Day 1

Hey everyone, this is Jordan and I'm writing from the back of our bus as we travel down the road to Rio Do Sul! Our trip is finally underway and God is already pushing us to move and grow. Our first initial flight out of Omaha to Houston was delayed over an hour, which left us only minutes to connect to our international flight from Houston to Rio De Janeiro. We all sat on our first plane and prayed and prayed and I know people at home were praying as well. Missing an international flight could have cost us another day of travel and we would have had to spend the night in Houston. So we all ran (literally- RAN like picture our backpacks bouncing around and people staring and Justin's shoes falling off) across the airport and onto a shuttle to make it to the international plane. God is faithful and allowed our flight to wait until we all got there! The flight itself was just under 10 hours and everyone did their best to sleep the majority of it. Personally, I slept maybe a total of an hour and a half. Pro tip: The Notebook and The Intern are cute dramas to watch to help pass the time and the gelato was 10 times better than the meals they served! Steve met us at the airport in Rio and after checking our bags we took a bus to see Sugarloaf. This place was crazy beautiful. We took a cable car  up to the top of this mountain that overlooked the city and the ocean and all the colorful boats. We also had lunch here and the majority of our team had a bacon cheddar burger (just to be on the safe side). Julie and I decided to share a plate of Picanha. It was grilled sirloin with deep fried potato balls, fried rice, farofa bread crumbs, and a salsa to dip it in. It was fun to do some tourist-y things on the mountain and take the time to enjoy this beautiful place! Brazil is so different from America; all the buildings are extremely close together and they all drive within centimeters of the car next to them. We have also seen wild pigs and horses running around as well as an adorable tiny tree monkey! It has been strange to try and adjust to their lifestyle and it has been odd to be the one who has no idea what anyone is saying here. So now we are leaving Florinopolis to take a 4 hour bus ride to our home church and our host homes. (Another pro tip: Florinopolis has weird pizza with messy caramel sauce and sesame seeds. And I mean MESSY.) despite a crazy first 24 hours, I know we are all excited to see what God has in store for us! Like in Ephesians 2:10, we are all created to do GOOD work for HIM. God specifically picked every individual to be on this trip and I know He is going to work wonders through us. Keep us all in your prayers!
-Jordan