Bridge Missions

Leaving on a jet plane

Matt — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:38:18 +0000

It´s Friday morning and we are all packing our suitcases and getting ready to leave. A bus is supposed to be here at 9:30 to drive us to Londrina which is an hour away. Slowly kids are staggering in to say goodbye, although the final program was last night.
We will do a little souvenier shopping in Londrina before we catch our plane around 2:00 p.m. This is our final Brazil post.
We can not wait to see our family tomorrow morning! Love to all!

-Cheri

Saying Goodbye

Matt — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:44:10 +0000

We just had our final time with the kids. It was a very emotional moment all around.
First we did some relay races, fed them smores that Christy and Eleana made, then we had a bible study time and laid out the plan of salvation. We handed out their bibles- actually ran out of them. We had 64 bibles and have a list of like 14 kids that didn´t get one. Then it was time for goodbyes. As we hug and embraced the kids, we were filled with mixed emotions. It is amazing how much you can bond with a person and not be able to speak the language. God is good!

Maria is feeling better after some rest and so do I!

Our flight information is AA4406 coming in at 9:35 a.m. at RDU. Pray for continual health and safe travels and that we would make all connecting flights!

-Cheri

Prayer Request and our last full day

Matt — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:48:29 +0000

Today is our last full day. We are getting ready to meet with the kids for the last time before we leave tomorrow morning for our long journey home. This morning we hand wrote a message in bibles to give to each child. We raised this money last year through our church to purchase a bible in Portuguese for each child. Tonight for our closing program we will be giving them their bibles and having smores!
Matt, Eddie, Anna, and Christy are currently walking around the small slum area with the Pastor and our American Missionary, Mike Meyers to do in-home visits with some of the families from the project. Maria, Eleana, and I stayed back to rest.
Eleana has had some strange rash on her hands that we can´t quite figure out. We think it is due to the sun. Today is pretty hot, so she is staying back to stay out of the sun.
I (Cheri) am staying back because I started to get a bit dizzy today. Nothing major, just wanting to rest and not over-do it before our last meeting with the kids tonight.
Maria, poor Maria. After several days of sickness, we finally made the decision to take her to a hospital here to get some IV fluids for dehydration. It was a very smart decision. We wanted to make sure she was where she needs to be to travel tomorrow. Please pray specifically for health for our team members, and the long journey home. Pray against dehydration. We are all doing what we can to take care of ourselves!
It has been such a great trip and we can not wait to share more stories with you all and show all the wonderful pictures.
Hope to write again before we leave, but this may be our last post.
Tomorrow morning we will leave here around 9:30 a.m. to take the one hour bus ride back to Londrina where the airport is. We are going to try to do some souvenier shopping a bit before we catch our flight around 2:00 p.m. I know we are all very anxious to see our families again!! I think we arrive in RDU around 9:30 a.m. if anyone wants to come to the airport.
Again, we thank you all so much for your support! This trip would not have been possible without the prayers and support of our family, friends, and church.
We love you all!

-Cheri

Matt’s Update

Matt — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:18:52 +0000

This is an update actually from Matt. Caution: I will probably not be nearly as detailed as the gals have been!

This afternoon I visited the thrift store that is helping fund the second half of the project. The clothes that were donated by everyone have been a huge hit. The kids and infant clothes have especially flown off the racks.

The project with our kids started around 5. The gals face painted for what seemed like 2 hours straight. We had tigers, butterflies, soccer balls, footballs, lady bugs, etc…The kids loved it.

Eddie, Maria, Christy, one of the kids, and I played a game of horse. Christy emerged the winner after it narrowed down to a head to head battle with my dad! Other activities included jump rope, monkey in the middle, soccer, frisbee, disc golf, and see how high you can jump.

To end, I just want to say that our team has been amazing. Between sickness, allergic reactions, crazy schedules, and stepping out of the comfort zone, they have handled everything exceptionally. Eleana stepped up and did her testimony in front of a tough crowd at a school. Maria powered through a sickness and has taken awesome pictures. Cheri has led the gals in late night spiritual growth and riotous laughing which keeps me awake from the other room and of course I love to see her with the kids. Christy screams at roaches, beat us in HORSE, and has had several great craft ideas. Then there’s dad. He’s been playing with the kids non stop, being king of the party at a rotary club meeting, and surprising the gals with his sense of humor.

I could say much more about each one. You all should be proud of the team you sent. They’ve been amazing.

School Visit and a Scrumptious Lunch on the Farm

Matt — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:58:27 +0000

Hello, Anna here. It is about 3:50pm and we have already had a full day. This morning at 9:00 we went back to the school that we visited yesterday afternoon to talk to a different set of children. We sang songs, did a skit, gave a testimony, and gave out candy at the end. By the time we get back to the States, we will have several songs mastered! We were all treated like celebrities by the children. The kids are especially enamored by Christy´s long blond hair, they think she looks like Barbie!

After our time at the school, we were invited to “lunch on the farm.” The other day Eddie hit it off with one of Pastor Vandergleason’s friends who is also a car guy. This man (I have no idea how to pronounce or spell his name) took us to the farm where his father is (or was) the groundskeeper and he prepared a Brazilian barbecue for us.

They served us steak, sausage, and pork all cooked on some type of built in open grill. Of course there were plenty of sides (rice, a tomato dish, and yucka (I dont know if I spelled that correctly!) along with the meat and everything was delicious. We played pool in this game room while the food was being prepared and even listened to some American music!

Words will not do justice in describing this place, in fact pictures won’t completely do it justice either – it was amazing. Christy put it best when she said it was like the opening of the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” or “The Sound of Music.” Once on the farm, we were able to see a ton of bamboo, a wild turkey, and several roosters. We even saw a huge lizard! We were unsuccessful in finding out the true age of the buildings on the farm, but its contents alone told us there had to be some serious history behind each building. Maria was in heaven when she saw a boxer dog. Several hundred pictures were taken of the fun time had by all, delicious food, and of course the breathe taking scenery. Maria even snuck in a few of the boxer! Before we left, we took a group picture including Vandy, the generous family who invited us, Mike Myers, the volunteers, and all 7 of our team members. Today’s lunch on the farm is just another of many examples of the kind hearted and generous Brazilians we have met on our trip.

Now off to go get ready for the kids to come. Mike, Matt, and Vandy went to the thrift shop to check on how things are there, while the rest of us stayed behind to help prepare brownies as the snack for the kids. Hoping they will be a big hit! The weather is beautiful today with a slight breeze. Should make for another memorable afternoon with the children! Bye for now!

p.s. Tim, I took my first Brazilian motorcycle ride this morning to the school.

Anna with a twist by Maria

Hello! Oy!

Matt — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:04:39 +0000

Well hello! First, sorry for the lack of updating the blog. We are having internet problems at the house. We will try to post when we can. We just finished eating lunch and we are having our first rain of our trip. It is quite a storm! Lots of hard rain and close lightning.

We are doing very well and having a blast with these kids. I already know it is going to be very hard to leave them on Friday morning!

Yesterday after lunch a few of us split up to accomplish different tasks. Matt & Eleana went to Pastor Vangergleason´s school where he teaches 3 classes. They had the opportunity to talk in front of the classes and share the slideshow we made about American Culture.

Eddie, Anna, Christy, and myself (Cheri) went to the small consignment store during the sale hours. We were encouraged to see that about 1/3 of the clothes that we brought down had been bought already on the first day of its opening! We handed out some candy and silly bands to the kids that came to the sale. Maria stayed behind because she wasn`t feeling well. Nothing serious, just a bit dehydrated and getting a cold. You can pray for her that her energy would come back and that she will feel better.

After we split up for the afternoon, we came back together and the kids from the project came around 5:00 p.m. We had finished the tie-dye shirts we had started the day before and were able to pass them out to the kids! They were a success! I may have mentioned before that I am so happy Christy brought almost 100 instead of the 60 we had told her to, because we used every single one of them amongst the children, volunteers, and adults!

After the project time, our team headed over to a special meeting in the town Rotary club. We were invited to attend the meeting and eat dinner afterwards. At the meeting we were able to speak about the ministry. We really had no idea what was going on during most of the meeting, but it sounded a lot like it was centered around us and the project. After the meeting we ate a wonderful dinner! They made some sort of cheesy potatos that had most of us drooling!

After the meeting we walked down the street to an ice cream shop and had some yummy ice cream. Then we came home and went to bed. We haven´t been getting to sleep until 1:00 a.m. or later and waking up around 7:30 a.m. each day and going non-stop. It has been great and we love every minute of the day, but I won´t lie and say we aren´t exhausted! Between the running around playing soccer, frisbee, etc. and the sun and getting to bed late, we are starting to get a bit run down. So please pray for energy and good rest when we do sleep.

We appreciate all the prayers and support! We all thank God for the loving encouragement that our friends, family, and church family have given us. God is teaching us a lot through this trip and we hope we can come back and apply all the truths we are learning. Sometimes trips like these are difficult because we come back and “fizzle out”. But we pray that we will continue to live out and respond to what we are learning here as we travel home.

Hoping to post again soon.

Cheri

p.s. We have so many more details and stories, it is difficult to sum them up on here. We also have had many many laughs about mess ups in our talking in Portuguese and their talking in English. Chao for now.

Afternoon post

Matt — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:36:39 +0000

We just finished our second full day with the kids and are about to head to church for the evening where Matt will give the sermon.
Today we did the tie-dyed shirts and they were a hit! We are so thankful that Christy ended up ordering more shirts because we used every single one and there were 96 total! There was probably about 60 kids and 30 something adults, volunteers, and parents that came to the project today. Christy and Anna were the dye champions today! Maria and Eleana plastic wrapped all the kid´s shirts and helped them label their names. Eddie played in the field with the kids almost the entired time. (Now I know where Matt gets his energy and athleticism!) And Matt…. let me tell you about Matt, they think he is a handball champion. Handball is basically like soccer with two goals, but you throw and pass a ball much like a soccer ball and try to make goals. The kids were very impressed with his handball skills. I (Cheri) helped as needed with the tie-dye, took pictures, and interacted with the kids who were waiting to do their t-shirts.
Let´s back up to lunch… wow. If you are thinking we aren´t eating well then you are wrong! Ha ha! They made one of the best lasagnas you have ever seen! With the lasagna was rice, a vegetable plate mixed with carrots, onions, and cucumbers in a ginger sauce. We may all put on some pounds instead of losing them like we thought!
Anyhow, the weather was absolutely gorgeous again today!
Us girls on our team have enjoyed sleeping in the same room as it has brought on great conversations and lots of laughs! It is so neat to see how God has gifted each one of us in different ways to accomplish his work in our lives! Today we talked with one another about what God has been showing us here in Brazil already about our lives and how we want to grow. We challenged each other to not have this “spiritual high“ here, but to continue and apply what we are learning! God is so good and we are thankful to see His hand upon every aspect of this trip!
Pray for the kids because we are realizing more and more some of the tough situations that these kids live in on a daily basis.

Good Morning! Bon Dia!

Matt — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:24:00 +0000

Good morning. This is going to be a quick post because we are all so sleepy and woke up late. Sorry we did not get a chance to update the blog last night. We were up very late because we had an outdoor worship service with the kids and did not eat dinner until around 10:30p.m.

We will do our best to update later. Yesterday was our first full day with the kids and it was amazing. We did a little bit of everything. The VBS lesson was on love and joy, and we played a lot of soccer and frisbee. All of us got some sun. The weather was gorgeous! Breezy and chilly in the morning, then warming up to about 85 during the day. This morning we plan on going to the consignment store and taking the clothes we brought over there and cleaning out and setting up our stuff to sell.

Hate to run, but they are calling me for breakfast.

-Cheri

Quick update

Matt — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:19:10 +0000

Hello! We are about to eat lunch so I thought I would shoot out a quick post. This morning we all woke up around 7:30 and ate breakfast which consisted of cafe con leche (coffee with milk), breads, and tea. Matt and I went to the store with Mike Meyers to do our grocery shopping for food. While we went shopping, the other team members (Christy, Anna, Maria, Eleana, and Eddie) stayed back and walked around the property some and had personal bible study times.

After grocery shopping we all walked around the property again, ate some pure sugar cane, and toured a small storage room where the project keeps their supplies. Matt, Eddie, Eleana, and I walked a few blocks over to take our first look at the Consignment store that we are helping out with. As I am typing this, I am smelling the amazing aroma of lunch cooking- fresh vegetables, garlic, rice, beans, etc.

We hope to update later. This afternoon we have our first VBS with the kids where we will officially introduce ourselves, do a bible study, and start to tie dye t-shirts. We definitely all miss our family members, but it is a good missing! Off to devour some Brazilian food!!

-Cheri

Hurry up and wait!

Matt — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:15:32 +0000

That is the theme of our trip so far! Our first flight out of RDU was 2 hours late. So that made our 2 hour layover in New York to be non-existant! We all literally had to run about a mile down one terminal, down an underground tunnel and up the next terminal and made it to the gate just in time! Our flight out of Sau Paulo was interesting as we were boarding a second plane because of mechanical issues, all the workers went on strike! So we literally sat and waited on our plane for 3 hours before we were on our way. The team made fun of me (Cheri) because I actually slept from 12:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. on our longest flight. Poor Christy had cankles due to some swelling for sitting so long. But overall the trip went well and we are SO thankful to be here! 4 flights is quite a bit of traveling to do in 24 hours!

When we arrived to Florestopolis they had food ready for us. Fresh baked breads, a sweet pastry, and cheese. There were even some kids awaiting our arrival that will be here at the project. We were later told that all of the kids were here waiting for us, but because we got here over 4 hours past the expected time, they had to leave and go home.

Right now we are all taking showers, making up our beds, and getting ready to meet to plan out the first few days.

We plan on updating longer posts, so stay tuned! We love and miss all of you and covet your prayers. There has been many times where we have seen God´s hand upon this trip already; from making our flight, to putting English speaking people on our plane next to us to help with translating.