Recife Update

My team of 13 (I think..) is nearing the end of our outreach in Recife. In a couple days we'll be headed back to Rio for our final 2 weeks in Brazil. Our time in Recife has flown by. I cannot believe we've already been here 4 weeks.

We've been partnering with the JOCUM Recife base doing lots of different things. I'll do my best to remember all of it..

-Digging out the foundation for a new wall surrounding the base
-Mixing cement and laying the foundation for a brick factory on base
-Digging trenches through the jungle and around other parts of the base to get wiring to the brick factory
-Teaching English to students at the nearby school
-Playing soccer and discipling students in the soccer program at the school (Show De Bola)
-Basic cleaning around the base
-Running a youth group service at a nearby church
-So much more...

The past 4 weeks here have been drastically different than our first 2 weeks in Rio. In Rio we were doing street preaching and programs at local schools. In Recife we've been working hard doing lots of physical labor. It's cool that we get the opportunity to try a little bit of everything during our time in Brazil.

The JOCUM base in Recife has so many awesome things going on! It is so cool to practically help them out because they are doing great things. Such an awesome place full of awesome people.

I love my team, more than they probably realize. I am so lucky to have an awesome group of people around me that are always ready to do work and get dirty, and actually enjoy it. I've been enjoying it, and I have my team to thank for that.

These next couple days are the last I'll be with just this smaller team. In Rio all 50-something of us will be back together for the last 2 weeks. And that's gonna be awesome. I can't wait to hear what the rest of our DTS has been doing!

Love Regardless. And Go.

It's so cool looking back and seeing God answer my prayers so practically. A few years ago during a church service, I shouted at the top of my lungs, "I'll go anywhere! I'll do anything! At any cost!" I meant every word, but I didn't think God would actually send me anywhere. Now I'm in Brazil. Sweet.

I never thought I'd be one of the few that get the opportunity to be a direct part of positive change in this world. That's for better people. That's for people who have everything figured out and have their lives in order. And that ain't me.

God meets us right where we are and He will answer us, no matter how jacked up our lives are. No matter how messed up my life still is.

I wanna love people like Jesus loves me. I wanna actually care about people, whether we agree with each other's lifestyles or not. I wanna love people for who they are. Not for who they may become and not for who they used to be, but for who they are. Right now. I wanna love people like Jesus loves me.

I wanna love, regardless.

Grace, Grow, Go.

Recife, Brazil

Our team of over 50 has split up for the next 4 weeks. The team I'm on got to fly out of Rio and into Recife. We're staying on the YWAM (JOCUM) base in Recife and we will be partnering with all the things they're a part of. They do a lot of stuff so it'll be cool to work with them here. Hopefully I'll be able to do a more in depth update later!