On The Way (No, Really!)

It is currently 9:50 pm as we sit in the San Paulo, Brazil airport. We left the guest house in Santarem, Brazil at 4:30 am this morning & have made stops in Belem, San Luis, & Fortaleza, Brazil. We have been traveling for 13 1/2 hours & are approximately 2000 miles farther AWAY from home, as a result of our decision to save $800 per ticket (being good stewards!). We depart at 11:55 pm & arrive in Miami at 7:15 am (Hallelujah!). We are all in relatively good shape & mostly sound minds! Who knows what we will look like when we arrive in Charleston tomorrow at 1:52 pm? Ciao for now!

Heading Home!

Getting reading to hit the sack in Brazil for a 4 am wake up call! We depart Santarem, Brazil at 7:10 am & fly to Fortaleza, Brazil. From there we travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil. We depart Sao Paulo at 11:55 pm & arrive back in Miami. Depart from Miami at 10:12 am & arrive in Charlotte at 12:22 pm. Depart Charlotte at 12:57 pm & arrive home in Charleston at 1:52pm. Feel free to come out & see us arrive in Charleston! We would love some help with our luggage! Ciao!

Pastor Chuck Sumner & Tommy Elliot assisting with raising the first of three roof trusses.

2012 Seacoast Brazil Mission Team with some of the local Brazilian workers from Estrada D (pronounced Estrada Day), including Betty Best (host missionary) & Joaquim (PAZ construction foreman), on the stage of the new church building.

Amie Heath, Kristi Page, & Tommy Eliot assisting in pouring the footer for the stage. We hauled so many wheelbarrels of dirt to fill that stage!

It is a little after 10:30 A.M. in Brazil. We arrived in Santarem a little after 9 A.M. Saturday morning. We stayed an extra day in Estrada D (pronounced Estrada Day) to get the trusses for the roof on the building. The team is very tired from a week of hard work in a beautiful community. We are all safe, but have lots of stories to share. We went into town after breakfast Saturday morning to find gifts for family, friends, and donors. We will be uploading more pictures in the next few days now that we are back into the city. Unfortunately we do not have Wifi in the guesthouse. We have had a fabulous week of fellowship, people accepting Christ as their Savior (Hallelujah!), and growing very close as a team. Each team member will write about their favorite things that happened this week when we are able, but wanted to let all concerned know we are safe. I did want to share one short story on something we did on Wednesday at the construction site. As a team, we joined with the Brazilian workers and walked the entire building & site praying for God's blessing, protection, growth, & favor over the new church & community. After completing our prayer walk, Pastor Chuck (Sumner) prayed a POWERFUL prayer blessing the church as John Tucker anointed the structure & all it's openings & walls with oil. I have NEVER felt such a strong presence of the Holy Spirit!! We have so many stories of Jesus' presence & grace & will try to upload the stories while traveling home over the next few days, as well as new photos. We are excited to be heading home, but will miss the people we have grown to love this week. We also miss you all so much!!! Especially you Rebecca (selfish post!) Therefore keep checking the blog! Can't wait to see each & every one of you & share what got has done with your financial & personal sacrifices pn this amazing trip! See you soon! (With assistance from Kristi Page)