One Team One Goal

The puzzle cross "Jeem" did such a great job of describing in his blog entry. Plus our team and our wonderful Capela worship leaders that we are so thankful for!

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:"


Playing "Card Sort"


"Helium Stick" - ALL you have to do it put it on the ground! :)


Just before communion


Sara, Wendy, Juniana, Tianna, Laura


Alessandra and Amy



The Road Runner team with their flags


The "Distractors" - Dwight and Jim


Laura, Holly, Eduardo and Wendy


The beautiful camp

Leaving on a Jet Plane

This trip has a lot of jet planes. We are leaving Londrina today with hearts that are full and overflowing. We have run the race here, worked hard, and are ready for a little rest and reflection time. We will have a mostly travel day today to Sao Paulo, a little sightseeing tomorrow and a long meeting together to talk about our memories, and start to transition back to the American culture. We have all enjoyed the lack of demands - cell phones, email, IM, etc - but we are looking to reconnecting with all of you when we get back! We have missed family and friends! There are several more blog posts in progress...look for them over the coming days. Thanks for following along with us! If you are reading and haven't posted a comment please do! We want to know who you are!!!

Getting out of the boat as Peter did when Jesus asked him to....

Speaking for the team I cannot say WOW enough! God has certainly had His hands on this mission. We have overcome so much challenge by "trusting" Him to give each of us what was needed to facilitate an incredibly powerful retreat for the volunteers here in Londrina!

When we arrived Friday evening we were all very much out of our comfort zone....I mean VERY MUCH OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONE!!!! None of us slept as our sleeping arrangements were with Brasilian youth with endless amounts of energy!!!

There was much to accomplish with the first night of skits to introduce our theme to the Brazilians. Then a full day of skits and activities all day Saturday & Sunday.

When the cross puzzle was lifted up for all of the volunteers to see on Sunday morning during our team leader´s message on "grace" and how we all get God´s grace even though we don´t deserve it...there was such a powerful reaction from the Brasilians!
Some gasped. Some smiled & seemed at peace. Some cried tears of joy.
IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

There were many moments when the enemy attacked us with injury, sleep deprivation, limited time to make changes and language barriers between us and the Brazilians.
God delivered His message through our team with such grace and mercy. I can visualize seeing His loving hand scooping each of us up and placing us exactly where He wanted us to be to deliver His message and spread His word & love to the Brasilians we are here to serve!
And He did....because WE "trusted" Him to do so!

Our team leader Wendy delivered a powerful message on Sunday evening at church about the story in Matthew where the disciples thought it was a ghost walking on the water and were afraid....when it was really Jesus. Peter was the only one who embraced the crazy idea of getting out of the boat to meet Jesus on the water by walking out to Him.
Peter was afraid...but he did get out of the boat.

Every person at the retreat had to do this. Each person being completely out of their comfort zone doing things that God called them to do. Each person having to "trust" God to fill in the cracks and pieces to make this mission the success it has been so far!
There is so much more to share. So please check back as more detail will be posted on MANY more God winks we´ve experienced during this mission. But for now we are off again to spend more time with the Brasilians who each of us are growing to love and appreciate more than words can say in this blog!
Our team has a "surplus" of hugs and love from the Brasilians....Yes, I did say hug surplus!
Their love for God, family and community is tremendous!
Tchau!

The Day After

hello blog land readers....i realize i said we were going to post something today - but the day got away from us. we slept in...which we were in desperate need of doing, got lunch with several of the church staff, and had a team meeting to debrief a little from the retreat. we talked about many wonderful moments and will blog them over the coming days for you. amazing is the word that keeps coming to mind - from the weather to the logistics to the communication and the relationships. we couldn't have asked for things to work out better. we know that GOD had HIS hand on the retreat in a BIG way. we have a full day tomorrow spending time with people from the church. then on Wednesday we head out to Sao Paulo for some r and r. we promise we will get back to you soon with stories!

AMAZING!!

Wow. It is 12:05am here in Londrina. We are back settling into the Hotel Golden Blue. We don't have words right now to describe how wonderful the retreat was and what incredible things God did. We will check in tomorrow with stories and pics. We also have a very cool highlight video we will link to when we figure out how. CHECK BACK TOMORROW!

Today's the Day!

Some pics of our team practicing the team building activities for the retreat tomorrow...









Wendy with Richard who was the leader of the day yesterday. Clearly the stress of leadership got to him! :)


We are having the final team meeting today in the breakfast area of our Hotel. Several of us are leaving after lunch to go and check out the camp and prepare for the arrival of the Volunteers, church leadership, and team members. The rest of the team will come this evening with the volunteers on a Bus from the church. We are excited and anticipatory facing today. We would love for you to be praying about the weather with us. We have about 10 team building activities prepared to help the volunteers get to know each other and connect. The weather forecast for tomorrow is 60% rain. Brazilian's don't like to "play" in the rain so we are praying for the rain to hold off during the day. We are also trying to develop a back up plan - but the report is that there is not much inside space to use if we need to. We we would love your prayers!!! We may not be able to blog while at the camp, but we will do our best to update you when we get back!

1st Full Day in Londrina!

Matt and Paulo (One of the pastors at the church)

Our first full day in Londrina involved much planning and preparation for the Volunteer Retreat that begins tomorrow. We have so many fun things planned for the 91 volunteers and their families. Many activities that will allow for team building and our message of One Team One Goal….Um Time Um Alvo! Our focus is showing the volunteers how much they are loved and appreciated for all the work they do for the church.
It’ll be a blessed day of activities such as the Human Knot, the Trust Maze, the Lego Challenge, the Jigsaw Cross Puzzle and MANY more!
Plus there are many skits to perform for the volunteers that will generate lots of laughs and smiles making each of them feel good about being a part of their church team here in Londrina!
We are so blessed to have the honor of loving and showing appreciation to each of them!
Our biggest prayer requests are for “continued” mission team unity and that God’s Will be done for the duration of the retreat!

Our bible verse for the first day of the retreat tomorrow is….
God will protect them from evil.(John 17:15) God will give them, His servants, wise and discerning hearts.(1 Kings 3:9)
God will open the hearts of those who hear and see to respond to the message. (Jer. 24:7)


Jim and Holly at a team meeting


Team before lunch (Left to right: Lisa, Richard, Holly, Dwight, Kim, Wendy, Laura, Matt, and Jim)


The outside of Capela de Gracia - with the new logo we LOVE!

Bon Dia!

Bom Dia (Good Morning!)

During diner last night we watched some of the soccer match between two Brazilian teams - Corinthians and International. Let me just tell you - these Brazilians don't mess around about their Football! There was much celebrating late into the night - fireworks, guns firing, horns blowing, and people yelling. We enjoyed listening to the festivities for a while, but thankfully we were all so sleepy that we didn't have a problem sleeping through it.

Early this morning there was a rain storm that came through with majestic thunder and lightening. It was overcast and drizzling when we woke up this morning but things have started to clear up and the sun looks like it is going to make an appearence.

We have a day of preparation ahead. We brought a LOT of extra luggage - supplies for the children, camp activities, t-shirts for the volunteers, printed material for the people attending the camp. Speaking of the camp, one of our team members will be posting soon a recap of specifically what we are going to be doing for those of you who haven't heard all the plans.

We are excited about what the days holds. Expectant that God is going to be working in and through us.

Our Verse for the day:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
Hebrews 12:1

We made i!

For those of you calculating, its about 22 hours since we left our homes for the ATL airport. We are so thankful to have made it to the hotel in Londrina. We are excited, tired, and happy to be here. The trip couldn't have been smoother. We all made it though customs without a hitch and all our bags made it here. We hvae a few hours to shower, run, rest, and explore, then it is off to a big dinner Brazilian style with the leadership from the church.

Pics of dinner!!