My head and my heart cannot comprehend what an amazing week was spent in Rio. It was amazing for many reasons, some expected and some unexpected. Having been here 3 years ago, I came in with the understanding that we would be going to a lot of schools and playing with kids as well as…

The week that my team and I just spent in Rio was one of the most incredible experiences that I have ever been apart of. Our hearts were completely broken down and then reconstructed by God as we loved and served the people of Brazil. We knew going into this trip that it was going…

How do we tell others about what we experienced the past week in RIO?  That is the million-dollar question!  It is easy to recap the events, places, people – taking each day and telling where we were and what we did. But, what we experienced in our hearts and minds will be a bit more…

Just like that, our time in Rio has come to an end and we are back home in the US. Our last day’s activities included seeing the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue and going up the famous Sugar Loaf mountain in a suspended cable car. For lunch, we ate at a traditional Rodizio restaurant where…

Today brought many goodbyes… a lot of “tchau” (this means goodbye in Portuguese). Today was the last day of ministry for the team and the last day of visiting schools and neighborhoods. We made so many connections and relationships with the children and the interpreters that it made saying goodbye so very difficult. Although today…

It has been a long day for this crew today. Physically, we are tired from playing with children all day from morning to evening. Mentally, we are exhausted from processing all that we saw and all that we encountered. The day started off in a school near Central Baptist Church in Costa Barros where we…

Day 4 is in the books! Today we revisited the same neighborhood as yesterday and were able to go see some wonderful kids while they were at school! The kids were so full of energy and joy, it was nearly overwhelming at times. They wanted nothing more than to hug all of us and play…

Today’s adventures seemed to take us all over Rio. From neighborhoods, schools, and malls we were going nonstop all day. We were able to interact with and give to some amazing and joyful children who were in need. Sometimes all they needed was someone to see them, someone to tell them they love them, or…

Coach Bart at Church in Rio