By the time this blog is posted, we will be on our way home. Words cannot describe fully how much God has moved and used every one of us on Team 2 to do his amazing work here in Brazil. He has blessed this team in so many ways. This week has gone by so fast and we cannot even believe it is coming to an end! It is amazing to think that in one week, our love for the Lord has brought us all so close together. We have discovered and built friendships that will last a lifetime, not only with each other but with the Brazilian team. These Men of God and Women of Faith have had such an impact to each and every one of us. We thank the Lord for being “Demais” throughout this entire week.

Last night, we held a celebration for a successful week of camp with all the staffers, the campers, and their parents. Although there was rain and a brief power outage, everything worked out greatly and the church was packed full of campers and parents. The kitchen staff of P. North prepared us an amazing dinner, which turned out to be pretty romantic because we got to eat with only the light from our van. They made their version of lasagna, which was AMAZING, and ended dinner with quite possibly one of the best chocolate cakes we have ever tasted. God blessed us with electricity right before the program was scheduled to start. We performed “Beach Blast” not once, but TWICE! In between, we sang and danced to many of the songs we learned during the week. Speedy and I (Born) got to share our testimonies. At the end of the night, we had to say our goodbyes to our precious kids.

Friday was a day of rest and celebration for our Winshape Team 2. We were able to tour Brasilia, do a little shopping, and a WHOLE lot of eating. We got to see the entire city from atop a tall tower and saw a side of Brazil that we had not been able to see. After our morning tour, we ate at a Brazilian BBQ. This was love at first bite. Brazilian food will surely be missed! After lunch, we were able to go to Havaianas, a flip flop store. Thirty - four pairs of flip-flops were purchased. We then went shopping at Wal-Mart to get things that we could bring back to the U.S. (such as baking mixes for making our favorite pastries). After Wal-Mart, we went to the Mall to shop some more and have dinner. There was a McDonalds there! It is so much better than the ones in the States. Chris was able to complete 17 of the 18 things on his “things to eat” list. Six of those were completed on the very last day. Jessica was not able to complete her mission to find a roly-poly but did encounter a snake during breakfast. Our night ended with a great debrief session lead by Mae. Goodnight to everyone and please pray for our safe and easy flight back home. Jesus e Demais!

Speedy – Enjoyed touring Brazil today and I bought my FIRST pair of flip-flops. Looking forward to seeing the kids soon.

Julie – What a great last full day. Looking forward to home again!

Mallory – Ficar (staying in Brazil) – Really excited about my new monkey from my great friend and I ate waaaaaayyyy too much meat today!

Alison – Who knew that a fig would taste like spearmint?

Melodie – Loves grilled pineapple with cinnamon and is not ready to go home!

Ana Jane – Found my way around the market – Mom and Dad, you should be proud

Jon David – Successfully ate a whole cow and excavated an entire plate of dessert (Mallory says that it was a small plate)

Chris - is Tarzan

Haley – Ate a chicken heart today… I mean, I kind-of-liked it

Chelsea – I heart Val’s chocolate cake but not the fig

Josh – not even a power outage, starting 30 minutes late, and having no fans could not stop us from saying see you later to our wonderful friends.

Angela – Guarana – R$3,00, Necklace from the Torre – R$18,00, Haviana’s – R$24,50, Teaming up with Time Doise to make a difference for the kingdom and coming back different – Priceless | VISA – NOT everywhere you want to be.

Trudy – Talked Speedy in to buying his first pair of flip-flops. It also does not get much better than grilled pineapple with cinnamon and sugar and getting a umbrella with a plastic rain catcher!

Fufa – Mallory says, “Loves Mallory.” Fufa responds… “Mallory?” Now for real – It’s been wonderful being with everybody for the past 2 weeks.

Mae – “what happens in the car, stays in the car” – Marney

Brandon – Thinks Marney should be the next “American Idol”

Jessica – “do all songs have the word ‘beaver’ in them?” – Marney…… Time sure does fly when you’re having fun.

Brent – Very, very excited to see my wife again, but also sad about leaving a place that he Loves – Can’t wait for me and Angela to come back!

Born – Will miss Marney so much, especially when she sings his favorite song to him.

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Photo 1: Tia Trugie (aka - Trudy) singing Dufundo with a camper

Photo 2: Parabens - It was another birthday at camp - just only this time it was in a skit

Photo 3: Everybody Rockout - thats what this song is about | BEACH BLAST

Photo 4: This is a picture that Palo drew for the team... Can you pick out some of our team members? Don't worry, the red on the faces is face paint that out team wore a lot of!

Boa Tarde from beautiful Brazil! If you want to meet some of the most loving, self less, and hospitable people in the world….come to Brazil! They are absolutely amazing! I love these people so much!! It breaks my heart that I’ll have to leave them come Saturday. It has been an incredible adventure. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to come back for round two.

Since our last post so much has happened! After lunch and a much needed rest (or like several of us girls …a time to work on our tan) we began part two of camp. Campers poured into the church courtyard by the dozens. We kicked off part two by doing the WinShape favorite, the hamster dance. JD, Chelsea, Chris, Mae, and I followed with a skit which emphasized our theme,Demais. We followed this up with another round of the hamster dance. Before heading to the main worship service, “Groupo Grande” the entire camp sang happy birthday to me. It was awesome. By that time I think I had already been sung to a good 5 times(and definitely wasn’t the last …). Haha. I love this place!

We had Groupo Grande. Then launche(snacktime). Another thing I LOVE about this country. This country has incredible food! Once launche was over, the groups headed to a bible study according to their color(yellow, blue, or VERMELLO!!! Red). I love sitting in on these, even though the majority of the time I don’t know what they’re saying .It’s so cool to see the campers get excited about answering questions about Christ.

The “officinas” (skills/Track Times) began next. I’ve been working with “Meninias de mundo” (Girl World). Today we did one of my favorite things….play with and braid hair! J We acted like it was a legit salon. Trudy and Chelsea went around and offered the girls “café” (coffee) while they were getting their hair done. Thanks to Jessica who is an amazingly fast braider. We couldn’t have done it without her. We talked about proverbs 31:30, how beauty is temporary….but we are and will always be beautiful in the eyes of our heavenly Father.

After all three rotations we had another wild and crazy round of “Beach Blast” during groupo grande. We packed up camp and then made our way back home to Agua viva. Before getting home, we made a pit stop at a gas station where Mr. John bought us all ice cream. YUM!! Brazilian ice cream is oh so good! Several of us took the opportunity for a photo opp of the beautiful sunset.

Once we made it home Dona Gon Gon had our meal ready and waiting for us. Delicious, as usual. Hmmm….I wonder if she’d like to live in Jacksonville, Alabama. I’d love to have her cook for me every day. Speaking of delicious, she made me a HUGE chocolate cake covered in white icing with peaches and prunes. It was so good. It was yet again such a great and memorable birthday. J Muto Obrigahda!!

This morning we had a tasty breakfast and then headed off to the church around 6. Arriving we set up and began camp. We did a rendition of “ hands up” which was followed by a skit. I understood the service this morning so much better thanks to the fact that Trudy sat in front of me.

Before lunch, Angela and myself went to wash our hands. We came out to find ourselves trapped in the bathroom with a bike, a dresser, a chalkboard and a couple other things. Thank you Chris, Brandon, and Born. Whom of which were laughing hysterically and videoing the entire thing. I have no doubt it will be on faebo in the near future.

I guess I should wrap this up. My heart breaks that the last “session” has come so quickly. I ask that you would continue to pray for our team as we finish up. That we would be completely spent and have nothing left to give when the day comes to a close. Tonight is our closing ceremonies with the campers and their parents. Please keep this in your prayers!!! Thank you all so much. You are all dearly loved.

Ah te lagoo!!!

AnaJane: Shout out to the Master of all Things aquatic….excluding the iceberg. We need you here to teach us about these mutant frogs.

Jessica: If the kids do not show up for the “closing ceremony” tonight I’m getting FuFa to drive me to QNE and pick them up myself. Shout out to Net and PawPaw! Obrigada for your prayers!

Haley: is really really going to miss pao de queijo and the beautiful children.

Mae: thinking she wants to stay in Brazil forever!

Mallory: 4 days have never gone so fast! I will miss these meninas and meninos so much… I might not go home Saturday.

Brent: I don’t know quite how to process that I am leaving this amazing place after 3 weeks- Praying for a quick return to Brazil.

JD:I might not make it onto the plane Saturday… This place has once again stolen my heart and taught me how to break down dividing walls.

Born: It’s amazing to think God had already had this trip planned even before we were born. I’ve met people who forever have a place in my heart. P.S. These cups are a tease.

Chris: will share the water with all! Jesus ama voce!

Julie: is amazed at two quick things: the past four days in the Brazilian church volunteers and the WinShape team organizing crafts and homework packets to go home. Not ready to pack and leave yet though…there is still shopping to do.

Speedy: sad about closing day! I have truly been blessed. Thanks for all the prayers back home.

Melodie: spent the afternoon getting made fun of by Gabriella for my Portuguese and can’t wait to meet the parents tonight…it’s gonna rock!

Angela: has spent the day living like a teacher and is excited about tonight.

Josh: Chelsea made a girl cry, but it was all for a good cause.

Brandon:All is well on the last day of camp.The boys are great and secret ops is international.

Chelsea: Being in Brazil will change me forever. If I helped to touch one life it would be all worth it. Shout out to… Tabs-the necklace is still on. Hope your foot is getting better. J Caleb-I am learning so much can’t wait to share.Mom & Dad-I love you so much and miss you a lot. Thank you for helping me have this experience.

John and Trudy: Remembering David and celebrating his birthday. Remembering the time he was born in Rio.

Alison (me): Greater things are yet to come…greater things are still to be done in this city!!!!

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Oi! I hope that you are all doing well today in the states. Just to set the tone as you read this, we are having seriously one of the greatest days ever in Brasil. First of all the weather is unreal. I (Brent) have been here for the past 3 weeks and I can easily say that the weather today is the best that I have seen. The wind is blowing, the sun is out, the skies are clear, and its just warm enough to be wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Also, today I would say that Team 2 is fully in the swing of things. We are completely comfortable with what we are doing, we are developing incredible relationships with the kids and things are running very smoothly.

Yesterday afternoon camp ended great! We had a great day with the kids and had some incredible experiences as we have really started diving into relationships with the kids. When we ended we were able to meet with out team members from P. North for a little bit and then we got to go see the community that many of our campers come from. Let me set this up. The church that we are working with in P. North does a lot of mission work in a community near by called QNE (Quadrant NE). The church does a lot in this area and one thing that we have been able to do is to provide a bus for the church to pick up many of these kids in this area to come to camp. Roughly half of the campers that we have come from this area, so we thought it would be great to be able to learn about where they come from. As we drove through, our team had a whole new perspective to what it meant to live in poverty. The best way that our team could describe this area is that “it looks like a National Geographic magazine,” or a “feed the children commercial.” The only difference in what we saw yesterday and what we see on TV is that it was real. We saw kids and families walking the streets next to their shacks that were made of plywood scraps and a little cement. We saw a community of shacks that were in the middle of a field that were so far from any comfort that we experience even in our lowest standard of living. We saw kids that come to DEMAIS chase our van down the road as we drove down their streets. We saw things that many people on our team have never experienced, but we took so much from this. The biggest thing is that we were able to see that these are people. Not only were they people, but they are children that we know, that we have relationships with, and that we love. It was so encouraging that we get to know them, get to love on them, and get to share God’s love with these people.

As we ended the day of all of the excitement of camp and the reality check of visiting QNE, we had a great time to debrief as a team. We were able to go on an emotional rollercoaster together as we laughed so hard because of our friend Edson’s pranks, cried as we shared how being with the kids of QNE affected us, and a bit of both as we read the blog comments. One encouragement that we can share together for this community is a song that we may all know from Chris Tomlin:

“Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in THIS city…”

Today started a little earlier than yesterday as we tried to beat the morning traffic. We left this morning at 6:00am (breakfast at 5:30) and headed to a big day at DEMAIS. Camp got off to a great start on this wacky Wednesday as we celebrated the birthday of our teammate, Alison. We had all the campers sing “Para Bens” and we will continue to celebrate her all day long! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ~ Brazilian Birthdays are the BEST!). We also had some great experience becoming experts in jump rope at camp, as this is one of the favorite welcome activities that we have! Today at camp the Girl World crew is “taking a trip to the salon” as they are doing hair and making them even more beautiful while also teaching that real beauty comes from the inside. In Man Land, the guys took the secret mission of Mission Impossible to find some explosions around camp and to learn that when you are filled with the love of God you can be an explosion to those around you and share with them about His Love! In rec the team played bucketball with the campers and used this as a way to teach them that God sends people in our lives to help to do things and that we need a community around us to help us fully be who God called us to be. In arts and crafts, the campers finished a project making fish windsocks as they were recapping our Bible story from yesterday of Peter walking on water. Overall the day has been incredible. We are looking forward to a great afternoon, and we really cannot believe that tomorrow will be our last day of camp this week. We hope that you are all doing well and will keep you posted as we spend our last few days in Brazil.

Chris is happy! Romans 8:35-39 J

Jessica- Happy Birthday, Alison! Enjoyed hearing girls from the vermelho team chanting, “Tia Jessica” as they walked to the registration table. Oh, and Marney rocks! I love and miss you Mom, Dad, Josh, Jake, and Misty.

Alison Obrigata everyone for the bday wishes! I’m loving having a Brazilian birthday and wearing a shirt with shoulder pads.

Mallory loves having all the campers run up and jump in our arms when they get to the church! I can’t believe we only have 1 day left. I will miss Mauricio and Edson.

Haley loves Wacky Wednesday.

Mae-is dressed to impress and wishing Alison a Happy Birthday!

Melodie-bittersweet emotions when I saw John, a Cade camper, in the neighborhood around p. north

Trudy- is trying to speak Portuguese to Melodie and translate for John!

Speedy-When I retire from being a camp director I’m going to give jump rope lessons.

Angela-is enjoying wearing face paint, a big fan of Brazilian weather, thankful for the prayers from so many, loves doing camp in Brazil, and is so proud of Team 2.

Julie is reminded how blessed we all are after seeing the neighborhood of some of the campers. A shout out to Megan and Cindi and Gretchen! Love to AG and D. There are some big hills here, but they are not red (saw some soy beans and sourghum though).

Ana Jane- Brazilian coffee. Need I say more?

Brandon-Got chased by a baby owl...manliness no longer in tact.

Born- Is learning what it truly means to love God and pursue him with a simple heart.

Brent-I’m going to bring Tiago home in my carry-on. Hope you don’t mind, Angela. J

J.D.-I have found my new calling…leading secret missions in foreign countries a.k.a. blowing things up!

Josh-singing in the car on the way home, dodging sick owls, and roads built like roller coasters make for an exciting night.

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What would camp be without Team Chants? Check out our WinShape Chants | Brazilian Style

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Once upon a time there was a team far far away from home in a land known as Brazil. In this land there are many meninas and meninos who did not know the excitement they were about to face.

Yesterday afternoon we had the privilege of having 78 campers join us for Demais! Every team was packed to the max! I can’t think of any experience that tops the sound of Portuguese speaking children yelling for their team color. Not sure about the precise number for the other teams but vermelho had 32 kids. Mrs. Trudy and I (Jessica) had our hands full. First thought that popped in my head was how are we going to control so many kids? But they were so well behaved and we all had a great time! Many of the children have asked some of the team members to help them learn English. One way the campers communicate with the tias and tios (WinShape Team) is to point and use gestures. A laugh and a funny look usually follow when we repeat their language. For example, Arthur, a member of the red team, wanted to know the “ingles” word for “Deus” which is God in Portuguese. Even though the team is slowly learning common words in Portuguese, this particular experience was a reminder that we are here for one purpose and one purpose only, to share the love of Christ to children and volunteers of a different language.

Aside from camp we enjoyed a night of adventure at Agua Viva. Everything in Brazil is jumbo sized. For instance, their frogs could eat the entire team in one slurp. Mrs. Trudy showed us her quickness when the jumbo frog made a move towards her. We discovered poisonous spiders hanging from trees (don’t worry moms we stayed far away). Walking down the roads of Agua Viva are flowing red lines created by the gynormous ants. Marching through the grass kept them from hanging onto our shoes. During our extravaganzas Andre was able to find our lost keys. On a more serious note we had tons to talk about during debrief time of how God showed up and showed off on Day 2 of Demais.

This morning the teams slept in and left for the day at 6:15 AM (4:15 AM in Georgia and 3:15 in Alabama). Traffic delayed us a bit but as we stepped off the bus kids from yesterday morning greeted us with a huge smile, hugs, and a “bom dia!” Our Portuguese is growing and growing daily. Some activities of the day included Spider-tag, lemon-lime soda, decorating cookies in “Mundos de Meninas” (Girl World). Our Brazilian friends were confident in their lessons and did an amazing job!

J.D. (Dukey)- Having fun making lemonade and seeing kids with sour faces and is sweating like a man

Brandon- Thinks kids drinking lemon juice is funny on ANY continent

Josh- O cuel e tao lindo do Brazil

Speedy- enjoyed another day at camp. The Brazilian kids have as much energy as the American kids. Hi AG and Darrell!

Chris- Hopes Richard remembers cheesy bread and hopes he likes my Mohawk

Born-Does not like being in the bathroom with Edson and Chris.

Brent- Fala munto Portuguese

Haley- is following in Corley’s footsteps and has said “nao intende” every five seconds.

Julie- having fun at camp. The cupid shuffle is international. Thanks to Grandmama for keeping AG and Darrell.

Mrs. Trudy- has better reflexes than anyone on the team

Pastor John- is officially the best translator

Alison- wishes she had her digital SLR camera. My photo teacher would be so amazed.

Mae- looks like a splatter painted canvas

Angela (Ruby)- is learning to pray BIG and is excited to see how God is answering.

Melodie- her day was made after receiving a big hug from Richard and watching Misael open a special letter and thinks God’s creation is unexplainable.

Ana Jane- finally saw the southern cross. Hope you guys are having fun in PCB I LOVE YOU

Chelsea-“ you only get to run in Brazil once”

Mallory- the starts are so much brighter in Brazil

Jessica (Me)- Excited to see Team VERLMEHO and learn new words and phrases from Arthur. Shoutout to my roomie and suitemates!

It is our 4^th day in Brazil! What a beautiful day at Boas Novas Ingreja Baptista.

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Team 2 Day 2 is off to an unbelievable start! We are having an incredible week and really feeling His love all around us! Check out this video which includes a few Hello’s to the 2009 Team 1

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Oi from Boas Novas Iglesias Baptista (the church where camp takes place): this morning started the first day of camp! The day began early and with an unpredictable challenge—a set of keys were misplaced for one of the vans… After searching for twenty minutes or so to no avail, “Plan B” was initiated. We unloaded the van with missing keys into the passenger van and a smaller van. This obstacle was easily overcome with excitement of seeing campers! Upon arrival, because of the delay, we were already behind on set up. Fortunately, we have a solid team that works hard; we got all set up perfectly and on time!

Once back on track, campers started arriving; we checked them in and immediately jumped into singing songs in Portuguese and English. It is such an awesome experience to worship in another language! After worship and the Bible lesson, oficinas followed. The campers experienced recreation, arts and crafts, along with meninos and meninas (boy’s and girl’s fun respectively) activities. It was really amazing to see how a language barrier can be broken through these activities and bonding begins.

We await another set of campers this afternoon and we’re all really excited after settling in well this morning. I hope this blog finds you all well and safe. Enjoy these status updates!

Julie-is thankful for all of the organizing and setting up Team 1 did for us! Obrigada! Hey AG and D!

Speedy-enjoyed recreation games with the kids today.

Haley-loves the kids; wishes she knew more Portuguese.

Chelsea-Smiles and Laughs are universal!

Jessica-There is a high demand in Animal Bracelets—just ask the kid who tried to take hers! Shout out to Marty!

Born-is finally free from being trapped in the bathroom!

Mallory-Chris is really funny at 5 in the morning…but not any other time.

Melodie-was excited to see familiar faces this morning: Misael, Magno, Lucas, Yuri.

Ana Jane-is now ‘Ana’ because the Brazilians cannot enunciate ‘Ana Jane’.

Brandon-is burnt… bad.

Brent-manufactured a seat on the bus this morning, and still managed to catch a nap.

J.D.-While napping performed a rendition of Michelangelo’s “The Ceiling of the Vatican” with the napping Josh.

Josh- While napping performed a rendition of Michelangelo’s “The Ceiling of the Vatican” with the napping J.D.

Angela-Almost 6 months of preparation to see today transformed from a prayer to reality—Munto Demais!

Alison-Today I’m an Engineer; tomorrow I’m a doctor! I do what I can to help out!

Mae-had fun with “Hands Up” with Anderessa this morning!

Chris-Baca: Mmaaauuu.

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