Brazil Clown #98021
O.K. I’m going to try and sum up the whole summer. Which will be hard because so much happened. But I’ll try anyways.
<--Click Here for pictures of my summer.

BOOT CAMP I arrived at Boot Camp in Merritt Island, FL after 35 hours on a Teen Missions bus. Boot Camp is awesome. It’s hard, I won't deny, but fun. Everyday for 2 weeks, I slept in a tent, woke up at 5:30, had 10 min. to get dressed and ready (in the dark), walked 10min. to the start of the obstacle course, and ran it which included: the slough (a big, water-filled ditch w/ropes to swing across) , the Red Sea (another big ditch, but with a rope net to climb across), Mt. Sinai (a huge mountain of tires you had to run laps around first and then climb over) , a maze, Jacob’s Ladder (a 25ft. rope net you climb up and over) , and of course, the wall (12 ft. of straight wall we had to lift and pull our teammates over). After that, we ate breakfast, had personal devos, took classes on clowning, puppets, singing and drama, etc., ate dinner, had evening rally (which are really cool), walked back to our team tent area and went to bed. If we were lucky, we'd get an hour of free time. Usually we'd have to serve an Special Blessing (S.B.) instead. An S.B. is punishment for doing something wrong. Free time is then spent doing work: digging ditches, mopping the kitchen, setting up tents. Doing the work itself is not as bad as losing the only free time you have! You get really tired and dirty at Boot Camp (there’s no showers or washing machines, you bathe and wash clothes from a bucket), but it’s definitely worth it. There’s a lot of rules and things which seem annoying at first, but they really prepare you for the field. And also you get to meet your team and get to know them.

TRAVEL After a candlelight Commissioning service, all the teams take off to their different mission fields. Traveling was an interesting story on its own. We flew (with the Argentina team) to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Our hotel reservations were lost (but the Argentina team still had theirs). I was prepared to sleep on the airport benches, but we prayed and somehow, we were able to find a place to stay. The next evening, we got on a plane to Manus, Brazil. We arrived at 2:30am. We needed to board a plane to Porto Velho, Brazil, but they wouldn’t let us get on the plane, saying our luggage was too heavy. Our leaders kept talking and explaining with the man, but they still would not let us board. So, though we were falling asleep, we did only what we could: we got together and prayed. I’m not completely sure what happened or why, but our leader then came up and said that we were able to board now.

BRAZIL We finally arrived in Porto Velho, and a truck took us to where we were staying. We stayed in dorms with toilets and lights and bunk beds w/o mattresses. This is where we’d stay when we weren't in the towns or villages. For the first 3 weeks, we went to three different towns and spent 4-5 days in each. Each place was different. Sometimes we stayed in tents, sometimes we stayed in a church. Sometimes we had toilets and showers, sometimes we had one outhouse (a hole in the ground) for all 35 of us. But each place we went, we set up a big top tent, and built a stage. It took us several hours to set them up (the big top weighs 2 tons); it was hard, but fun. We had clown presentations every night, except the last night, when we’d show the JESUS film in their language. These presentations consisted of silly and serious skits, songs (some in Portuguese that we learned), a mime, and a speaker who gave a message (who spoke the language, usually a local pastor). During the day, we’d split up into groups and go around door to door handing out tracts and inviting people to our presentations under the big top. We had an interpreter with us, so we could talk to them. We also went other places like a VBS, a children's orphanage, and nursing home.

The River The last nine days was my favorite part of the summer. We traveled by boat up the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon. It was really remote on the river, but I loved it! After the first day, we hadn’t yet arrived at the first village so we pulled the boat to the side and pitched tents for the night. That was incredible, sleeping on a bank in the middle of nowhere, just knowing that there has to be alligators crawling around outside of you. We visited three different villages. We did five presentations. We dug our own toilets. We were attacked by a wild pig early one morning. We climbed and fell down paths up the bank. We walked down jungle trails to reach the small houses and invite them to come. We ran into a coral snake in one girls tent. Everything was so awesome! In one village, three people became Christians during a presentation. We were thrilled about this, but later we discovered something even more awesome. Evangelists had been visiting that village and sharing about Christ for three years, but never had anyone responded. Those three people saved while we were there were the first three Christians in that town!

TRAVEL We had even more trouble traveling back to the U.S. We were supposed to have a one night layover in Quito, Ecuador. But something happened with our original flight back to Miami and it was cancelled. So we ended up staying 2 nights in a very nice hotel in Quito. (We ate in the hotel restaurant; so many silverware, we didn't know which to use!) At the airport about to board a flight to Miami, our leader, Sam, handed us our passports and said our flight was having maintenance problems and we'd now be having a short layover in a new country. We got on a plane that was waiting for us and took off to Panama City. When we arrived in Panama, a man came up to us and said the next plane wouldn't accept us 'cause our flight had been late. We grabbed our duffels off the plane and tried to run to our next flight, anyways. They wouldn't let us through the airport until we went through customs, and by the time we got through, our flight had left us. So, we got to stay a night in Panama at another hotel. :) The next morning, unfortunately, we flew back to the U.S. with no exciting difficulties.

DEBRIEF We arrived at debrief a day late, so we had taken a few debrief classes on our own at the hotel. Debrief helps you get ready for the less excitingness of home and how to come down from a spiritual high. At Debrief, you get to see some of the other teams again and see how their summer was. There were 7 teams there. You mostly take classes that are supposed to prepare you for home (although nothing truly does), play a few games, have the final championship Bible Quiz-Off (which our team won!), rest, and have the debrief banquet. We also have one day of sightseeing that I spent at Wet 'n' Wild. Debrief is fun, but it's kinda sad, knowing that it's the end.

Overall, I learned so much. It's been almost two years, but I'm always looking back and seeing different ways the trip impacted my life. I still base a lot of my thoughts and actions in different situations today on things I learned from the trip. I learned to completely depend and trust in God. I really got to see all the miraculous things He's done. Not only did I see the many ways He protected us, but how He was working in peoples lives was amazing. And I never realized how beautiful creation is. I truly am a different person for going. In the beginning, I wasn't sure why I had picked a clown team; I didn't think I'd like it. But, afterwards, I KNEW that God had put me on that team for a purpose; it turned out to be the absolute perfect team for me in more ways than I can just list! God is awesome!!!

last updated: May 10, 2000