You Say Hello, I Say Goodbye

Well, it's official. It is the last week of my Summer Project in Brasil. We will be going out like ususal, but it just seems surreal that it has already been about six weeks since I have been here. It'll definitely be weird coming back. I have a close knit community here and not as much of one when I go home. I will be searching hard for that, but I think that I am now more prepared for it than ever. God seems to work so much more mysteriously than we always say He does. He has changed me a lot on this trip. For example:

-I now have more of a heart for missions
-Sharing the gospel and what I believe are not as hard as it used to me
-I have a different idea of what it means to truly be sharing my faith
-I delved a lot deeper into myself and reflected than I ever have before (Read "Emotionally Healthy Spirtuality." It is great)
-What God has planned for my future, I still am not sure. But I am not as scared anymore.

Those are just some of the different things that have developed though I am sure there are more.

So what has been happening since the last time I have talked to you. Well, much of the same thing really. My group was finally able to attend one of the Alpha e Omega meetings (Campus Crusade for Christ in Brasil). That was really cool. A lot of students showed up that we had talked to. I was able to meet some pretty cool Brasilians there and overall it was just a great experience. It is small, however. They have about 30 members and they all fit into a small room. It is the same type of meeting that we have in the U.S., but with more interaction because of its size. Afterwards we have those tapioca things that are delicious.

We also went to a Brasilian friend's house to meet his family and that was really fun! His family was cool. They brought some pizza and had other Brasilian food. All of it was delicious. We met his 74 year old grandfather that just had a baby with a 50 year old woman. It was really awkward. He made a lot of jokes too that were funny, but made us feel so awkward; a great night really. Aside from that it was a lot of fun. Most of what was said had to be translated by Andre (our Brasilian friend), but not much was lost in translation.

Now our focus is on continuing our ministry for the last week. To not give up even though we are leaving back home. That is something great to remember for me. And today was great. I only got to talk to one guy, but he was Chrisitian and moving to France within the week. I'll be able to help him to pursue his faith by setting him up with CCC in Paris! Great things can happen through God!

Well that is all I have for now, but I will update again on this trip before I leave. Sweet, I will talk to you all later!

Mid Project Vacation

So we just got back from our mid project vacation. It was pretty awesome. I can't spell the place where we went, but it sounds like mariselas. It was a beautiful beach town right next to the ocean. That was the first time I set my feet into an ocean, so it was pretty awesome. There were also waves, lots of waves at this beach. So of all the things I have tried, I can now add: surfing, body surfing, and boogie boarding. Mind you, I was horrible at surfing. It still was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed body surfing, which just means that you surf with your body. Riding the waves is pretty liberating. We had to actually watch out for rip tides. That was intense. I could really see the power that the ocean has from the beach. That was a great experience. We had a stray dog follow us around the entire time. We affectionately named him Optimus Prime. It is hard to explain unless you understand cartoon that the name is referenced from. I got really burnt and I have been hurting for awhile, bugs bit us all the time and I now have about 50 bite marks on my legs, but aside from that the trip was pretty amazing.

We got back on sunday and I've been trying to rest ever since. I am really tired and sort of feel sick from the weekend because of all the salt water. I am better now for the most part. Monday was really hard to get back on campus though. I had to sit and pray for awhile, which was good. After I had prayed and separated from my group, I went to get something called a Tapioca. These things are not the pudding you are probably thinking about. It is made with the same substance, but fried in a frying pan to make a sandwich. They put multiple things in there from meats and cheeses to fruits and chocolate. I had some roast beef and cheese this time, but I have tried a chocolate and strawberry conconction that was very very very very very very very very very delicious. Food here is basically good, though I am excited to eat at Perkins for some reason when I get back. I am, however, going to bring back an idea they have of putting egg onto a cheeseburger because that is very delicious as well.

Anyway, back to the story. So I at this awesome tapioca and I felt a little better, not great though. Normally we talk to students in groups of 2 or 3 and I had to leave my group. So I decided I would try talking to students by myself, which I do not like doing because it is very intimidating. I talked to a student in the electrical building, but he and his friends had to leave. So I walked around for awhile and I saw a student sitting on a bench. I talked with him for awhile about who he was and what he liked and then asked about his faith. He was confused he said and so I started telling him about Christ. After about an hour and a half of talking, HE ACCEPTED CHRIST! This is exciting because I was very sick and did not want to be there. Which goes to show that God certainly uses us when we are weak to make us strong. I could only truly trust in God to lead that conversation.

I was also able to meet with a student that I had talked to earlier who was already a Christian on campus today, which was awesome. He wants to get involved with a Bible study on campus that we are setting up and I am truly excited for him.

Well that is all I have for right now. If you have questions please leave comments. And thank you for taking time to read my blog and pray for me. You guys are awesome!

Churrascaria....what?

So as a team we went out to a churrascaria. It is probably the best thing that has ever been invented. If you can imagine a train of meat just coming to you. All different types, all delicious. That was the experience that I was able to have this last Friday. I had about 10 different types of meat that night. It was expensive, but I'll be a happy poor man. The best thing that they had was called pequena, which is the backside of the cow. Very tender, juicy, awesomeness all rolled into one. The worst thing they had there was probably the chicken hearts. Real chicken hearts. I saw a ventricle and decided not to eat it. Everyone I might have eaten is one chicken that had to die and I couldn't do that (even though I love the rest of the part of the chicken).


On campus things are going well. We've seen a lot more people trust God in their lives, which is pretty stinking neat. I have talked to a couple of students this week already who want to know more about Alpha e Omega. It is hard on our campus to talk to students too because they like to think that they are Christians, but they are missing some ideas about who Christ truly is and what He has done for us. In the short of it, we talk about four laws:

1. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life
2. Man is sinful and thus separated from God, thus he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life.
3. Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin.
4. We must individually receive Jesus as our Lord and saviour to experience God's love and plan

Along the way, most students agree. However, they stop believing when it comes to #3. Most like to believe that it takes things that we can do to reach Heaven or God. But Christ says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the Truth, and the Life; No one comes to the Father except through me."

So it can be hard to get past that, but other than that it is pretty cool. As I've said Brasilians are cool and they like to hang out with us and to get to know us. So normally it is no problem.

As for pictures, well, I am trying to upload them both here and on facebook. The Internet here is slow and I am unable to do so for the most part. I can sometimes get pictures on here, but it doesn't work most of the time. So bare with me.

This upcoming weekend is our mid-project break. We will be going to a beach and staying at a resort. It will be welcome. The thing about Sao Paulo is that it is big. It smells very badly. There are cars everywhere (I had my life flash before me several times now cause of the crazy drivers). So this vacation will be nice. Don't get me wrong though, I still love Sao Paulo, it would just be nice to see a beach.

We also go to a Presbyterian church while we are down here. They rock, literally. They worship like nothing I've ever seen. Their songs are so passionate and full of life. The people are just the same. They are loving and compassionate. I have received several hugs from random strangers while we have attended. It is pretty neat.

Well, that is all I really have for you all for right now. I will try to get pictures up, but so far I have tried three times to get one picture up and it is not happening. Now I am watching the American movie "Doom," from my TV room, it is pretty distracting. Go Rock, go.

Once again, if you have questions, please ask. I will do my best to answer them. Till then, farewell.

It is About Time I Update

Hello Everyone,

It has been a while since I have updated. It is hard because we are busy throughout the day with various things. An example schedule looks like this:

Monday/Friday:
8:00-Wake up and eat a delicious breakfast
10:00-Devotional time
11:00-We head over to campus to do evangelism for four hours
3:00- Head home via crazy bus
3:30-Rest for a little bit
4:30 or 5:00- Eat supper at a local launchette
7:00-World team meetings
9:00-Hangout

Tuesday/Thursday:
8:00-Wake up to the delicious breakfast
10:00-We have Bible study with the men on Tues. and on Thurs. we have discipleship
2:00-Head over to campus for Evangelism
6:00-Head home
7:00-Eat Supper
8:00-Meet with Community team to plan events
9:00-Hangout

Wednesday:
8:00-Wake up
9:30- We go to campus and look like zombies because we are so tired
1:30/2:00- Have a meeting with the group
4:00 to 5:30- We eat supper
5:30 to 9:30 - Date night with Jesus. We basically seclude ourselves from each other and dive into the Word.

So in other words we are busy. I get really tired at the end of each day. It is good however. To update you on how things are going, so far we have had 19 people accept Christ (probably more), I am meeting with two people to talk to people about Christ after talking with them for awhile. One girl I talked to for 2 1/2 hours and the other guy I talked to for about 20 minutes. God works in various ways.

Brasilians are really awesome people. They take time out of their day to talk to you and will even be late to class just so they can talk with you. They really like relational friendships, so they will do what they can for you. It is crazy different from the U.S. where we are so time conscious that we offer no time for anyone. Here they say they have like 20 minutes and they'll give you an hour (not all the time, but it is still cool).

They are very modest as well because we have to ask if they speak English at all and they will always say, "Eh, so so." This usually means that they can pretty much understand you and will speak English almost perfectly.

The students on the campus have it rough though. They have a really crappy public education program here in Brasil. Sometimes students don't even know how to spell when they reach middle school. Most students that enter USP (University of Sao Paulo) have had a private education. Also, to enter USP you have to take a test called the vestibular. It is not like the ACT's because it is much, much, much, much harder. Most have had to take a year off to study before they take the test. I have heard that some students even have taken 3-5 years to study this exam.

I am on the Engineering campus of USP called Poli. It has a diverse amount of students with different backgrounds and beliefs. I, however, fit in perfectly because when we ask them what makes Poli students unique, they say "nerdy." Oh yes, perfect fit for me. I have talked about video games, Magic the Gathering (card game), and other such fun stuff that either I am into or used to be into. Amazing.

One bad thing I can complain about is that after I got here I got a nasty head cold. I have ended each day passed out on my bed with 0 energy to spare. I am now better, but still am full of snot that just won't go away.

I have to go now, but don't worry because soon I will add photos of my journey on here so that you can see what is happening.

I will also start asking for prayers at the end of my blog posts and so if you could pray for those things, that would be awesome and very helpful.

Prayer list:

-Colds go away. A lot of us have become sick.
-We could meet students who want to hear about the Gospel (and that can speak English)
-Our Summer Project group would become closer and even more tight nit. Things have been going great and it will be great to become even closer to them.

Thanks everyone and I will hopefully get photos up soon.