BILINGUAL CAMP 2010

if you have been to Itu to visit us, you understand what a big deal our BILINGUAL CAMP is in our circle!

it is the yearly event that generates the most movement within our community, the most amount of gringos in Itu, the most amount of advertising for an Itu church event, the most amount of excitement in our youth community, and the most amount of work! =)

we've had Carioca's amazing talent helping us develop the image of our 2010 CAMP -- what our brainstorming community realized was that most everything being promoted for youth (in and out of church) in our brazilian context is so ... superficial. it tries to correct the errors by complaining about the branches, instead of dealing with the r-o-o-t-s. ... but the deepest "whys" are left out of the reasoning process. . . and so we invite youth to explore the roots of life, the essence, the deeper reality.


and with you, CAMP ROOTS 2010



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march madness

and so i blinked my eyes on feb 28th, and when i opened them it was March 11th.

here are a few of our news flashes for March (some in the past tense already):

- we spoke at a youth conference in GOIANIA last week! it went very well. my cousins organized a good group of 70 teens in their church, and we spoke about CHANGING PERSPECTIVE (when we invite God's perspective, our posture is readjusted and the possibilities grow)



my counsins in GOIANIA

my cousins' kids



- while in GOIANIA, we visited a non-profit org that cares for delinquent youth. it is an incredible institution, and it inspired us to keep dreaming in transforming our xic-xou (homeless lunch) into a non-profit.

- we received Greg, Fawn and Taylor Dunham, and began working out the details for our medical campaign CURA 2010 (hey, you should definitely visit www.curabrazil.com), including meeting with the mayor, secretary of health, secretary of education, and our 1st CURA 2010 volunteer meeting!

- last weekend we had 12 people spend the night! several friends came from out of town for the CURA meeting, and then several others decided they missed Itu/our house... we were outsideour gate till 2 am doing stupid human tricks on skate boards, talking and setting up the tent for the boys to sleep in.

- our non-nuclear family (Mark, Ali, Carioca and Barbara) participated in a Philanthropy Seminar on Monday. learned a lot about the laws and politics around the new law for social work entities. honestly, boring, but useful.

- we will be settling all the details for our ITU BILINGUAL CAMP! curriculum and programs and invitations and recruiting...

- NEXT WEEK CHRIS FRIZZEL and SARAH LANG arrive! woohoo! Chris will be here from Granbury to offer a weekend seminar and spend some time with us, and Sarah will be our new intern for 6 months!

- also, MARK'S BDAY IS MONDAY!


and so this is the beginning of our march madness...