Greetings from India!

I am happy to say that Janette, Stephanie, Amy and I have all made it to the Shelter safe and sound. We are all still very tired, but the energy that the girls give off and the exhilaration of being in this beautiful new country keeps us going. We had a midnight New Years Eve service with the girls last night and then church this morning where we were introduced and given a beautiful bouquets of flowers as a welcome. It's absolutely wonderful here. Asim and Mamata have been incredibly hospitable, and have even gotten us invited to a wedding feast tonight. We had some time to sing and play games with the girls tonight and tomorrow, we have a plan to do much more. I have never felt that people were so fascinated with me before. The girls crowd around and stare and asked us dozens of questions about our lives.
It was a little frustrating at first, because many of the younger girls know very little English, but after a while that hardly starts to matter. the language has become not of words or tones, but of smiles and laughs. language barrier became, instead, a language of hand-holding. Every word that needed to be said was somehow communicated through touch, and body language, and the eyes of the most extraordinary girls i have ever met.
All i can ask for prayer is that the 4 of us will be able to catch up on sleep at some point, that we will continue to stay healthy, and that we will never forget the impact mad on us by India and it's inhabitants.
Praying Always, Sierra Nicole Holland

One last image from Brazil

This picture was given to us upon our arrival back in the states from the community in Sao Paulo. What an incredible trip and a great new community of friends!

Visiting the city

Yesterday our team went downtown to see more of the city of Sao Paulo.



Here the group is at the subway station. After a couple hour drive (just to get near downtown) we packed ourselves into subway cars and made our way to our first stop, the Se Cathedral.




You can see the the cathedral we visited in this picture of the city taken from the top of a downtown skyscraper. Here is another picture (featuring Kim) from that building.


After our time there we headed to lunch and eventually to a park where we rested and played frisbee. On our way back to the church we stopped for souvenirs and ate at Boi Nobre (The Noble Bull) Churrascaria. It was a wonderful day.

Today we woke up to a beautiful morning right outside our window.


And back to work we go!


We are loving the warmth, but can't wait to see friends and family soon! Ciao!

Women´s Bible Study

Last night we went to the women´s Bible study. What a completely amazing experience! Because they were attending a funeral, our translators were not available. Through limited words and hand gestures, we managed to get by. We read a parable found in Matthew. Then we prayed. First a Brazillian woman, and then an American woman. The ladies asked us to sing a song. We decided to sing Holy, Holy, Holy. When we finished, the ladies sang it back to us in Portuguese. What better way to emphasize that we are truly sisters in Christ?

Team 3, first full day

Hello friends,

It´s our first full day in Brazil, and it happens to be a holiday. It´s Sao Paulo day (celebrating 457 years as a city). Because of this, a lumber delivery we were expecting did not arrive. We put a half day of work in, finishing the brick walls that the other teams started. Tomorrow there will be concrete pouring, as the lumber will be here to make the necessary frames. So after another delicious lunch, some of the youth took us on a walking tour of their neighborhood. We also got to take a tour of an amazing local school. The children are out on break for December and January, but the school is open for play time. It was a beautiful facility, with lots of room for learning the arts, athletics, computers, and play. It even had three swimming pools! An afternoon rain storm helped cool us down. This evening, the ladies have been invited to attend the women´s Bible study. We look forward to attending, even though we will probably not have a translator.

The ladies are staying in rooms above the sanctuary. As we were preparing for bed last night, we were serenaded by Luci, Tim, Greg, Jefferson (local piano genius), and Giselle having a jam session below us. Complete exhaustion was the only thing keeping us from joining them. Maybe tonight....

This morning, Carla Zerkle lead our devotions. She talked about Psalms 24. Did you know that ´Lift up your heads, o gates`refers to the top part of the gates to Jerusalem (Psalms 24:7). They were saying that our God is too big to just enter normally through the gates. The tops have to be removed for Him. It was amazing concept to picture looking at the unfinished walls of the sanctuary. With no ceiling or tops to the windows, it really brought verse to life!

We would appreciate your prayers as we continue to work on the new church, get used to such heat and humidity in January (I can´t believe I just put heat, humidity, and January in the same phrase!), and communicate with wonderful people through a language barrier.

Thank you for your continued love and support!

Sarah and the rest of Team 3

Team 3 in Brazil

Jonathan Zerkle, one of the Team 3 leaders, took some pictures and put them on his photo blog. Check his two most recent blog postings for photos from Brazil and information on Team 3!

http://www.jonryanphotography.blogspot.com/

Waiting...

Much of travel is waiting... Here is Pastor Steve patiently waiting on the floor of the Chicago airport for our flight to Sao Paulo watching the Steelers secure another Super Bowl berth.