16km Hike Waterfall

16km Hike Waterfall
Originally uploaded by Brazil Bean Brewed.

More about our trip to the missionary conference in Belo Horizonte. The conference really didn’t take place in the city but an hour outside of the city at a fazenda hotel. This is a hotel that is also a farm, in which the kids were able to ride horses, fish and much more. The conference was good to be able to get to know the other teams that have been on the field longer than us and to gain wisdom from them based upon mistakes and things that have worked for them. The guys had a great speaker, Steve joiner who was able to talk to them about leadership development in the church as well as conflict management and keys to an effective church. The women were blessed by having Mary Jane Williams talk to them about being missionary women. She was a missionary in Africa along with her husband, Tex Williams who was the main speaker during the conference. We really enjoyed being away from all the noise of the city life and loved being outdoors. One of the days during our free time about ten of us decided to take a hike at one of the national parks not far away from the camp. Another five or so took the hike by horseback. This park was found after an hour of bumpy riding on back roads and when we got there, the trail was longer than any of us thought. We were excited because there was supposed to be a waterfall at the end of the hike. We only had a few hours to do the hike before we had to head back for the conference, however, part way there when it was time to turn around, we were so close to the waterfall that we decided to continue to trek even though it meant we would be late for the conference. It was worth it getting to the waterfall and getting to test out the water. In the end we walked 16km altogether, 8km out and 8km back. Let us just say we were quite tired when we got back to the conference. After the conference, Travis and I along with Matt and Mary stayed a few extra days with our friends, Gari and Karen Oliveira. We knew them from ACU as Gari studied in the college with Travis. They have four kids and it was a blast getting to play with them and to see the work that they are doing in Belo. We also got to see their new house that they were building and the peanut factory that Gari’s family owns in the city. It was a good time and hopefully sometime in the future we can have them come and visit us here in Salvador.