PICTURES! Up and running

Jessi and her favorite little man, Alexander 

Back in Carnauba 

Jessi and Kelli!!! Before we went cliff diving.. just kidding

Vanessa, Giovani and Kelli

Eliana and Jess

Countryside!!

Oi FAMILY!!!

We apologize for not updating sooner! For the last 4 days, we have been in the Brasil country side serving, seeking and sweating like crazy. We had neither time nor internet where we were but I, Kelli, am so happy to sit down now and write an update!

Last Tuesday, the 26^th, we stuffed ourselves in a little Honda and drove to the bus stop.  Our group was made up of Jessi, myself, Marconi (the top dog of Challenge Ministries), Katiana (his wife), Eliana (another member of Challenge) and three new members of our team who were visiting from Southern Brasil; Oodie, Fla and Shandrie. We stood around at the bus stop for a little while and attempted to communicate, which is always a good laugh, and then hopped onto the bus. We bounced around on the bus for about three hours and arrived in Acari to find three of our old Carnaubas friends waiting for us. It was a sleepy but very exciting time to see our friends!!! We walked down the cobblestone street with our old buds to the house that we would be staying at and stayed up late acting out what our lives have looked like for the last year, and catching up in our broken languages. It was amazing to see them and be back in the world of professional shariads. We slept on the porch of Pastor Silvanis’ house on the same air mattresses that we used last June, dripping with bug spray and smiling in our sleep that we were there.

Wednesday morning we woke up with extremely swollen eyes and even more curious minds of what the day would hold. We ate a fairly typical breakfast of corn in 3 different forms, bread, fruit and coffee strong enough to keep you awake through a night shift, and were quickly on our way. Pastor Silvani, the man whose house we were staying at, has a VW van that we used for our transportation while we were there. (Side note: VW van is like a brick of gold here. Challenge Ministries has been trying to buy a van for something close to four years and just recently obtained enough money to buy one. So, going to a house with a van= extremely wonderful). We went to three villages on Wednesday. The first stop set the tone that things would be a lot different than we thought. We visited the house of an old friend of Marconi’s. She had prepared a little snack of fruit for the group and we all ate and listened to the old woman talk about the house. Well, I think she was talking about the house. She was pointing to pictures and walls, which leads me to believe that the house was her “topic” if you will, but in reality, I have no idea what she was talking about. But the fruit was delicious. The Brasilian part of our group were all amazed at the architecture of the old house, the walls about a foot and a half thick and the ceilings extremely high. Jessi and I did not have the knowledge behind appreciating or understanding the differences between this house and others that we had been in, but we loved watching them all googly eyed. The high ceilings offered something of a natural air conditioning, and I wish I could explain how great that was. I don’t know if we have yet mentioned how hot it is here. As a result of the climate, I have learned the extent of a talent I already new existed, which is sweating. Not to be arrogant, but I am extremely good at doing so profusely, better than most people I meet or have ever met. It is pretty neat. Anyways, back to the countryside adventure. We ventured on to Caranuba Dos Dantes, which is where we spent a majority of our trip last summer. The drive into the village was a pretty intense ride. There were a lot of emotions pouring through the two of us girls as we re-entered into a territory of memories made last June. This place has held the status of a kingdom in both of our hearts. A place where the Lord’s presence was extremely tangible and work had been done in the construction of a church and the construction of a community of believers. Jessi has questioned and pondered the thought of going back to Caranuba to continue the Lord’s work there, so going back was significant and powerful, waiting to see what emotions would be stirred upon return. And myself, well, I have no clue what I am doing with my life J But for the reasons previously mentioned, this visit to Carnuaba was a big deal. The first place we went was the church we helped build last summer. When we left last June, we left a beautiful sanctuary of hard work and love. It was the most precious and impressive building any of us Americans had ever seen, because our hearts lined the walls, however, it lacked a few finishing touches that would be in the Brasilian’s hands to finish. Nothing big, but things such as paint, decorations, etc. As we drove up to the church, we were stunned. It was white, like white white. The way that we felt about it last summer was now mirrored in its concrete appearance. Tear jerker. Literally. In shock, we went over to the restaurant we ate at last summer and enjoyed the same meal, same drink, same waiter, same little washing area for our dirty construction hands. It was intense and I don’t know if I can adequately serve justice to how big it was to be there with all these similarities, but take my word that this was huge. I dared Jessi to eat a hot pepper towards the end of our meal and she accepted the challenge. We all laughed a lot as she scarfed down rice and water to kill the burn and as I was wiping my laughing tears, I rubbed the pepper residue on my finger right into my eyeball.. It was a little circle of pain and heat and laughing. Oh the good times of Caranuba. We finished eating our meal and went outside to play in the rain and chat with the people that were around. Most of our kids from last year were in school but the people that we saw were enough to keep our hearts from settling. We met a man that had recently been on the news for his animal graveyard. This man does it all. Puts the animals to sleep, takes them to his graveyard in his bike trunk (the basket between the handle bars) and buries them, headstone and all. He was quite a character and our friends from the South thought he and his career were extremely funny. We toured his facility of putting the animals to sleep, saw a dead cat, which was a little odd, and then got back in the van to head off to our next village. On our way out of Carnuaba, we saw four of our little kids from last year. One of the kids, Alexshandri, was Jessi’s all time favorite little kid. She has continued talking with him since we left and has been looking forward to seeing him. It was crazy that they just so happened to be walking on the side of the road as we were leaving.. God thing. He agreed that we just couldn’t leave without seeing the kiddies. AMAZING. The next place we went was Santana, where we stayed for the remainder of the night. We sprayed ourselves and added some clothes layers to avoid Malaria and jumped into the night’s activities. Were we at a party that was for some of the children of the town and we sang children’s gospel songs and wiggled around with them. Then our friends, Oodie, Fla and Shandri, performed their show. Jessi and I were told that the three of them were part of a Christian Theatre group called “Teenstreet” but were not sure what to expect of them. We were extremely impressed with their acting ability and the way that they shared Jesus. It is so much different than the ways that Jess and I have been gifted but so incredible, so truth packed and so perfect for their audience. They were dressed like clowns, with silly red noses and striped pants and after each magic trick, they would tell a story from the Bible or relate their trick to a Biblical value. For example, they would make a ball appear out of nowhere, and then another, and then another and then talk about feeding the 5,000 and how with faith, the Lord can do big things. This was the first of time of many that we saw our friends perform in this trip to the countryside. Every time we picked up on more, more words (keep in mind this whole thing is in Portuguese) more truth being revealed in their act and more appreciation for our brothers and sisters’ talent. At this time, we were pretty tired but our night was still young. We ate “Canjica” which I like to call to corn jello. It is squishy, sweet, yellow and made out of corn. Awesome. So we ate some corn jello and drank some much needed coffee and went to the next “Party.” This one I would not describe as a party, more of a street gathering, and there were people of all ages there. When we first arrived, we had a hard time speaking with the kids because of the initial shyness but after a few minutes, a comment of how they thought I was Asian, and the mention of Andrew, Evan and Christian (who went to Santana on their trek around the world), we were all giggling and giving our best at talking to each other. The Teenstreet group performed again and were followed by Pastor Silvania giving a talk, two talented girls leading worship and finished with Marconi talking. We ate some hot dogs, drank some Brasilian soda-pop, called Guanana, and chocolate cake, and it was time to go back to the house. We assured the kids we would be back and confidently said the words we knew best “God bless you,” and we were off. On the ride back to the house, Jessi, myself and Eliana sat in the back and talked about the day. We found out that every time I had said “I speak poorly,” I was actually saying “I speak backpack.” Apparently “bad” and “backpack” sound extremely similar in Portuguese. When we figured out what I had been saying the whole day to new people, we laughed all the way home. Language barriers and laughing have proved to go hand in hand. A couple of us relaxed and played some music on the porch for a few hours, which always ends up being one of my favorite things to do, and then were off to dream land….

I am going to tag team the writing to Jess now. J

            Hey Yall! Jessi HERE! Okay so Thur. morning we woke up and took off in the van after breakfast for Negros Do Riacho. I was a smidge nervous because last summer the people and the children in this village were, well I guess you could say they just weren’t very welcoming or glad to have us there.

The van we were coming in would not be able to handle the absolutely crazy off-roading that it would take to get to this village. So when we turned off on the dirt road Marconi plowed through the 1^st small lake in the middle of the road and drove as far as the van would take us. When it become evident that the van would not go any further we pulled off to the side of the road and there a couple people in a rusty old truck picked us up. We climbed in the back of the truck and had an adventurous ride to Negros do Riacho. When we pulled up kids were running after the truck and yelling “Marconi, Marconi.” It felt much different than it did one year ago. There had been a significant change in these people. A light, hope, a sense of happiness, and a longing to know why it was we were there.  The children were still nervous to come near us but a few warmed up and would even do silly hand shakes with us, some would even tell us there names and answer when we asked how they were. These small changes were truly incredible, a mark of the Lords hand at work. How encouraging it was to see and experience! Wow!

The drama group performed their act, we sang some songs, handed out candy, and gave them the jewelry we had on…all a sign of our love for them. Then we went to the house of a family who just recently accepted Christ as there Lord and prayed, sang songs, and gave them some food- a basic necessity that is greatly appreciated there.  Another rusty old truck pulled up full of kids ranging from 3 to 17 years old. They were on there way to a near by town to go to school. We climbed in the over-packed truck bed and road back to where the van was parked. It was an adventurous little trip to say the least.

Friday morning we woke early to catch the bus back to Natal. I was extremely tired and slept the entire 3 or so hours back. When we got back the 3 people from the theater group wanted to go explore Natal, so Kelli and I journey with them. Our first stop was a car rental shop where we picked up our transportation and headed the see the worlds LARGEST TREE. This one tree looked like a small jungle in itself. We were taken on a tour, where we walked through this “little jungle” and heard all about the history of this gigantic thing. Of course we couldn’t understand what was being said but I think it was almost 125 years old and the government wants to buy all the house around it so they don’t have to keep trimming and can let it grow to its full potential. After this we went on a boat that took us out to a safe spot in the ocean. Here we got to snorkel for a couple hours, which was an absolute blast. When our boating excursion was over we went to go see this old military base on the out skirts of town. It was a huge castle-like building right on the beach.

Later that night we went to eat at a really neat buffet style restaurant and came back to Marconi’s house to enjoy a magic show by Oodie, a member of the drama team. It was nice to have a day to relax after being in the countryside, going non-stop for the past few days. The heat seems to suck all energy out of us really fast, so a day to relax is highly enjoyed! The Lord has been very good to us and we are so happy to be here. He is stirring up big questions in both of hearts. Thank you for your love and follow, praying for, and being apart of this journey. We love you!

Lost in translation.

Four weeks ago, God opened up the curtains and showed me something huge, a 2 month trip to Brasil. Naturally, I started talking to everyone I knew about this upcoming adventure. I got responses everywhere from "You're crazy" to "I wish I could go" and one remark that came up every 5 people or so, which was "Can you speak Portuguese?" Well actually, they would ask "Can you speak Spanish?" and I would tell them that the Brasilian language was Portuguese and then they would ask. And of course, my answer was, "Eh, a little bit." Well, let me correct myself. No, I do not speak Portuguese. I will, but currently, saying that I knew a little bit was an over statement. I feel like when I was 6 years old and I jumped into a pool without knowing how to swim. The water is the portuguese and the lack of oxygen is my lack of this language. Thankfully, when I was 6 years old, my brother pulled me out of the pool when he saw my arms frantically splashing. My "rescuer" here is a team effort. First, the family Jessi and I are staying with are some of the most incredible people I have ever met and 3 of the 5 are fluent in English. They are wonderful teachers, sounding everything out for the hooked on phonics girl. Secondly, Jessi's hours and hours of Rosetta Stone are really paying off. It is a joy to watch her babble with the Brasilians and giggle through the mess ups. She is excellent in helping me attempt communication because she knows my position. Third, acting things out is always a helpful tool. Last summer I became a professional 'sharaids' player because of the language barrier and in the 24 hours that I have been here, I have proudly resorted back to my learned trait. And last but not least, I completed my first lesson in Rosetta Stone today. I walked around the house saying "Lindo, lindo," thinking I was repeating one of my new words, meaning "reading." However, "Lindo" means beautiful and "Lendo" is what I was trying to say. But, it made for a great laugh when Kener, one of the boys that we are living with, walked towards me and I matter of factly called him beautiful. Oh boy, I have a lot to learn. But it is only day one! Needless to say, I had a huge weight of relief lifted when my new family and I walked into a movie that was in English!!! God has a way of blessing us in HUGE way with just little baby blessings :)

Utterly Amazed - by Jessi Cowan

To HIM be all the glory...

I arrived at the airport in Denver at 11:30am. Andy dropped my mom and I off curbside so we could unload the two over-sized pieces of luggage I was checking. There were no lines to speak of so checking-in was relatively painless. Bags being checked were not allowed to exceed 50lbs, anything over that would be charged a $200 fee. I plopped my 1st bag up on the scale and that ginormous thing- filled wiht clothes and candy for the orphans, gifts for the family were going to stay with, and a multitude of othere necessities (and non-necessities )- weighed 62lbs. We pulled it off the scale and took out a few pounds of chacolate; figured we could just buy it when we arrived in Brazil with the $200 we'd save by not exceeding the max weight limit. I grabbed the 2nd bad, and anxiously set it on the scale... 49.5lbs.... "Sweet, thanks God."

Moments later Kelli and her family arrived. Seeing my best friends, travel partner, and sister in Christ who I'd be sharing the next 2 months with amplified the excitement pounding inside my chest. She went and checked her bags and the keyboard we are bringing for KiKi (one of the boys we are staying with who is a music major at the college in Natal). Soon after my aunt Diane and my youth pastor, along with his beautiful family, arrived to pray over us and our trip. After a few minutes of chit-chat Matt, doing what he does best, gathered everybody around to pray.We called on the name of Jesus to guide and protect us, teach us and use us, and then we had our final good-bye hugs, a few last minute pictures, and a couple of tears. As we turned to leave our parents, family, and friends I was in shock that the day I had been waiting for, for almost a year was finally here. Kelli and I headed straight for the bathroom, into the large handicap stall to take care of some ubber important business.

Thursday I went to the bank to withdrawl the $7,600 from the account that was opened for all money raised from the $10,000 Challenge. Later that day and into Friday a few hundred in donations came in. I divided the money evenly into the 2 "top-secret" money belts and took off to the airport this morning with a total of $8,600. A few super last minute donations came in and Kelli and I went to the bathrooom to strap these money-belts to our bodies. We sat on the tile floor in the handicap stall overwhelmed with excitement and God's goodness to us. We counted the money one last time.

"Okay, here is one belt with $4,100 and heres the other with the same amount. Oh yeah and here is $200 more."

"Here is another $150 I got in the mail..."

On and on it went for a few minutes. Stunned, speechless, awe-stuck, and reminded of God's power we sat on that tile floor next to the toliet and counted $10,261!!!

PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!

He laid this challenge on my heart 5 months ago and called Kelli to be apart of this 4 weeks ago and all it took was simple obedience. Saying "yes" to the Lords calling. Saying "yes Father I will go after this goal. I may look like a fool and people may think I'm crazy but I choose to trust in you."

Wow we serve a BIG God. NOt only did he come through, he exceeded the goals, far exceeded it! He provided $10,261 in cash for us to take. However, after doing some math, it became apparent that the Lord provided a total of over $17,000 for this mission. From the actually cash we brought, to a multitude of items and gifts for the family were staying with and the people in the villages, to our personal travel expenses the Lord came through in HUGE ways. We are literally in shock!!!

All for Him, Him for all.

Hello Friends and Family and thank you for taking interest in this adventure! We want to welcome you to the first blog posting by Team KJ (Equipe KJ)!!! What an exciting time this preparation process has been and now, we have our own page! We want to start off this page, this trip and this communication device with what started it all. His name is Jesus. It's because of Him that we have to ability to reach our creator in a personal and intimate way, live a life of freedom, and forever be saved from the punishment of sin. Because of the power of His death on the cross we were impacted and changed five years ago and have accepted the challenge to share Christ's powerful message of hope with our brothers and sisters in Brazil. He is our motivation, our strength and our authority. We go in confidence that we will be used to make an impact for the kingdom. We are also confident in our inadequacy but we trust that as we go with willing hearts the Lord will work through us to do mighty things in his name. We have watched as miraculous amounts of support have come in and we await the last $3,900. We feel like God set the goal of $10,000 and we will not stop until we hear differently. As we prepare in the last 18 days in our country, we ask for your prayer support. We have found prayer to be the purest form of power and we ask, plead, and challenge YOU to be our warriors in prayer. We will fill this page with blessings, problems, testimonies of miracles and everything in between for you to keep in your prayer lives and we ask for your faithfulness and we pray blessings over you for loving us in this way. Thank you for everything you have done to assist this trip to where she stands today. We are screaming the countdown daily to each other and everyone we come in contact with so join in with us, 18 DAYS!!!!!

With ALL of our love and excitement to share His story,

Equipe KJ

(TEAM KJ)