Hello folks, team brazil here. We arrived here safely without any problems. After we made it to Sao Paulo, Brazil, we took a flight to Fortaleza. After that we had a 10 hour bus ride from Fortaleza to Teresina. In Teresina, Joel's parents were there to pick us up. We were able to spend 2 days at his parents ranch, chilling (ha! very punny!), adjusting to the heat and having some Portuguese lessons. One of our highlights being at the ranch was getting to run outside in the warm rain and get soaking wet. Not to mention eating mangoes right off the tree- so good. We think some of the Brazilians thought we were a little crazy :) 


After the 2 days, we joined a group of people from across the country for a 10-day mission, called Projecto Agua Vida (Living Water). Although not knowing much Portuguese, we have enjoyed getting to know everyone, with the help of Joel translating and a couple others who can speak English, and playing a life-size game of Charades. Everyone is very friendly and easy to be around. We have enjoyed lots of rice and beans. Every meal, except for breakfast. But really, it's great food!  Tomorrow we start our mission, having had 2 days of training. We are involved in different actvities, such as music, kids, doing hair and nails, sports, drama, and setting up and taking down equipment. Also part of the mission is visiting people in their homes, and evangelizing to them. Going just in groups of 2, it reminds me of what the disciples did, going out in pairs sharing the gospel. Pray that they go well!  Thank you for all your prayers. They are so appreciated! 


Victoria, Team Brazil




*funny story-When we arrived at the ranch, Karina noticed that she had swollen ankles. Lila and I were laughing at her and thought that was funny, but when we looked at our own ankles, we saw that we, too, had huge ankles. Cankles! We decided to call our terrible misfortune "traveler's elephantitus." Pray that we don't get this on our way back home, haha. Although we think it's just from the heat. It's hot here.