Followers:
Stay tuned for stories during our time with our friends from Brazil this past week.
Pictures and stories are getting loaded...
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Brazil 2013 in the States!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Pictures...
The team photographer (who really is a professional and does not accept the title) has posted the pictures on his facebook page. See Charlie Harless.
Charlie has given instructions to add tags and comments and notes as he has been working diligently with these for the past 48 hours since our return.
The video will be on youtube by end of day Sunday. We hope you can see small glimpses of our work through these photos, but we understand its nothing like actually being there!
Take a look and see.
Thanks Charlie, for a job well done. You have an amazing talent!
Charlie has given instructions to add tags and comments and notes as he has been working diligently with these for the past 48 hours since our return.
The video will be on youtube by end of day Sunday. We hope you can see small glimpses of our work through these photos, but we understand its nothing like actually being there!
Take a look and see.
Thanks Charlie, for a job well done. You have an amazing talent!
 |
| English class at Preschool Monday 8/1/11 |
Reflections
As we return to our busy lives, its hard to move forward without reflecting about what we accomplished! The people we met, the conversations we had, and the memories that will last a lifetime. Its also hard at least for me to accept that I was only gone 15 days. It felt like 6 weeks!
I honestly could not sleep (well) the last 2 nights, which makes me twice as tired as I originally was. It’s hard to spend time with a team that became a small family, and then separated in an instant. Can we go back in January when its warm? PLEASE!!!!
Then there are the friends and connections we have made along our journey over the past 15 days. They have been so happy to make our experience the very best. Our friends took vacation to be with us, took 2-3 hour lunches to spend time and transport us, they rearranged their school schedules and took time off of work to visit with us. You don't see this kindness everywhere you visit, but we experienced it first hand in Brazil!
The two countries are truly a culture shock...First to go to Brazil, but then to come back to the United States. You don’t realize how kisses and hugs every time you greet and say goodbye to someone can add joy and love in your life, until it suddenly disappears when your back home. But I hope to share this it in the states.
Have we mentioned how much many of us would like to go back? REAL SOON? Of course many of our friends can’t wait to visit us. They are interested in seeing our culture so we can discuss as a young adults what we can do to improve, and share ideas with both cultures with the opposites experience in mind.
I have also realized that many short posts have not made it online, but are on my iPhone. Brazil has the same technology as we do...cell phones, wifi, TV, electricity, but I can say its not as fast as ours, or everywhere like the United States. So after talking with a few friends, some questions have been asked about details I mentioned in some of our posts. I hope to fill them in with the weeks approaching. I will make time to do this, so stay tuned.
Its a hard adjustment to return to "normal reality" and yet filled with excitement at the same time to see what happens next. Will you help us if our friends can visit the United States? Would you support another trip to Brazil?
I hope these 2 conferences can work together to make a difference in the world. Building Relationships, Building Disciples, One heart at a time! God Bless You All!
Carl
Then there are the friends and connections we have made along our journey over the past 15 days. They have been so happy to make our experience the very best. Our friends took vacation to be with us, took 2-3 hour lunches to spend time and transport us, they rearranged their school schedules and took time off of work to visit with us. You don't see this kindness everywhere you visit, but we experienced it first hand in Brazil!
The two countries are truly a culture shock...First to go to Brazil, but then to come back to the United States. You don’t realize how kisses and hugs every time you greet and say goodbye to someone can add joy and love in your life, until it suddenly disappears when your back home. But I hope to share this it in the states.
Have we mentioned how much many of us would like to go back? REAL SOON? Of course many of our friends can’t wait to visit us. They are interested in seeing our culture so we can discuss as a young adults what we can do to improve, and share ideas with both cultures with the opposites experience in mind.
I have also realized that many short posts have not made it online, but are on my iPhone. Brazil has the same technology as we do...cell phones, wifi, TV, electricity, but I can say its not as fast as ours, or everywhere like the United States. So after talking with a few friends, some questions have been asked about details I mentioned in some of our posts. I hope to fill them in with the weeks approaching. I will make time to do this, so stay tuned.
Its a hard adjustment to return to "normal reality" and yet filled with excitement at the same time to see what happens next. Will you help us if our friends can visit the United States? Would you support another trip to Brazil?
I hope these 2 conferences can work together to make a difference in the world. Building Relationships, Building Disciples, One heart at a time! God Bless You All!
Carl
The City of Curtibia
Here is a recap of our last days in the city.
MONDAY:
Monday it still continued to rain all day, but we visited a preschool within AMAS (Association of Methodist Social Action) where ages of 0-6 years are taught, and cared for from 7:15 AM until 5:15 PM. They have 4 meals in a day, with nurses, teachers, English classes, nap time, craft time, recess, and everything U.S. preschools would have. We spent time touring the facility and then in the morning we sang songs with the children, told bible stories, played games, and got to see them in classroom instruction.
The afternoon, we revisited the same class and helped teach English class. We learned animals that afternoon. Dog, Cat, Fish, Snake, Bee, Bird. We helped the kids write these names in English, and then color their worksheet. They were so excited.
Monday night we gathered with the Young adults and saw the Movie Captain America at a local mall, and then had fellowship after and dinner/snacks.
TUESDAY:
Tuesday morning the sun was shining! It was cold...but sunny, and highs were in the low to mid 40's °F, Finally after 4 days of rain and dark clouds. With a late start to the day, we met at Central UM Church with our intelligent and devoted tour guides and visited the city. We started by eating at another mall within walking distance of the church and then toured old downtown and the original city center square and architecture and unique buildings before boarding the open top tour bus. We then saw parts of the city as we rode first to the Botanical gardens, where we walked around for an hour and were in beautiful gardens with a city backdrop all around. (Very similar to Central Park in New York City, but bigger)!
We loaded back onto the bus and then went to the Opera Wire House and saw this unique structure and had coffee and snacks in the cafe downstairs.
We wanted to go to 2 other locations, but time was extremely short for the young adults meeting at church. We boarded the bus, and a few rode up top in the cold air for a while, before retreating to the warm downstairs of the bus. We returned to the starting point and walked back to the church.
The young adults met to share ideas and discuss what we are accomplishing as a whole, and as individual conferences. We don't know what is going to happen next, but VA would LOVE To return again very soon, and many of our new friends are interested to visit the Virginia Conference so they can see what we have here, which is completely understanding. It’s difficult to share ideas with a group when half of the group can see the whole picture. Many of our Brazil friends have never experienced life outside of Brazil, so it may be hard to understand what we have in the United States.
We will be working together in the next year to see what we can do...
Tuesday night, we then went to play Soccer with the several friends from church. That was embarrassing! Charlie, Matt, and Carl played for an hour just for fun and we do need to practice for our return. The sad part is that we are going to rock their socks off at American tackle Football when they visit! It was great fun to have a cheering section, and to see the skills of these young adults playing Soccer/Football. IT was great fun all around, minus the bruises.
We wrapped up the night with dinner, and since everything was closed at 12:30, we found a diner similar to Denny's, but with our breakfast. (I don't think they like our pancakes and great breakfast items.)
Another late night lead us to...
WEDNESDAY:
We sadly and slowly packed up and had final moments with most of our host families. We loaded our luggage into cars and met at the church and stored everything in a room for final moments together in the city.
We started the day riding the great bus transportation system to the post office for some final postcard mailings. We then visited several gift shops for those nice to us back home. If you’re reading this, you better be nice to the team members for your gifts! (For many of you, it’s too late...) We had a final feast together at lunch at an Italian Restaurant that was huge! The food was incredible, and it had no end...We had a prayer circle outside and said goodbye or see you soon to some that had to return to work.
We visited the chocolate shop, and coffee shop before returning to the church to pack our gifts carefully (because luggage is handled with care at the airports) packed into 3 cars and headed to the airport.
MONDAY:
Monday it still continued to rain all day, but we visited a preschool within AMAS (Association of Methodist Social Action) where ages of 0-6 years are taught, and cared for from 7:15 AM until 5:15 PM. They have 4 meals in a day, with nurses, teachers, English classes, nap time, craft time, recess, and everything U.S. preschools would have. We spent time touring the facility and then in the morning we sang songs with the children, told bible stories, played games, and got to see them in classroom instruction.
The afternoon, we revisited the same class and helped teach English class. We learned animals that afternoon. Dog, Cat, Fish, Snake, Bee, Bird. We helped the kids write these names in English, and then color their worksheet. They were so excited.
Monday night we gathered with the Young adults and saw the Movie Captain America at a local mall, and then had fellowship after and dinner/snacks.
TUESDAY:
 |
| One of many City Squares |
 |
| Botanical Gardens |
We loaded back onto the bus and then went to the Opera Wire House and saw this unique structure and had coffee and snacks in the cafe downstairs.
We wanted to go to 2 other locations, but time was extremely short for the young adults meeting at church. We boarded the bus, and a few rode up top in the cold air for a while, before retreating to the warm downstairs of the bus. We returned to the starting point and walked back to the church.
The young adults met to share ideas and discuss what we are accomplishing as a whole, and as individual conferences. We don't know what is going to happen next, but VA would LOVE To return again very soon, and many of our new friends are interested to visit the Virginia Conference so they can see what we have here, which is completely understanding. It’s difficult to share ideas with a group when half of the group can see the whole picture. Many of our Brazil friends have never experienced life outside of Brazil, so it may be hard to understand what we have in the United States.
 |
| Waterfall near Wire Opera House around sunset |
Tuesday night, we then went to play Soccer with the several friends from church. That was embarrassing! Charlie, Matt, and Carl played for an hour just for fun and we do need to practice for our return. The sad part is that we are going to rock their socks off at American tackle Football when they visit! It was great fun to have a cheering section, and to see the skills of these young adults playing Soccer/Football. IT was great fun all around, minus the bruises.
We wrapped up the night with dinner, and since everything was closed at 12:30, we found a diner similar to Denny's, but with our breakfast. (I don't think they like our pancakes and great breakfast items.)
Another late night lead us to...
WEDNESDAY:
We sadly and slowly packed up and had final moments with most of our host families. We loaded our luggage into cars and met at the church and stored everything in a room for final moments together in the city.
We started the day riding the great bus transportation system to the post office for some final postcard mailings. We then visited several gift shops for those nice to us back home. If you’re reading this, you better be nice to the team members for your gifts! (For many of you, it’s too late...) We had a final feast together at lunch at an Italian Restaurant that was huge! The food was incredible, and it had no end...We had a prayer circle outside and said goodbye or see you soon to some that had to return to work.
We visited the chocolate shop, and coffee shop before returning to the church to pack our gifts carefully (because luggage is handled with care at the airports) packed into 3 cars and headed to the airport.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Home safely...ish
I apologize for the delay, but all safely made it to Greensboro at 10:55 this morning. Wifi has been horrible all night, and my phone died in the process of posting this.
We are in route back to our homes and should be in Roanoke or Lynchburg by 2:30 at the latest. Noting that many members have further destinations beyond these points, like Matt and Charlie.
We thank you for your prayers, are excited to share our stories and God moments, and look forward to the weeks ahead as we return to our busy lives, as semesters start, and as summer continues.
The blog will continue slowly but surely, and pictures will be added as we gather them from our devices.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! We love you all and are glad to be home, but some of us were extremely reluctant to return...and are excited to return. More on this later.
Looking forward to rest, adjustment, speech corrections, and sharing our missions.
Thanks,
Carl on behalf of VA Brazil 2011 Young Adult Team!!!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Curitiba Worship
Saturday night young adult worship service was incredible. Everyone made sure they introduced themselves, and one thing thats harder than memorizing peoples names is learning a new language at the same time, and their names as well.
David gave the message last night and the music was incredible. Not to mention we are in the downtown area and the night views from the fifth floor during worship were spectacular.
Many of them took us to a pizza place similar to cici's pizza, but the servers bring the pizza to you. After telling stories and learning more language, we retired for the night and rose early for this mornings worship traditional service, followed by Sunday School, and then a BBQ for the young adults at the house we rested at Saturday. We ate, shared stories, made connections, played just dance with xbox 360 kinect and had an awesome time. We then headed back to the church for the night service followed by tea reception, and nachos for dinner back at the house again.
The day went by quickly, and another short sleeping rest before we start Monday's project.
Its raining here since Saturday afternoon, and colder to 8 degrees c. (46 deg F) But our spirits are alive and warm!
Everyone is still alive.
The day went by quickly, and another short sleeping rest before we start Monday's project.
Its raining here since Saturday afternoon, and colder to 8 degrees c. (46 deg F) But our spirits are alive and warm!
Everyone is still alive.
Praise the Lord for this fulfilling Sunday!
Worship, worship, more worship!
From Kristin... I really should be in bed, since it is 12:37 am, but I cannot help but write a post to mention our current life here in Brazil. We are in Curitiba, being hosted by the young adults of Central Methodist Church (thats right, Central Methodist.) I am staying with a young couple, Larissa and Jocemar, who have been so gracious to share their apartment with me and look after everything I could possibly need or want. You have not experienced real Christian hospitality if you have not been in a country like this. Everyone goes out of their way to give us the best experience possible, the best food, the best living arrangement, the best church experience.
I think in the last 24 hours, we have spent at least 7-8 in church, either in worship or Sunday School. We attended 3 worship services, all of which are different, and all of which are VERY different than many of our churches at home. The young people go to the Saturday night service, where there is a fantastic praise band. The older people attend on Sunday morning, which is the most "traditional" service. They actually did play an organ once, but the same praise band led most of the music, though it was not quite as rocking as the night before. There are no hymnals here, everything is projected, in every church we have attended, even the smallest. Tonight, the worship service was a completely different crowd than the other two, and the people described it to us as "more pentecostal."
In between all of the worship services, we spent good quality time with the young adults of the church. There is a wonderful group of young adults, and many of them spent the entire day with us. One of the young women offered to have a "churrasco" which is traditional Brazilian barbecue so the entire group of young people came over to her house after the morning services. We spent the entire day at her house, playing xbox dance games, eating, and talking. Then after the evening service, we went BACK to her house for dinner (nachos!) and we just got in at midnight.
We are having such a wonderful experience that it is hard to tear ourselves away for rest. We dont want to miss even one minute! Spending time with these young adults who are leaders in their church, who are passionate about their faith and are excited to share their lives with us...this feels like the kingdom of God.
I think in the last 24 hours, we have spent at least 7-8 in church, either in worship or Sunday School. We attended 3 worship services, all of which are different, and all of which are VERY different than many of our churches at home. The young people go to the Saturday night service, where there is a fantastic praise band. The older people attend on Sunday morning, which is the most "traditional" service. They actually did play an organ once, but the same praise band led most of the music, though it was not quite as rocking as the night before. There are no hymnals here, everything is projected, in every church we have attended, even the smallest. Tonight, the worship service was a completely different crowd than the other two, and the people described it to us as "more pentecostal."
In between all of the worship services, we spent good quality time with the young adults of the church. There is a wonderful group of young adults, and many of them spent the entire day with us. One of the young women offered to have a "churrasco" which is traditional Brazilian barbecue so the entire group of young people came over to her house after the morning services. We spent the entire day at her house, playing xbox dance games, eating, and talking. Then after the evening service, we went BACK to her house for dinner (nachos!) and we just got in at midnight.
We are having such a wonderful experience that it is hard to tear ourselves away for rest. We dont want to miss even one minute! Spending time with these young adults who are leaders in their church, who are passionate about their faith and are excited to share their lives with us...this feels like the kingdom of God.
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