Rio Journal 2007

I am thrilled that our team has the privilege and opportunity to go to Brazil in a couple of weeks. After many, many months of thinking and praying about this trip, it’s almost hard to believe the reality of the trip is upon us.

It is an honor to be used by God as a vessel, and I am looking forward to seeing God work in the lives of the many people we meet there as well as those of us on the trip.

Please pray for us as we are on this trip. Please pray specifically that:

1. We will use God’s strength and wisdom, and not our own
2. We will be sensitive to His leading and respond accordingly, whether in sharing, playing, or just in our time together as a team
3. We will remain safe and healthy throughout the trip
4. Lives will be changed

Thank you for praying!

Posted by Tony at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Time is fast approaching when we leave for Rio – May 14. Passports and visa applications are in the mail. Final preparations are being made. I love this time each year when things come together for the sports evangelism mission trip. Deadlines for classes, papers due, tests – and then final exams – we’ll be on our way before we know it!

It is reassuring to read the blogs of these volleyball players and sense their excitement for the journey that is before them. What an incredible group of young Christian women and coaches who have said “yes” to the call for ministry! I can’t wait to experience this with them.

This will be trip #5 to Rio for me. Each trip and ministry has been different and unique. This is the first trip to use volleyball as the platform for sharing Christ. We will play local club teams, work with the local churches, play and work with children and youth in schools and communities, and spend one day with the Brazilian Women’s Olympic Volleyball Team at the Brazilian Olympic facility! Wherever we are and whatever we do, following our play and interaction, we will have an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ and how to have a relationship with Him!

The Pan American Games will be held in Rio in July. Churches, missionaries, and lay leaders are using the emphasis on sport, in anticipation of the Games, to connect with the people of Rio and share Christ. There will be other volunteer teams from Tennessee going to do various kinds of ministry leading up to and during the Pan Am Games.

Many of you have supported us through financial contributions. Thank you!
Pray for us! Pray for:
1. Safe travel and safety in play
2. Cultural adjustment, adaptability, and flexibility
3. Spiritual walk – that each member of the team will be totally dependent on God and open to His leadership
4. A positive attitude
5. Good Health – strong stomach as we adapt to change in food & eating habits
6. “Christlikeness” – friendly smile; a gentle, caring and loving spirit
7. Witnessing Opportunities – sensitivity to opportunities and BOLDNESS to verbalize the gospel
8. For church and lay leaders
9. Missionaries Ray and Sharon Fairchild and Translators
10. A “life-changing” experience for each member!

Thank you… for joining our team as “prayer partners” and encouragers.

Posted by Tony at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Words can’t really describe how excited I am about the Brazil mission trip our team is going to be taking in May. I have never been on a mission trip, nor have I ever been to South America, so the combination is mind-boggling!

I can’t wait to reach out to all of the young children in Rio and hopefully touch their lives in some way. I know that this trip is going to be an eye-opener, so I need to have great strength throughout the visit. We have such a great group of girls on our volleyball team who have such great hearts and spirits that I know this trip is going to be so much fun and a memory I will have in my heart forever.

Not only am I looking forward to interacting with children of Brazil, but I am also looking forward to playing professional and college volleyball teams. It should be quite an experience! Brazilian’s are known to be amazing at volleyball, so hopefully we can pick up some tips and pointers to improving our play. We get the chance to practice with the Brazil national team and I cannot wait! I already told our assistant coach, Tony that I’m going to have to duck tape pillows to my body to prevent injury from their hits! Nonetheless, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I’m sure I will never forget!

This trip will just be such an incredible and rare experience for me. Never have I dreamed of getting to travel to a different country for a mission trip, but especially not with the best friends I’ve ever had. I’m really looking forward to the experience and I know it is going to change my life forever.

Cat

Posted by Tony at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Through this trip I hope to gain wisdom about the Brazilian culture through missionary work. I hope to be able to make as much of an impact on the people that I meet as I am sure they will on me.

I hope to be able to share my experience and where I find religion and God in my daily life. I pray that God will give us direction in how our experience can be the most effective and fulfilling and that we can be open and willing to new and different experiences. I hope that along with the missionary work we do, we can also learn how they compete through volleyball. I pray that my eyes may be opened to anything that God should reveal to me through this amazing experience.

Emily

Posted by Tony at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Hey!!! My name is Jennifer. As the trip to Brazil quickly arrives, I am anxiously awaiting the amazing opportunity that we have been given. Competing in volleyball and doing missions work sounds very exciting.

The group going has become more than just a team, we are like a family and there is no other group that I would rather experience this with. Having been on a few mission trips, I have come to absolutely love it. The trip to Brazil is rather unique because of the mission work combined with volleyball play. Being able to compete against a team and follow the game with the sharing of God’s amazing love is something that not many people get to do. This is an amazing opportunity and I truly believe that great things are going to come from this trip. Sharing God’s word with others is the best gift that you can give someone. We are able to do this and play a game of which we all love.

Jenny

Posted by Tony at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Hi, my name is Brittany. The mission trip to Brazil has been the main focus of my thoughts this spring semester! I feel like, in college, my main concern as a student is me. During my faith journey, I have actually found that the times when I care for and serve others is when I am the happiest and most peaceful. I am very thankful to have the opportunity to do this in Brazil.

I mostly look forward to this trip because for 2 weeks my teammates and I will be able to leave our cell phones, our instant messaging, and our fast paced culture behind. We will be putting everything we have into selflessly loving the people of Brazil. I can’t wait for the kids from underprivileged backgrounds to throw their hands around my neck and to have a mob of them hanging all over me. I am excited to learn a little bit of their language and try to speak with them, and to experience their culture, which will be totally different than anything I’ve seen before. Putting ourselves in the midst of that kind of poverty will also put problems from our own lives into perspective.
I know that these girls will all experience something that changes their lives forever, and that is both scary and exciting. I hope that God will change me too, and help me to put even more trust in Him as I grow in my faith!

Brittany

Posted by Tony at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hello, my name is Colleen. I am so excited to be given the opportunity to go on this mission trip to Brazil in May with my teammates and experience things that I have only dreamed about.

I have always wanted to be able to reach out to those people who haven’t been blessed with half of the things that we are lucky enough to have been born into here in the United States. We are sharing a new idea of Christianity with these people, but I expect that they, in turn, will be showing us things and teaching us lessons that we would have never been able to see and understand if this trip had not been made possible by Betty and the other contributors. I am truly grateful to everyone who has helped to make this possible. We are truly blessed.

Colleen

Posted by Tony at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hey everyone! My name is Jaye. It is difficult for me to put into words just how excited I am for our upcoming trip to Brazil. I am looking forward to many new opportunities.

Trying new food, meeting new people, and seeing new places, I can't wait to begin this eye opening experience. I know that I will come back to the states as a new person, at least that's my hope. I am so glad and blessed to have the opportunity to go on a trip like this. It is a once in a life time experience. All of my trust is in the Lord, and I am excited to see how the Lord will use me to reach the people of Rio.

Jaye

Posted by Tony at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

In May, Belmont University Athletic Department will send its Volleyball team on its first ever Mission Trip. The Mission Trip will be led by Betty Wiseman who has been taking Belmont sport's teams to foreign countries since 1995. This year, Betty will take the volleyball team to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Team Members are Colleen, Jaye, Emily, Cat, Jenny, Cary, Brittany, Deane, Josie, and Tony.

The focus of the mission trip will be based on the Bible verse, John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

To think God sent His Son to die for us, in order to bring us closer to Him, is amazing. Just imagine what that love is like. Each of us would give our life up to save someone very special to us. So, why don’t we share that love of Christ to people we do not know. This is the sole purpose of this mission trip, to share God’s Love and show how to have a true meaningful relationship with Christ. We know Christ wants to have that special relationship with us.

I want to ask each person who reads this message to pray for each member of this team and each person we come in contact with so that their hearts will be open to God’s Love. Not only will we share our relationship with Christ to others, pray that we ourselves will experience what Christ wants for us.

This is the beginning of a Journal that will take you through and experience every moment with us. We will update this journal everyday we are in Brazil. In the meantime, each member will share with you some special words from their hearts to you.

Posted by Tony at 10:07 AM | Permalink