Hi, my name is Greg Hahn. I am a student at RPI, and have been attending Terra Nova since I moved into the Troy area.  Last year I was given an opportunity to go on a trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil for two weeks to work with a ministry called Seeds of Hope.

Seeds of Hope works to provide food and housing, education and skills training and ministers to the spiritual needs of the street children and orphans of Sao Paulo.  I worked on the construction of a trade school for orphans in the city of Sao Paulo. Orphaned children who turn 18 and become adults are placed back on the streets with little hope or means of supporting themselves.  The Seeds of Hope trade school I helped to build will provide marketable job skills and job placement along with a living space for these teens. In addition to the labor of our hands, our group was also able to work with the orphans one on one and participating in loving community.

The people that we interacted with in Brazil taught me the importance of love, and more, what it means to really love unconditionally.  I was overwhelmed with was the immediate and unconditional love shown to me by the people there to meet us from the Communidade Evangelica Church. You could taste the love!  Our Brazlilian “tias” (literally “aunts”) cooked wonderful meals everyday for us and worked for hours to keep us full, even when they had their own jobs and families.  The children also showed amazing love as well.  They could barely say our names, but would grab hold of us affectionately.

From March 8-16 2008 I am leading a group of students from RPI back to Sao Paulo to do more work with Seeds of Hope Brazil.  Regardless if you are a college student or not I want to invite you to join us.  I am encouraging anyone who would like to go to please contact me before January 1^st.  If you can’t join us you could support our trip through your prayers and if led, your financial support.  Look for more updates as our departure date approaches and after our trip.

I can be reached HERE or by contacting Matthew Miller HERE.