We are happy to announce that our scouting and planning mission trip to Brazil was a complete success!

Late Wednesday night, Tim Hoff and Kevin Lockwood returned to their families after spending many days in Brazil. While there, they got the chance to meet with key government officials, ministry partners and legal advisors. They also had the opportunity to tour a potential piece of land for the orphanage and spend time learning many valuable things from experienced Amazon missionaries.
In every way, the trip seemed to be showered in Gods blessings. In fact, some of the most productive parts of the trip weren't even planned ahead of time; God just kept opening doors for, and leading people to Tim and Kevin.
To give you a day-by-day recap of the trip, we've decided to share excerpts from Kevin's personal travel journal accompanied by photos and videos. Over the course of the next couple weeks, we will be sending these out in daily emails (the first installment is below). You won't want to miss these exciting chronicles so keep your eyes on your in box!
Thank you all for your prayers during this trip; God is truly good! We also request your continued prayers as we're now gearing up for our holiday craft boutique fundraiser in Washington. If you would be interested in donating some holiday decorations or gifts that you've made by hand, please let us know!
May God continue to bless your prayers and contributions to this ministry! Now for the first journal...

Travel Journal - Day 1: "Just Getting There..."
I worked so hard to have my things packed and ready to go so I could make good time at the airport. Everything was going great and then I was selected for a full baggage screening at the Sacramento airport (it was a training nightfor new TSA screeners and I was the only person passing through security in the course of a half an hour). However, one neat thing came out of the delay. As the trainee was helping unpack all of my precisely placedbelongings, she noticed the title of my book (Messy Spirituality byMike Yaconelli). She lit up and began talking about what a wonderful book it was. We began a conversation about the author and his ministry(YS), and then got to talking about the purpose of mytrip and the orphanage. Both of the screeners were excited to hear about what Agape is doing in Brazil. It was really great to start the trip and even have the support and encouragement of random strangers like this.
Once I made it out of Sacramento, I connected in Houston, then arrived in Miami amid a tropical storm. Luckily the storm didn't delay flights; in fact it gave me a neat chance to walk outside and experience driving winds, pounding rain and 80 plus degree temperatures (a little different than the west coast). Actually, it was probably a good warm-up activity for what Brazil will be like (minus the wind).
After wandering around Miami Intl. Airport for four hours, I was finally able to get checked in with the airline and go through security (where I got selected for another full screening!), then proceed to the gate where I could wait for the flight to Brazil with a little more comfort. Although it took 18 hours from the time I left Sacramento until I got to the gate in Miami (with very little sleep in between), I was so excited about making it to Brazil and meeting up with Tim. I knew he'd have some exciting stories to tell about this previous week in Sao Paulo, and possibly some more scheduled appointments and meetings for us in Manus.

Watch your in-box for the next trip journal, "Lost in the Jungle"