Daily Schedule

Just in case some of you don't know exactly what we'll be doing in Brazil this week, here's the basic rundown. After flying all day and night on Saturday, we'll arrive in Recife early Sunday morning. We'll spend Sunday preparing our classrooms at Kids Place, then end the day with dinner and a church service on the beach...and early bedtimes!

Monday-Thursday looks basically like this:

Mornings: VBS at Kids Place for about 80 children
Afternoons: visits to the favelas (slums) and running an eye clinic for adults at Kids Place
Evenings: team dinners, time with Recife's VFC missionaries

It all looks like black and white schedules and itineraries at this point, but soon we'll be able to color in the picture with faces, sights, smells and activities. All of the preparation we've been doing will turn into actual service -- a shift we're all eagerly awaiting. We look forward to sharing it all with you...starting tomorrow!

Tchau!

Ask and You Shall Receive

All we did was ask friends and family if they had any clothing to donate to the families in Recife, Brazil. "Ask and you shall receive," indeed.

As each individual and family arrived to the team meeting tonight, they flooded the room with bags and bags of clothing, shoes, toys and kitchen items donated to Kids Place in Recife. At first it seemed impossible that that much stuff could fit into our allotted bags on this trip. (Another group is going a week after we return, so they'd have room for extras...) But like the bread and the fish that Christ multiplied, our enormous duffle bags seemed to multiply before our eyes, and bag after bag was filled.

We packed gifts for our translators, shoes for every age, clothing in all sizes, donated flip flops for every single child at Kids Place and food services supplies for the kitchen at Kids Place. When you've got a lightweight, military-style duffel to deal with, it's amazing what you can get into it before it hits its 70-lb limit.

After all the packing was finished, we had our last "business" meeting, then prayed over the trip. After months of meetings and countless prayers, it's time to go and see what God has in store for these 20 servants. Please pray that each of these donated items will be given and received in the name of Christ, and that He will be glorified in the giving.

48 Hours!

We are officially into the countdown for our trip to Recife, with only 48 hours to go until we board the plane! Preparation and excitement are reaching a fever pitch as our team finalizes details for a week of God's adventure in Brazil.

Thank you, friends, family and supporters, for following along with us on this journey. You are part of this team, and we're so glad to have you along. With this blog, we hope to keep you updated on our activities and give you specific prayer requests to lift up to our mighty God as we go. We'll bold the prayer requests throughout the trip so that you can scan and pray if you don't have time for the details. Prayer is vital, so we want to make that part extra easy for you.

We'll meet as a team tonight to push 2100 lbs worth of supplies and donations into about 30 duffle bags. As long as they allow 70 lbs per bag to Brazil, we don't plan to leave a single pound behind if we can help it. Thanks to all who have donated clothing for this trip. We are honored to escort your gifts to their new home. Please pray that not a single bag will be lost or delayed en route to Recife.

The longest leg of our flight is overnight from Miami to Salvador -- 8 hours. This is the leg where everyone, especially the children, need to get a decent night's sleep in order to hit the ground running the morning (Sunday) we arrive. Please pray that we'll all sleep well and that God would give us His energy, grace and enthusiasm for a productive first day in Recife.

Thanks again for joining us. We'll update as often as possible.