A Tale of Two Teams (Part 1)

This month started with a trip to Botucatu to visit Ellis. Dawson rode with us and Kaylee, Rayane, and Cianna rode with Sarah. It was so good to see Ellis. Ellis had been a big reason we decided to serve at Vinde and we have missed her since she moved. She had the whole weekend planned.

After filling our bellies with a large brunch at Ellis’s house, we headed out for a little tour. We got to see the church were Ellis now serves. I think she was as encouraged by our visit as we were with seeing her.

This is not Ellis’s church but it is a large pretty church downtown.

We visited Pedra do Indio – the Rock of the Indian.

I was a little confused at first because I thought we were looking out at a rock that was supposed to look like an Indian but the side of the mountain that we were on looked like the face of an Indian. But you are on top looking down through a glass covered hole in the deck, so it’s hard to tell what you were looking at. Despite this fact, there were pretty views to be seen from the deck on top of the rock.

We petted some goats and hiked a little trail. The weather was great. All in all we had a good time.

That evening we had a fun time bowling. Bowling is kind of the same and kind of different as in the US. The pins are attached to strings to set them up and you were allowed to wear bowling shoes (no sanitizing spray in site (no, thanks) or you could bowl in your socks (yes, thank you).

Breakfast was at Cuesta Cafe, about a 40 or so minute drive from town. The cafe boosted beautiful views. There was some kind of bike race going on while we were there so that was kind of cool to watch the bikes cycle down and around the hill. As much as we liked the view, the breakfast was a little disappointing for Americans; perfect for Brazilians but lacking for Americans. We were all hungry afterwards. The owner and the café are vegetarian so the little pastry by itself just wasn’t enough but the views were pretty just like the sign said they were.

At a rest stop on the way home, we came across a dinosaur park. It’s hard to see the big dinos from the picture but there were lots of them. There was a time when Mason was little that all we talked about were dinosaurs. A place like this would have made his day. Now it was more of a- cool with a slight head nod- kind of thing for him.

Kaylee arrived on the 31st and her first Brazilian roadtrip started on the 4th. We broke her in fast to the culture.

We had two additional interns arrive in June; Helena and Matheus; both Brazilian and here until the end of the semester.

After the roadtrip it was time to get back to Atibaia to prep for the first team of the month. What a great team they were! This trip was last minute for us. The team had been preparing to go to Moyo’s Village of Eden in Uganda for months and then the ebola outbreak happened. Thankfully, we had a week available and the team was redirected to come serve with us in Brazil. They were such a blessing. This meant that the Moyo team leaders, Allen and Amy Cain (no relation), would be leading a team to a country they had never been too. But let me tell you, you would have never known. They were amazing, as was their team.

Bowman Baptist jumped right in with home visits. Praying and fellowshipping. It was a wonderful time for the team and the families we visited.

That evening Bowman’s pastor, Caleb, preached The Word at church. I love seeing men of God praying. The taller man is Roberto’s dad who is mentoring the new pastors there. They were praying before service began. Caleb delivered a message about how we can move beyond our past and look to the hope of our future in Christ. Roberto translated for him. Afterwards was a dinner and much needed rest for the team.

Even though some of the things they had prepared for Uganda wouldn’t work here in Brazil, the team make quick work of back up plans and were so ready to serve the kids here. It was amazing what they were able to accomplish with only 2 weeks to get ready.

Morning testimonies and devotional were filled with skits, games, and hand motions.

Afternoon testimonies and devotional were also filled with skits, engaging activities, and “egg”cellent visual aids.

The team served up lunch and had lots of fun activities for the kids to drive home the meaning of the fruit of the spirit.

You would never know that this was a last minute group.

They were so prepared and they had the sweetest servant hearts.

They jumped in and served when needed with the biggest smiles on their faces. They really were a blessing.

Julie, one of the team members, celebrated a birthday, as well as Maria.

After a week of serving, it was time to go. While we celebrated the end of a good week at Grill Sul, the Brazilian steakhouse, the guys were invited to go in the kitchen to see the steaks and other things being cooked. The week flew by but the team had to catch a flight home and we needed to clean out the rooms so Kevin and his team could get the property prepped for camp.

Mason loves working camp. There’s nothing better than seeing Bibles open and being read by the next generation. A couple days later, camp was over on Sunday evening and we needed to get rooms prepped for team number two arriving on Tuesday.

This is our life and I can’t think of living it better. We serve with a diverse staff, all from different places but all serving the same God. Pictured above left to right is Mason (American, duh), Evan (Canadian), Oscar (Costa Rican), and Eduardo and Kaique (Brazilians). I love that my boys get to serve with others outside of their home countries as well.