New Tickets

We found a class through Portland Community College that I can take this spring to learn Portuguese. It is Wednesday nights April 6th - June 6th I think. Then the last month before we leave I can practice. Hopefully that way I will get the most out of being there and by the end of the program I may be at least proficient in the language.

We finally bought our plane tickets for the last leg of our journey. This completes our flight reservations and now we just need the hotel in Rio de Janeiro to email us back. Here's how our itinerary looks so far:
July 3rd - Fly out of Portland at 11:40 am to Dallas, TX (5:25 pm)
Fly out of Dallas, TX at 7:45 pm, to Sao Paulo at 7:50 am (July 4th!)
July 4th - Fly out of Sao Paulo at 10:10 am to Rio de Janeiro at 11:10 am
*Stay in Rio for 2 nights - see famous beaches and the Christ statue*
July 6th - 11:10 pm leave Rio and fly to Salvador, arriving at 1:10 am on the 7th.
July 7th - CCS representative picks us up at the airport at 1:10 am and takes us back to the home base where we hopefully can sleep all day. Then our journey truly begins...
On the weekends we will travel to nearby, and maybe some not so nearby, cities for fun and so Scott can see mission friends again in other areas.
...
Our program ends on September 1st at which point we will travel by bus the 8 or so hours overnight to Porto Seguro and Eunopolis for a few days then take the bus back and fly out of Salvador on the 5th around 3:20 pm, and get to RIo at 5:20 pm.
September 5th - Fly out of Rio at 8:45 pm and get to Miami at 4:20 am (6th).
September 6th - Fly out of Miami at 7:15 am and get to Dallas, TX at 9:15 am.
Fly out of Dallas, TX at 11:40 am and get to Portland at 1:35 pm.
Then it's Thursday and we are home! Then we rest and do laundry that weekend and I get ready for school to start that Monday. So sorry if you wanted to spend any time with us this summer. We still love you! And you're welcome to come along! Thanks!
-Megan Taylor

Plane Tickets

We recently purchased our plane tickets to Brazil. We are one step closer! We are flying to Rio de Janeiro and then we'll see from there. We may fly to Porto Seguro and then take a bus to Salvador.

Christmas Donations

For Christmas we got several donations! Kelly and Jesse Sponsored a day and we got donations from Ron and Kathy Taylor, Roger and Shirley Mickelson, and from Flossie Knutson. Thank you so much! Here are some pictures of the Banana Kelly and Jesse got us. (meaning they were sponsoring me for August 28th)

Officially Signed Up!

We've officially signed up and paid our deposits. We are going July 6th - September 1st. We also got our first donation tonight from Amber and Casey Woolsey. Thanks guys!!

Volunteering in Brazil

Megan and I have decided to make a blog about our volunteer trip to Brazil. (It was mostly me but that's okay). I figure this way, we can update people about fundraising and then our trip from anywhere. We are going to sign up soon so it will be official. Then we just have to find the money to go volunteer for two months this summer in Brazil. We plan to go through a non-profit organization called Cross Cultural Solutions. That way, donations to our cause are tax deductible. Megan plans to volunteer in a hospital in Salvador so she can use her medical skills helping underprivileged children down there. I think I will teach English in an underfunded government school. We'll update this periodically to document our progress and post pictures when we finally get there.

Cross Cultural Solutions

This is a little information I gleaned from their website about the program we’re interested in:

Salvador, Brazil:

As an international volunteer with Cross-Cultural Solutions, you're making a meaningful contribution, working side-by-side with local people and sharing in the goals of a community that warmly welcomes you. You're experiencing another culture like never before and really getting to know its people.

What you can do:
Observing and Assisting Local Medical Professionals
Caring for infants/children
Teaching English/Assisting teachers
Working with People affected by HIV/AIDS
Caring for elderly and disabled
Women’s empowerment

The CCS experience includes cultural and learning activities which give you the opportunity to learn about local culture and customs, and understand community development; this ensures that your volunteer experience is truly complete.

Free time is available some afternoons, most evenings, and every weekend. This time is yours to get to know the community and people in your own way. You’ll enjoy the local markets, historic places of interest, Internet cafes and more.

We provide a Home-Base for all of our volunteers. Here, all of your daily needs are taken care of, including lodging, meals and transportation. The CCS Home-Base is designed to help you enjoy all the country has to offer without the frustrations or time spent on day-to-day logistics. It also means that we are not burdening the local community with supporting or caring for the needs of our volunteers.

For more information, visit www.CROSSCULTURALSOLUTIONS.ORG

We would like people to sponsor one or both of us for a specific day between June 30th-September 1st. We will keep a journal of our activities for each day so the contributor can see what their specific donation helped to do. This is merely a fun idea, but any and every little bit helps greatly! We will be holding a party when we return to present a slide show of pictures! Thank you!
Monetary donations are very much appreciated as well as tax deductible: The easiest way to donate is to click on the links on the side of the page. You can pay with a credit card!

Send check/money order/banker's draft to: Cross-Cultural Solutions
(Please include our names on the notes line)
2 Clinton Place
New Rochelle, NY 10801

FYI – The breakdown of fees and charges are as follows:
Total cost: 9 weeks = $4,391 per person, $70 per day per person

The base fee of $2,489 for two weeks covers the cost of:
-$648 – program development and management
-$455 – outreach
-$321 – volunteer coordination
-$409 – administration
-$549 – first two weeks of field experiences
-$107 – in country start-up: orientation, placement, assistance, and adjustment
Additional weeks are $272 each. This portion covers our field expenses, which breaks down as follows:
-19% food and water ($52/week or $7/day)
-16% lodging accommodations ($44/week or $6/day)
-34% local staff ($90/week or $13/day)
-19% insurance, basic amenities, phone service and office space ($52/week or $7/day)
-13% volunteer transportation ($35/week or $5/day)