Brazil Sat

I forgot to mention yesterday that right before our carnivore fest, I had a really upset stomach. It's always a pretty fun experience to ask your foreign country hosts if they have a plunger.

This morning, I woke up with the same stomach issue. So I stayed in bed for most of the morning. The other leaders told the kids I was taking a paid vacation day. Ha. Thanks also for praying about BB - he was totally recovered today.

We did a BBQ picnic kind of thing today. The McMs rented a nearby park with a building, bbq pit, and soccer field with lights for the whole day and evening. We just hung out with the Brazilian students, played American football, soccer, frisbee and stuff. Towards the end, we also had a short skit and GMcM did a little talk about identity and how God has created all of us with one specific one. The Brazilians they were totally tracking, it was cool to see that they were so intent on paying attention.

After that we went back to the house to have a quick team meeting. I wanted to cover two specific topics. First, there have been some minor issues with guy and girl relationships between our students and the Brazilians. We emphasized again the idea of being an example and making sure that we weren't sending bad signals. You know that those people that fall in love on mission trips and retreats always live happily ever after... Secondly, now that we are on day 6, attitude is one thing that we all have to focus on. And God refreshes those that refresh others. So at least some of us are going to have to rely on God to help us have a great attitude when we wouldn't be able to have that on our own.

I rode with G and M McM back to my house tonight. They both told me how encouraged they felt. In fact, GMcM said that when he was going to mention it at the end of our team meeting, he decided against it because he started to get teary eyed about the impact we were making and how overwhelemed they were.

Continue to pray for our impact with these students. They are so warm and relational, there are lots of significant conversations going on. You can pray for the team's health, attitude and working together as one movement. You can also pray for my family at home, D and K have a minor eye infection, E has a bit of a summer cold. Its a big drag knowing your family is sick and you are 5000 miles from home.

Photo: JAB, BB and SS at the park down the street from the McMs. We will be working there on Sunday, planting, fixing some swings, etc. as an effort to impact the community.