Life in The Family International » Benji

AIP News

Benji — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 21:22:34 +0000

I explained in an earlier post about the AIP (Activated Incentive Program). In short, its an Activated subscription contest lasting 6 months for Family teenagers that will end with a teen camp. The teens here in my home are doing quite well with 16 Activated subscriptions in this first opening month. That is quite outstanding if you compare that to our average subscription average for each month so far this year (which I wonâ€™t even mention). When these guys put their mind to something they can really get moving. I think it was our best Activated month ever in the home. Now we need to figure out a way to keep it up and try to win the contest. So far they are about in 5th place in Brazil which is not bad.

More about ASD

Benji — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 17:30:54 +0000

We asked each of the teens (about 45) here in Rio to make a portfolio for their Activated Incentive Program (AIP) witnessing. Something to make their witnessing presentation moreâ€¦ presentable. I was quite impressed with what they came up with. We had each one bring their portfolio and show it to everyone at ASD. For one it helps remind each of them how much they actually have accomplished for the Lord, the many different experiences they have had, and how talented they are. Thereâ€™s something special about putting experiences down on paper. During the presentations they asked me where my portfolio was and I have to admit that itâ€™s kind of outdated to say the least. So I got home and started looking for pics to put something together to present at the next ASD. I came up with some interesting stuff. I lived in Manaus (Amazonas) and Belen (far north) for about 2 years so I will post some of the pics one of these days just to give an idea of how things are out there.

ASD

Benji — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 02:57:03 +0000

Part of my work on the JETT/teen board includes helping out at “ASD” on Monday nights. ASD stands for Advanced Spiritual Dynamics, a fancy long name for united devotional study with the teens. We try to do something special with music, skits, videos, and more with them. This last ASD was kind of special because we held a small party of sorts with the teens in honor of one of our fellow board members who will no longer be working with us. One of the girls prepared a nice cake and we put music on and the teens had a nice time dancing and fellowshipping. We couldn’t go too late as everyone has to get home for a normal work day on Tuesday but we made the most of the little time we had and it was great.

Old records

Benji — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 16:50:25 +0000

While out witnessing with Jere (see previous posts) on Tuesday we passed by a man on the street who sells old magazines, books, records and the like, assorted stuff strewn on the sidewalk. Here street vendors are a common sight. I would venture to say that with a little ingenuity and lots of hard work anyone can survive well here (in Brazil) despite the various financial setbacks. Back to my story: I stopped and casually asked if he, by any chance, had heard of the Children of God records. He said he didn’t have any but that he liked them very much and that he did have one which he had sold. He then started singing our version of the Saint Francis prayer, “Instrument of Your Peace” to me and said he really liked that record. This record in particular was a big hit here in 1974. He then said “There was this one song in Spanish that I really liked also,” and he began singing “No Mires Atras”. All that to say, we never know how far our witness and message has gone. It’s also very encouraging to see these little signs once in a while.

Kids’ Instruments

Benji — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 19:36:09 +0000

I don’t know how interesting this will be for you, but it’s something important to me and so I’m posting it anyway. Thanks to the Lords unfailing suply I was able to get my kids, Mike and Larissa, an electric guitar and a keyboard, respectively. This has been one of my hearts’ desires for a long time now. My only prayer now is that they will apply themselves and make good progress as they learn to play them.

To make a long story short, getting these instruments may not seem like something too difficult, but these things can be quite expensive on this side of the world especially since I wanted to get them good quality equipment. But after much prayer I was able to acquire both instruments second hand in very good shape and the kids were super happy with them! The way I see it, is that if for some reason they end up not really learing the particular instrument, at least they had a good oportunity to. Where as if I don’t give them the chance to learn than they could be missing a good head start. Also in all this lays my own love for music. Maybe I can form a band with them someday. =D

Click to see the photo!

Convention

Benji — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 02:55:26 +0000

Just spent the last three days at a Christian businessmen’s convention doing simultaneous translation from Portuguese and English into Spanish. Thank the Lord for this, because the financial help was well needed and we were able to get to meet some new friends. Our team consisted of four people, two to translate into English and two into Spanish. My translating partner was my brother so that was nice as in the past I had to translate for up to four hours non-stop. So this time we could take a break when it got too tiring. I guess the point of this post is just to show an example of the diversity of experiences that our lifestyle offers. I think that our lifestyle is cool! Ha ha.
I love it!!!

Five days of board meetings

Benji — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 18:22:44 +0000

Yes, that’s exactly what it was, five whole days of board meetings. Actually I had some fun. Aside from playing a good soccer game everyday there, we worked on planning the national youth camp that we will host in November. It will mark the glorious ending to the Activated Incentive Program (AIP). I came out of these meetings with the sure knowledge that the Lord is definitely going to have to come through for us one more time as there is so much more to do than there are people to do it and so much more to spend than there are funds. I am sure of one more thing also, it will be a great event for the teens. Each person at the meetings gave it their best and wanted to make the retreat as nice as possible, so with the Lord’s help it will be a once in a lifetime event! Not to mention it will be the first event of this kind and size in Brazil!

ASD night

Benji — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 23:37:46 +0000

I work on a â€œBoardâ€. In the Family we have local boards that help to coordinate different aspects of Family life in each of the hundreds of cities where Family members reside. Thereâ€™s the Family Education Department (or FED board), the Church Growth and Outreach board (or CGO board), and several others. Iâ€™m very happy to be a part of the JETT/Teen board (or JT board). JETTs are our Family nickname for preteens ages 11-through-13, while teens of course go all the way to 18 years.

Part of my work on the JT board in this area includes helping out with the “ASD” on Monday nights. ASD stands for Advanced Spiritual Dynamics, really just a fancy name for an evening of united Word time with the teens. We try to make it special, with music, skits, videos, and more. This last ASD was extra special because we held a small party of sorts with the teens in honor of one of our fellow board members who will no longer be working with us. One of the girls prepared a nice cake and we put music on and the teens had a nice time dancing and fellowshipping. We couldn’t go too late as everyone has to get home for a normal work day on Tuesday but we made the most of the little time we had and it was good.

Witnessing in Lagoa Park

Benji — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 23:15:15 +0000

We took the teens out this Saturday night for a night of witnessing in Lagoa. (Witnessing is what we call the act of spreading the message of Salvation and putting into practice the verse from the book of Mark in the Bible that says “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”) Lagoa is the common name for an entire park/hang out area next to the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas (or Rodrigo de Freitas Lake) almost central Rio de Janeiro. There you can find playgrounds, mazes, bike paths, skating rinks, many outdoor restaurants with live music and a lot more.

Due to the weather being a little cold (around 12Âº) there weren’t very many people there for some reason. Cariocas (what we call the people native to Rio) stay home when there is the slightest bit of cold weather (the opposite happens when the sun comes out).

It was a little discouraging to arrive there and not find many people, but since we were already there (along with a few other homes that had brought their teens to witness also) we decided to make the most of it. I told some of the teens our night would be worth the trip if we found even one receptive person to witness to. After “hitting” the place for about two hours and talking to every moving, living thing (I was going to say walking thing but we did more than that) our large group got together in an open area for songs and praising Jesus (what we like to call â€œinspirationâ€) to end the night. When it was time to turn for home we our tallied up the number of people that we had prayed with to received Jesus into their hearts and found that forty had prayed. Forty souls welcomed into Godâ€™s Heavenly Kingdom. Not bad at all, considering how slow it had seemed to be going earlier.

On the way home I thought about how teens can make the most of the oddest situations if they really want to (well, we all can too) though the same applies to the contrary. Iâ€™m glad to say that they gave it their best and were rewarded with a fun and successful evening as a result.