Brasil 08 Part I

  Some of you might know that I recently had the privilege of traveling to Brasil.  I would like to share parts of that experience with you.

  To give you a little background, this mission trip was with my church, Vineyard of Licking County.  We travelled to the Amazon Basin to work with the Xingu Mission.  The goal of the trip was sort of two fold;  1) Show Brazilians God's love, 2) Team up with Thirst Relief Water Filtration.

  

  My Pastor, Steve Osborne, and I headed down a few days before the rest of our team.  We ran into some major flight complications upon arriving in Brasil.  But God saw us through the delays, and gave us favor with TAM Airlines, who worked to connect us and even paid for two hotels for us and provided dinner. (which is unheard of with this company)

  Upon arriving, Steve and I spent several days with the missionaries and their families.  Sort of a "get-away" retreat for them and their families.  We stayed @ a retreat camp called Cardosa, which was absolutely gorgeous.  I really enjoyed the time one on one with the mission team, and playing with their kids, as Cardosa had a great lake and swimming area.  I also had my first experience with bathing in the lake-in the dark.  To be honest-it was unnerving not knowing what would be joining me in the dark warm water.  And I think Kevin, a missionary from Columbus, found it quite humorous.  The picture I've posted is of Cardosa.

  Once back in town, Altamira, where the mission headquarters are, we learned that the rest of our team from Newark had the same flight complications.  So they ended up being three days delayed.  However, it all worked out just fine.  I spent those days in Altamira with the missionaries, and they showed me all around the city.  I got to meet a ton of Brazilians, and was baptized into the city's culture.

  Upon the team's arrival, we headed to the Port.  This is where we loaded on the mission boat to begin our river trip.  The boat is quite nice, 40 ft. or so, with a full lower deck, bathrooms, kitchen, and GPS navigation.  We set off around 8pm, and travelled for 6 hours or so.  The river we travelled on is called the Xingu (hence the Xingu mission).  It runs south off of the Amazon, and is truly an amazing sight.  The Xingu at it's widest is 6 miles wide...........

  Our river trip took us to three villages; Villa Mendoza, Maparacaia, and Espirit de Santo.  Each village different, all setting just yards from river's edge, none larger than 70 people, all very welcoming.

  In part II, I hope to share of my experiences in those river villages, that forever impacted my world view.

 -zh