Brazil

You’ll experience cross-cultural discipleship and teamwork with Brazillian youth and youth leaders. Partnering together, you’ll help teach English, throw street parties (called agitas) for children in different favelas, visit and pray with families in their homes, and help facilitate weekend camps at Camp California (a Restoration Ministries facility) in the mountains. This is one of the most beautiful places on earth, especially for kids who have never left the city.

Royal Servants takes the safety and health of each participant seriously. We go to great lengths to ensure that participants remain healthy and safe throughout the trip. Therefore, no participant is allowed to be alone in any city; Royal Servants always travel in groups of three or more, and when possible, with either a male or Summer Staff in each group. The Trip Leaders also continually monitor conditions within the host country both before and during the trip. If a situation arises that threatens the security of the team, either politically or from environmental conditions, the team will be moved to a stable location.

You’ll walk hand-in-hand with children who will proudly guide you through their neighborhoods, which stagger underneath extreme poverty. You will also travel to the mountains outside of Sao Paulo alongside children who have never stepped foot outside the city and experience the lush jungle together. Deep friendships will happen with your Brazilian peers as you explore together more of what it means to follow Jesus in this life.

Brazillian culture is known for being colorful, warm, and hospitable. You will taste, see, hear, and dance your way through your time in Brazil, experiencing both the city and the countryside. You’ll get schooled in capoeira (a Brazilian martial art), listen to live music, play at children’s street parties, and savor amazing food (churrascaria anyone?).

You will discover new aspects of God’s heart for justice and his advocacy for the poor as you walk daily beside your Brazillian peers. Your heart will be warmed and broken at the same time as you witness the beautiful work God does in the favelas through the long labors and expertise of Restoration Ministries.

This trip is for College Age students who are ready to learn about issues of injustice in a setting of Urban Poverty and for those ready to take relational risks with Brazillian peers.

To begin with, rice, beans, fresh fruits, and vegetables. You’ll get to sample Brazilian pizza (not your normal toppings), chug down Guarana (local soda…totally addictive), and experience a Brazilian barbeque (churrascaria), which is a cultural experience in itself! And who can say no to fresh, local coffee? You'll be sleeping in dorms that are designed for short-term teams on the top floor of the ministry's day center!

Your team will take a few days at the end of the trip to debrief all that you have experienced and to enable you to put your experience in context. How has seeing the confrontation of injustice in the favelas helped you to better see and be with all people? And how will it shape your perspective on issues of injustice at home? It takes time to process, prepare for, and pray through these and other questions.

For twenty years, Restoration Ministries has had a long-term presence in five separate favelas in Sao Paulo. Led by nationals, many of the leaders were once children who participated in the ministry themselves. They facilitate sports, teaching English, music lessons, small groups, tutoring, micro-enterprise, and church planting. The goal is to cultivate rich relationships and empower community members; they are experts at meeting the needs of the community from within and are giants in their field.