Brazil 2008 Day 8 Parting is such sweet sorrow

Our last day, work, churrascaria, favela visit and a wonderful goodbye...
Ask Pastor Tom to sing this one to you... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=714-Ioa4XQw

Check out our uncut performance of the 10 Lepers with Michael Ford as Jesus... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDE0ERW3ASI

What an incredible trip, we all felt the Holy Spirit in a major way working at Ebenezer and their various mission churches. This place does good work for many people.

Here's Wagner, former electrician, getting 220v bbbbzzzzzzzz (not really, but a good impression).


Check out the newly whitewashed wall around the church (yellow wash really).

Yve painting the railing... you go girl!

The new sidewalk and freshly painted Pastor Nimbu pad.

Here's the garden, tiled access ramp and freshly painted railing. cool!

Check out the white wash, extra clean baby!

Daniel doing some wiring, at least he doesn't get zapped like Wagner... His uncle came later and did the final wiring for us. The theater is lit in a big way (floor lights, spotlights for the stage and house lights).

Pastor Tom getting into the Spider Pig hose rolling technique.

We met with Miraney and Irma to discuss ways that we can continue to support some favela families that are open to improving their situation. She knew all of the families and their situations, she had a great perspective on what could be done to help. We may engage in helping one family get on their feet, the plan is in motion. We also are funding some computer classes for some of the kids who will take full advantage of them. Mission team members are supporting these efforts, if you're interested let us know.

Pastor Heber and Pastor Nimbu made a killer churrascaria for everyone. Here's Pastor Heber sampling the meal... it was awesome.

This grill rocks.

Lori, Cayla and Tanya visitied the Favela one last time. Here's the family that we may work to get on their feet.

Here's Cayla with Ricardo and David from our potential target family.

Some church folks who do hairstyling come to the favela once a month and do free haircuts, cool... They did over 70 today!

Here's Cayla with Bruna and Ricardo.... all smiles

Here's an end of night group photo that proves, what goes up...

Must come down...

Here's Irma and Helga, two ladies that have God in their hearts.

Helga and hard working Bruno...

Izabel, Pastor Heber and Pastor Tom. Studs and Studettes for Jesus!

Group photo, all smiles again!

The group sang an awesome song for us at the end of the night about friends. Bruno on guitar is a future Eric Clapton.

Pastor Heber gave a great presentation about friendship at the end of the night.

End of the night, hanging out listening to the action.

More listening with good friends.

Ynge with Cayla, Go Orioles! O's O's O's

Cayla got into photos with everyone, here with Evelyn who is a great worker for God!

More group photos, watch your hands Dylan.

Smiles, Smiles, Smiles :)

Bruno's the man, singing a little Bob Marley together...

Alex hugging some good friends from last year.

Wagner and Cayla saying goodbye at the airport on Day 8. Feel the love.

Alex and Cayla getting ready to miss our family in Brazil...

Our last photo of the night, what a great family photo. Muito Obrigado! We are hoping to see you same time next year...

Brazil 2008 Day 7

Day 7 was amazing...
We spent the morning in Pirucuama conducting VBS. Pastor Heber cautioned us that since many kids would be in school we may not have a large group, it turns out after rounding kids up on an extended street walk we had 40+ kids in attendance. It was awesome!

Here's Michael and Yve at the community center where we held the VBS. The folks from Ebenezer are filled with the Holy Spirit and really connected with these kids.

Here's our group right before we started.

We had a wide range of ages.

Here's our street walk, it was great to get out an meet the people. It was awesome to see how much the kids enjoyed coming to the VBS.

Here's the team, does it look like we were having fun?

Here's the team setting up take home bags of snacks for the kids.

From a previous craft many of the kids had cross necklaces, this little boy didn't get one but Pastor Tom took care of that. He gave him a big hug and the cross he was wearning. I'm guessing that we'll see him with it next year.

Here's Pastor Nimbu with Natalia, he's amazing with a heart for God.

Here's Paloma, she was with us last year.

Mathias watching over our supplies.

Making faces, see the woven cross in my hand... this was our craft from last year and Gustavo had saved it and given it to me as a gift. He had kept a paper woven cross all year long and then given it as a gift. These kids are incredible.

Here's Lori giving some love to Peter.

We installed lighting for the theater, pressure washed some more, painted more of Nimbu's house, tiled the access ramp in the afternoon.

Here's some pretty happy lepers after the skit.

Here's Alex with a group of happy kids.

Helga was on her game today...

More Helga on a roll.

Gathering kids in the Favela.

Alex and Flavia hamming it up.

Favela shots from our walk, no way to describe it adequately.

Another favela shot.

The view from the community center where VBS took place.
Evelyn was on her game for this VBS.

David and Peter. He's a natural.

The coolest crafts on earth, the kids loved them.

Happy times, Bruna, Gustavo and Cayla.

Bruno was a huge help today!

Pastor Nimbu, Bruna and Evelyn.

Dancing on the way home, do the kids look amused?

Hamasoraus Rex

Pastor Nimbu's daughter, Ynje, working the garden...

Tanya and Sabrina on Sabrina's last day before leaving for Rio on business. She will be missed!

Pastor Tom scraping off excess paint on Pastor Nimbu's house.

Pastor Tom with Gustavo and Jao Pedro. Good times:)

The ladies (+Bruno) working on beautiful necklaces and braceletes. They were a hit!

A great shot of great workers in the kitchen. These ladies made the best food, we couldn't have survived without them.

Another group shot at the end of VBS.

Dylan with Ricardo. This kid was always content, especially when being held. Go Dylan!

The church when we finished yesterday, wow! No, actually the sanctuary at Wagner's school... WOW!

David is painting the town yellow.