Rio Medical Team Update: Day 1

We've arrived!

After nine hours of overnight, over-the-ocean flying on a big mechanical bird—along with very little sleep, minimal cabin comfort, and two red-eye blockbuster movies under our belts—our team finally landed in Rio around noon today. We've been covered in prayers for months, but now we're seeing them answered.

One of our faithful leaders, Mrs. Raja O'Brien, told us, "This has been the easiest trip through customs we've ever experienced in the 12 years I've been coming to Brazil!" We blew through customs like a breeze. Praise God for that! Everyone's bags made it safe and sound—and so did we.

Outside the airport, our Brazilian "tour guide" named Daniel met us on the curb. He escorted us in a single-file line straight to the bus, picked up a mic when we all boarded, and pointed out interesting facts and historical markers as we navigated from the north of the city to the south around Copacabana Beach where our hotel is located.

The city is old and beautiful. The culture is breathtaking. And the poverty is widespread and devastating. Known for its Carnival Celebration, beaches, giant Christ the Redeemer statue, and Sugarloaf Mountain, and for being the future host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil with six million people.

Although it's one of the world's major metropolitan cities, one-fifth of its inhabitants live in 600 various neighborhood slums called favelas, some of which we passed by on our way to the hotel today. The heart-wrenching poverty mixed with the beauty of these people can't even be explained. You can't help but just know that many are in desperate need of a Savior. This is where we'll be spending all of our time beginning Sunday.

Once we traveled through the heart of the city to our hotel, we inhaled a brief lunch at the hotel cafe, doing our best to keep our eyes open long enough to push our forks from plate to mouth. Then, this afternoon, we were given the chance to stay close to our rooms so we could take much-needed naps and much, much-needed showers to prepare for the next leg of our journey.

At 6:00 p.m., we gathered in conference room in the hotel to meet up with Sharon Fairchild, Brentwood Baptist Mission Journey Coordinator and a former missionary in Rio for 27 years alongside her husband, Ray Fairchild. So far, she's been here for nearly three weeks, working with teams from America who've come to serve like us.

She debriefed us on what's happened over the last two weeks and how God has already moved through the Brentwood Baptist team that just finished building a garden in a nearby leper colony. Story after story inspired us to watch for God to work in big ways this week.

Case in point, I'm lucky to be sitting in this hotel room, in this hotel chair, posting a blog while using this hotel's Internet. Up until Monday of this week, we couldn't find any rooms to reserve. But because of the faithful prayers of so many and a rockstar travel agent, we were able to lock into this never-before-visited establishment and finally secure places to lay our heads each night.

That's God at work. Praise!

Also, as we were touching down in Rio today, many other departing flights were being cancelled at the same time. Those passengers were told to go back to the hotel because the eruption of Puyahue Volcano had prevented them from reaching their destinations throughout South America. Thankfully, amidst this mass exodus from the airport back to find hotels in the area, including ours, we were able to hang on to our rooms.

The city is beautiful, the people are lovely, and they're in great need of a Savior. Your prayers for our team are appreciated more than we could ever express.

Please continue praying for:

• The people of Rio, especially those we'll be specifically ministering to in the City of God.
• God to go before us and prepare hearts to hear the gospel and see it in action.
• Each team member as we act as Christ's witnesses, telling people about Him (Acts 1:8).
• Continued unity among this team.
• Protection and safety.
• Christ to be glorified and revealed in all we say and do.

God is SO good and faithful. We couldn't be more excited and honored to be a part of this journey to which He's called us. Keep checking back for updates.

Christ is all,

Kaylan Christopher