Pele was a Northerner!!

Let me tell you really quickly about yesterday, because I like to think that it was the day that a cinematic classic was made!! Oh yes. The moment you've all been waiting for, I'm sure.
A video short of me in my Pompey shirt being joined by a choir of Brazilian kids in a rousing rendition of 'Play up Pompey'.
That will eventually make it's way onto facebook and You tube, so watch out.

You may ask “How does that help the moral and spiritual education of the young Brazilian kids recently rescued from a life in a slum”?
Good question, of course. I could spend hours debating about the sense of community it gives them, particularly the sense of generosity and humility to be supporting an apparent lost cause. But I won't. I just love the sense of fun we all get out of it.
Football has a wonderful magic of pulling people together.
I saw that in Africa and Moldova as well as here in Brazil where they are crazy for soccer.
I keep reminding them that it was the English who introduced soccer to the world and that Pele was, in fact, English. His real name wasn't Edson Arantes whatever, it was Arthur Smith and he came from Barnsley.
The Brazilian men in particular find this difficult to accept!!

Onto today, which was our last full day with the kids. Strewth how time flies!!
Jane had planned to have a cooking lesson from Vera in the morning ( Lot's of shouting and giggling there I can imagine) so it was left to me and good old Gildo to 'entertain' the troops one last time.
I tried to remember what it was like on the last day of school for me all those decades ago, and I seem to remember it being quite good fun with lots of paints and mess, so maybe we should think of something like that for this bunch.
Jane, who I felt was secretly very happy that she was due to have the easier time, came up with a brain wave as I pondered how to prepare. Before you ask, yes, Jane does have the odd brain wave, or so she tells me.
Jane had remembered a suggestion from dear little Lin Howard that we could get the kids to build their very own Easter garden. Brilliant!!!
Lin does that inside St Paul's with the kids every year and its all very quaint and cute.
We thought we could BIG it up a little and increase the scale by building a garden outside the 'classroom' house and let the kids loose with their imaginations and the paint and the rubble from the building site. It could be CHAOS.
So it was then that I briefed a very puzzled Gildo to translate the garden idea to the kids.
“You want them to build a tomb and plant flowers, then paint the outside of the house? How will this be done?”
“Ok, Ok, forget the translation...just watch me and copy.”
I actually found that method of teaching to be quite effective. Lots of mini john gunners with Brazilian accents running around. What a terrifying image!!
What then followed, though, was a triumph in modern art.
Little kids, Gi Gi, Luiz Carlos, Gabriel and Rafael, carrying great big bits of rock and broken brick from the building site on the opposite side of the road to the front of our house and dropping it inches from my feet as I helped them design a 'tomb' for Jesus.
Nataly, Viviene and Evelyn painting a wonderful rainbow design on a dozen sheets of A4 stuck together with sellotape.
Smaller girls, Josiane, Fernanda and Emily, painting flower heads and sticking them onto lolly sticks and planting them in pots of sand beside the tomb.
Even smaller kids, Gabby and Luiz (he got a bit bored carrying rocks) throwing as much paint as they could onto bits of paper and themselves....
….then it got just a bit messy....the older girls discovered that I didn't stop them from getting paint on their hands, in fact I encouraged it, and they decided wot fun it would be to put multi coloured hand prints onto bits of paper and, what the heck, lets put hand prints onto the side of the house!!
John doesn't seem to mind, in fact he seems to be singing and very happy about the mass we've made, so let's paint our feet too. Whoa. This is great!!!
These can be the footprints made by Jesus as he walked away on the third day. I bet His were red and yellow and green and every colour!!
You've never seen such a mess on the pathway and on their feet and...oh,no, Gabriel has got paint in his hair. He looks like a young David Beckham with a multi-coloured Mohican. Now they've all got paint in their hair and on their faces and on their clothes.
Ok, how mad can their mother's get at the sight of all that paint?
Gildo calms the moment by reminding me “They used to be slum kids. They've been much worse”.
Actually, I bet Leonardo Da Vinci's mum got used to her boy coming home covered in paint.
“Leo. You've got paint in your hair!”
“I've been up a ladder all day paining the ceiling in that gaff in Rome, Ma. What d'you expect?”
Artists have to be encouraged.
The end result was every bit as good as 'that gaff in Rome' as far as I was concerned.
A brilliant, multi-coloured depiction of the original Easter garden.
At the end, Gildo and I retold the Easter story to the brightly shining children, complete with an opening tomb door to reveal the discarded clothes. I think the kids got the point.
Then the kids surprised me again. They never fail to surprise me. They ran to a tap in the middle of the building site and proceeded to wash themselves.
Chaos at first, because little kids don't queue. In fact nobody queues here. But then Nataly displays all of her vast experience of looking after younger children (she is just 12 herself) and forms them into an orderly line and helps the little ragamuffins to wash.
It was marvellous to watch.
I have some great photo's of the house and the apre' wash.
After lunch. I showed the kids a number of the little video's taken over the last few weeks and some photo's.
I felt like Steven Spielberg when they applauded each little video short. Yes, they applauded.
I felt so proud. Not because of the films, but because the kids had grown into little people with social graces and appreciation. Believe me when I say that this is a major answer to prayer.
The video short of “Play up Pompey” got the biggest cheer, as it should.
So, tomorrow is our last day with the families.
It's going to be a choker.
Jane and I will visit in the morning with Gildo, tidy up the 'classroom' and then walk down the street saying our good byes and giving away free hugs. It's those moments that make this sort of thing all worthwhile, believe me.
In the evening we'll return one last time and lead the home group.
We feel prompted to share the message from Philippians, particularly about avoiding complaining and arguing. Sadly, we have become aware of some bickering between the mums, even to the point that some are staying away from the home groups because “her from number 21 will be there”.
This truly saddens us, as I'm sure it saddens the Lord, and will be a test for our gifts of encouragement and counselling. We pray to be truly anointed.
You'll remember that this is where it all started for us. We felt called to return here to encourage the families in Cristo Rei, and in particular those in 'John The Apostle Street', to be persistent and strong in their Christian community. Without it where would they be?
Did we tell you that Cristo Rei literally means 'Christ The King'?

Sadly, this will be our last blog of this campaign as we won't have easy access to the Internet until we return home.
Thank you all for reading it, all 5 of you, and we hope you've enjoyed some of it and maybe even been stimulated by some of it. If you have, please share it with someone else.
All God's BIG BIG blessings.
J & J