Merry Christmas!

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying all the blessings that God has given you this year as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. I want each of you to know how important you are to me, and what a blessing it has been to rely on your faithful prayers and support over the past few years as I have been serving in Brazil.

This year was by far the best with the inaugural season of Eagles Brasil, the first Christian women’s soccer team in Brazil. If you were able to keep up with us on this blog, I hope that you were blessed by the many stories of how God showed His faithfulness to us every step of the way. Even though we went up against numerous obstacles and trials, His Word went out and it did not return empty! It seemed like everywhere we went lives were changed through the girls on the team and the witness that they were for Christ. The way they displayed His character on the field was truly remarkable, and people wanted to know why we were different, giving us opportunities to share the good news of Jesus. We were able to teach the gospel message and pray with about 15 different teams, and each time at least 4 of the players accepted Christ. As you can see, the way that God used such a young ministry that lacked so many important elements, such as financial stability, was unreal!

While the outreach of the ministry was so effective, and the fruit of lives being changed through hearing and receiving the gospel message was so evident; God was doing incredible things in the lives of each of the young ladies that had accepted the call to be a member of this unique team and ministry. Many of them joined Eagles Brasil as brand new Christians, and we had the pleasure of discipling them and feeding them the Truth every day.What a blessing to watch God fill them with His Spirit as they learned to seek Him above all else. It was truly inspirational and such an encouragement to me to see their passion and zeal for the Lord and love for the lost. Each of them has a unique and amazing testimony to the work that God accomplished in their lives through Eagles Brasil. It was an experience that has changed them deeply, one that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

All that said I want you to know that none of this was possible without you. Thank you for being so faithful with your prayers and financial support. Unfortunately, there is some bad news. Because we were not able to find Brazilian sponsors to invest in the team, as well as lacking important structural elements, we will not be able to continue on at this point with the ministry. We know that we serve a sovereign God and that His timing is perfect.

After much prayer, we have decided to put the team on hold until God provides the structure and the finances to sustain this project. This has been such a hard thing for us to accept after seeing all that God has done this year, and how effective soccer ministry really is, especially in a country like Brazil. Please join us in seeking God’s will and praying for Eagles Brasil to be able to continue in the future. Lord willing this unique and powerful ministry will start up again and continue to impact lives for eternity.

In Him,

Carrie Lorenz

God is in Control

Sorry for the delay in updates, things have been up in the air for a while and we have been praying through a lot of tough decisions. As you know, this year for Eagles Brasil has had a reoccurring theme of humble beginnings and daily trusting God for His provisions. We have seen God move in amazing ways and provide for us despite broken promises from the city (Praia Grande) and difficult financial issues.

While the players have had some time off for August and early September, our leadership has been making every effort to raise support for this team by speaking to many Brazilian churches and individuals.In light of not being able to reach the goal of $10,000 Reais a month, they have prayerfully made the decision to not finish out this year as a team. Although we qualified for the State Games (Jogos Abertos) in October, we will have to forfeit our place in that tournament. It was sad news at first, but we trust that God knows exactly what he is doing. The leadership will now be able to focus all efforts on preparation for next year and hopefully create a better structure that, Lord willing, will enable us to keep this ministry going for the entire year. Please pray for our Brazilian leadership to find a sponsor for 2010.

We praise God for the opportunity that our girls will now have to finish out this year playing for other teams in the league. What an awesome way to be able to put into practice all that they have been learning through Eagles Brasil this year.

Please pray for them, as they will be bringing the light of Christ to their new teams and even home to their families. Thank you for your prayers and support throughout the year that made this project so successful on and off the field in the hearts of the Brazilian people.

Jogos Regionais

Hello Eagles Brasil fans! Sorry for the delay in updates. Here are the latest match reports…

Just five days after our final match of Copa Mulher (the loss against Sao Bernardo), we played our first game of Jogos Regionais (the regional tournament for the state of Sao Paulo). This tournament determines which teams qualify for Jogos Abertos in October (the State games).

We played 5 games in 6 days! (30-minute halves). Praise the Lord we made it to semi-finals of the tournament, after winning a PK shootout in the quarterfinal!

We played almost all our games in the rain, mud and cold, it was quite a mess. Not to mention we slept on the cement floor of a school classroom during that week! Always a joy.

We lost our semi-final match 3-1 to Santos, the powerhouse of women’s soccer here in Brazil.

The next day we lost the 3^rd-place match 2-1 to the same Sao Bernardo team we lost to in the final of Copa Mulher. The good news is that despite those losses, we still qualified for Jogos Abertos in October because of finishing in the top 4. Even better news is that people everywhere, from coaches and players of otherteams, to refs, and even our city administrators have noticed the “difference” in the way Eagles Brasil plays honestly and conducts themselves, compared to all the other teams.

We were even invited to spend time during this tournament with the entire Praia Grande men’s soccer team and staff, where Fernando (our ministry leader) gave a gospel presentation, and Coach Tina and one of our players shared personal testimonies.

Many of the guys prayed to receive Christ as their savior that night.

We thank God for the success he has given us in this first part of the year, and the stage He has created in the futbol community that has allowed us to share the Gospel one on one, face to face with every player from every team we have played against so far (with the exception of Santos). Many players have prayed for salvation, and our players are keeping up with them by means of the internet.

Our team has a break during the month of August, and we will come back together in September to start training for Jogos Abertos.

Please stay tuned during this month for more stories and important updates. And please, keep praying!

Final: Eagles 1 X 3 São Bernardo

We praise God for this final game of the tournament. Although we didn’t win the game, we believe that God was glorified through the loss. Our team’s attitudes and actions displayed the hope that lives inside them, and because of that, a great platform was set for them to share the gospel message after the game.

Our little team played their hearts out, but Sao Bernardo is a very talented team, and they clearly played better soccer than we did today. We had four starters on the field who couldn’t even practice the day before because they were so sick, and even though they couldn’t breath in the first half, they somehow found new strength in the second half and created a lot of opportunities. We did put one in the net towards the end of the game, and we had at least two other shots snatched from the upper 90 by their 6 ft tall keeper! What a rip off!

After the game we shared the wordless book bracelets with the entire other team, and their staff. It is such an amazing opportunity created through this environment of soccer to explain God’s love to people who do not yet know Christ and who have not yet been to a church or had an opportunity to hear God’s plan for Salvation.

Every time we have shared the gospel message after a game, there have been a couple of players from the other team who prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.

Our players are so on fire to share the gospel that they even took the opportunity to pray with one of the ball boys!

Please keep praying for us, as we have to turn around now and start a new tournament this coming week. This tournament will only last 5 days maximum, if we go all the way to the final. Our first games are Tuesday July 21st and Wednesday the 22^nd. It will be especially challenging for our team, because we only have 3 subs and have a game each day, with no rest days in-between. We are excited about the opportunity to play against teams we have not yet encountered, and for the chance to speak to players that have not yet heard the good news.

Please pray for the strength and health of our team!

We won 2-0!!

God has given us another victory on and off the field. Wednesday we won our semi-final game against Palmeiras 2-0. This game was a real test for our girls, and a true testimony to God’s power. The referee was extremely one sided, to the advantage of the other team, and our players handled it extremely well. It was awesome to hear their comments to one another after the game, and their amazement at the change that has taken place in their lives. If they were in this situation even a year ago, they would have been screaming or cursing at the ref and committing harder fouls against the other team out of shear frustration. But now, they were able to stay calm, ask God to give them self-control, and just continue playing with joy.

We will be facing Sao Bernardo in the finals next Wednesday. Please join us in praying for continued success on the field so that we will have a platform to speak of the hope that is within us.

Playoffs!!

With a record of 5-0-2 we are going to the playoffs! We ended up in second place overall in the tournament which is quite a blessing for a brand new team that has only been training together for a few months, and with only 15 players! We give all the glory and honor to God because we know that none of the success that we are having on the field has come from us, or our strength. Praise God that He uses the small and the weak things of the world to do great things for His name!

The Santos team easily qualified for the first place spot going into the playoffs. However, this week they asked the tournament director to change the dates of the semi-finals and finals until late August, as they have some players going to take part in Brazil’s National team training camp which will take place the same week as these semi-final matches. Their request was denied, and in response, Santos opted to drop out of the playoffs completely. Because of their decision, we have been moved up to the first place spot, and Palmeiras, the team that finished in 5^th place overall, has been granted a spot in the semi-finals, and we will play against them tomorrow.

Please keep us in your prayers, that God would continue to use us to do great things!

Eagles Brasil 1 X 1 Santos

We praise God for this challenging game against Santos, one of the best women’s soccer teams in Brazil. Our team played with valiance, even to the point of giving blood, literally.

In the picture Lilian, one of our center backs, is showing off her cut lip.

In the beginning of the game she took a ball to the mouth, as she was charging forward to block a shot, and the impact caused the inside of her lip to get caught in her braces. She had to leave the field, because her mouth was bleeding everywhere. We had to play a man down for about 10 minutes as the doctor tried to stop the bleeding. She returned to play in the game, with both of her lips swollen so much that she couldn't pronounce words, and had a cotton gauze pad wedged just inside of her bottom lip! It was not very funny during the game, but afterwards we all got quite a laugh.

Laura Armstrong, our goalkeeper from the Charlotte Eagles, had this to say about the game:

“After each game we pray with the other team, then we are able to share the gospel individually with a player from the other team. We have been using “evangelism cards” from our local church which explain the gospel in a simple yet interesting manner. During this time I have been observing my teammates share God’s plan of salvation, pray with the girls from the other team, and even exchange hugs as if they have been friends for years. Unfortunately, I have not been able to participate that much since I don’t speak Portuguese, but it has been an awesome time to pray for my teammates and the player that they are sharing with, as well as to see God at work right there on the field. In our last game against Santos I was finally able to share my faith after the game because they have a player from Iceland that speaks English. It was a great experience for me as I was able to share a little bit about what God has done in my life. It is awesome to see how the game of soccer brings together so many different cultures and allows us to find common ground and just share our experiences and beliefs with one another.”

EAGLES 3 X 0 CENTRO OLIMPICO

We played our 6^th game and achieved our 5^th victory this past Wednesday. God has greatly blessed us, and is rewarding our hard work on the field as we have already classified for the semi-finals with a record of 5-0-1. Aside from the scoreboard, we are seeing great victories happen in the hearts of our players. The fruit of our sports ministry training classes have really been proven on the field.

We continually have people on the outside commenting on “the difference” in our players compared to all the other teams. They say that they have never seen a team that plays as fair and honest as ours. As of now we lead all teams with the least number of cards. We have only one, very unintentional yellow card, whereas most of the teams have between 5- 9 cards in 6 games. The director of this tournament has enjoyed this “difference” in our team so much, he has given us free reign to stay on the field and “do whatever it is that we do” (share the gospel) with the opposing team after our games (normally you have to clear the field immediately so the next game can start). Praise God for this favor He has given us in the eyes of the tournament leadership, who don’t even understand our project, and yet has given us this platform to share to the gospel!

Eagles 3 X 0 Itaquá

What a blessing to see more of the fruit from all the work that has been put into discipling our players over the past three months. Young women, who themselves have recently accepted Christ as their Savior, are learning to be filled with His Spirit and to boldly teach the good news to others.

In this picture one of our players is hugging a player from the other team just after the game, keep in mind that they have never met before. It is incredible to see God’s Spirit at work in the lives of these girls as they are able to use the gift of soccer that He has given them to create an opportunity to speak of His wonderful Name. Ursinho, the Eagles Brasil player in this picture, was overflowing with joy because this was the first person that she has led to the Lord. The best part is that our players will be in contact with these girls every Wednesday as all tournament games are played at the same field. They also have been keeping in touch through email and are able to continue to teach and disciple these players who are hungry for more of the Truth.

Since the beginning, this project has only been possible by faith, and our desire and hope is that God will continue to use us and shape us more and more into the likeness of His Son.

Our New Home!

Saturday June 13^th, after much struggle to find affordable housing that was suitable for 18 players, we moved into our new home. We thank God for the colonia (hostel) where we were staying for the first three months. The staff there was a blessing as they allowed us to live there without paying upfront. It is evident that God was providing for us and didn’t allow our project to fold even though the housing and food that was promised to us from the city fell through at the very last minute. Just as the Word teaches us, we are learning to put our trust in God and not in man, as He continues to prove His faithfulness to those who seek Him.

We finally were able to find two houses to rent through the month of July, one right next to the other. We praise God as He continues to be faithful in using the lives of people here from the local church in Praia Grande and several churches from home. While this move has allowed us to lower our cost of living by much more then half, we still have many immediate needs. Therefore, please join us in asking God to raise up people to partner with us and bless us by helping with our rent, food, water, and electric. Also, if you feel that God is putting it on your heart to partner with us, please pray about what you can do to keep this ministry going and changing the lives of many here in Brasil. There is more information on how you can support us on the right column of this blog. Thank you so much for your prayers and interest in Eagles Brasil.

Eagles 1 X 1 Juventus

Once again we praise God for the opportunity not just to demonstrate Christ’s love on the field, but also to speak about His saving grace to the other team after the game. It was a difficult game, rainy, cold, and resulted in a tie, but we believe that we achieved a victory in sharing the message of salvation with the entire Juventus team! Continue to pray for this tournament and all that God will do in the lives of many young women here in Brasil!

Eagles 5 X 0 Banespa 6/3

Our goal as a team is to always keep our hearts focused on simply glorifying God through our attitudes during the game, no matter who the opponent is. Banespa is one of the weaker teams in this tournament and it was important for us to prepare our hearts and minds before the game in order to not step onto the field with a prideful attitude thinking that we had already won. Just as with the Charlotte Eagles team, we have a pregame chapel that includes prayer, praise and worship, and a short message. This time is crucial for us as players to settle our minds, to ask God to fill us with His Spirit, and to prepare ourselves for battle focused of the eternal goal, which is for God to be glorified.

Before the game starts we give each of the players on the other team a small gift called “The Sports Bible”. This is a book from Athletes in Action that includes biblical principles and verses that apply to athletes along with testimonies from Christian athletes that compete at the highest levels. Lilian, one of our captains, goes to college with several of the girls from Banespa and said that whenever she runs into one of them they ask her if they can get more of those “Bibles” to share with their friends and families.  Lilian said, “For me it is clear to see the importance of our testimonies on the field, and we can’t even imagine how many people can be reached with the gospel through this work.” Please continue to pray with us as each week more and more Brazilian women’s soccer players are accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Another Victory!!!

Our second game against São Bernardo was very exciting. We didn’t know what to expect, except that they are one of the best teams in Brazil. Last week went so well, during and after the game, so we were praying for the same outcome with this game. The game started off a lot faster, with them having most of the possession. We scored first however, with a free kick, but they answered with a goal off a corner shortly after. We came back to make it 2-1 at the half. In the second half we had two more goals for a 4-1 result. It was so exciting to have the victory, but more then that, it was obvious that God was playing through us.

The entire São Bernardo team joined us for prayer after the game and we were able to share with them the reason we play the way we do, and the hope that we have in Christ. After the prayer, each of our players had the opportunity to share the gospel on a more individual level with one of the girls on the other team. 

In this picture, Pati “Ursinho”, one of our athletes who received Christ as her savior less than a year ago, is praying with a player from São Bernardo, as Adriana (in the background) is explaining the message of salvation to their number 13.

We know that God has given us the talents and abilities to play soccer, and it is truly rewarding to use them for His glory. I encourage you to evaluate your own life and to recognize the talents that God has given you. It is much more fulfilling when you use them for His glory.

 

Eagles Youth Tour

We would like to thank Mark and Jess along with the girls of the Eagles youth tour for stopping to spend a few days with us while they were here in Brazil on a sports missions trip. They were able to come watch our first game in São Paulo, and provided awesome fan support and encouragement for our team. They even got a taste of how things function in Brazil as they were asked to come out of the stands and play a friendly at the last minute because one of the teams dropped out of the tournament!

On Thursday, the Eagles tour got to be a part of the culminating work over the last 2 months between our team and the U-18 team here in Praia Grande. Four of our players (Mafé, Adriana, Giselle, and Kemily) are responsible for coaching this U-18 team in exchange for scholarships that they receive from the city to study at the local university. As coaches, they are able to incorporate the Biblical principles that they are learning in our discipleship training into their practices with the younger girls. After their practice on Thursday, one of the players from the Eagles youth tour shared her testimony of how God has changed her life. They also brought us some “wordless book” bracelets from the US, which is a fun way to explain salvation. So our girls from Eagles Brasil split into small groups and used the bracelets to share the message of salvation with the entire U-18 team, and several of the girls from the younger team accepted Christ as their savior and are now being discipled by our players!! It is truly amazing to see God at work here, and to be a part of bringing more lives out of darkness and into his marvelous light. 

Our First Game

By God’s grace we were able to enter into the tournament called “Copa Futebol Mulher” (Women’s Soccer Cup) and now have games scheduled every Wednesday until the 15^th of July! Last Wednesday we made the trip up to Sao Paulo to play in our debut game for Eagles Brasil. We were all very excited and nervous to see how the last 3 months of training, both physically and spiritually, would pay off as we stepped onto the field representing a vision that is so much greater then ourselves.  

We praise God for the result that we had, not only in the 2-1 victory over Palmeiras, but also in bringing the light of God’s love into such dark surroundings. If you are not familiar with soccer in Brazil, the playing environment here is not at all a peaceful one. The fans, your coach, and even your own teammates, not to mention the other team, are yelling and swearing at you the entire game. The fouls are dirty, and every aspect of the game is dishonest as players and coaches try to win at all costs. These athletes grow up in this hostile environment and are taught to take dives, foul the other team, and to curse out the referees if they make a call that you don’t agree with.

For the past couple of months we have been teaching and training our girls to play in such a way that brings glory to God, which is entirely opposite of everything that they have ever learned. Breaking years of bad habits only comes as a result of a desire to change, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us.  It was amazing to see God’s power at work on the field last Wednesday. Our team played with a different spirit and unity that everyone present couldn’t help but notice. As a result of the way that our players conducted themselves, playing with good attitudes and Christ like character, we had the opportunity to pray with the entire Palmeiras team after the game, something that never happens here in Brazil. Because our athletes allowed God’s love to shine through them on the field, the other team was eager to hear an explanation to why we were so different, and several of the players from Palmeiras accepted Christ as their Savior!

 

The Coach and the Captains:

From Left to Right: Maria Fernanda "Mafe", Coach Tina, Lilian 

Name: Maria Fernanda de Campos

Age: 23

Home Town: Carapicuiba, São Paulo

Favorite Verse: Psalm 67:1-2

How Has God Impacted Your Life Through Eagles Brasil?

“Tenho tido a oportunidade de conhecer mais a Deus. O ministério do Eagles Brasil tem me levado a ter um relacionamento incrível com Deus, e talvez se não estivesse aqui eu não estaria desfrutando de tudo isso. Por isso louvo a Deus por sua presença constante e por me permitir servi-Lo com aquilo que eu amo fazer que é jogar futebol.”

“I have had the opportunity to grow in my knowledge of God. The ministry of Eagles Brasil has helped me to have an incredible relationship with God and if I had not come here I would not be enjoying this new fellowship with Him. For this reason I praise God for His constant presence and for allowing me to serve Him with the thing that I love to do, which is play soccer.”

Name: Coach Tina Murphy

Age: 31

Favorite Verse: Job 19:25

What is your motivation to come to Brazil and be a part of a project like Eagles Brasil?

“I believe in the vision and mission of the Charlotte Eagles Soccer Club, of which I was a player for 8 years on the women’s team. The greater purpose there, I believe is to make a difference for Christ in all areas of the world. Since 2002, I have played on and off in Brasil as well, for periods of 4 months each year. I saw what an incredible difference it makes to stay longer than 2 weeks in a place, (like most short term mission trips), and live with the people there, and just come along side of a kid like Lilian (below) with your Bible.

When I met Lilian 7 years ago, she was just a kid who came out from the ghetto to play soccer. She is now one of my 2 captains in this ministry because of what God has done in her life. If she is not the future coach of this team, I am positive that she will be starting another Eagles ministry team somewhere else in the world. (She thinks God will lead her to Hawaii!)”

Name: Lilian Angela Cuentro  

Age: 27 

Home Town: São Paulo 

Favorite Verse: Romans 8:28 

How Has God Impacted Your Life Through Eagles Brasil? 

“Foi através da grande paixão pelo futebol que conheci o maior amor da minha vida, Jesus! Há 7 anos atrás Deus usou a vida de algumas jogadoras do Charlotte Eagles para me ensinar o que significa ter uma relacionamento pessoal e verdadeiro com o Deus e isso tem me motivado ao desejo de que Ele use a minha vida para que outras vidas também seja transformados e busquem dia a dia conhecer esse Deus maravilho que nos ama e quer agir in nós para que sejamos cada vês mais parecidos com o Seu Filho.” 

“It was through the great passion for soccer that I came to know the greatest love of my life, Jesus! Seven years ago God used the lives of a couple of players from the Charlotte Lady Eagles to teach me what it means to have a personal and truthful relationship with God. This has motivated the desire in me for Him to use my life so that other lives can also be transformed. And that they would daily seek to get to know this wonderful God that loves us and wants to work in us so that everyday we can become more like His Son.”  

Our Brazilian Partners

Fernando and Pati Monteiro, with their children Vitoria and Timoteo. 

The Monteiros are missionaries with Athletes in Action here in Brazil and serve as our team ministry leaders. 

God's Faithfulness at Work

The main tournament for women’s professional soccer here in Brazil runs from April through December. One week before the games were supposed to start, our team was informed that we were ineligible to participate, because we are a first-year club and don’t have sufficient funds to enter our team. This was a huge disappointment for our players, who have participated in this tournament every year with their previous clubs. It also meant that our team would be training for the entire year with no games to play besides one, weeklong tournament in July. These girls were looking at 10 months of Coach Tina’s training, and only 3 or 4 games to play! Our players had willingly given up opportunities to play for big name teams and receive salaries. They left their homes, families and a few even quit their jobs, in a response to God’s calling to be a part of Eagles Brasil. We shared this news with them, asked each of them to pray and gave them the option to leave if they wanted to join a team that would be able to give them a salary as well as an opportunity to compete in this tournament. Acknowledging the struggle that they would face, each one of them stood firm in their commitment to be a part of this foundational, building year regardless of the circumstances. They understand the sacrifice and work it will take in order to build something here that will make a lasting impact in Brazilian soccer and in the world.

God continues to teach us to trust Him and believe that He is the one that opens His hands to satisfy all of our needs. A week after receiving the discouraging news, we saw God’s faithfulness at work. A brand new tournament formed this year, and a random friend of one of our players called to tell her that they were looking for one more team that could play, because one had dropped out at the last minute. Enter Eagles Brasil! Now we have games to play in, opportunities to reach other teams with the gospel, and to put into practice all that we are learning. What’s more, this tournament has no entrance fees and actually includes prize money for the top four teams! Praise God!

Power Made Perfect in Weakness

Time has been flying by, and we are already in you fourth week of training (both on and off the field). We practice six days a week and have Bible studies and sports ministry training every day as well. We have a small team of 16 players (no goalkeeper yet), and they are all soaking up everything that they are learning. Many of these girls are new believers, and it is amazing to see the way that God is transforming their lives every day. 

Things have been busy here and the Lord is continuing to teach us more then we could imagine. Just as with Gideon's little army that did mighty things, God has been removing people and resources from our team. We thank Him for His faithfulness in providing for us each day, and giving us the most important thing: His presence in our lives. It is evident in the Bible that God chooses to use the smallest and the weakest to do great things for His glory. That way, we have no room to boast in ourselves and the things that we accomplish. As a team, we are humbled in knowing that God doesn't need us, but is choosing to use us to change the world of women's soccer in Brazil.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." --II Corinthians 12:9-10

Trust and Obey

I want to share with you what a blessing it is to be completely dependent on God, and to know that we are not capable of doing anything on our own. Being in the center of God’s will is the best place to be, regardless if things are working out according to our plan or not. The official start date for the team was supposed to be last Friday, but we had to move it back to March 6th for several reasons. We still don’t have a sponsor, and now the food and housing that was promised to us by the city, they no longer have. Looking at this situation through the world’s eyes, you would say it is impossible. But we trust in, and serve a God that is so much bigger then all of our problems.
We praise God for allowing us to find a large house that will be a perfect place for the team to stay and will provide the girls with a homelike environment. The price and the location are great, better then anything we could have imagined. Now we are just praying for God to raise up an individual or a company that shares in our vision and has a desire to use the resources that God has blessed them with to bless this team. Please join us in praying for His will to be done in this project, and that He would continue to teach us to be totally dependent on Him!

On our way!

Praise God, we got our tourist visas that get us into to the country, and allow us to stay for 3 months in Brazil. Once we get there we will be in the process of changing the tourist visa to a temporary visa that will allow us to stay for the full ten months of the soccer season. The process to get this type of visa seems to be long and challenging, but we know that God is in control so we have no reason to worry. Please keep us in your prayers as Tina and I (Carrie) will be flying down tomorrow, and Cory is already there in Brazil. 

Another praise to share is the addition of Laura Armstrong, who will join us for the first 3 1/2 months. Laura has been the Charlotte Eagles goalkeeper for the last few years, and is going to help both on the field as a player and also training the other goalkeeper. It is very exciting to see how things are moving forward and this dream is becoming a reality. We continue to give God the glory for all that He is doing and will continue to do in Brazil. 

Tryouts

Click on the title "Tryouts" to see some pictures from the tryout weekend we held for the Eagles Brasil team back in November. We had about 16 Brazilian players come who were interested in trying out and learning more about the ministry. It was an awesome time of studying the Word, fellowship, and of course lots and lots of soccer. Please keep us in your prayers, as the anticipated starting date for the season draws closer: February 27th. 

Sharing the Love of Christ through the Environment of Soccer

Hello and welcome to the blog for the new Brazilian professional women’s soccer team, Eagles Brasil. For those of you who don’t already know, I would like to share a little about the background of this project. The “Charlotte Eagles” (under the organization Missionary Athletes International), and the Brazilian “Athletes in Action” (called Atletas em Ação) in 2008 formed a partnership, combining the mission and vision of both organizations into one. This partnership creates the first women’s professional soccer team in Brazil, where all of the players are Bible believers whose vision is to play to glorify God and to spread the good news of the gospel. The team will come together for its debut season in February 2009 and compete in the highest level of women’s soccer in Brazil. We will have many new believers, some having made decisions for Christ less than one year ago. Eagles Brasil has the following goals: to provide solid discipleship for new believers, something that Brazil is painfully void of; to teach our players how to use their gifts as athletes to share their faith with the rest of the soccer fanatic world; to share Christ with the teams that we will play against; to develop Brazilian leaders who can disciple others and who can begin to connect sports ministry to the local church; and to provide a loving and truthful environment for our players, the vast majority of which come from extreme poverty, neglect, and abuse.
Thank you for your much needed prayers and support. We know that you are such an important part of this ministry.

John 4:23-24:
"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."