Hello All –

We have had a interesting month in Brazil. Three visiting groups of college students representing different churches, one after another. They have heralded from Los Angeles, Turlock, and Boca Raton. Two of these groups involved all of 30 participants!

The group that is here now, from Boca Raton, is running our summer camps in Campinas and Vitoria (paid for with the "Kids for Camp" campaign). They have been posting "blogs" on their church website, which is basically daily updates on their activities.

The stories below were cut and pasted from their "Blog" (website) and includes some of their daily postings. You will have fun reading through these, seeing what the kids and staff are doing with their summer, as well as the impact the Hope kids are having on the visitors.

Accompanying the Boca Raton church group are their Mission Pastor and College Pastor. Boca Raton Community is a huge church, and I think we are going to establish a great ongoing partnership. I was their last year and really enjoyed the church and the vision of their senior pastor.

-- Philip

For more updates from the web, go to:

Boca Raton Community Church / Ministries – International /Announcements & Activities / Brazil 2005.They have three teams in Brazil: the Green Team is the Hope team, so follow the Green Team blogs

Roughin' it

When the rooster crows and the alarm clock goes off another adventurous day begins. 7am sharp,looking around at our 6 bunks, our first thoughts as we rolled out of bed was..."How are 12 Boca girls supposed to get ready in 30 minutes with 1 bathroom" I will tell you one thing, though, Brazilians must be morning people, because at 7:15am sharp, they were knocking at our door yelling "Americans, hurry!" No matter what, we couldn't be late for our group devotional. They definitely take morning time serious around here! I think after our breakfast of cafe com leite and bread, our (American) energy had been kicked up a notch and we were ready to go.

After morning chapel, we were given our assignments for the day. Each group had to participate in a scavenger hunt. And boy was it an adventure. We walked through a spider's web, ate raw liver, and headed to the last task. As we approached the final destination, we saw a huge muddy pond with a rope crossing over it. We had to get 3 kids across, and if we wanted extra points we could send one American. Oh, you better believe I went! Rope burns, blistered hands and wet hair, but I made it. Congrats Altemir and Brittney as well for doing this because this was no easy task! After all was said and done our (Red) team came in second with 180 points! Make sure to keep in check with the Blog to catch which team prevails at the end of the week. The rest of the day was quite relaxing and peaceful. Although us Americans are loosing all hope...we just can't seem to win a soccer game. Many went for a hike this afternoon, and all seemed to return safely except for Mark. We left him petting and talking to cows on the side of the mountain. We think he has found his calling.

And now to share with you, our favorite part of the day--the worship service. We had great music, followed by an amazing skit performed by a boy representing Jesus (Caleb) who takes on all of our problems and infirmities.We ended the service with some testimonies from Jessica and Brittany, followed by a message on Responsibility from Ryan.

Be prepared for when we return because after a week of not being able to flush any toilet paper and cold showers, we are prepared for everything.

hank you, all of you who have been encouraging us with your blog comments. We love you all back at home!----Kristen Williams for the Green Team.

Saudades

We stood in the middle of an aisle, surrounded by 100 precious sons and daughters of God of all ages. Some of them had just come up to the microphone and expressed their appreciation for what we had done this week at the City of Youth camp. Everyone bowed their heads, Pastor began to pray, and the children turned towards the center stretched out their hands toward where we stood. As the pastor offered words of thanksgiving and supplication in a language we did not understand, we heard whispers of prayer coming from the lips of the children surrounding us who had been through so many things in their lives and were in need of so much. And yet, here we were (25 or so American college students) being prayed for and blessed and thanked by these people whom we came to serve.

Not an eye was left dry, and not a heart was left untouched as we said our good-byes and departed from the City of Youth camp yesterday. These are experiences in our lives which pictures and words just do not do justice; experiences which we will never forget and which will change our hearts forever.

We made it to Vitoria safely. Our change in living circumstances is drastic to the point of shocking! I'm sitting on the 18th floor of a really nice hotel here, looking out at the mountains and the city and the ocean, and I can see islands and boats and beaches. . . wow, it is almost too much to take in compared to the camp circumstances we were living in yesterday! Today we start our work in ministry with Marley's church here in Vitoria. I think we are running a service sometime this morning. Please pray that God will renew our strength, help us not forget what we have learned, and continue to press on in obedience to His will with selfless hearts. Thank you for all of your prayers and expecially the blog comments, which everyone looks forward to hearing every day!

--Joy Wilson for the Green Team

Montanha de Esperanza

Today we headed for our next mission, which is called "Hope Mountain or in Portuguese "Montanha de Esperanca.or"Hope Mountain" educates, houses, counsels and ministers to children between the ages of 9-18 who are at mortal risk.. Phil Smith said, "Without intervention these children would be dead from physical abuse, starvation, drug trafficking and the list goes on." So this week, our team will be ministering by leading worship, performing drama skits, playing games, giving personal testimonies, and teaching the word.

Our team spent the day at Hope Mountain, having an informational orientation, eating lunch with the children, and playing some sports. Bill Mitchell III was very happy to finally find a place that had basketball hoops! We also learned some specific circumstances from which the children came. Every story that was shared brought tears to my eyes.

One of the resident's story in particular really hurt my heart. This story is about a boy named Fabio, who has been in Hope Mountain's program for a few years. Fabio is 18 years old and has been tortured from head to toe. They are not certain of who is to blame for this. I met him today and when I looked at his face, I could hardly breathe. He had so many cigarette burns all over his face and every inch of his body. They told us later that someone had used a pair of pliers to rip out the cartilage of his nose. During his childhood years his caretaker locked him in a closet, which resulted in have a mental capacity of 8 year old. With that in his past he spends his life here at Hope Mountain, which gives him a hope for a future in the love of Christ.

I spend a lot of time with a boy named Lucas, talking with him and eating with him. Lucas is 11 years old and has been at Hope Mountain for 2 1/2 years. This boy only stands about 4 feet tall and he has a smile bigger than he is. After spending time with him, they told me that Lucas was placed here because people want to kill him. I said "kill him, but why?" They told me that he was a gang leader and he goes aroung breaking and entering in houses and steals! If you were to see this adorable boy with dimples all over his face, you would never imagine him a gang leader. He is so cute I would of pictured him in a "Welchs' Grape Juice commercial. Every child here at Hope Mountain as a story, a story that will change your life forever, a story that should never go unheard.

Over the past 9 days, I have witnessed and heard things that will forever change my perspective of life and the true need of God's LOVE and GRACE. It is a privilege and a honor to help this kids, and I thank you for your prayers.

Please pray for strength and endurance for the teams as we start the second half of the trip. We started strong, and we need to end even stonger!

Love from Brazil! Lindsay Chapman