fundraising.

Recap on whats to come:
2 weeks in Rio de Janeiro helping with flood relief
1 month back in Sao Paulo studying photo
6 weeks in South Africa on outreach working with child-headed homes
3 months traveling through Egypt, Israel, Greece and Jordan studying the bible
3 months in Germany, Switzerland, Europe studying Humanities and Science
1 month of outreach in an Asian country.. possibly praying about Tibet and Thailand

 ...then home for Christmas..








As many of you know I am still in need of funds to continue this 18-month program.
So I am inviting 30 people to sponsor me 20 dollars a month for the next10 months. That's starting in March and ending in December.
I even have set up a DONATE paypal button on the right side bar of my blog to make your life easier ;)

It's my desire to see the Lord's heart for His people in different countries, different circumstances, and different generations. His love is never-ending. He sees the pain and devastation across the nations and His heart breaks along with ours. I want to capture their stories. To expose injustice and to show the beauty in HIS creation. To be open to growing and learning and loving all along the way. To see community rise up and learn that love conquers all and overcomes all. Love is an action; LOVE IS A CHOICE. A choice that can change hearts, lives, and nations.

Thank you for not only investing in me, but in God's purpose for my life over these next months.
so what do ya say? ..3...2...1.. lets do it ;)

"overtime as you develop as a photographer you will see the importance of your photos and feel less like a taker and more of a giver.." -our teacher Brett Marshall

A couple times since being here I've felt like I don't quite have a heart connection to Brazil the way we did in the Philippines, I believe it's because of the issues we were working with in the Philippines and just how much that tugged on our hearts. Yesterday though was one of the first few day where I felt really apart of this lovely community we live in amongst this giant city. A few of us were walking to the bus stop and passed some of our young neighbor boys that we had gotten to know riding their bikes. We said "hey Misael! Oi! Tudo Bem! ..hey Nicholas! how are you?! They said hi back and we slapped hi-fives. Then when we got to the bus stop I noticed this man waving at me and I realized it was a father of a family I had come across on one of my walks a few weeks ago, I had been back to their house a few times to say hello and play with the little girls. I waved back and he pointed saying his family was at the restaurant, I think he was leaving early because he had to go somewhere. I walked over to the restaurant and said hello to his wife Christiana and hugged and kissed the little girls and talked to them as best I could without knowing Portuguese haha. Then said chow and went on my way to the bus stop. I just loved seeing people outside of where I normally see them, its so cool to meet people and then see then later out walking the streets or riding bike or buying groceries :) :) Its a nice little place we live in here and after doing my photo story on these two dancer sisters I feel I have a close relationship with them too :) Thats when you really start to feel a connection to a place you are staying.. when you start having strong relationships in the community. and when you get to give back.. so excited for Rio Outreach!! FOUR DAYS TILL RIO!! pray for us as we spend two weeks serving there!! :) Last night our team had a relaxing evening at Bidu's house. Bidu is a friend from a church here and he invited us over for dinner at his apartment, it was on the 10th floor in a BEAUTIFUL modern building haha it felt like luxury compared to where we've been staying.. and it had the most beautiful view.. such a sweet time of laughs and story telling in the kitchen and good conversation gazing over the balcony at the night skyline..

long distance love..

..a letter from my man :)

he sends his angels like the wind..

I sit here again on the porch surrounded by the darkness of night. The weather resembles fall back home.. warm enough to be comfortable in a tshirt and shorts but a slight cooling breeze blowing through. The leaves scattering beneath my feet and the occasional slap of the window shutter mixed with the distant laughter of children in the streets become the sounds I tune into. I'm reminded of a passage I read in Hebrews this morning.. "He sends his angels like the wind".. My heart is at rest. Most likely due to the fact that its the weekend ;) This evening has been so life giving so far. Me and two other girls went on a long walk at sunset to another area of town and found a tall outdoor staircase that led to a great view of the city below. I don't think I realized the beauty and extensiveness of this city until I was able to view a portion of it from above. After getting back Tim told me he had purchased a guitar for our team! I was so excited I miss playing and being able to have live worship. I took the guitar and played a little and worshiped alone. it felt soooo good :) :) just what I needed. Such a beautiful start to the weekend. This week was a crazy one for all of us we had so many assignments due and we were being challenged a lot in class.

Our speaker was a guy named Brett and photojournalist from Kentucky he taught on photo stories and literally everything he said I wanted to write down. He is a wise man with incredible insight on the world and how to relate to people and was "pushy" in a good way with us really challenging us to get out there and meet new people and really encouraged us over and over again in way we are here and our purpose as photographers and how this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and to really give it all we've got. I think he came at just the right time as many of us were settling back and getting lazy. (you can read about my photo story under my assignments tab). This week was full of long days of shooting for a story of a ballet studio i'm doing downtown, walking there and back a bunch of times, skipping dinner to be able to be at the dance classes when they start, then staying up late editing and also on top of the photo story having research papers due and quizzes and other presentations and photo assignments. By far the busiest week yet. One habit i've gotten into since being here is getting up early. I try to wake up at 6:30 or 7 every morning to have that bit of quiet time to myself to get ready for my day and spend some time with the Lord.

I've been following a read-your-bible-in-a-year thing and its been great so far :) As I read through Romans the other day I felt a lot of questions coming up but then those questions would get answered in the next few verses. Its been cool getting back into the old testament as well and the promise to the Israelites but how they turned so badly from the Lord. Isaiah is one book were I have trouble understanding, I know there is so much good in it but I get overwhelmed trying to figure it all out.. but then I'll read in the new testament and see where is makes references to the prophecy in Isaiah and it all makes sense again :) The bible is awesome like that, there is so much in it and I'm excited for our middle east coarse when we get to study it more in depth.

The struggle of trying to mix outreach/ministry into our busy schedule with school is still a constant battle. Where we are at right now and with our business its really become important to recognize the ways we can serve day to day with people on the base and people we talk to in the community. It may not look like the way it did in the Philippines with bar ministry and speaking in churches, but its the day to day little things and learning how to act out the LOVE of Jesus moment to moment. exciting news though.. YAY... we have TWO weeks of outreach starting Wednesday night :)

Wednesday our team stops classes for two weeks and takes a 6 hour bus to Rio De Jinero to help aid in flood relief from the nations most recent disaster. I'm so excited to go and experience this tragedy that this country has gone through and to really hear peoples stories and be able to work along side of them to bring hope back into the devastation. Please keep this time in your prayers and that we can really serve them and bring fresh hope, and love into those communities and really be humbled and work along side of them.

I think this update has succeeded its length and I applaud you if you've read the entire thing please feel free to contact me anytime you want more info on what we are doing I will try to update more often as internet connection allows. (marisa.groff@gmail.com)


[What I want is the world to remember the problems and the people I photograph. What I want is to create a discussion about what is happening around the world and to provoke some debate with these pictures. Nothing more than this. I don't want people to look at them and appreciate the light and the palate of tones. I want them to look inside and see what the pictures represent, and the kind of people I photograph. - Sebastiao Salgado ]

Meet. LAYNE

Layne staffed the previous track and is here to help start ours up. She has graciously taken on the role of leading and teaching the photography school this quarter. She has been a huge help giving us her wisdom having already done the around the world track. Sadly though she is only here for a few weeks and in about two weeks she will be heading back to Kona to join up again with her track who are on their last phase in Kona putting together their publication.






LAYNE:

• shes addicted to coffee
• has beautiful curls
• as a serving heart and amazing leadership skills
• LOVES photojournalism and is GREAT at it
• she believes in the importance of movie days and snack times in class.. and its a beautiful thing :) :)
• Random Fact: she took kindergarten twice ;)

talk with a stranger.

I've been called many names over my times of travel. I've been asked if I'm Brittany spears, or Hillary Clinton. But yesterday I was called something new.. I was called a fairy..

A couple weeks ago our team had gone downtown for the day. While we were standing outside starbucks a young man maybe in his twenties stopped and asked me for directions in Portuguese. I responded in English saying I'm sorry I don't speak Portuguese. He was like "Oh you speak English! Me to!" haha So we began talking and getting to know each other, we told him about why we were here and how we are doing service work and studying photography. We explained how we are missionaries and get sponsored to do this, he made a joke about how we're buying Starbucks haha we replied that sometimes you just need to treat yourself with something familiar thats not rice and beans haha. His English was great and it was fun to talk and joke with a Brazilian and have them understand you and get the American humor. Some from our group then walked with him across the street to the bookstore and we continued talking about what YWAM was and why we love photography ect. We then went our separate ways excited for the new friend we had made.

With all that being said the other day I was chatting with him on facebook and he asked if we had found any charities to work with. I responded that we hadn't really and we were very busy with our schooling. He went on to say that he thought it was really cool that we had come all this way to help people. He thought it was funny that we came to Brazil to go to slums and help with flood victims rather than go to clubs and parties. He said we were inspiring.. and that we was touched by how selfless we are. He asked why we did what we did and I explain that we love Jesus and we feel called to share that and serve and love others first and foremost the best we can. He said I was like  a little "fairy spreading my spell all over Brazil" :) To me that was the best compliment ever. Even though we are busy with school and we may feel like we haven't touched the country of Brazil or made a lasting impact its neat to see the way God takes a small random interaction downtown and turns it into someone getting touch and inspired by what we are doing. We never know what will come out of taking the time to talk to someone and share a little about what propels you and gives you life. Jesus.