27th April Update

Hello everyone

Since my last update we have been doing quite a lot. We went into a different favela school last friday and we have got alot more work done. The visit to the school was great fun and it went really well. Beforehand, we prepared a performance so that we could perform in front of a big group of children if it was necessary. As we expected, when we arrived we were told to go up on the main stage. Before we went up onto the stage we were greated by a whole load of children interested in us and wanting to talk to us. It was a slight struggle to communicate with the children, due to our lack of portuguese speaking, but we managed to get a couple of conversations going. Soon after we were asked to go up to the stage. Many different things were included in our act. Firstly we introduced ourselves, then said the Lord´s prayer in portuguese, which amazingly, the whole school knew of by heart and joined in. After that, we had created a short sketch of the parable of the lost coins. We interacted with the children and they seemed to really enjoy it. We had practiced a english song with portuguese words that we sung to them. This meant that the children could listen to the words as well as the music. The song was "light of the world". Straight after we sung two childrens songs in english with actions and the children all joined in. James from our team had translated his testimony into portuguese and he read it out to the children after the songs. Finally we prayed in portuguese to finish off our performance. It was really fun to perform for the children and for God. The performance went down really well and straight after we surrounded by children who wanted to talk to us. Every time we have gone into a favela school, I have found it really humbling that these children have so much joy, even when they do not live in joyful circumstances. It is a great example for us all to follow.

Over the last week we have still been working on the project and it is very near completion. I am very sure that it will be finished before we leave Aldeia or that it will be finished in the near future. We are very close to our leaving date to go to our next project, Serra Talhada. It has been amazing to live in Aldeia and to work on our project. I have really loved meeting new people and making new freindships. It is going to be sad leaving Aldeia but i am looking forward to what is coming at our next project.

I have got a couple of pictures from the last week, including pictures of the school, our team and the friends we have made at church:

Thank you for reading.

Look out for more updates.


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19th of Arpil Update

Hi everyone. We are now in our final 2 weeks at our project in aldeia. We are on track to finishing the building work before we go but it will be hard work for the next week or so. After the 2 weeks of work at this project we are going north to Porta Golinase for a weeks holiday. When the holiday finishes we will be heading straight to our next project in Serra Talhada by bus. The accomidation we are going to be living in will be a flat above the church we will be working with. Our team will be attending the church that the step team of 2008 built. It will be great to see how it has grown and be a part of a new church.

Since my last update we have done many things. Last tuesday we went into another school and stood on a stage playing songs and performing a dram to about 300 children. The atmosphere was amaxing and it was great fun. To our suprise, after we performed we were asked to sign a lot of signitures for the children and it was hard to leave. I have a couple of pictures of the school:


The building work is going really well, here are some pictures of the work so far:



Thank you for reading.

Look out for more updates

April 10th Update

Hi everyone, sorry i havent updated my blog recently but it has been quite busy and i havent had time to get to an internet caf

Since my last update we have been doing alot of things. We have been working on the site as usaul for most days of the week and we have got a lot done. On tuesday this week we were invited into a favela school which was a amazing experience. We went in prepared with a few childrens songs with actions and also a short drama. The children loved it that white people came into the classes and wanted to see them. They all joined in with the actions and tried to sing the english songs as much as they could. Most of the classes would have a couple of excited boys who wouldnt let me leave without them playng my guitar, it was great fun. Overall we performed to over 80 children, possibly the whole school. It was amazing to see children who have nearly nothing be so happy and joyful. It is a lesson i need to learn myself. Sadly i did not take my camera with me to the school but we are going again this week and i will take pictures to put up on my next blog update.

I have a couple of pictures to upload of the work we have done recently and the area we are living in:




I hope to update me blog again soon.

Thankyou for reading




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27th of March Update

Hi everyone. I have had a great week since my last update and am now currently sitting in a internet cafe off the main road in aldeia, only a walks distance away from where we are staying.

The day after my last update we went to the local presbyterian church in aldeia. There is no formal service in the morning and therefore the service was at 6pm. When we got there we were very well welcomed and the service was very lively and great fun. Whilst we there, a 19 year old boy was standing next to the pastor and translating his words to english when he required it. We were introduced to the church by the pastor. As soon as the service was over we met the 19 year old boy called Daniel and we were soon invited to the chinese resturant that his father owned. In there amazing generousity they paid for our meal, which is a great reflection of the generous culture of Brazil. We had great food and conversation and the other boys had a long talk abut football. Due to the obvious interest in football that the other boys in our team had, we were asked to play football on the friday with the church which was a great oppportunity to meet new people and build relationships, and also improve my football playing.

We started work again on monday, the girls continuing the clearing and the boys digging trenches for a small wall. After 4 days of work at the house, we were asked to help a couple of latin link long term striders to paint a clear out a building they planned to use for childrens work. this was a nice break from our usual surrounds because it was near the large city of Recife, and it was great for more team bonding. As soon as we got off the bus on our way back to Aldeia, me and the other boys went off to play in the football match with people our age from the church. There were may teams of six and we played with Daniel, the english speaking boy from church. it was great to play a different way than in England, with such things as no slide tackles and all the brazilians would pass alot more than we did. Today we had a well needed lie in and im am now looking forward to my time ahead in brazil. We hope to play football agian today.

Thank you for reading



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20th March Update

Hi everyone.

Things are going well with my trip, have had a good couple of days with my group. I have managed to get to an internet cafe in the city of Recife to write this blog update. I am gettting on really well with my group and i am gettting used to all the bugs and the incredible heat, it has been averaging around 35 degrees C.

We arrived at our accomodation at midnight brazil time on Wednesday the 16th and even in the dark it was a beautiful place. It was a slighty uncomfortable nights sleep, due to the heat and jet lag, but we got enough sleep for the next day. We had a day of relaxing the next day, waiting to be told what to do which gave us time to catch up on lost sleep. On friday we started work in the afternoon. The girls took on the weeding of an area by the house for a kids play park and the boys started making steps down to the Mission Training Centre. That day I was on domestic duty with another member of the team and I cleaned the house and helped cook the meal, this meant i didnt have to do the work outside. After a good nights sleep we all starting work on the jobs we had. Me and 2 other boys started digging out shallow foundations for a wall that would surround a football and volleyball pitch. It was very hard work in the heat, and the ground was very hard to dig up. By the end of one day we had dug one side of the area and we were happy with what we had done. After we had all showered and called down we had a time of worship, which i lead, and it was very nice. Today we travelled in to the city of Recife to look around the city and to also get to an internet cafe. There is an internet cafe nearer where we are staying but it is a long walk and is not a well equiped.

Here are a couple pf pictures of my sccomidation and what i am doin:





So far, my trip has been really good and i am looking forward to going to the local church and everything else that will come.

Thank you for reading

Look out for more updates



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Orientation and leaving for Brazil

Hi everyone.

In the last couple of weeks I have been busy preparing for my trip and the biggest thing i have done is the Orientation weekend that was from March 3rd to the 7th. This involved talks about culture, food and drink, health and safety and many other needed subjects. The best thing was an activity called "The Excursion." This was a type of role play where the staff members dressed up and became local South American people. We were thrown into many different scenarios, such as plane flight, passport control and also a busy market square. All of these scenarios were very exaggerated, with people trying to take your possessions or taking you into their car. There was a point to the whole activity, which is to give you a better idea of difficulties you could face in South America and what to watch out for.

It was really great to finally meet my team. All of them seem really nice and easy to get on with, which is handy when you are spending 4 months with them. I am looking forward to getting to know my team and building great relationships.

After all this preparation I am now ready to go to Brazil. I am leaving on the plane at 1200 tomorrow, Tuesday the 16th of March, and getting back on the 15th of July. The whole trip will be a great experience and i hope that I will learn more about myself and another country. I will be updating this blog every week with what I have been up to and will post pictures and possibly videos. I will have limited access to a computer but i will try and get to one as much as possible.

This will be my last blog entry in the UK for a while so the next entry will be in Brazil.

Thank you for reading and look out for more updates



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Preparation for Trip

Hi everyone, this is my first of many blog entries to come.

I am going away to Brazil for 4 months from March 16th to do missionary work. This is a gap year between college and university and i wanted to do something exciting and worth while.

Since i went to the interview day and was acccepted, I have been trying to raise the funds for my latin link trip. The total i needed to raise was £2950 for the initial trip costs excluding travel insurance, medical expenses and equipment. People have given generously towards it from friends and family and we organised a fundraising event only last night. The event went really well and we had over 100 people come to it. We served up Chilli con carne, had a live band and also had salsa dancing. We raised a good amount towards the fund and i am now a lot closer to the target amount. Thank you to everyone who has given me money and has backed me for the trip.

Here are a few pictures of the event:






























After the event, I hope to get the remaining amount over the next few months. Now i
know it is really happening, I am really looking forward to it.

Keep an eye out for more entries soon.