Hello All!

We are proud to present to you the very first Official DTS Outreach Update of 2012! We hope all is going well there! There is so much going on here already!

We arrived in Luanda, Angola after about 17 hours of flight time! We had a little bit of “confusion” with the 100 audio bibles when they went through the metal detectors, but thanks to Camila’s persuasive efforts we were able to make it out with the whole loot! We stayed in Luanda with Camila’s friend’s family for just one night. We were able to use this night to rest and fight against our jet lag. Early that morning we packed our stuff and were off to Sumbe. The bus ride was supposed to take 4 hours, but the trip took a total of 8 hours. The bus driver arrived 2 hours late and took many stops for unknown reasons. About an hour into the trip, about 10 women and children entered the already full bus and had to sit on the floor for the remaining 5 hours. I believe it was at this time that the students realized that we weren’t in Richmond anymore! When we finally arrived, we were greeted by Sophia, our wonderful host. She and the other two Brazilian missionaries here have been absolutely amazing to us and made us feel right at home.

On Saturday morning we went to a funeral of a 9 year old girl who had died that morning due to malaria. This was a very raw and life-changing event for not only the students but the staff as well. We came to pray for the girl and her family, and then later in the day we, along with literally the entire village of more than 300, we attended the burial ceremony. Our student Josh was honored with the opportunity to preach and give the village hope in this very sad time. Hercules did an awesome job translating the awesome message as well. It was a day that we will, without a doubt, remember for the rest of our lives. There are just no words to correctly express this event.