Well family and friends, this is Sarah here. I am currently on my way to Uruguay all alone. :) Everyone else is enjoying an Americana vs. Flamengo soccer game before they board their flight to the States at 11 pm tonight. Besides some little colds and swollen ankles, everyone will be returned to you happy, safe, and having met God!
The past few days have been a wonderful whirlwind! Sorry we have been too busy to post. On Friday we spent the day with a special school called Ball Out Front which was founded by the famous Brazilian soccer player, Jorginho. It is for children from the local slum. They come to school and everything they learn is based on the game of soccer. They learn the alphabet by the names of famous soccer players. They learn to count soccer balls. :) They learn to sing by chanting soccer cheers. It~s pretty incredible! We have seen many school aged children commit their lives to Jesus Christ for the first time and Ball Out Front was no exception!!!! We were able to share the Gospel in 2 different public schools this week and we felt that we were welcomed very warmly! Praise Jesus!
There are so many things that I could share but I don~t have a few hours just to sit and type. :) God has met us in incredible ways. That´s the only way to describe it. He came and changed us all! The highlights for me were seeing all our kids praise and worship God, being prayed for by these teenagers, seeing them love each other, encountering them reaching out with the Love of Jesus to the beautiful people of Brazil and the list goes on and on. Also, being loved by the Body of Christ in Brazil is pretty incredible!
We the leaders of the Brazil Youth Tour are committing to pray for all the people who went on tour for the next year. We have seen the power of prayer, of placing ourselves at the feet of Jesus and we want to continue doing that!
So, enjoy hearing all the excited stories tomorrow. Please know that God did what we asked of Him: He went before and with us!!
May the peace of Christ keep you and hold you!
Sarah B. (For the Eagles Staff)
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Rocinha
Hey everyone! I hope this email finds you all full of joy in the grace of our Lord Jesus.
I wanted to give you a few updates with the Charlotte Eagles youth tour. We have spent the past couple days serving a baptist church in Rocinha, a favela on the west side of Rio. Rocinha is the largest slum in Latin America...estimates are between one hundred and two hundred thousand people. Worse, the numbers are vague and under-estimated as the government hopes to deal with it by not dealing with it; not admitting its severity. We are staying at a baptist church which lies just inside the slum...which rises up the entire face of a mountain. People stacked upon people; shacks stacked upon shacks. It is surreal.
I have never worked with such an amazing group of young people. I simply stand in awe of them. These guys and girls have a maturity far beyond their teenage years and wisdom that can only come from the Holy Spirit living inside them. They are committed to prayer, tireless in their witness to everyone they meet, responsible, kind, loving and full of joy for the Lord. The clinics and games have been successful and both teams are playing and working; united in Christ.
Prayer requests for the kids:
...that God continues to renew their strength everyday and gives them rest at night (we are sleeping on the church floor...it is pretty cold at night...and there is no hot water for showers!)
...that God continues to break their hearts for Him and for His call on their lives!
...that they continue to shine with the light of Jesus to this very oppressed, strickened part Rio.
...that God keeps them healthy, rested and safe.
Prayer requests for the leaders:
...that God keeps us at the foot of the cross; enabling us to teach, guide and lead His children and His people.
...that God restores our strength everyday, keeps us healthy and fills us with His Holy Spirit.
Prayer requests for the people of Rocinha:
...that lives are changed and hearts broken in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
...that God provides for the basic needs of the people in this slum.
...that God breaks hearts and opens eyes among the leaders of Rio and the surrounding areas so that lives can be radically changed here in Rocinha.
...for the baptist church here in Rocinha, Pastor Geraldo and the other church leaders to continue in patient perseverance, the work that God has bestowed upon them.
Romans 8:37-39
God bless you all! In His Love, Jess
I wanted to give you a few updates with the Charlotte Eagles youth tour. We have spent the past couple days serving a baptist church in Rocinha, a favela on the west side of Rio. Rocinha is the largest slum in Latin America...estimates are between one hundred and two hundred thousand people. Worse, the numbers are vague and under-estimated as the government hopes to deal with it by not dealing with it; not admitting its severity. We are staying at a baptist church which lies just inside the slum...which rises up the entire face of a mountain. People stacked upon people; shacks stacked upon shacks. It is surreal.
I have never worked with such an amazing group of young people. I simply stand in awe of them. These guys and girls have a maturity far beyond their teenage years and wisdom that can only come from the Holy Spirit living inside them. They are committed to prayer, tireless in their witness to everyone they meet, responsible, kind, loving and full of joy for the Lord. The clinics and games have been successful and both teams are playing and working; united in Christ.
Prayer requests for the kids:
...that God continues to renew their strength everyday and gives them rest at night (we are sleeping on the church floor...it is pretty cold at night...and there is no hot water for showers!)
...that God continues to break their hearts for Him and for His call on their lives!
...that they continue to shine with the light of Jesus to this very oppressed, strickened part Rio.
...that God keeps them healthy, rested and safe.
Prayer requests for the leaders:
...that God keeps us at the foot of the cross; enabling us to teach, guide and lead His children and His people.
...that God restores our strength everyday, keeps us healthy and fills us with His Holy Spirit.
Prayer requests for the people of Rocinha:
...that lives are changed and hearts broken in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
...that God provides for the basic needs of the people in this slum.
...that God breaks hearts and opens eyes among the leaders of Rio and the surrounding areas so that lives can be radically changed here in Rocinha.
...for the baptist church here in Rocinha, Pastor Geraldo and the other church leaders to continue in patient perseverance, the work that God has bestowed upon them.
Romans 8:37-39
God bless you all! In His Love, Jess
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sing Eagles, Sing!
Greetings in the name of Jesus! We are about to move from the Compassion International site to where we will be staying with the Rocinha Baptist Church. I just have a moment so here are a few details....
You all have absolutely amazing kids! We are so in awe of them! Yesterday we played soccer virtually all day on the top of the mountain where we are staying. It is quite beautiful! The players took such initiative with their new Brazilian friends. It was a very long but very good day. There was a lot of singing, dancing, soccer playing, futsol, food and more.
The day ended with an incredible impromptu worship time lead by our players. It may have been the most beautiful time of worship, prayer and praise that I have ever experienced. It is amazing to be surrounded by young people who are running after God with all they have. They even have been taking the time to lift us up in prayer and minister to us at every turn. I wish you could experience this because it would change any persons life.
Don~t worry, we get plenty of food here! We have 4 meals a day!
The weather here is a bit cooler than we thought. That combined with going 100 mph 100% of the time has caused a few tour members not to feel well. Please pray that God will give us some time to rest and be rejuvinated and that He will heal our bodies.
Thank you for all your prayers, I cannot tell you how much we feel them!
Overwhelmed With the Love & Power of God,
Sarah B. (For Mitch, Lisa, Jess, Keith & Richard)
You all have absolutely amazing kids! We are so in awe of them! Yesterday we played soccer virtually all day on the top of the mountain where we are staying. It is quite beautiful! The players took such initiative with their new Brazilian friends. It was a very long but very good day. There was a lot of singing, dancing, soccer playing, futsol, food and more.
The day ended with an incredible impromptu worship time lead by our players. It may have been the most beautiful time of worship, prayer and praise that I have ever experienced. It is amazing to be surrounded by young people who are running after God with all they have. They even have been taking the time to lift us up in prayer and minister to us at every turn. I wish you could experience this because it would change any persons life.
Don~t worry, we get plenty of food here! We have 4 meals a day!
The weather here is a bit cooler than we thought. That combined with going 100 mph 100% of the time has caused a few tour members not to feel well. Please pray that God will give us some time to rest and be rejuvinated and that He will heal our bodies.
Thank you for all your prayers, I cannot tell you how much we feel them!
Overwhelmed With the Love & Power of God,
Sarah B. (For Mitch, Lisa, Jess, Keith & Richard)
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Arrived!
We are here! We arrived this morning safely though one "man" down. Jess Cile, our girls coach was not able to depart from Atlanta with us due to an improper visa. She is in the process of trying to fly to Miami and get a new visa. Please pray for her in this process.
Besides that, we are wonderful! Most of us got some sleep on the plane but it~s 6:30 pm and we are ready for more. :) We changed some money, got settled into the wonderful Compassion International site we will be staying in and then had our first Brazilian meal! It was delicious and we have been warmly welcomed by the Brazilian people all along the way!
Later this afternoon we went to another Compassion International site that teaches children in one of the areas of Rio. The children also recieve a meal a day at this particular site. It was a privelage to meet the people running the program and loving on those kids. We played soccer in the courtyard, gave away lots of candy, and laughed, giggled and hugged a lot! Our kids were kind and gracious to everyone we came across. We are so blessed to have such a proactive and mature group!
Please pray for us as we start our time here. Tomorrow we are actually doing a service project of some sort in the morning. We aren~t exactly sure what it is but it could be just about anything! Pray for our safety and that we would truly be the fragrance of Christ Jesus here. Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement!!
(*as for any typos or word overuse, forgive me. i hope to not be so sleepy next time we post!)
Peace and Joy,
Sarita~*
Besides that, we are wonderful! Most of us got some sleep on the plane but it~s 6:30 pm and we are ready for more. :) We changed some money, got settled into the wonderful Compassion International site we will be staying in and then had our first Brazilian meal! It was delicious and we have been warmly welcomed by the Brazilian people all along the way!
Later this afternoon we went to another Compassion International site that teaches children in one of the areas of Rio. The children also recieve a meal a day at this particular site. It was a privelage to meet the people running the program and loving on those kids. We played soccer in the courtyard, gave away lots of candy, and laughed, giggled and hugged a lot! Our kids were kind and gracious to everyone we came across. We are so blessed to have such a proactive and mature group!
Please pray for us as we start our time here. Tomorrow we are actually doing a service project of some sort in the morning. We aren~t exactly sure what it is but it could be just about anything! Pray for our safety and that we would truly be the fragrance of Christ Jesus here. Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement!!
(*as for any typos or word overuse, forgive me. i hope to not be so sleepy next time we post!)
Peace and Joy,
Sarita~*
Sunday, July 22, 2007
We are off!
Hi all!
This will be the last post until we arrive in Brazil! How exciting!
Training camp has gone very well and we are thrilled about the players and leaders that God has sent to this tour! We have been amazed at their maturity, helpful attitudes and actions and their love of Jesus. It is a true joy to be with them for the coming weeks!
Pray for us as we travel tomorrow beginning at 4:50 pm. We should arrive in Rio on Tuesday morning about 7 am. Ask God to give us satefy, to enable us to be a blessing to all around us and that we all enter the Brazil without any difficulty.
Thank you for all you have done for us and all your prayers. We thank God for you!
This will be the last post until we arrive in Brazil! How exciting!
Training camp has gone very well and we are thrilled about the players and leaders that God has sent to this tour! We have been amazed at their maturity, helpful attitudes and actions and their love of Jesus. It is a true joy to be with them for the coming weeks!
Pray for us as we travel tomorrow beginning at 4:50 pm. We should arrive in Rio on Tuesday morning about 7 am. Ask God to give us satefy, to enable us to be a blessing to all around us and that we all enter the Brazil without any difficulty.
Thank you for all you have done for us and all your prayers. We thank God for you!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
blogging again!
Well, welcome back to our blog one more time! This time it may work! :)
In just less then 3 days we will all be together preparing to go to Brazil. Crazy. It's here, get excited!
Please continue to pray as we embark upon this journey together. It's gonna be pretty great!
Peace & His Sweet Grace,
Sarah B.
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