7 a.m., flight to Brazil

It is 7am on the airplane (still 5 am in TX where we left yesterday at 4:45pm).  Josh here.

I am trying  to think of a good analogy for what to compare this feeling to right now.  We have been praying over this trip for months -- for some of us, over a year.  And now, we are "here."  I suppose we'll be "here" when we get to Kids Place, but you get the idea.  Is it like a long-planned vacation?  No.  It's not a vacation.  The olympics?  We haven't trained that hard!  But, we are on the cusp of something very exciting.

Amy and I are leading this team of young couples for the second year in a row.  For family members that entrusted them to us -- thank you.  You should be incredibly proud of these very mature men and women that are coming to do something that hadn't even crossed my mind at their age!  They are taking valuable vacation time to spend their days in a slum.

Why?  Why would any of us do this?  Why would we have asked friends and family to give money so that we could take an 'exotic' trip to Brazil to work among the poorest of the poor?  Because many of these people don't know Jesus.  And without Jesus, they will die.  I suppose I could fluff that up some way, but I won't.

The people of Coque are somewhat forgotten to the people of Brazil.  They are ignored by all quarters.  Many feel they are beyond redemption.  We are here to tell them that we were ALL beyond redemption.  None of us were righteous, not one.  Yet Christ humbled himself to the point of the cross to save us, and he offers them the very same opportunity.

We will play games with children this week.  We will engage in relationship.  We will be changed in our own hearts.  But, as you pray for us, pray for those who hear the gospel, many for the first time.  Ask that it would penetrate their hearts, and like us before them, they will be saved!  Thanks.