Mission, visit www.happychild.org. You can also call 0207 385 0724 to find out more, make a donation or sponsor a child.

Brazil. Having read many books on street kids before going to Metro, one book in particular stood out – The Street Children of Brazil by Sarah de Carvalho. The Happy Child Mission in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, offers the most comprehensive training course on helping street kids in Brazil, and their work seemed to be particularly excellent. This was confirmed during a 6-day visit to the mission in September 2005. I just knew that this was the place God was calling me to be. I was going to be moving from mass street-ministry to working with small groups of children in a safe setting.

I left Metro in January 2006, having shared with the leadership my aspirations to help street kids in Brazil. Very generous support from Crossroad church and gifts from members provided the funds I needed to attend the Happy Child Mission training course of July 2006, held in Belo Horizonte. It was a month-long course covering a wide range of issues affecting street children. The following month was spent volunteering in the various mission homes: helping out, learning the language and getting to know the children. Being in Brazil for that amount of time can allow you to become immersed in the language and develop a sense of how to communicate, as well as see what life can be like there.

I returned with a list of equipment I would need to live there and a heart to help a particular group of children. I could see how much the younger teens were struggling in their reading, and how hard it was for them in school to keep up with the others. They really wanted to do well. But they had been running away from home for so many years prior to coming to the Happy Child homes that they seemed seriously challenged. So, with only three weeks left before my return to England, I decided to see how much progress they could make. The selected teens made clear progress in their school work in this time and this seemed to confirm the situation. I wanted to return with this purpose: to devote four months of intensive training for the children who seemed most challenged. One hour a day each for as long as it would take. This clear focus has remained an inspiration to persist towards the direction God has given me.

Back in England. Since then until today, the funds have continued to come in as I gather resources and save towards the next departure (possibly summer 2007). Soon, I hope, I will be back in Belo Horizonte trying to help as many teenagers as possible gain pace with their peers in class. If I can make a difference in the life of one child in need it will be worth it.

So, one question remains- Can one person really make a difference? Well, in conclusion, to quote Pastor Bill:

“To the whole world you might be just one person,
but to one person you might just be the whole world.”

For further info or to donate to Alistair Hayward or Happy Child International, please contact cocacola2000@hotmail.co.uk.