Your students are great leaders and have passionate relationships with God.  I am definitely experiencing the benefits of have students who get putting themselves aside and running after God and people.  They have gone above and beyond what we have asked of them.  From serving to singing, from playing soccer to giving testimonies, they have been wonderful.

Our favela experience has also been great.  The poor of Brazil have been a blessing to serve.  It has been very eye opening for these new students to experience true poverty.  We have been sweating like crazy playing with the kids in this Brazilian heat but know it is worth it for the kingdom of God.  The kids here in Brazil are hit more than they are hugged, neglected more than loved, and your students are showing them what God’s love is like.

I realized tonight that we lack dedication, commitment and work ethic, especially when dealing with our church involvement.  Two 15 year old boys walked 28 miles to be at church tonight. 28 miles!!!! They walked over a marathon distance just to come to church.  Ridiculous!!!  We need to learn to love God like that. 

Tomorrow, we will be going back to our last favela of the week.  It is the students favorite.  We will likely be spending the entire day there.  Many of us will be pouring a concrete floor, which is nothing like it would be in the States, while the rest of us will be playing with the children and visiting homes and sharing the gospel.  Your students have become pros at sharing the gospel, the evangacube has been a great tool to break down some language barriers.  The people here love them and are giving gifts back to us!!  I believe we have coffee on the schedule from one family tomorrow.  Should be fun. 

Serving with your students has been and honor and God is doing some powerful things here.  Continue to pray for us.  We will be home very soon, but until then may God get much glory from us here in Brazil.

-David

-David

2010 trip update…..Monday version

Of course, before the tournament begins we play a few warm up rounds with the younger kids and we dominate them.  This gives us a false sense of confidence that we may actually stand a chance against the older kids (older meaning 16 and 17).  Those high dreams were quickly crushed on the jagged rocks of reality as soon as the game began.  I think we were outscored at least 6 to 1, which in soccer is a butt whooping.  During the course of the game I was moved back to play goalie…fun times.  Well, I blocked the shot of the hardest kicker to ever set foot on the property with the side of my knee.  Immediately it left the imprint of the soccer ball on my leg and quickly puffed up.  The imprint of the soccer ball remained their for three more da;ys.   Fun times.

After all was said and done they presented us with our second place trophy.  I believe they already engraved their names on the first place trophy.  They may forever beat us in soccer but let the record show that we punished them in basketball.  Yes that does help me sleep at night.  Oh well…maybe next year.

One of my favorite additions to “Ain’t No Rock” this year was the drums piece.  Jared Shingleton played the drums and they were great.  We got the opportunity to play this song in front several hundred Brazilian students and we had a blast.  It is always cool to be rock stars for a day.  Not to mention that hundreds of lost Brazilian students are dancing, singing and hearing songs that give praise and honor to our God. 

Everybody praise his holy name, as long as I’m alive I’ll glorify his holy name.

In honor of the college service taking its summer break I decided to post a quick blog.  Last week we had about 100 college students partake in our, now traditional, pancake dinner.  This dinner was in the middle of their finals and a huge success.  If there is one thing that I have learned, if you want to grow a college ministry you must have lots of food. 

We had a team of about 15 college students and leaders cooking, cleaning and setting up for this meal.  The night would not have happened without them.  Above is a picture of their most brilliant creation.  Illuminate is the name of our Wednesday night college worship service.  When we named it I never imagined I would see it written in pancakes.  This is the sole reason I believe this ministry can truly change the world.  They are amazing.  I say most brilliant because they also created what I call the “beast mode” pancake that was about the size of my thigh.  It was huge.  I must give props to Seth Hood for conquering that beast in one sitting.  He is a man’s man.  This was quickly followed by the syrup chugging contest.  College students will eat whatever they get their hands on. 

This year has been exciting for our college ministry because of the amazing growth we have seen.  In about a 3 month span we quadrupled in size.  Praise God!  Our college students are amazing and I look forward to serving with them in the future. 

PS. Brazil top ten will continue very soon.

One of the local English speaking schools actually came to our property during the middle of their school day.  There were about 50 students coming to practice English and to hang out with Americans.  They also heard the gospel through multiple worship songs as well as through many of our students testimonies. After singing and testimonies we played countless games of both soccer and basketball.  Except for most of the girls. 

Samantha Scott, our dancing pro, definitely got the opportunity to use her abilities in dancing to impact many Brazilian girls.  Sam had about 30 girls packed into the small porch area of the house teaching them how to do the electric slide.  Now you can just imagine a hip hop culture trying their best to do some country line dancing.  It was quite a site.  By the end of the teaching session, Sam had those girls all dancing in sync and enjoying the great electric slide.  It was amazing.  I know it will be a day that those Brazilian girls, as well as our girls, will not soon forget. 

Upon our arrival Allen Kimble passed out a pack of oreo’s (Susie’s favorite) to each student and adult.  The entire team got on the bus and individually handed Susie each pack of Oreo’s.  The end result being an entire trash bag full of Oreo’s.  Susie was beyond ecstatic about her much awaited gifts.  I don’t think she shared any with Bret. 

Shubie Shubies were the most amazing popsicles that you have ever put in your mouth and Susie and a ton of them.  Susie did not mind sharing these amazing treats with her many guests.  I definitely ate more than my share.  So if you travel to Brazil plan on eating a shubie shubie but you better keep your hands off of Susie’s cookies.

On a more serious note, it was amazing to be able to spend that amount of time with Bret and Susie.  Bret commented that his old teams would have a goal of encouraging the Brazilian missionaries and he felt that was exactly what are team had done.  Bret said that it was the hardest that Susie had laughed it quite awhile.  It was a privilege to be used by God to encourage the great work in Brazil through our family, the Cox’s.  I know that God has been doing a great work through the Cox’s ministry.  God has used their submissively placed “Yes” to draw a people group to Himself.  It has been great to see Bret and Susie this week.  Just seeing them has greatly warmed my heart.  Continue to pray for how God uses them and if you haven’t gotten the privilege of meeting them please make it a point to do so.  Bret and Susie (in case you read this) you are greatly loved by your church family, by the many traveling students, and greatly my wife and I. 

Let’s also pray that I actually blog the other 9 of the Brazil top ten. 

 Wednesday we ate an amazing meal at a Churrusceria. The servers brought around endless trays of meat. Some of your students ate boar, ostrich, and giant rat. David and I stuck to the basics: chicken and steak. Then we went to Gleba B (favela) for the last time this trip. Some students made crafts with the ladies while the guys played hours of soccer. Then we had a church service and handed out hot dogs and candy to the kids. Also, parents, you will be pleased to know that many of your students got to share the gospel again via the evangecube. By the end of the night, we had truly formed friendships with many of the precious people there. There was not a dry eye on the long bus ride home. Those of us who have been here before had an especially difficult time leaving our friends. We will miss our family here in Brazil!

–Jennifer

Jen and I decided to tagteam this one.  She is correct in saying that there was not a dry eye due to our parting.  However, I reminded the students that our relationship with them is of little significance in comparison to their need of a relationship with Jesus.  I challenged them to pray for the children that they held so tightly because when it comes down to it we have no ability to provide or protect these kids, only God can.

Yesterday was a work day around the property and work we did.  We completely finished the busport (a huge garage for the bus) and we mostly finished digging a water line trench so that Brett and Suzie can have water in their future.  Jen demanded that I tell you about the three hours of leaf raking that our ladies (plus Jordan P.) completed.  The pile truly was a large one.  Then that evening we had church on the property.  CRAZY!  The children here come out of the woodwork to spend time with your students.  It was close to 11 before buses started taking the people home and was beyond 1:30 am before the last run was finished.  Could you even imagine loving God and church that much?  And could you imagine driving them twice a week that late? Talk about a love for God and people. 

Today, we again spent time in some local schools.  Jordan Prewitt was the superstar again.  He was so dreamy!  This is really great face time for Pete and the church here in Brazil.  Us entering the school will allow for the students already involved in the church to tell their friends what we are about.  Exciting stuff.  We are off to host another team from an English speaking school.  Pray for us and get excited.  Tomorrow we will be on our way back to you. 

–David