Internship Kickoff - June 23

This morning Kat, Amber, and I went to Mark and Ali's house for a Camp Roots staff preparation meeting.  It was amazing to see how much time and heart they have put into making this camp happen. The camp this year will center around Luke 15, the story of the prodigal son.  Today we dwelled in that story, got into groups of two, shared with each other, and then some shared what their partner said with the group.  We also got a breakdown of the how the camp was going to work with activities and groups.  Though many of the people involved in working this camp are bilingual, some of us only speak either english or portuguese.  This is something that will require patience and has the potential to tie the group together.  I was very impressed with the discernment and high level of organization, and the group of kind-hearted, talented, diverse, and enthusiastic staff.  I am now very excited about what God will do for both the kids and staff at Camp Roots in a few weeks.  It was great to get to know some of the great people here! Please pray for Mark, Ali, the staff, and all the kids as final preparations are made and for hearts to be molded at the camp.

After the meeting, Daniel Sancho took David, Rebecca (long-term interns with Mark and Ali) and I to a place called Giraffe Sandwiches to eat! 

During the late afternoon Jerry and Gail sat down with Kat, Amber, and I to discuss what our time with them will entail and what to expect.  They have already been incredibly hospitable and have gone out of their way for us quite a bit.  I really enjoyed getting to know them and their ministry better today, and I can't wait to learn more from them!

This evening a banquet was put on at the Church of Christ in Itu for Camp Roots.  The theme was a masquerade, but I don't think any males wore masks.  There was also a live saxiphone musician who went around and played for people at the tables.  We had a blast serving food and drinks and getting to know more people!  

We Made It!

Today we spent our first day with Jerry and Gail Heiderich in Itu, Brazil.  They drove an hour and a half from Itu to pick us up early this morning from the airport in Sao Paulo.  On the drive back to Itu I was blessed to get to know Jerry a bit and pick his brain about Itu, their family, and their work.  He graciously fielded the flood of questions.
Itu is very small compared the Blumes' city Porto Alegre.  Itu is about the size of Abilene, Texas, while Porto Alegre contains 1.5 million people.  If you didn't know, Summertime in the US is winter in the southern hemisphere and the directional change in temperature is reversed.  The farther south you go, the colder it gets.  Porto Alegre is close to the southern border of Brazil, while Itu is closer to the middle.  Last Summer in Porto Alegre we bundled up and filled hot water bottles to sleep with.  The Heiderichs have never really needed to do that in Itu.
When we arrived to their house, Gail cooked a delicious meal for us before they showed us around town.  First we went to Mark and Ali's house where we met with them and a few of the Aggies.  My friend Daniel Sancho was also there!  Then we went to the town square to look around.  Itu proclaims itself as the town of "big things."  In the square there were a few giant telephones, a giant stoplight, a giant bench, and some giant pencils.  There are also a few stores where you can buy Itu souvenirs like giant scissors, giant pencils, giant cigars, etc.  After that we took a trip to Walmart, yes Walmart, for some supplies went to a paneria (bakery) where we picked up some bread.  We also got to eat a bowl of frozen açaí (small blueberry-like fruit) with strawberries, bananas, and granola.  It was so good. 
We have already had a blast being with the Heiderichs on our first day and we are so excited! 
Sorry that I don't have any pictures from today, I didn't bring my camera on this outing.  There will be lots though!  

Brazil Round Two!

As you might know, I was blessed to spend seven weeks last Summer in Porto Alegre with the Blume family.  My friend Weston and I had an incredible experience there, as were immediately and graciously welcomed by the Blumes and all of their friends.  We spent our time there shadowing the Blumes in their ministry, participating in mens Bible studies, working at the Chacara drug rehab center, and learning about the culture.  We formed many relationships and could not be more thankful for those who went out of their way for us.  There are many pictures and a video on my facebook from that trip if you are interested.
This Summer I was given the option of taking either a youth or a missions internship for my Bible degree at ACU.  I chose to do a missions internship through WorldWideWitness because of my interest in missions and travel.  I was encouraged to spend time weighing out possible options before submitting my top three choices, but once I read Jerry and Gail Heiderich's bio about their ministry in Itu, Brazil I knew that was were I would be going.  I told Larry Henderson about this, and sure enough, I was matched with this internship along with my teammates Katarina Rehfeld and Amber Mills.  This particular internship has many aspects that seem to fit perfectly.  I have developed a passion for missions and Brazil in particular from my experience last Summer.  Jerry and Gail Heiderich are very experienced in missions, and have obtained masters level degrees in psychology and marriage and family therapy.  They specialize in team building and conflict resolution, and started the Family Institute of Latin America.  Because I am also majoring in psychology and very interested in pursuing counseling and missions, I am sure I will have very much to learn from them.
We will spend the first two weeks shadowing the Heiderichs before they go to the U.S. for their son's wedding.   During this time we will fly to Brasilia with them for a spiritual renewal retreat.  After they leave we will be with Mark and Ali Kaiser working Camp Roots (for kids) and the CURA Medical Mission for two weeks.  I will also have the opportunity to visit the Blumes in Porto Alegre towards the end of the internship.
Katarina and Amber, who are also majoring in psychology took a mission internship prep class together lass semester, and we are very excited about everything God has planned for this Summer.  Please pray for us to have a learning experience here, and that we have energy and enthusiasm in serving.  Thanks for reading!

Off to Brazil!

 In January, Weston and I booked our flight to Brazil the day we came back to ACU.

Now the day has arrived.  We will fly out of College Station at 5:30 and will be with the Blumes after lunch tomorrow.  We are so excited.  Please keep our flights and this trip in your prayers.

I have had two weeks of summer in College Station, and that will be it except for one day when I fly back in and head up to Abilene for RA training.  I couldn't have asked for a better time here with my family.  I have gotten to spend lots of time with my parents, Angela and Jason, and the kids.  We even went to Temple last saturday to see Ronica, Jadyn, and Carabelle, and their new house.  David will be there in July after he finishes up at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.  I got to be with Sarah before she left for the Philippines (keep her in your prayers, she is having a very stretching experience there), DJ before he left for Summit (He is having a blast! Praise God for his awesome time there!), Tyler before he left for Spain, and Chase Inman.  So many great things have happened.  I had dinner with Matt Svach last night and we talked for a few hours.  It feels like we are great friends, but we have only seen each other about five times in our lives.  I have been with Weston and his family some, and got to see the Millers again.

AND AARON CALLED ME THIS MORNING!  It was so awesome.  He is having the best weeks of his life, and God is doing some really cool things.

We are ready!  Thank you for your support and prayers.  Next post will be from Brazil!

Day 15

New record for getting up early! 1:00 AM.  We circled up and joined hands with the Kirotel staff to pray in the lobby.  Tim prayed a blessing on the staff, and thanked God for our experiences on this trip and for keeping us safe.  He also prayed for continued safety.  Then Elie prayed in Arabic.  It was a fantastic experience.

Elie, his son Hiro, Muhammed (he has been our beast driver the last few days here), and another staff person went with us to the airport and dropped us off.  I was feeling quite peppy at 1:30 AM, so I tried to get people to sing songs on the bus with me.  Nobody wanted to though.. except Tim! He had me lead "The Steadfast Love of the Lord"!  It was a blast.

Routine stuff... sitting around..  Amy wants some snacks..

Right before we were about to go through the gate, Liz noticed that she had lost her passport.  Nobody freaked out, except I think Sam might have been trembling inside.  I don't think anyone wants to stay in Egypt for a few more days.  Some of the kids took off down the terminal to retrace steps.  It even came over the loud speaker that she had lost it.  Being the caring person I am, I decided there was nothing I could do and went on through the gate.  Don't worry, I could see them through some glass to keep up with their progress.  She found it and got through.  Turns out, it was in Gary's shirt pocket.  She had given her passport to Amy, and Amy had put it in her dads pocket, and Gary didn't notice, and Amy forgot.  ...ya how about we just all hold on to our own passports.  That was fun.

Uneventful flight to Frankfurt.  Eventful Frankfurt.  We needed to get to terminal A (and soon).  The stairs to terminal A were blocked by a police officer.  Some of the people in our group had already made it through.  He simply said "There has been an incident."  We tried to find another way around, but the airport staff was not being helpful at all.  Tim was trying very hard to reason with them that we needed to catch a flight, but they wouldn't let us around.  Before we knew it there was a small police truck and caution tape in front of the stairs.  Then a man with a sniffer dog went up.  When I took this picture, I got yelled at by the cop behind the tape.

About ten minutes later, the dog came back down, and the man was holding a small bag.  They let us through.  Apparently a bag was just siting in the middle of the floor, so they have a procedure to clear the area and check it out.  We were definitely late for the flight, but they held the plane because so many of its passengers were stranded (not only our group, but some oil workers from Mississippi who where in Cairo).  Fun flight back, yay.  Customs in Houston took forever, but we finally all got our bags and circled up to hug and pray for the last time.

 Scott picked us up, and the Miller's rode back to College Station with us.  We stopped for a drink at Sonic.  YUM.  MERICA.

That concludes the blogging of this trip.  Thank you for reading.  What a vacation! So many experiences and new relationships.  I appreciate everyone in our group so much, and loved getting to know them.  Thank you Lord for this opportunity, and for blessing this trip so much.  An absolutely incredible experience, and the best trip of my life thus far.

Day 14

Pyramids!  Not too early of a start, 9, so I was rested.  The bus took us to Giza, right outside of Cairo.

 Elie has a masters in Egyptology, and was our guide for the day.

First we went to the Sphinx.  It has been sitting there for 4,500 years, and so have the pyramids.  It is crumbling slowly so they are having to figure out ways to reinforce it.

On our way to the pyramids, we were bombarded by people trying to sell us postcards, statues, turbans, and camel rides.  This is the worst haggling we have seen so far on the trip.  It is hard to even look at the pyramids because people are all around trying to put things in your hands.  It was so frustrating, and once again, I am in the dilemma of how to respond as a Christian.  What I wanted to do was yell at them to go away.  They aren't even being nice, but forceful.  And they all have the same cheap junk.  So by the time the 15'th turban salesman grabs you, you want to scream.  You have to literally shove away, pretend they don't exist, or say "no, no" sternly.  If you even look at them they will think there is hope and press harder.  What you also have to understand is that, as hard as it is to believe, NOBODY comes to Egypt and the pyramids anymore.  They are literally starving for tourism.  They are very desperate, and it is a really sad situation.  And of course, nobody wants their junk.  We were almost the only people there.  Unbelievable.  It's the PYRAMIDS.  Everyone is seriously too scared to come to Egypt.  They are becoming so desperate and forceful that we came pretty close to getting the tourist police involved.

Weston and I got owned by some crooks.  While we were trying to do our video, two men came up and said, "You American! We like your beards! You look Arab!  Here is a gift because you look Arab!"  Then they put headdresses on us.  Then they said, "Take picture with Camel!" So we took a picture with it.  Then the guy literally picked me up and put me on it.  I didn't want to scream or fight about it, it was kinda fun, and he hadn't asked for money.  I didn't have any, and I wasn't going to pay him.  So I wasn't scared, yet.  Before I knew it he had us on the Camel running out into the desert.  They took some pictures of us, but we were really far away from the group.  We told them we needed to go back multiple times, but they just took us farther out.  Then they started to ask for money, and I said I had none.  Weston jumped off the camel because he was ticked and feeling brave.  One of the men got on with me and took me way out by myself.  In the mean time Weston got surrounded by three men who were grabbing for his money pouch.  The man on the camel with me turned around and started telling me to give him money, but I kept saying, "I have none, please take me back."  This went on for a while before he started to grab for my wallet.  Then I got mad.  I took it out, opened it up, and showed him that there was no money.  Then I said, "I told you I have no money! Take me back, now!"  Then he did.  By this time Weston had gotten away from his guys after paying them off, and had run over to me.  He was also saying, "Take us back, and let him down!"  They gave me some free stuff to calm me down.  They knew I was mad, and they didn't want me to tell the tourist police.  The tourist police have the power to put them out of business really quick and destroy their livelihood.  They do not want the tourism industry to be hurt by hagglers.  It is such a sad situation out there.

When we got back to the group we heard that Miss Lanette had almost been picked up and put on a camel, but she screamed.  After a while it got tiring.  It was hard to even enjoy being there with so many people in your face.  When we got on the bus people were literally sticking their arms through the windows trying to hand us stuff.

We drove back into Cairo.

Next we went to a papyrus museum, and saw a great demonstration on how it is made.

Then we went to McDonald's to complete one stop in each country!

 A can of Pepsi.  Don't drink the fountain drinks! They have city water in them.

The Egyptian Museum at Tahrir (revolution) square was next.  It is one of the most famous museums in the world.  Built in 1897.  Elie took us inside and gave us a tour.  He said of Egyptology, "The only thing we know for certain is that nothing is certain."

It has lots.. and lots.. of Egyptian statues, coffins, jewelry, chariots, mummies, etc.  And everything is covered in hieroglyphics.  Really cool, really old stuff.  It would take hours to look at every single artifact.  The King Tut room was the best part.  His tomb was found completely unscathed, so everything is in perfect condition.  Shining gold.  Sadly, cameras were not allowed inside. Sorry.  But here are pictures off of the internet of some of the things at the museum.  Special thanks to whoever snuck their camera in to take a few of these.

Amazing place.

After that we went to the Al-Azhar mosque, the oldest in Cairo.  It is very beautiful.  There were lots of men studying and praying.  We even got some free Islamic literature from a friendly Muslim evangelical.

Many in our group wanted to do last minute shopping, so we went to Khan El-Khalili.  It is one of the main markets in Cairo.  I didn't shop, just played in the grass with some cute kids and talked to Kent about Islam and Mormonism.  I was feeling better by then, but I still didn't want Koshari for dinner, just powerbar.  Yum!

I need to talk about Elie.  He is a Coptic Christian with a wife and children, and he owns two hotels.  He has his masters in Egyptology, and is very smart.  Elie has been incredibly helpful and hospitable to us.  He has been taking us all around Egypt on his bus.  He has also been our tour guide at the sphinx and museum, and has been making all of our food arrangements.  We are staying at his Kirotel right now.  He and his staff have been one of the most encouraging parts of this trip to me.  Business is not good for them right now at all.  His desk worker makes three dollars a day, and he is doing better than most in Egypt.  We will keep them in our thoughts and prayers.  They are a light for the kingdom.  Elie is on the far right, and his son Hiro is next to him.

Elie has a room where he wants people who come to the hotel to right a message on the wall.  We were the first ones to do it.

Off to bed! It will be a very, very early morning tomorrow.