You can see the above and a few more on my flickr acount.

I made a more complete album with the last leg of our Brazil trip (the part in Rio) on facebook. You can check the album out here.

Well our trip to Brasil is over halfway done and I still haven't posted an update on the blog! We had no flight troubles through our connections and ended up landing in Goiania. Some friends picked us up and took us to Anapolis (300,000) . We spent a night there before catching a bus 8 hours North into the state of Tocantins, where we stayed with friends. They have a Chacara (small farm) about 10k outside of Formoso do Araguaia. While there we helped them with some projects they had going on (ie. building a Chapeu de Palha). The house they were living in was still under construction so it had no electricity and only was partially covered with a roof. We had an awesome time hearing of God's faithfulness to them and their huge family, and even got to visit two Villages on Bananal Island (Worlds largest freshwater island). 

After spending a week with them we returned to Anapolis for a few days where my sister had 4 wisdom teeth removed. After a couple recovery days, we headed to a small town an hour from Anapolis where *** has a school and language training program. That is where we are right now. I helped out putting a new roof on part of the high school, and my sister & Cherie helped painting and cleaning.

We were able to do some fun stuff throughout our stay as well. (climbing waterfalls, swimming, hiking, exploring a cave etc..).

Tuesday we head to Rio before flying home on the 18th of July. Thank you all for your prayers & support!

Lightning hit the world's largest statue of Christ during last Sunday's storm in Rio.
The statue is 130ft tall, is made of 700 tons of reinforced concrete and stands atop the 2,296ft Corcovado mountain overlooking the city, and is one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

Brazil, being a very Catholic country has statues of Christ, Mary, and the Saints in most towns and cities. 95% of people you ask will tell you they are a Christian and believe in Salvation through faith in Christ's work on the cross, but the vast majority are counting on Works (Good deeds, going to church, or having statues of Jesus & Mary, praying to God, Mary, or the saints) to get them to heaven.

This concept of a "works based" salvation is found no where in the Bible. The Bible teaches that salvation is a free gift, unable to be earned by anything we do. All we must do is admit that we are sinners (deserving punishment in what the Bible calls Hell), and believe that God came down to earth as a man (Jesus), and that Jesus Christ took our punishment in our place by dying upon the cross, then rose 3 days later conquering sin, so that we can be declared perfect before God. God forgave our sin by placing the penalty we deserved to pay on his Only son, Jesus Christ.

So where do works and good deeds come in? The Bible says that our good deeds & works prove our faith. This means that if we truly believe in Christ, our life, our words, and our actions will show it. Nothing I can do can pay (or equal out) the sin I have done.

There is no concept of a Good vs. Bad scale in the Bible.