Kayla Balangue

Oí from South America! This morning we got to sleep in because of our late night the night before. We arrived at The City of Youth in the later morning and went straight to work finishing our painting project. Everyone worked together and got two rooms and a fence painted! It brightened up the space and made the atmosphere more welcoming. There was a delicious lunch served to us; beans, rice, chicken, and salad. We stoped in the middle of our meal to say goodbye to the little kids going to school.

The girls on the team got to experience a spa day! Some of the students who are in the beauty course painted our nails and braided our hair. It was exciting to be a part of their career journey. We got to see some of them practice a dance and saw their joy on their faces when their creativity came to life with nail polish and glitter.

The boys had some time to go exploring around City of Youth’s country side. They got to enjoy the company of some horses and explore through the fields. They got to encounter a brave dog chasing a horse and had a great time telling jokes.

By the time the team got all back together, it was time to go see the kids. Some played soccer on the near by field with the older boys and others went to go play with the toddlers. We were all thankful for more bonding time with the kids. Running around kicking the soccer ball and making the little kids laugh.

We ended the night with a dinner at one of the children’s homes in the city. The team enjoyed a home cooked meal with delicious chicken, beans and rice (of course) and a famous local apple flavored juice called Guaraná. There were a lot of enjoyable conversations and hilarious moments being shared around the table. The house held three boys and two girls. The boys were all into soccer, one wanting to be be a professional soccer player and another wanting to work at an airport. For the girls, one of them wanted to be an astronaut and was really into dance. The other wanted to be a psychology teacher and is hoping to travel to America one day. A funny moment at dinner was when Cole and Declan decided to get their hair braided by the girls living in the home! For dessert, we had an amazing açai bowl, which Erica was most excited about. We ended the night with looking up at the stars and being thankful for all that God has blessed us with.

Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

-Grace Sales

What’s up friends and family!

My morning started in the most refreshing way possible as Declan, Tim, and I jumped in the rooftop pool for a nice cold plunge and worship music it was a great way to prepare our hearts for another full day of ministry.

Soon after, we arrived at the City of Youth where the kids welcomed us with open arms and loving energy. We spent some time with the little little kids playing around and making them laugh and then flew kites with some boys named Lalo, Enzo, Arthur, and Lucas. Later we played soccer, spikeball, and even rode around on a makeshift green machine.

Later, we met Reggie, one of the house parents who is originally from Oregon. He took time to share with us some powerful stories about the boys in the home their journeys, their resilience, their troubles and the impact this ministry is making in their lives. It was a beautiful reminder of the “why” behind the work we are doing here.

In the afternoon, we got to work on a few projects around the campus. Our team scraped and painted the white picket fence surrounding main office and seeing it finished was deeply rewarding. We also began painting the inside of the office, and we’re excited to finish that job tomorrow. What might a week for the staff here, we’re able to knock out in a day or two and it’s an incredible privilege to lighten that load for them.

Midway through the day, there was a buzz of uncertainty aswe weren’t sure if we’d be able to attend the Brazil vs. Paraguay soccer match. With such a large group, securing tickets last minute seemed unlikely. But in true miracle fashion, our fieldworker Phil and his amazing team pulled it off!

Before heading to the game, a few of the boys, including Matos and Enzo, were pulled from school under the impression they were in trouble. Moments later, surprise! They learned they were coming with us to the match.

Getting into the game was wild, 46,000 people flooded the stadium, home to Corinthians during the regular season. At one point, Declan’s ticket wasn’t scanning, and we thought he might not get in, but thankfully, everything worked out. The atmosphere inside was absolutely electric. Brazil took the win 1-0 thanks to a goal by Vinicius Jr., and the chants, the energy, and even a fan who stormed the field made it a night to remember.

Leaving the stadium was like a real life version of Crossy Road. With helicopters overhead and crowds pouring into the streets, it was definitely intense. But thanks to the street smarts of our team, our wonderful local hosts and some quick feet, we all made it back to the bus safe and sound.

Each day, our team is growing tighter, not just as a group, but as a family. The shared work, the joy, and the spontaneous moments of fun have created a bond that’s hard to put into words. As one fellow missionary, Dr. Dan from Indiana, told us while passing through the city of youth with his team, “You guys just have a great gift of making people feel comfortable around you.” That stuck with me, because that’s exactly what we’re here to do, love well and serve wholeheartedly.

God is clearly moving here in South America, in the children, in the staff, and in each of us. We’re so grateful for the opportunity to be part of what He’s doing, and we can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Te amo mutio!
(I love you very much!)

Cole Spake

Hi friend and family! Tudo bem?… tudo bem! Today we woke up for our first day in the new city. We had breakfast and journaled in our hotel. Jonathan (our new translator/city of youth coordinator) met us at our hotel to take us to Hope Unlimited’s coffee shop/thrift store. The coffee was so amazing. The thrift store/coffee shop also had their financial department attached to the same building and we were able to get to meet all the great people who work behind the scenes at Hope Unlimited.

We then took about a 30 minute drive to the City of Youth (hope unlimited’s campinas campus). Once we got there Jonathan gave us a tour of the large campus which included showing us the cooking classes, baking classes, cosmetic classes, auto body classes, basketball courts, pool, and soccer fields.

After the show around we got to meet some of the children during lunch and they were such a joy to sit down with and make smile. Unfortunately they had to leave for class decently quick.

Our team then just took a little look around of ourselves and went exploring on the campus and found some little children in line getting ready to go to class and they were so excited to see us. They asked me why we were there and I told them “we came all the way from United States to hangout with you guys” and their eyes went wide and they smiled from cheek to cheek in shock. Once again unfortunately we didn’t get to spend too much time with them because they went to class.

We then went into the meeting room where there was a bit of a mix up on exactly what room we were going to get started on fixing up, moving things, and painting so we sat there for about an hour just braiding bracelets to handout to the children. Once we got our instructions we went to work quick and efficiently, clearing out rooms getting them ready to be painted. While we were working Philip (our field worker) comes to us and tells us we are going to the Brazil vs Paraguay World Cup qualifier match in the city tomorrow night which then of course caused our team to loose their minds and start throwing our ideas like painting our faces and bellies Brazilian colors for the game.

After we finished our work we were told that we were going to have dinner with some of the girls from the City of Youth at their community house, and since 2/3 of their busses broke down they needed to drop us off at our hotel to be picked up later. So we had to say goodbye to Luciano, our new friend/Hope graduate/ Hope Mountain maintenance man, because he was going back to Vitória and we weren’t going to see him again. We all shared hugs with Luciano and he learned how to say “I love you” to say goodbye to us.

We got dropped off at our hotel and immediately took off looking for some Brazil National Team jerseys for the game tomorrow without much success. So Chim(Tim), Cole, Derek, and I went on a time crunch mission to the nearest shopping center to buy some jerseys at the store. Once we arrived at the shopping center we were shocked at how nice and large it was, it had all the nicest branded stores and it was 4 stories tall. We went at quickly as we could we failed the time crunch mission because we were just a tiny bit late to getting back to the hotel, although some might call it a success because we got sweet Brazilian and Corinthians(local team) jerseys.

When Chim, Cole, Derek, and I arrived a tiny bit late to the hotel we were sadly greeted with a change in plans due to the bus being used we were unable to go and have dinner with the girls in their community house. We changed the dinner to Wednesday night. Although we were very bummed at not being able to eat with the girls tonight, Philip did offer to take us to all you can eat sushi which you can only imagine the excitement of the offer. We then walked to Sushi with Jonathan and Phillip and unanimously had the best sushi ever. After dinner we walked back, debriefed the day and went to bed.

We look forward to our time with the children tomorrow. Thank you for all the prayers we all appreciated it!

~Albert