There were frustrations with this trip as well. Limited translation hampered our being able to talk with kids we met at Channel to Brazil for Christ’s school. The safety factor limited our ability to wander through the streets meeting people. And our video camera died on Day 2, which was really hard for Brady since part of the reason I brought him was so he could get footage to make some videos for me. Homesickness also got pretty hard for Brady towards the end of the trip.
There were also some of those random events that make trips memorable.
· We had to use mosquito netting at night. The first night, Brady slept with his knee up against the net. In the morning he had 33 mosquito bites on his right knee cap where they got him through the mesh.
· I did not know it was possible to run, cut, dribble and kick a soccer ball at 100 mph in flip flops. And this was the eight year olds.
· Brady has groupies. He helped with a children’s crusade the last few days we were there by running the powerpoints. The first night when the program was over, a group of Brazilian boys ran up to him and thought he was really cool because of the computer. Then they took him over to a group of girls, who giggled. The next night, the girls crowded around him after the crusade. And again on the last night. Brady just sort of looked at me with a “Dad…what do I do?” look on his face.
· Our last couple days were spent down the coastline with some friends. They live on a coconut farm where monkeys come to the porch to eat bananas, but in their attic they are producing a series of twenty-five minute movies of chronological Bible story teaching (www.lightinaction.org). Their vision is to put this online in the major global languages. We had the chance to talk with them about how different ways that movies can connect with oral cultures and how stories as a follow-up can help reproduce the lessons people take from the movies. I would encourage you to keep an eye on their films to show international students or to use as a small group with faith seekers.