Day 21 - May 29 - Tuesday

This morning we took a cable car (two cars, actually) to the top of Sugarloaf! The view was absolutely incredible. We could see what looked like all of Rio from the top of that peak! There were little monkeys (kind of like marmosets) all over the place, so that was pretty neat. After we left there, we stopped for a picnic lunch at a nearby park right next to the beach, then we drove to visit the "Cristo Redentor", or Christ Redeemer, statue. It is similar to our statue of Liberty in that it was given to Brasil by France (and it's absolutely HUGE), and it has become one of the major icons of Rio. However, as Valdir so perfectly put it, it's even better because it is the TRUE statue of liberty, since true liberty is only found in Christ. :) After a one-song performance, we went back to Copacabana and strolled along the sidewalk by the beach to do some souvenir shopping for a couple of hours. We ended our last night in Brasil with a team dinner at Carretão, which was an experience in itself. There is no menu, no ordering of any sort. Instead, there is a little double-sided card on your table; one side is green, the other is red. As long as the green side is up, waiters will come by your table and offer you various kinds of incredibly delicious meat, cutting it straight of the skewer. When you are full, you turn the card so the red side faces up, and they stop coming. After we had all eaten our fill, we had our final team activities. We shared at random, first various experiences we had in Brasil that changed us, then things that we love about one another. We passed around a quote book I had been keeping full of funny things people said during the trip and read them aloud, then performed one of the VISION traditions - the boys' and girls' song. Every year, all the girls get together and write a song about the boys on the trip (usually to the tune of one of our VISION songs), and the boys do the same for the girls (usually to a popular tune). Then, at the end of the trip, we sing them to one another. After that, our evening ended with prayer and a short drive back to the hotel. Hard to believe that our time here is already done! Tomorrow we fly back to the States. :/