More info on Varig airlines

It now appears that a former logistics operator for Varig airlines has tried to bid for the company. The latest info about the bankrupt Brazilian carrier - the airline Samantha McDaniel and her YWAM team used to get to Brazil - can be read by clicking the title of this post.

Read more!

Info on Varig Airline

Brazilian aviation authorites have approved the sale of the cargo unit of Varig Airlines, the carrier that Sam McDaniel used to get to her mission trip in Brazil. However, a judge must still consider whether to allow the sale of the rest of the bankrupt carrier. The airline's insolvency has stranded thousands of passengers - including Samantha and her YWAM colleagues. Click the title of this post for the full story. CRM

Read more!

Update from the Dycks

Al & Deela Dyck from Christian Associates report that Deela's latest round of chemotherapy has gone well, but there has been an unfortunate side effect of a blistering rash on her feet. Al wrote on his webpage:

"Deela has been taking the oral chemo for about three weeks now and has been feeling well. She has a strange side effect of a rash with blisters on the bottoms of her feet and palms of her hands which is quite irritating. If it doesn't resolve itself or if it gets worse it probably means another change in treatment. We see the doctor next Tuesday and get the results of the tumor markers to see if the drug is having a positive impact on the cancer.

However, Al also reported the sad news that co-worker from Paris has discovered he has brain cancer. You can read Al's full post by clicking on the title of this report or by clicking on his name in the sidebar.

Read more!

Sam McDaniel in Brazil!

Samantha McDaniel has arrived in Brazil and is preparing to do ministry in Manaus. On her webpage (which can be reached by clicking the title of this post) Sam wrote:


Hola from Manaus! We are finally here! This is just a quick update on what has happened in the past 48 hours.

We left Denver at 1:30 pm MT on Monday, and arrived in Mexico City about four hours later. When we arrived in Mexico City, our flight from there to Manaus was cancelled. So they flew us to Sao Paulo, which is at the very southern tip of Brazil. It was a nine and a half hour flight, including a stop in Columbia. At about 9am EST we landed in Sao Paulo, and waited until midnight to finally fly into Manaus. We arrived at the YWAM base in Manaus at about 5am. We had a chance to sleep in today, and check out the city of Manaus. It´s a very colorful and busy city, full of diversity and lots of tropical fruit! Tomorrow we will start our boat ministry, and we´ll be on the river for two weeks.

Here are some quick prayer points for the next two weeks:


The airline we used, Varig, has declared bankrupcty. As of today, all flights by Varig are indefinitely cancelled. We are extremely blessed to catch a flight to Manaus at midnight last night! Please pray for Varig and their employees, as well as a means for the team to get to Fortaleza next month and a means to get home in August.

We didn´t take maleria pills in the States, and our base director says we should. However, maleria pills are illegal in Brazil. We are starting a fasting and prayer cycle that will last throughout the whole outreach.

Please pray for our health, especially when we are on the river for the next two weeks!

I´m actually enjoying the weather here! It reminds me of North Carolina. But please pray for the weather conditions down here as it is already taking a toll on some people. Pray for plenty of clean water for us to drink, and that we won´t become dehyrdrated.

Pray for the communities that we will reach in the next two weeks. Pray that they will see Jesus Christ in each of us as we help build their communities and share the Gospel with them.

So far, everyone is safe and we are enjoying life here in Brazil! I will give you guys an update on our boat ministry in two weeks! Thank you and God bless!

Read more!

Sam McDaniel Ready to Go

The setbacks have cleared for Samantha McDaniel's mission trip to Brazil. Sam wrote on her webpage:

We are ready to go! Everyone is leaving today with passport and visa in hand! We're leaving the base in less then two hours, and our flight leaves at about 3:30 EST. We'll fly into Mexico City, and then fly into Manaus at about 3:30 AM.

After the whole passport ordeal, we are sooooooo ready to go! The new class of DTSers are arriving, and it's really weird seeing new faces. I even met a girl who is from Winchester, and went to Fairfax High School for awhile (small world!). But seeing the new kids here reminded me of how far I have come in the past three months. God has equipped our us with awesome tools, gifts, and abilities to share the love of Christ to those who desperately need it. And now we get a chance to use these tools on the mission field. It's pretty spiffy stuff.

I will try to update as much as possible, but it will probably be much less then once a week. We'll be on the Amazon for 13 days, and we won't have internet access while we are there. We'll be back in the states on August 5th, do a week of debrief, and then I fly back to DC on August 12th. Please continue to pray for us in the next seven weeks. We've already faced some opposition, so we expect even more opposition in the following weeks to come.

I thank you for reading this blog, for praying with me, and for sharing my adventures with me. My teammates and I certainly appreciate all of the prayer support. It has definitely helped with our passport and visa situation, so please keep on praying! Thanks!

Sam told CRM that her team leader will be sending updates and they will be posted as available.

Read more!

Pray for Sam McDaniel

Samantha McDaniel's visa problems for her trip to Brazil with YWAM have been solved, but another issue has arisen. Sam writes in her blog "Hands and Feet":

Over the weekend, the Brazil team prayed, fasted, and worshipped together. We asked God for direction and clarification on the situation. On Monday morning, the team leaders received a clear word from the Lord to apply for new passports and visas. The eight Americans on the team went to the passport bureau in Denver to apply for replacements. We were originally told that it would take 1-3 days to receive the new passports. But we got them in an hour!!! We FedEx the passports that same afternoon to the Brazilian embassy in Houston, and we received them back TODAY.

However, Sam goes on to say there could be transportation problems.

Sam continues:

So we are ready to go...almost...

If it's not one thing, it's another. The airline that we will use in Brazil has declared bankruptcy. There is someone who might buy the airline, and if that's the case then we're in the clear. If that's not the case then our flight from Mexico City to Manaus will be cancelled, as well as all flights within Brazil and our return flight from Brazil to Miami.

So PLEASE continue to pray for us! We have come closer together as a team, and our relationship with the Lord is much stronger through these situations. We have a feeling that God is going to do some amazing, crazy stuff in Brazil. So please pray that God will continue to grant us favor.

Read more!

Last Minute Preparations ....

Samantha McDaniel is making last minute preparations for her mission trip to Brazil. She still needs some extra funds so everything will be paid off. However, a situation has arisen with her visa into Brazil. Sam wrote to CRM:

"I am VERY close to paying off the outreach. I only need $150 to pay it off, and we leave in a week. I'm not worried about it though, God has provided so much in the past week. Someone left a hundred dollar bill in my mail box last Friday, and then on Tuesday morning someone left $500 on my bed."

So I have definitely received God's blessing! However, the team is having a situation with our visas right now.

We've mailed in our visa applications with our passports about a week and a half ago, and it's been processed.

However, the visas and passports are now LOST. The Brazilian Embassy doesn't know where they are, and the team is meeting tonight to pray over the situation. We have two Koreans and a Dutch who has their passports and can get into the country without visas, but the ten of us who are either American, Canadian, or Australian are waiting on the visas.

So please pray for that we will trust in God's timing, that His hand is definitely on the situation, and that we will go when He commands us to go.

More details are also available on Sam's blog "Hands and Feet" which can be reached by clicking on the title of this post.

Read more!

Sam McDaniel Update

Samantha McDaniel is making final preparations for her outreach to Brazil with YWAM. She is scheduled to leave June 17th and writes on her blog Hands and Feet:

We will be spending 3 1/2 weeks in Manaus, serving in the Amazon Jungle tribes, a local orphanage, local churches and with the youth. Manaus will prove to be the most challenging living conditions for our team. (Living on the floor in village huts, sleeping on a river boat, no running water or functioning restroom, etc...)

We are equipped to share Christ in these areas and we will do so in the small river tribes and the city of Manaus. In addition to these tools, we will also take with us skits used to teach about basic hygiene and sickness prevention methods.

After this, we will fly to Fortaleza (East) and spend 3 1/2 weeks working with a local Ministry called, “My Father’s House”. My Father’s House workers spend the majority of their time working to help the aid poor communities (Favelas) and the drug addicted youth of Fortaleza and surrounding villages.

We will spend our weeks in Fortaleza serving along side this ministry. We’ll work in their “rehabilitation farm”, teaching music and life skills to to the kids who are enrolled in their rehab program. We plan to build a skate park and work on another building to be used for future team housing.

In Fortaleza, we will also be working with the local church to do outreaches and drama presentations for the local people. In addition to this, we will strive to spread the vision of local and world outreach/missions to those in the local church; especially the youth! Please pray that a passion for God will spread like wildfire!

Read more!