Thursday-March,19

This morning we had a wonderful devotional by Emily about not just hearing about God but looking for Him.

As usual we had a fantastic day at Kid's Place and like yesterday we ran out of snack bags since we let more kids in then we had yesterday so we made more, but we did have enough crafts. Since today was the last day at Kid's Place it was very hard for us today to say good-bye to the translators and especially the kids. As all the kids were leaving they all asked us to sign their shirts and some of them started crying which made it hard for us.

After today at Kid's Place Lecio took us to a really nice restaurant that had really good food. The restaurant had waiters that kept bringing out random foods so we really did not order anything. After we finished eating we walked across the street where they were holding a sand volleyball competition. As we were watching the sand volleyball tournament their was a minor car accident which quickly drew about fifty spectators to the sight. As we were watching Lecio decided to go to see if anyone was injured; he found an elderly man injured and went to his aid. When Lecio came back from the accident we headed back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel we closed are day with talking about the plus and minuses of the day and a short prayer by Allen, overall today was great.

Wednesday 18th- Day 3 at Kid's Place

We apologize for not posting this on time but we stayed out VERY late at Kid's Place and eating dinner, we didn't get home until about 11PM.

David did the devotional this morning over watching our toungues, even around the kids that can't speak english.

We had another fun day at kids place, almost running out of goody bags for the kids and running out of crafts.

Afterwards we just hung around the hotel until it was time to go back to Kid's Place and have Wednesday church ( The moms' night) and saw a wonderful performance by a great group of drummers from the first bapist church in Recife. Cindy got to go into the fevalles and pick up childern and other parents for the church service.We all sat with people of our own age and shared our faith with the people in our group, and talked about everyday life. We met a family where the kids could play violin and were a part of the symphony and they played 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' and classical pieces. After everyone ate we had to say good bye and ended another great day.

Please pray for our team as some of us are not feeling too well after a few days in Brasil.


With Love,
Emily, Ryan, Chuck, Nancy, David, Sara, Larry, Cindy, Gayla and Allen

Tuesday- 2nd day at Kid's Place March 17th

Today was a fun-filled second day at the Kid's Place. The smiling faces of the kids just filled the room with joy for God. They all want to learn more about Him.We started our day off with a devotional by Allen and a prayer together. This has become a very rewarding part of our day. An opportunity to share what is on our heart and bonds us even closer together. It also provides us an opportunity to prepare ourselves for the day ahead. Today, God tested our ability to be flexible and our patience. An additional 40+ children attend the VBS. We had to adapt on the fly to prepare more crafts, food and special treats for when the children left for the day.Our pride was also tested. We were asked to dance as a group in front of the children. It reminded me of a skit from Saturday Night Live. A bunch of Americans without any rhythm dancing to a song sung in Portuguese...you really had to be there. To say it was embarrassing is an understatement.After the vacation bible school and preparation for tomorrow, Lecio took us to the site of the future Kid’s camp. The land was formally the estate of a banker that was purchased by Volunteers for Christ approximately 4 years ago. Volunteers for Christ is trying to raise enough funds to initiated construction. Lecio was in negotiations with the banker for a long time. The banker wanted substantially more for the property that Volunteers for Christ was willing to pay. Lecio was patience and was able to purchase the property for a really good price. God is Good!We shared dinner with Lecio and Ilma at the Wanderly’s home. This was a wonderful time of fellowship and an opportunity to get to know Lecio. Ilma and their children better. As usually, we ended the evening with reflection of the day and a group prayer.We are grateful for all your prayers.

Monday - 1st day at Kids Place

Today, Monday, was our first full day at Kids Place here in Recife. We started at 7:30 in the hotel lobby with a team devotional that was a great start to our day. We decided to continue that each day. We boarded the bus at 8:00 in great spirits and anticipation! Kids Place is only 10 - 15 minutes from the hotel. The theme for our VBS is "Children are Special to God!" The order of the day was as follows:
Praise service- all the kids met together for a praise service. The energy was fantastic!
Divided into groups - Games - organized activities such as relays, races, etc.
Crafts - Each child drew a picture of himself and decorated the frame.
Storytime - Bible story about how God chose David to be King.
Lunch - We helped serve all the children a delicious lunch of rice, beans and meat stew.
Dismissal - Each child received a snack bag to take home with them as well as their "You are special" picture framed.

We had approximately 80 children from 5-10 years in age. We all agreed that the kids were beautiful, enthusiastic and such a blessing to us! We had a wonderful first day, despite the heat and the struggles to communicate.

After the kids left, we prepared for tomorrow. The team had a great dinner together with Lecio and returned to the hotel. We "debriefed" about the highlights of the day and prayed together that God would bless our time here in Recife.

Sunday 15th-day 2

Well, some of us are already burned, ha ha!

We spent this morning at the beach and searched for shells and coral and sharks past the reef, tried cocconut milk and threw seaweed around. (You would almost think that we aren't on a mission trip, ha ha)

After that we had lunch at the hotel, which was our first moment of 'ish time' where anything goes, and any time can happen.

After that we did our first mission related activity, going to Lecio's Kid's Place and Cindy and Emily were thrown into the spotlight, singing the english versions of all the songs they had there and most of the songs we all knew. We started a few crafts and had some ice cream with the kids.

Now we're about to go out to the pool and go to bed for an early morning tomorrow.


Emily, Sara, Chuck, Cindy, Larry, Gayla, Ryan, Allen, Nancy, and David

Saturday March 14th

We are updating now just to let everyone know that we're here and safe, we arrived around 10AM and met Lecio along with the other group from Christ Chapel. We hung around the town finding hats and sunglasses and funny drinks and food, and met a few people with our broken spanish, ha ha

A few of us went to the beach while the rest of us slept and tomorrow we're going to the Kid's Place and to church after a morning around the town and the beach again


Emily, Ryan, Chuck, Sara, David, Cindy, Nancy, Gayla, and Larry