Last Night of Camp

It’s hard to believe that our time here in Brazil has almost come to an end. It has been an amazing week. There is no way a blog post can capture even half of the incredible things that have happen, but nonetheless, we will attempt.

This is the tenth year of the English camp we have participated in this week. Our missionaries, Steve and Liz Spellman, began the camp in an attempt to reach and disciple young people. Over the past ten years, God has done some great things, but this year leading into camp, they had a sense that God would do something even greater. Along with this anticipation, however, was a sense amongst several of the Brazilian leaders that the enemy would be working overtime.

Throughout the week there have been a number of issues that can likely be attributed to  the enemy’s work. Even simple issues such as minor injuries or sickness have seemed to have a spiritual warfare feel to them. They have been Satan’s attempt to take our focus off of our work here. This is why your prayers have been so important.

In spite of these attacks, God has of course shown Himself victorious. There have been spiritual breakthroughs for MANY of the Brazilians. Some who came into the week with zero interest in Jesus have begun asking questions. Others have come to see that the faith they’ve been carrying has not been their own personal faith. Two of our team members were able to lead two Brazilians to faith in Christ last night, and many other Brazilians have said that they prayed to receive Christ on their own as well. Literally every hour we are the great stories of what God has done in their lives this week. We are humbled to have been used by God. Please continue praying....God is not done working yet!

Day 2 Camp Update

Day two has been great so far. After some morning fun songs, we had our first English group session. The students are placed according to their level, and each of us has 5-7 in our group. It’s amazing how interested in English and America they are. 

After English groups, it was time for outdoor competition, then lunch, then free time. During free time, we are offering activity classes in cheerleading, crafts, American sports, gymnastics, US Slang, and dance. Everyone really enjoyed the classes, and some groups are working on a performance for our final night.

It’s time for dinner soon, and then we will have our second evening session. Please continue praying. Everyone is tired and some are dealing with some pretty nasty bug bites, but everyone’s having a great attitude.

Day One of Camp

Everyone arrived at camp just before lunch, and as we settled into our rooms for the week it was great to make so many new friends. Most of the Brazilians are very friendly and love to try out their English on us. They also love it when we TRY to speak Portuguese! 

Camp was off to a great start as week broke the campers up into teams and had them come up with a name, flag and cheer. They presented them during our first evening program, which included some skits, games, worship, and Jeff’s first message. We are talking this week about owning your faith and how you can know that your faith is in the right thing. This is a particularly important topic in the Brazilian culture, where there is so much influence from Catholicism, spiritism, voodoo, and other false religions. Even amongst so called “Christian” churches, there are elements of these influences.

The night concluded with cabin devotion times, which was a great way to get to know how we can specifically be praying for the students this week. Maybe 1/3 of the students here do not profess to be Christians, and many others are struggling in their faith or have confusion about what they really believe.

Please continue praying for us throughout the day, but specifically from 7:30-9:30 during our evening sessions (3:30-5:30 CA time) and 11-11:30 (cabin discussion times).

Gabe with Lenon

This is Gabe with his new friend, Lenon, who he is currently trying to figure out how to immigrate back to the US. Please pray for us all.

Twas the Night before Camp

Everything is all set for camp to begin tomorrow morning.  We will depart from our host nedighborhoods and meet up at camp at lunchtime Monday. We spent the day today doing things with our host families and joining in church services. It was great to continue to get to know our Brazilian friends and take in some of the sights.
Please be praying for us tomorrow. The schedule calls for opening ceremonies at 4:30 (4 hours ahead of CA time) and our first session at 7:30 with worship and a message, followed by small group time in our cabins with our groups. Please pray for boldness for our students as they lead and start spiritual conversations. So far the Brazilians have been very open to conversation, and we have been told that most will be very open to talking about faith, so pray that we will be bold in opening that door.

We probably won´t be able to update the blog as frequently while at camp, so please continue praying even if you´re not sure what to pray for!

Pre-Camp Party

Tonight we came back together for a pre-camp party with many of the students who will be attending the camp this week.  This is the 10 year anniversary of the English Camp, so there was plenty to celebrate. We played games, worshipped together, and shared a few testimonies, but the highlight was definitely just spending time with the Brazilian students. Everyone on our team was amazed at how friendly and open they were and it was a great way to kickstart the week. We´re back at our host homes, and everyone´s got some fun things planned for tomorrow in addition to church. Monday morning we´ll depart for camp from our various locations and the week will begin.

Pictures of the Camp

Friday Night

What a great day! First we packed up at the camp and headed out on the bus to the Christ statue.  We took a long train ride way up to the top of the mountain where the view was incredible and we took lots of photos. We even saw a monkey. After riding back down on the train, we drove to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian BBQ where we absolutly stuffed ourselves on beef, chicken hearts, capybara, chicken, sausage, fried bananas, french fries, and all sorts of other healthy food. And we finished off with an amazing marshmellowy custard, yummy thing.

Then we headed to the beach for a few minutes and then went off to our host homes for the weekend.  We´ll meet back up tomorrow night at one of the churches for a pre-camp celebration and some music and testimonies. Everyone´s got different things planned with their host families over the weekend, so there will be lots of stories to share.

Thanks for all your continued prayers and encouraging comments. 

Thursday Recap

We are about to eat dinner here at the camp for the last time until Monday...Beans and rice...yeah!  Actually the food here is great.  Last night we were surprised with a delivery of the chocolate pizza we've been hearing so much about.  It definitely needs to be added to the menus of American pizza places.  We spent the day today prepping some more for various camp things, getting the band ready (learning songs in Portuguese) and spiritually preparing as well.  Our times of worship together have been great and we're looking forward to next week. 

Tomorrow we'll head back into Rio, visit the famous Christ statue, the beach and then hit an all-you-can-eat Brazillian BBQ for dinner. Then it's off to our host homes for the weekend.  We'll meet up a few times over the weekend for church, etc.

Everyone is doing great! Thanks for all the prayers and the encouraging comments!

Sorry, still not many pics, but we did figure out internet (very slow) at the camp, so we'll hopefully be able to do some more frequent/longer posts.

Preparing for Camp

Today has been great.  We're spending time getting to know the Brazilian leaders and preparing spiritually.  We're going over English lessons, worship, and our different classes.  The camp is large and beautiful.  There are donkeys, ostriches, ducks, and geese right at the camp.  The pool has a waterslide and we've had fun using it.    We've even had warm showers!  (Quite a change from last year.)  We haven't been able to post pictures yet, but hope to when we get back to town. 

Safely at the Camp- 40 out of 40 bags arrived!

We have landed safely at the camp and are settled in. All 40 pieces of luggage made it!  (A lot better than 13 out of 31 last year in Costa Rica!) We´ll lay low today and begin prepping tomorrow.  The weather is great and everyone´s enjoying the pool. We hope to be able to post some pics soon, but we´re getting the whole internet thing figured out. Everyone is doing great!

Landed in Miami! A few hours on the ground and then the LONG flight.

We are at the gate at SFO and ready to board!

Counting Down...

Just a few days to go until we leave...this is just SOME of the stuff we've got to take.  Be praying that we don't forget anything important during our packing meeting at 3:00 on Sunday.