TCA DAY 6

Boa Vista (Good View)

Today marks a great day in American history. The American soccer team achieved glory. The morning started off shaky. Ball-handling and teamwork were at a low. The 14 year old Brazillian boys, fully decked-out in matching jerseys, pulled out a decisive victory against the sleep-deprived Americans. Their glory was short lived. After lunch, Team Amazon (aka The Americanos), led greatly by Beebs and Corbin, who accomplished the single greatest athletic feat of their whole lives, put the first "W" on the board for the Americans. Both scored impressive goals. Both took their shirts off during their victory lap. Honorable Mention defenders of the day go to Brooklyn Hill, Logan Landry, Terra Samuelson, Katie McTavish, and as always, our magnificent goalie Tanner Robertson. After the game, a local reporter interviewed Mr. Azevedo and filmed a majority of the game. Mr. Azevedo made known our reasons for being in Brazil: to make God famous...

As the soccer team began to work up a sweat, the other Americans slowly began to dragg off the boat and into the schools and hospital to aid the townspeople of Boa Vista (which by the way is more like the Six Flags of all villages along the river). In the schools, the gospel was presented to 6 different classes of 45+ children each in the morning, and then the same in the afternoon. We demonstrated the way Christ washes away our sins with the "sin solution" visual aid. Led by our fearless leaders, Katy Clements and Nancy Turtletaub (of course), we also shared with the kids salvation bracelets, sang songs, and gave testimonies. Stand-outs for the morning in las escolas were as following: Storey Sheldon, Katie McQuilkin, and Kendyl Dawson, who really loved on the kids. Meanwhile, in the hospital, some of us got the opportunity to see first hand what a village hospital is all about. Be glad none of us have been in need to go there... Accompanied by Dr. Ku and Dr. Beebe, a group of kids toured the hospital, giving words of encouragement and lots of "bom bom" to the patients and nurses. Aren't we good in the nutrition department. Also, we gave out beanie babies to a group of kids at the hospital, who although were not sick were still very grateful. Despite the shocking atmosphere, it was a great experience in opening our eyes to how truely blessed we are living in America. I know the doctors thought so too.

We got a wonderful oppertunity to broadcast live to the radio station of the entire village. Mr. Azevedo, aka the brilliant Brazilian/American superhero translator/ ninja dancer (explained more later), the sweet Mrs. Azevedo, Trip Starkey, and Tanner Robertson all got to speak as hosts for the hour on air. Believing to reach only about 100 or so listeners, the group was soon informed they would reach an audience of around 10,000. Showing no fear, the group boldly spoke on many different scriptures. Trip spoke from Galatians while Tanner and Mrs. Azevedo gave their testimonies. All the while, Mr. Azevedo was translating!! Following after a "captivating" audience of Catholic priests, the group sure had stiff competition to overcome. Needless to say, the radio was a success.

Round two of schools and hospitals took place after lunch, where more beanie babies and rainbow suckers were distributed to the masses. After another session of "Sin Soloution," around four hundred high school students gathered for an assembly of epic proportions in the gym coming to see the American "celebrities." All eyes and ears looked to Mr. Dyer, who spoke beautifully and passionately on his "come to Jesus" moment. Shout out to Kyle Cox and Karaline Coats who gave their testimonies to a restless crowd of Brazillian teenagers. With all of the attractive blondes on the team this year, keeping the attention of the Brazillian boys was not difficult. Making sure they herad what we had to say was a different story. Many of our girls signed autographs of adoring fans throughout the day. Mr. Delph made sure to call a meeting with the group about safety and the potentials of "stranger danger." No casualites occured.

After dinner the gang headed back up to the village, which really acted like a small city, for a gathering of the local church and the villagers. A skit was performed by some of our trip members, Chloe Robinson and Corbin Blount gave testimonies, and Mr. Delph once again spoke with conviction to a rowdy crowd of Brazillians. This rowdy crowd consisted of many children, candy venders, and a group of crazy awesome dancers. These dancers are called ... and performed ritualistic fight-dancing-shenanigans. Mr. Azevedo could not contain himself and joined in on the Ninja Dancing fun, along with many of our translators. It was a big day.

To top of this glorious day of amazement and wonder, we were escorted back to our boat by nearly two hundred small Brazillian children, who stood at the edge of the water chanting whatever Trip Starkey commanded. As the boat finally pulled away, all Americans looked longingly back at the villagers who at this point in the night were indeed chanting "Go Cowboys!" I kid you not. We have clearly made a greater impact than we could have ever thought.

Over 2,000 students heard the gospel today via school.

Over 10,000 locals of the village heard testimonies and scripture via the radio.

Over 500 villagers gathered for the service.

And countless were effected by the love shown by all members of the group.

-Katie Feldman and Kyle Cox