DAY ONE: CAMPINAS!'

It is about an hour drive through beautiful Brazilian countryside from where we are staying to the Favelas inside of Campinas. All of us were eager. All of us were excited. We knew it was going to be a day dedicated to construction, but we also knew that there would be many people there for us to meet and love on. It was absolutely incredible to watch the children as their faces exploded into smiles and giggles the moment that they saw us arrive. People often say that it is those who have the least who are full of the purest kind of joy and fulfillment. That became evident to us all in that moment. Seeing the conditions that all the people lived in was shocking. It was such a huge jump from what any person in the US could ever find themselves in. At the same time, it was this fact that gave me hope because it was a reassuring sign that we were there to bring change and difference to the people. Our small team of people alone could make only a small impact on this kind of place, but with God's ideas and his love overflowing through our actions and words, we could bring big change. It was exciting! The second we walked off the bus, the children all ran up to us and gave us all hugs and kisses and grabbed at our hands. They were all adorable and shaking with excitement and wanting to tell us their names, show us their friends, and climb on our backs.The women walked with the children around the favela, visiting all the neighboring families and meeting their children and sharing in their stories. The men began organizing the construction.Back at the site, we dug holes preparing for the foundations and supports of a new second story addition. We broke through layers and layers of bricks, rubble, and old cement foundations. We mixed cement, laid bricks, built up a wall, acquired blisters, played endlessly with children, ate a delicious lunch prepared for us by local ladies, bent re bar, worked until exhaustion set in, laughed through it all, and made memories that we will have forever.The day had been great! The work was hard but we worked together to get it all started. Leaving was the last thing that any of us wanted to do. When we were all reflecting on the day, leaving was often described as every one's "lowest point" of the day. The children had grown on us (especially through the hilarious language barrier!) and when we were leaving, we had to peel them off of us like little monkeys!I know that the work we did there and the love we showed all the little ones there was definitely benefiting for the people of the favela, but i would argue that it was even more life changing for us. Seeing their joy in their simplicity and their excitement for teaching us their hand games and how to fly their kites was unbelievable.An image that i will forever hold in my heart is Thais, one of the little girls, calling out for me from outside the bus, asking me to come out just once more so she could give me a beautiful flower...I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for our future days here! I cannot wait until tomorrow to start it all again! (the Internet here is slow and tough to connect to at times..hopefully we'll be able to write every day and soon be able to attach our photo's!)