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!