My little buddy Thiago

          Recently when I was back in the USA, I went and had supper one evening with my good friends Charlie and Diane Jacobs.  During supper, all kinds of great, interesting (and sometimes weird!) topics came up... But one which caught my interest was when Charlie was speaking about using puppets as a teaching tool in his college.  He's been doing it for years, and it really makes learning both interesting and fun for the students.  Then after supper he brought a couple of his puppets out and I could already see the endless possibilities for using puppets in my missionary ministry here in Brazil.
          Charlie and Diane gave me a great sheep puppet to start with (I'm sure you can guess how that might be used!!!), and a couple of days later I bought a couple more.

          I've been using this little guy, Thiago (James in English) for several weeks for the homily during the children's Masses, for teaching a couple of lessons during our religious education classes, for visiting the children in some of the poorer and more deprived families in the parish, as well as while visiting the sick and homebound - old and young!  (Come on, who doesn't love a puppet!!!)

          Everywhere I go people ask me if Thiago is with me, and they tell me they can't wait to see him again!  He has now officially become a permanent part of my missionary evangelization!

          Sometimes we can get so caught up in doing things the same way over and over, and we may even be wary of anything that is different than "the way we've always done it".  But a missionary needs to be able to think outside of the box and needs to find new ways to get people excited about the love of our God and the message of Jesus Christ!

          Thanks, Charlie and Diane, for opening this new door in my preaching and teaching!