R-O-U-N-D U-P The Round Up is the Place "TO BE!!"

Photo 1: A Camper enjoying a kool-aid shushie yesterday
Photo 2: Playing a game before ice-breakers
Photo 3: "Chimie 2" (team 2)

First off, I (Jacob) hope everyone has enjoyed the blog from both teams so far. Each evening at dinner we read the blog for the day and the comments from the previous day and really enjoy hearing from all of you who have commented. Everyone who has written has done a great job, but I am going to recap things a little differently, just because I’m different.

The afternoon session Wednesday was as wonderful as all the others. The team already has in mind who should be our first Brazilian Little Chief and Comanche. You might be wondering how day camp in the middle of the school year works, since Brazil is in fall, and therefore not on Spring Break. The public education system here in Brazil is good but is overwhelmed with students. To accommodate, they offer three (and in some cases four) shifts of school each day. Kids who attend the afternoon session of school come to camp pre-lunch and kids who go in the morning stop in for the later camp offering. High schools and colleges have night schedules, allowing students to work during the daylight hours and be in class after. This staggered class setup has helped our attendance increase each day, as kids from morning camp see their friends at lunch that just left school. They spread the word about what’s happening at the church, and more and more children come each session.

Our nights are continuing to be filled with delectable food, cherished fellowship, and the ongoing search for the mythical monster frog. As the appointed team naturalist, I feel a personal responsibility to find the aforementioned amphibian before the close of the week, even if it means a moonlight jungle expedition (don’t worry Mom, we haven’t seen any snakes yet). Another note on the environment of Brazil: in a word, remarkable. I think even the least biologically inclined among us will bring home a wider view of just how profound and expansive our God’s creative handiwork is.

Wednesday we broke through the wall of “third session” and got a good night’s sleep, equally embracing and dreading our final day of “Cadê?”. The team recognized the God-sized opportunity before them, with parents as well as children at the closing program today, but also hates having to say goodbye to the beautiful campers. All of us here are WinShape Camp staffers during the summer, and I think everyone would say they see God’s face for those eight weeks in the summer full of lives changed for Christ. We saw the face of God again in just four days here, and that message was definitely not lost in translation. Along with that is another note from above that has been underscored here- Everyone is searching for Good News; those that have heard are compelled to share; those that hear are moved to respond.

Right now between sessions everything is calm. Some people are sleeping, others quietly reflecting on the past days, some building houses of playing cards, and one swimming through an ocean of thoughts and feelings while slowly tapping out a few on a laptop. Those that are napping have earned it though. Today was the unveiling of the queen of WinShape boogies, the Hamster Dance. We craftily snuck a bomb through airport security and exploded it today, just a Diet Coke and Mentos one. The morning’s activities continued with a special order of the day as the kids finished their last craft, a cotton ball sheep. Then they had small group time and took pictures with their camper t-shirts. After a great snack of Brazilian hotdogs parents arrived and we all celebrated the week of camp. Afterwards some tough good-byes were said, pictures were snapped, and eyes were teared.

Well, recovery time is over as the first kids are arriving right on schedule, 20 minutes early. There are too many people to be thanked, from the support team here in Brazil to the bedtime prayers of American campers 5000 miles away from their South American counterparts. God integrally used each part of them (read as: you) to make this week possible and successful for His will to be done and name be furthered in Brasilia.

Joy, Peace and Love to you-
WSC IP Team 2



Ashley really hates saying goodbye
Julie enjoyed visiting an elementary school yesterday. She said the blessing in Portuguese and Speedy used it in a Bobo. We’re coming along.
Brittany is wishing she knew Portuguese so that she could understand what Rebekah has been telling her all day
JD is rounding up the gang and rounding out his time here
Alison is ready to start taking applicants for her Round Up aerobics class
Mallory really going to miss all the meninas and meninos
Speedy feels awkward having a closing ceremony without wearing a headdress and eating Chick-fil-A. Love to AG and D
Josh can’t believe there was a rainbow over the giant Brazilian flag yesterday
Jacob is totally inadequate and unworthy of being here, but glad God chose to use him just the same
Kaelyn wants Janie Bird to come to Brazil next time
Brent is trying to figure out when he can make it back to this country. (And he enjoyed learning how to make some really good coffee)
Angela Fielder has enjoyed her coffee today even with the extreme heat outside
Angela Rubenacker thinks the only thing good about the last day of camp is that we get to start planning the next one.
John is watching, learning and thinking about next year.
Trudy invented the first version of “I just want to be a sheep”
Jessica is already missing the campers
Nicole has found a new craft that she might be able to use in her class one day..and says hey to Keenan