Meet the van Opstals
Nearly eight years ago, a family of four set out to follow God’s call to Holambra, Brazil. With only 8 pieces of luggage and the clothes on their back they embarked on a new life, a new ministry, and a new mission to serve the Lord.
Paul was born in Holland and felt God’s call to missions as a teenager. Jill is from Akron, Ohio and heard that same call. The two met while serving as missionaries in Amsterdam, Netherlands. God’s call to missions had also served to bring them together.
After serving in Amsterdam for 10 years, the vision for a children’s home in Brazil came out of a short-term missions outreach Paul and Jill had taken ministering in the slums, youth prisons, and hospitals of the Sao Paulo area. During this time, they saw the need for children’s homes and wanted to return and begin this type of work. The Van Opstal family moved to Brazil in 1998 and Projeto Lar Feliz began in May of 2001.
Without a facility or financial means to start a children’s home, Projeto Lar Feliz was born in the home of Paul and Jill Van Opstal. Its first occupants were seven teenage boys living with Paul, Jill and their family. The Project has since grown to over 70 children from infant to 17 years of age living on two farms. The vision of the project has expanded and now includes a transitional home for young adults who have come out of the project on their 18th birthday.
Paul serves as director for the Project. Jill and their two children, Elisa 15, and Jeremy 13 serve alongside him in various ways.
Pray for this wonderful family as they live a life of sacrifice to serve the Lord by ministering to the many children of Projeto Lar Feliz.
The Ministry of Projeto Lar Feliz
Lar Feliz has the vision of offering a home to children ages 0-17 whom would otherwise have no place to go. Our goal is to provide a family setting rather than an institutional feeling. At present, we own two “farms”, one where all the children are living, with a bay house and homes for boys and girls, separated by sex as well as age.
On the other farm we house missionaries, volunteers and groups that visit us and the children. We are also using it as a place where we have wood working clubs and where we hope to set up different workshops working with animals, plants, and baking. Also, located on these farms is a large green house in which we hope the children could learn to agricultural and managerial skills.
All of the children are sent to us by a recommendation of the Social Services from nearby towns in the state of Sao Paulo. Children are sent to us for various reasons: abuse, death or abandonment of parents, homelessness and neglect, etc. These children have already had so many terrible experiences, and all of these problems are brought with them when they arrive to come live at our project. The majority of these children have never learned to live within any structural system. They have learned to survive, whatever the cost. In our homes, they learn how to live in a community setting. Many times, in the past, they were told that they were unwanted, or an accident. We teach them that their life is special, created by God, and that as they learn to show respect for themselves and others, they can have valued lives, and realize their dreams. They are affirmed in this by our workers, the psychologist, social worker, and pedagogue, but more importantly through learning who they are in the light of God’s plan for their lives.
They attend local schools. Many of them have fallen far behind in their schooling, which is why we have teachers and tutors who are helping them in their homework and tutoring them where they are lacking. We have our own library, where in the week-end, they have time to loan out books to read.
Further, our homes function for the most part as a normal but large extended family. The children have their daily chores, helping with cooking and clean up, and cleaning and organizing their homes. We offer activities according to their interest. Creativity is one important component to stimulate their minds and find their hidden talents. They are involved in making recycled paper, cards, jewelry, soap, candles, and any other variety of activities that they enjoy.
Most of the children come to us for an indefinite amount of time, sometimes as short as 6 months, or for much longer. During their stay with us, the social services search for other family members who would be willing to take the children into their homes. It is also possible that the parents are given an allotted amount of time to change their situation for the better, so that the children can return to their homes.
In other cases, the children will not be able to return ever. We want to be their new family. Thus, we will be helping them to find a profession and to be self-supportive in the working world. In our “transitional home” we are helping a number of these children, who have reached the age of 18, find training and schooling in order to prepare them for a profession.
In the past few years, we also received unwed teenage mothers. We must train them to take care of their own babies while at the same time, help them finish their schooling and find work to support themselves and their child.
The History of Lar Feliz USA Foundation
Our Foundation was born out of the vision of missionary Paul van Opstal. He saw the need to form a foundation that would serve as a sort of missionary agency that could serve as a clearinghouse for the tax-deductible gifts of donors in the USA.
Founder Bill Ashley of Barberton, Ohio caught this vision and began to assemble a team of dedicated individuals with a passion for the ministry or the project. Lar Feliz USA Foundation began in 2008.
Our Vision, Purpose, & Mission
This organization has been formed to raise financial support and public awareness of the charitable activities and needs of Projeto Lar Feliz. Our organization’s activities consist primarily of informing and educating the public on the needs, concerns and cares of Projeto Lar Feliz. This is accomplished by introducing various churches, businesses, organizations and individuals to the ministry of the project and its missionary directors, Pastor Paul and Jill van Opstal.
