For those of you who have never heard about Iris Ministries(http://www.irismin.org/), go to the website and check them out. Iris is an amazing organization that operates out of Mozambique, Africa, caring for orphans and establishing churches. Several of my best friends are in Mozambique right now working with them.

Iris has a partner ministry here in Sao Paulo and I had the chance to visit the base yesterday with Joao. We met with Pastor Dirceo, who led us around the favela in which they work and introduced us to some families. Iris is doing some of the exact same work we would like to do in Bauru–it was great to see a working example! They have a small community center that is mostly a kitchen. They serve soup every day to about 200 kids in the neighborhood, and also hold services. I was so blessed by Pastor Dirceo’s heart–I look forward to going back and visiting again. It brings such joy to meet with others who have the same heart, who want to see change and are actively working to bring it about. It always strikes me how easy it can be to connect with some people, to feel like you share a heart, even when you barely know them…