Brazil Trip - Day 3

 
 



We awoke at 7 am (that's 5 am Rensselaer time folks) to loud Christian music in Portuguese! We had some time to get ready for
the day and have some quiet time before breakfast. Breakfast consisted of pancakes, compliments of Tom Gillespie, fruit, cold
meat sandwiches and cashew juice. It was fun to try something new.


Following breakfast we had some devotional time together as we went over Mark 4:35-41. After this time we split up into four
groups and went on a Prayer Walk in the community. We visited several families in the neighborhood that the Moore's have been
ministering to. Some, they have recently helped with building a house, putting in a sink or other projects. Many have come to know
Christ through their ministry here. As we visited we often stopped to pray for various families.

We had some free time after lunch but we spent part of the time hauling a few bricks down to our construction site. Tom helped
some of the local people finish up the brick work. We had some time to swim and relax in the hammocks as well.


This evening, we went to church. It was a very enthusiastic congregation! We presented a drama and the "Brazilian Boogie". The message was on jealousy. We covered parts of James 3, Psalm 145 and Ezekiel 35. Afterwards we went out for chicken. It was rotisserie. (Not sure how to spell that.) Very good.




Phil got busted by the fashion police for showing up in this outfit. What's wrong with this? It's a nice pair of shorts and a nice shirt for crying out loud! I think we'll have to take a vote later to determine this this outfit is really a crime.

Brazil Trip - Day 2

We made it to Sao Paulo, Brazil at 9:00 or so Brazil time and deboarded for customs. This wasn't a problem for us thankfully, even Jon made it through! But was picked up our luggage and had to check in for the domestic flight to Fortaleza. They made us check a bunch of our bags that we carried on.

We made it though to our gate 5 minutes before boarding so that was a blessing. But, they gave Tracy a hard time w/ on of her carry-on items, saying she should have checked it. They took and stowed it w/ the strollers (I think) but when we got to Fortaleza, after a brief stop over in Natal, that bag never showed up. And it has her clothes in it. So, after another discussion with TAM airlines there, we'll call tomorrow to find out if they have found the bag. We think it may have been taken off in Natal.

But we're here!! We made it to Grupo CEO around 6:20 pm and it was already about dark. We had a great spaghetti dinner together with everyone and spent the evening getting showers and settled in.

Brazil Trip - Day 1

We started off on our trip for Brazil today. We left the church at 10 am and drove up to O'hare. Check-in was every bit as stressful as we had hoped. For starters, the mower box weighed too much. We were over by FOUR pounds! We took the smaller box out of the larger box to get the weight down and the lady was checking it through for us. There it was rolling down the conveyor belt when out of nowhere, a guy in a jacket and tie put the nix on it. "Haz-mat item" he stated to my dismay. Despite my "No, buts..." his decision is what counted so, there you go. No mower to Brazil. Thankfully, Ron was around to take it back home for us.

He almost had to take home something else...a member of our team! They were giving Jon a hard time about his visa but ultimately he was cleared.

The flights went smoothly and we fell asleep (off and on) somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

Brazil Trip - Packing

Tonight we had our "Packing Party". There is a lot of stuff to take down for all the minstries we'll be doing. We are also taking some additional items for the Moore's to use for their ministry when we leave such as a mower and a trimmer.

After a night's work, we are pretty much ready to go!

We very much appreciate all the items for the various ministries that church families have donated. Big things get accomplished when everybody does their part!

Senior Night 2008

Tonight was our last night of Word of Life for the year, and forever for our Seniors...as a youth anyway!

This evening, we took a look at John 10:1-4, 25-28 and talked about knowing the voice of our shepherd. The youth were challenged to use the summer to grow into knowing Christ better.

It worked out that today's text for our Quiet Time in our Student Lifeline books was from Exodus 6:1-13 where God is speaking to Moses. Eight times over the first nine verses God says "I will...." I will rescue you..., I will redeem you..., I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. I will bring you into the land..., I will give it to you.... God promises Moses many blessings.

The notes from the Student Lifeline book continues: Ask yourself, "What 'will dos' can I expect from the Lord Himself in my daily life as I also trust Him?" So, as we learn to trust Him, our desire should be to know Him in a more personal way. In response to such a desire, Jehovah, Who got personally involved in the troubles of ancient Israel, desires to get personally involved in your life too!

We also had the Seniors share about their plans for next year and we had a local band, Saving of Souls (many of which are in our WOL club), lead us in worship and share some of their own music.

Last Night of WOL for 2007-08

The last club meeting for the year will be this Wednesday, May 21 at 6:00 pm.

We will have a live band perform as we welcome 'Saving of Souls'!

life is good

This past Saturday, we filmed the music video with the Jr. High (plus one Sr. High teen who snuck in the back door). The song is called "Life is Good" by Stellar Kart. We had a beautiful morning to film. The video is below...enjoy!