Brazil Volunteer Retreat Team: Summary of the Trip and Pics!

Jim wrote this amazing summary of his perspective of the trip. I loved it and thought you all might want to read!!
Wendy

We arrived in Brazil on Wednesday and had a few days to recover from our travels and prepare for the retreat that we would be hosting for the volunteers at our partner church in Londrina, Brazil (Capela da Graca).

On Friday night, we boarded a large bus at our hotel and headed to the church to pick up the other retreat attendees. We walked into the church and there was about 90 people that signed up to attend the volunteer retreat weekend. The first thing that I noticed was that the group was a bit younger than I had expected. The youngest was around 6 years old and the oldest was around 80 years old (with a large number of teenagers). I have to admit that my first reaction was like a deer in the headlights of a car. It was quite intimidating to have 90 people (most of whom don’t speak English) staring at you and wanting to communicate. I quickly realized that my limited attempt to learn Portuguese prior to our trip left me woefully unprepared.

We climbed aboard our bus and embarked on our journey. Our bus contained an outgoing group of young Brazilians in the back and our team of Americans huddled together in the front of the bus. One of the younger Brazilians named Victor approached our group to make conversation. He seemed like a really nice guy and he also spoke English very well. I really appreciated how he approached us to bridge the gap between our groups. We engaged in some limited conversations before I drifted off to sleep.

I awoke when our bus turned off the main road onto a bumpy side road made of dirt. The lights of town faded in the background and were replaced with darkness and fields on both sided of the bus. I could feel the tension rise in our group as we drove further into the darkness. We made some feeble attempts to break the tension by referencing the horror film “Children of the Corn”, but it was clear that most (if not all) of us were now out of our comfort zone. We pulled up to the camp and stepped out into the darkness. Initially, the campsite looked very dark and desolate. However, our mood brightened when we reached the main building and it looked well lit and inviting. We went to our “cabins” and were surprised to find that there was one American assigned to each room of Brazilians (between 4 and 6 bunks to each small room). I dropped off my bags and retreated to the comfort of our team.

Dinner was announced and we headed off to the cafeteria for dinner. Our team grabbed some food and sat together at one of the long tables. It appeared that the Brazilians also split into their various clicks (perhaps they also found comfort in the group of people with whom they were already familiar). We finished dinner and headed with our team to a side room where we could go over our last minute plans for the evening. Paulo stuck his head in the room to announce that we were starting in 10 minutes….that’s when the butterflies appeared in my stomach. Questions started flashing through my mind:
- Did we prepare enough?
- What if they don’t like us?
- What if they don’t get our jokes?

Dwight and I started putting on our outfits. Our role was essentially to be the goofy characters that would provide some entertainment for the weekend, but would also fit into the message (i.e.- What things in your life are distracting you from focusing on accomplishing what God has planned for you?). For some reason, putting on the outfit gave me some comfort and helped to disperse a few of the butterflies that were still infesting my stomach.

Paolo and Kellen started off the meeting and then Matt from our team started introducing our team. We entered the room as if we were a professional basketball team being announced before the start of the big game. We raced down the stairs and onto the stage with “high five’s” being passed among the group. There was a roar from the crowd that seemed to indicate that they appreciated our entrance. Two people in our group (Dwight and Amy) twisted ankles on the bottom step before the stage. I ended up being the step’s third victim later that evening. Wendy gave the outline for the weekend and asked the groups to create a team flag, a team name, and a team cheer. I was amazed how quickly they began to work. A few teams even sketched out ideas on scraps of paper before committing on a final design for their flag. The night ended with each team sharing their flags, team names, and team cheers for the rest of the participants.

After everything ended, we went back to our meeting room before heading to our rooms for bed (or so I thought). I arrived at my room and settled into bed. I used my backpack to elevate my leg as my ankle was throbbing and starting to swell. I drifted off to sleep for what appeared to be 5 minutes when the door of my cabin sprung open. I was greeted by a smiling face of someone who appeared to be about 10 years old. I dug deep into my vast Portuguese repetoire of words and managed to feebly say “hi” and “good night”. He responded with a flurry of Portuguese that left me absolutely baffled. Next, I pulled out a few “Spanglish” phrases that likely mean absolutely nothing to a 10 year old Brazilian boy. I’m pretty sure that I told him that “I don’t know much Portuguese” and that “my house is on the right”. Undaunted, he continued with another flurry of Portuguese which left me even more baffled.

Suddenly, the door sprang open again and another smiling Brazilian boy (perhaps 7 years old) entered the room. He observed our exchange of phrases that made no sense and attempted to translate. He knew a little bit of English (enough to encourage us to continue to attempt to communicate verbally). We patched together a few phrases of English, Portuguese, and filled in the gaps by playing charades for the missing words. After about an hour, I determined that the first boy liked playing baseball and video games (sounds reasonable to me). Eventually, he asked me if I liked to play “tag”. We started playing a 3-way game of tag which only has so much room for creativity in our 10x10 room. This evolved into a pillowfight. I did my best to participate in the pillowfight without hurting anyone and without being the victim of any fierce blows. I’m not sure how much energy is contained in a 10 and a 7 year old boy, but I was hoping that it would run out soon. By 2am things began to settle down and I managed to say that “I was tired” in Portuguese (perhaps I said that “I am a turtle”, but in either case we settled down in our respective bunks).

At 2:30am our next roommates arrived. This sent a spark of energy into my roommates and led into another round of pillowfights. A few guests arrived and a dance party erupted in our room. I didn’t want to be the lame American, so I ignored the throbbing in my ankle and managed to pull off a few moves. The recent news regarding Michael Jackson was on everyone’s mind and this enticed us to each give our best Michael Jackson dance moves. Things settled down once again around 4am and while I enjoyed the evening, I was very much looking forward to getting that elusive prize of sleep.

A few minutes later our door sprung open again and our 4th and final roommate arrived. This once again shot energy into the room, but this time it was not enough to spark either a pillow fight or a dance party.

I awoke bleary-eyed around 8am to grab some breakfast and to go over final arrangements for the day with my team. We ate quickly and then gathered in our meeting room. Dwight and I once again donned our outfits while everyone gathered the equipment needed for their game. Paolo let us know that they were read to begin and Wendy kicked off the discussions. She began to set the stage for the day and then gave the signal for Dwight and I to do our next skip. Essentially, we borrowed a routine from the Harlem Globetrotters. I snuck behind Dwight when he was juggling for the crowd and proceeded to pull down his shorts (yes, he did have another pair underneath). Dwight responded by filling a bucket with water and chased me out of the room. Outside, we swapped the bucket of water for another bucket containing confetti. Dwight chased me back into the room and I hid in the middle of the crowd. He swung the bucket back and through the confetti on me and those that I was hiding behind. There was a roar of laughter from the crowd, which made me relieved that they got the joke.

Wendy finished setting the stage for the day and a horn was blown announcing the start of the games. The teams started racing towards their first event (there were 10 teams and 11 events…each team was asked to start at the event that corresponded to their team number). I was amazed by the excitement and the energy that was exhibited by the Brazilians. Our team scrambled about as we hadn’t yet marked the start of each event. The teams worked through the various events much quicker than we had done when we tested the events back in Atlanta. They were focused during the events and celebrated after completing each event. It seemed that they were fostering new relationships among teammates (many of which we were told didn’t know each other already). It was a beautiful day, which was a complete blessing (a “Godwink” as Amy on our team would say) as the forecast had been 90% certain of rain on Saturday and 100% chance of rain the following day. We stopped for lunch and a few teams didn’t want to take a break as they wanted to complete another event. Again, I was amazed by the interest and enthusiasm exhibited by everyone on the various teams.

After lunch, the games continued until a horn was sounded about 4 in the afternoon signaling the end of the activities. Teams were excited about the day and were showing off the number of “puzzle pieces” that they had acquired. We had given each team a puzzle piece when they completed an event. We designed the events to be challenging with the expectation that most teams would not complete all of the events. This would tie into our theme of the weekend which would be unveiled the following day. We heard that teams attempted to assemble their puzzle pieces, but were unable to piece them together. We simply told them that they should bring their puzzle pieces that evening and did not disclose any further details.

At dinner, I noticed that a number of people had moved outside of their standard clicks. Some of the Brazilians were now sitting with their teams as opposed to the groups with whom they sat the previous evening. A few on our team (we were originally referred to collectively as “the Americans”, but this was being replaced by our names “Reechard”, “Jeeem”, etc. ) such as Kim even at dinner with some of our new friends from Brazil.

After dinner, we gathered everyone together again in the main auditorium. This time the Brazilians seemed to sit immediately with their teams as opposed to sitting with their original group of friends. Wendy and Holly had us pass out markers and we asked everyone to write whatever they liked on their puzzle pieces. Next, we asked them to turn in the puzzle pieces and in exchange we gave them t-shirts exhibiting the theme for the weekend (“one team, one goal”). We still didn’t explain what we were doing with the puzzle pieces and I expect their were theories flying around the groups. Everyone was dismissed for the evening, but I knew that 10pm was too early for this lively group to go to bed. Music started playing in the room and a large group started dancing. They were dancing in unison to what appeared to be choreographed songs. A few individuals who didn’t know the routine joined in and they were quickly showed the moves by others. I asked how everyone knew the moves (was this the Brazilian version of the Macarena?) and found out that these were some of the KidStuff dances. Richard on our team noted that these are the same dances that we do at NorthPoint and Buckhead, but the Brazilians added a bit more flair to the dance moves.

Suddenly, I was “tagged” by one of my roommates and taunted into giving pursuit. He was pretty fast and the game proved to be a bit more challenging when not confined to our 10x10 room. This continued for about 15 minutes until I conceded defeat (apparently, I do not have the energy of a 10 year old contrary to the belief of many of my friends). I wandered back into the main room and this time the Brazilians were on the stage 2 persons at a time speaking to each other (and the microphone) in short bursts. There were eruptions of laughter from the audience and from the context determined that they were playing “questions”. If you have never played this game before, then the premise is simple. One person asks the other a question and the second person has to respond with only a follow-up question. If either one laughs or does not effectively give their question, then they “lose”. Despite the language barrier, I found this to be absolutely entertaining (I could only image how funny it was if I could understand Portuguese). The game initially was dominated by the most gregarious of the Brazilians, but soon encompassed many others. Even my youngest roommate got on stage and won a few rounds. I’m not sure what he said to win, but I cheered my support after each of his victories.

I was called into a side room and we had our last team meeting of the evening. It was late (by our standards) and we were exhausted, so everyone was heading off to bed. I knew that my roommates were waiting for me outside the door, so I slipped out the back way and snuck to my cabin under the cover of darkness (I found out the next morning that my roommates indeed had be waiting outside the door for the next round of “tag”). I got back to my room and it was completely silent (apparantly, 1am is early when you are on a retreat weekend in Brazil). For a moment, I contemplated packing up my bedding and moving into the spare bed in Richard’s room. His roommates were a bit older and apparently cherished sleeping almost as much as us Americans. However, earlier in the day one of my roommates had questioned me when I had moved one of my bags to our “team room”. He spoke enough English to convey “You aren’t leaving us…are you?”. In my mind, I quickly weighed the value of a good nights sleep versus the guilt that I would feel for abandoning my roommates. I determined that I could go one more night of no sleep and decided to stay in my room (of course, I didn’t risk turning off the light outside the cabin as this could signal to my roommates that I was back in the room and ready to play).

I dozed off to sleep and awoke about an hour later when I heard some stirring in the room. I carefully opened half of one eyelid to survey the situation (and to make sure that I wasn’t about to become the first victim of this evenings round of pillowfights). To my surprise, my roommates were tiptoeing around the room getting ready to bed and doing their best not to wake me up. I smiled to myself and drifted off to bed…

The next morning, we woke up ahead of others in the camp to prepare for the morning meeting and Wendy’s sermon while we be the culmination of the retreat weekend. We met in our team room and took the puzzle pieces that had been won by the teams and turned in the prior evening. We pulled out the cross that had been created by Amy and her mom (thanks Amy’s mom!). It is a bit hard to describe in words, but essentially we took about 20 jigsaw puzzles each consisting of 6 large pieces. Amy and her mom painted the front of the puzzle pieces that they formed a large brown wooden cross. There were a few other puzzles that were painted white and used for support. The puzzles were then laced together using strong plastic bag ties (check out the pictures to get a visual of how the cross was constructed). We purposely left out of the cross a few of the puzzle pieces that had been turned in by the teams. We walked next door to the main room where we were holding our meetings and strung a rope through two hooks that were hanging high on the wall behind where we would be holding the morning presentations. We strung the cross up to the rope and tested to make sure that we could raise the cross by pulling on both ends of the rope. Finally, we left the cross on the ground and covered it with a white tablecloth.

We quickly prepped the room with candles and set up bread and small cups of grape juice as communion was going to be held as part of our closing meeting that morning. Just as we finished, people started to gather for the closing meeting. Kellen and Paolo started with worship music and then Paulo opened us up with prayer. I only caught a few words, but it was very powerful. I believe that Paulo referenced the weather forecast from Friday had indicated that Saturday was predicted with almost certainty to be a very cold and rainy day. We didn’t have much (if any) of a backup plan if the weather was poor as we had such a large group and many of our events needed open space. Paolo, Kellen, Eduardo, and others had apparently prayed on Friday afternoon that the rain be lifted and that we would be given dry weather for our weekend retreat. I’m not sure if they prayed for sunshine as that seemed too much to ask given the prediction for a full weekend of rain. Instead, we were greeted with a dry Friday night and a sunny Saturday. Paulo was getting chocked up as he thanked God for this gift and I could see many watery eyes in the audience.

After Paolo finished, Wendy started with her sermon. Ely was in front translating Wendy’s words into Portuguese so everyone could understand. He did a great job all weekend not simply by translating the words, but also by using body language to convey the message. Wendy did a fantastic job of describing how we are stronger together (“One team, One Goal”) and how God makes up for what we are lacking with his grace. As Wendy reached this point in her sermon, she gave the cue for us to walk to the front of the room and start raising the cross. There was a collective gasp from the audience as people realized what had become of their puzzle pieces. We raised the cross and there ware a few puzzle pieces missing. Wendy noted that the teams did not accomplish all of the tasks from the previous day and consequently did not collect all of the puzzle pieces (these pieces were those that were missing from our cross that was now handing on the wall in the front of the room). Wendy referred to God’s grace filling in for what we can’t accomplish by ourselves and this point was illustrated by our team placing the missing puzzle pieces into the cross. When I turned around, it was difficult to find a dry eye in the room. Paulo and Eduardo finished up after Wendy with a few points in Portuguese that continued to drive home some key messages to the audience. We finished with communion, which to me was especially given the emotions from the weekend and the message that had just been delivered.

After communion, it was announced that the retreat was officially complete. We met in the cafeteria for one last meal before boarding the buses back to Londrina. Despite only being able to communicate a few choppy phrases in English and Portuguese, I now felt a very strong bond with many of the volunteers. There were many hugs and kisses exchanged between members of our team and our new friends in Brazil.

We made it back to our hotel that afternoon and were able to get a few minutes rest before showering and getting changed for church that evening (Capela da Grace holds once service on Sunday and it is at 7:30pm). Kelvin (I believe he is Kellen’s cousin) started the worship music with a song in English (which is amazing as he doesn’t speak any English. Kellen followed by leading a number of other worship songs which all sounded incredibly powerful in Portuguese.

Wendy did her second sermon of the day and this one was focused on “Getting out of the Boat”. Essentially, the message was to step out of your comfort zone and trust God to provide what you need to accomplish His goals. Again, Wendy did a fantastic job and it seemed that God had put on her heart exactly the right message to be delivered on that day.

Service ended and the room was filled with the warmth of friendly greetings both between members of the church and between our team and the attendees of the retreat. It was fantastic to see that so many people were proudly wearing the shirts from the weekend.

Overall, this retreat was an amazing experience and it reminded me how much God can accomplish if we just trust Him and allow Him to work in our lives. Despite not speaking the same language, we were able to communicate and connect with each other to such a great degree. The warmth of everyone in Brazil is infectious and I hope that our team can bring back a bit of that warmth with us when we head back to our homes in Atlanta.

Playing "dizzy soccer:"