My apologies for not writing sooner. We were traveling all day Saturday and yesterday was very busy.

Our travels on Saturday took us to Ouro Preto. Ouro Preto means black gold. This city is famous for mining gold and also gemstones. At one time there were 2700 gold mines here. Now they are all closed as the gold is gone. At the height of the “gold rush” there were many churches built and ornately decorated in gold. One church in particular is famous for containing approximately 250 lbs of gold. Of interest is the fact that there is a famous sculptor from Ouro Preto who had leprosy. He sculpted one of the churches by tying his tools to his hands because he could not hold them. And how, you may ask, do I know all of this information? It is because the students translated it from Portuguese for us! They did a fabulous job keeping us informed of all the information. I think that they surprised themselves at how well they did. The picture above is of Ricardo translating in front of the church that the man with leprosy sculpted.It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed the time together.

Yesterday morning we held a church service. It is so beautiful to worship together. The students love to sing so we chose some of their favorites for the service. Daniel and Ricardo took turns playing the guitar that we had borrowed from the neighbor for the morning. All of the US team took part in the message portion of the service, sharing about how God transformed them in to a new creation. We then opened things up for everyone to share. Several of the students commented on how they know that our program is a gift from God and it has been a blessing to them and their ministry. They spoke about how we are all part of one body and we need each other. I dare say that there were a few tears shed all around.

There is a large agricultural university here in Vicosa that sits alongside a river and is absolutely beautiful. Yesterday afternoon we took a walk through the campus and then conveniently found ourselves at an ice cream shop. It was fun to have the students translating all of the flavors for us. At many restaurants here you pay by the kilo which means you take as much as you want and they weigh it for you. For the US team this was great because we could try small scoops of many flavors. It was all delicious!

Let me continue the story of Carol from a few days ago (picture above).Her full name is Carolina. She is 23 and is from the northern part of Mexico. She will be traveling with a partner from the south of Mexico to India to work with one of our ministry partners, Gio. She is excited about going but is also nervous. She will be there for 2 years and she is very concerned about the separation from her family. As the baby in the family, she is very close to her mother and father. She told me that this program is good for her because it is helping her to being to adjust to being away from her family. When I asked her how her parents feel about her serving in India for 2 years she
said “It is hard for them but they knew me before Jesus”. She then explained that they told her that they would prefer that she go away with Jesus rather than stay home without Him.

As hard as it is for the team to be away from their families for 2 weeks, we are humbled by the sacrifices the students are making. Over the next several weeks we will be sharing with you about the students and their plans. Here is just a brief introduction to them.

Robson (Hobson), 27, and his wife Aline (Ah-lee-nee), 24, are from the Sao Paulo area in Brazil. They will most likely be going to Indonesia or Myanamr within the next year.

Daniel (Dan-ee-el), 26, is from Chile. He will be leaving for a muslim country in October for 2 years, serving as an IT specialist. He has been my saving grace for computer problems.

Irene (EE-ren-ay), 34, is from Guatemala and will be going to India for 2 years. Although she is only about 4 feet tall, the term small but mighty epitomizes her.

Cristy, 33, is also from Guatemala and is waiting for a partner to go to India with. She plans to serve for 2 years.

Salete (Sa-lay-ch), 45, is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil and is a pastor there.

Ricardo (Hee-car-dough), 30, is also from Belo Horizonte. He is a musician and music teacher. He plans to go to Austin, Texas in November or December to go to the University of Texas. His wife and son will join him there.

Fabiana (Fah-bee-ah-na, but she prefers to be called Fah-bee), 31, is also from the Sao Paulo area and is possibly going to Malaysia.

It has been such a blessing to get to know all of the students and to come to love them. Over the next several weeks we will share more about them with you.

Tchau (chow-which is goodbye in Portuguese),
Ann

P.S. I forgot to mention that we have a team meeting every morning. Yesterday we had 2 additional members. Much to our surprise there were 2 monkeys playing in the trees in the yard. Needless to say our meeting was cut short while everyone tried to take pictures!!