Hello everyone,
I don´t have much time but thought I would leave you a short message to say that I have arrived safely in Recife. The family I am staying with is really nice ( and have a lovely flat, with access to a swimming pool and to the beach!). So far all the work we have done has gone well; we did 2 hours of activities with the kids from the favella who seemed to really enjoy it yesterday, and today we went to the place wheere the camps will be taking place to give it the clean that it so badly needed.
I had better go but there will be more updates relatively soon.
Please also check out the blog for the whole team http://www.latinlink.org.uk/National-Sites/UK/What-can-I-do/Team-Mission-Step/Meet-the-teams/Summer-Brazil-2012
See you soon for the next update!

 Hello everyone,

Orientation finished yesterday: it went really well; my team is really nice, and we all kind of bonded straight away (which I guess is necessary when there are 12 of you in a 8 people tent).  We had all kinds of sessions, including a language one where they separated the people who spoke some portuguese (only 3 of us) and asked us to give our testimonies in portuguese: it was extremely difficult for me as I didn't even know how to say christian in portuguese (at least now I know!)
We also did what they call "the excursion", where they send us off on "Crash Airlines" (otherwise known as a trailer filled with hay) to a random country in South America, where we have to face scary customs officers (who threaten to hit you with a mallet if you don't give them money), then we had to drive to the 'local town' (or the barn), in an overcrowded minibus and a very bad driver ( who brakes suddenly and can't drive straight, and who lets random drunk people (or rather people pretending to be drunk) on) and then had to negociate to buy a souvenir.
As you can guess we all had a good time.

So I guess the next piece of news that I should give is that I will be music co-ordinator and children's work co-ordinator (both roles are shared with another person). However it seems that I'm the only guitarist in the team, so please pray that it will improve dramatically before I leave!
Other subjects for prayer would be for the journey on Wednesday (ONLY 2 DAYS!!!!!) to go well, and for us to be able to communicate when we arrive despite our level of portuguese. Of course, prayers for us to be really a blessing to the people over there would also be wonderful!

Look out for the next update, coming soon ( I hope)

Hello again,

Though I haven't left yet, I think it is about time for another update.

I have finally had the final amount I managed to raise with my sponsored swim. (drumroll....)
I managed to raise: 828€ and 700£, soooo THANK YOU to everyone!!!!!!!

Other news is that I am leaving on the 22nd for England for my orientation week end: this will be the first time that I will meet the rest of the team I am going to Brazil with. And I am leaving for Recife on the 27th, so excitement is at it's peak!

I have also had a little more information about what we will be doing over there. We will be doing 2 weeks of camps in a campsite not far from Recife for young people, mostly for the kids from the favella (=the slums) in Recife (Porta Larga). Then we will go back to Recife itself to do some follow up with the kids in the schools.

So as you can guess, I will be rather busy, but will try and update this blog as often as possible, but it will definitely not be daily! ;)

Subjects for prayers would be that the team would get on well, and that we all are encouraged by what we learn at orientation.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers.