A job that changes the world.

Is it honestly to much to ask for a job that changes the world? Since I have been back from Brazil I have been going through the process of finding a job. You see it’s extremely hard to do that after spending so much time in another country. In Brazil I was not working a bland corporate job. I was working full time for the Lord. I was day in and day out serving God in ways I never thought I would. So when I start looking for jobs here in the states, everything is bland. I want a job that I see change happening. I want to work for a corporation that is making change in our world. I want to be around that kind of change. I also want to be able to use the gifts God has given me.
I can see you all now. “Jared, work where the lost work so you can be an influence to them”.. Yes I do fully believe that is something that will equally be serving the Lord. But I also believe that is something that should be done everywhere you are. Not just one spot. I worked for a company for two years that I prayed to see my co-workers come to the Lord. I had great conversations with non-believers in the work place. But I also know I was not using the gifts God gave me in that work place.
I’m not sure what to do with this situation. All I know is I don’t feel good about taking another job where you are held down to the same things every day. Help???

New lens!

I have a buddy who’s letting me use his Canon 24-70mm 1:2.8 lens tomorrow for some pictures I’m doing. Super excited to play around with it. Hopefully will post some pictures tomorrow afternoon. Hope you all are well.

–Jared

Fellowship

Good Christian fellowship is something that I have missed more than anything. Last night I was able to spend time with two of my closest friends. We had a fun time discussing life, Christianity, and hope. I have really missed time to sit back and relax with friends that speak english. ha. I am really enjoying talking to people again. Have a safe weekend everyone.

3 years of Thialand.

I did portraits for my friend Kyle who will be moving to Thailand for three years. This is a very exciting time as he prepares to leave the country and everything close to him all for the glory of Christ. Here is my favorite pictures from today.

tough few days

I’ve been having a hard time lately. I’ve been missing my brazil families more than I would have imagined. I miss people that became so much like family. People that became closer to me than ever before. I miss the twins I love so much. I miss Jaqueline who isn’t doing well. I miss all my friends at AMO ministries. It’s tough. But praise God for he is good all the time! Amen.

cigar smoking christian #2

It seems I have gotten a lot of views on my blog from people doing a google search of “Cigars and Christians”. Google shows a post that I did several months ago. I wanted to clarify just a small bit. I am not a chain smoker. I do not smoke as an addiction. I believe that when something becomes an addiction it becomes something that replaces God. How can you be addicted to something else other than God? This is where I think the line should be drawn. Also, I do not believe it is something you should do everywhere. If you are going to be around people who do not approve, don’t do it. By doing it around these people you are causing conflict, which in return does hurt your witness. I also do not believe it is something that should be done for the reason of saying “Look, i’m a Christian trying to change the old ways!” Do not try to change people. If people do not agree then they do not agree. It goes back to your life. If you want to change the old ways of “Christianity” all you have to do is live a life following Christ. Live a life of love, hope, peace, and fear of the Lord. This is what people will notice.
Just wanted to do a quick touch up from the last post.

Anyways, back in the states. Things are tough. Going through a tiny bit of culture shock being here. Here’s a picture of a kid named Claudenae I took on one of my last days in Brazil.

Coming home soon!

I will return to the states tomorrow afternoon folks! I get on a plane tomorrow night and will fly all night. Pray for my flight!
Things will be crazy as things get going tomorrow night. Please pray for the things happening here in Brazil. God is doing good things and pray that they will continue to happen. Will see you all soon!

WOW!

Ok so many of you have seen me show you pictures of these two girls. They are twins and their names are Thias and Thias Lainie. Well it was the favela they lived in that i stayed in the other night. God did amazing things during this time! I want to let you know how the night went. This is what i sent in my email.

After a wonderful day of visiting people and getting a couple interviews done we got ready to go to sleep. We were sleeping in our church we have in the favela. Well many of you have seen pictures of Thias and Thias Lainie. (the twins that im always holding). The twins live across the street from our church. Well right around 11:30 we hear their mom(Clarice) drunk again. She is yelling in the streets at everyone. We listen for a little while without going out there because we did not want everyone to know we were staying over night. It quieted down for a couple of hours until about 1 o’clock. So around 1 in the morning she started yelling at this crazy lady who burnt down some peoples clothes and part of their house last week. This crazy lady is not someone you want to mess with. But apparently Clarice’s husband had slept with the crazy women. So they get into it. (we’re still inside listening at this point.) In the middle of all the yelling we hear Carol come out who is only 12 years old. (Carol is the twins sister.) She came out trying to defend her mom because the other lady was yelling at her. So as they are all outside yelling the crazy lady grabs a metal bar runs up to Clarice and hits her across the face with it. Clarice starts bleeding everywhere and they can’t stop the bleeding. So at this point we don’t know whether to go out and help or not. We decided it be best to stay in for a little bit. So they run down and get the drug lords to get her a car to get to the hospital. So wants she is gone to the hospital we noticed that the twins and carol and natalie(the other daughter) are all awake and crying. So Pete left first to go see if he could comfort the girls. Once he got over there the twins heard I was at the church and so Pete called for me to come over as well. I walked in to their house to see the two girls I love so much crying. They came and jumped in my lap and I held them as Pete made us all hot chocolate. We prayed with them all and stayed there for a little while just to make sure they were OK. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. Being able to sit in a favela hut at 1:30 in the morning taking care of two girls I love to death. It was a time the was completely God placed and perfect. Clarice Is OK. She went to the hospital and got several stitches as well as some pain killers but she is OK. I will never in my life forget that night. Needless to say we didn’t stay the next night because by then everyone in the favela new we were there. But it was beautiful. God worked in so many ways that night.

update

im sick and tired so i’m just going to post what i sent out in my e-mail to everyone!

Hello! A lot of things have been happening in the last week or so. Before I go into prayer requests and such I have a couple praises to talk about!!

For those of you who don’t know we have church here on the property every Sunday morning and Thursday night. This church we have here is for the people in this city, Jarinu. Well the other night I was asked to speak in one of the classes. They told me the majority of people in this class were non-believers. I said OK. I went in and started teaching and God took over everything that was being said. Towards the end of the lesson I jumped out and said “so how many of you want to know Jesus Christ”. There were five people that stepped up and said “I want Christ in my life!”. This was very exciting for me seeing there was only 8 in the class! I prayed with each of them and then prayed over them all. I ask that you will pray for these five people who are now brothers and sister in the faith. Pray that they will continue to follow Christ as they begin this new life. Jesus Christ deserves all worship! It was a beautiful night.

Also we went in to a new favela last week. This was one of the largest favelas I have ever walked through. It is not normal for us to go to a new favela and immediately go inside. There is usually a lot of time spent getting to know the drug lords before we are aloud to walk in. But as we pulled up God sent us the perfect man to talk to. He told us that he would watch our van if we were to go walk around. We talked to him for a little bit about the favela and if we would be safe to go in. He said we should be fine. So we prayed that God would keep us safe and we went. We met a couple other kids who were blown away that there were people in there favela giving the kids candy. So they decided they wanted to take us and show us the entire favela. We did not know wether we should follow or not but we trusted the Father and went. I wish you all could see some of the things I saw. I walked through the smallest hallways and alleys between shacks. I had conversations with a couple drug lords right outside there shacks door. I walked around sewage that filled the streets. I saw people in need of Christ. This favela was built on the side of a mountain covering the entire half of this mountain. I thank God for the kids taking us around because without them we would have been lost in these small alley ways and shacks. Praise God that he gave us this opportunity for future plans in this favela!

Please pray as we prepare to try once again to stay in the favela “Gleba B” for a couple nights. We are going to try to head out tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to the favela and then will return Thursday. Pray that God will use this time to glorify himself. Pray that the drug lord that lives next to our church will not have a problem with us being around late at night.

Also pray for a lady we know. She lives in this same favela “Gleba B”. She is known for being crazy and always causing trouble in the favela. She lives across the street from our church. The other day she set her neighbors clothes on fire and burnt down a lot of there shack. This neighbor went to the drug lords and asked them to have her killed. We do not know if it will happen but we do know that the drug lords at the least will not let her live in Gleba B anymore. The cops came the yesterday (Wednesday) and surrounded her house. They took her away for something else she had done. But she is back today and the drug lords still don’t want her around. So pray that whatever happens the lord will show himself to her. She has been to our church several times and has heard the Gospel. Pray for her life.

A lot of us here at AMO have been sick lately. Including me. Pray that God will heal us all. I am still sick right now and it is getting worse. If to many of us get sick this ministry will be hard to keep going. A couple other people have begun getting better. But a couple others and I are still sick.

I am only here for 2 more weeks. I ask that you guys will pray that God will bless the rest of the time I am here. There are things I still need to get done here so pray that that will happen.

Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

-Jared Shingleton
www.jaredshingleton.wordpress.com

UPDATE

Due to the ridiculous amount of brazilian rain fall we are not doing the favela things this week. we will re-schedule it. I thank all of you for everything. Keep praying as we re-schedule this to happen. It is the Lords timing we want not our own. Love you all!