Rio: A Pictorial Journal of my trip

"Sports, Favelas, and Peace" Lecture

Facig University, located in the city of São Paulo, invited me to present my research to its graduate students. For two hours I lectured with a myriad of visual aids to help conceptualize the intensity of the ongoing conflict in Rio's favelas.

I spoke at a research conference on the favelas before graduating, but this had an entirely different feel to it. I felt much more comfortable with the material when I was presenting in São Paulo. The obvious difference was that I could now back up the research I had done. The favelas Cidade de Deus, Rocinha, and Santa Marta were no longer just pictures in the books, articles, and videos I had studied. They were now very real to me. I spoke with the inhabitants of these dilapidated squatter communities. I walked with them, I heard their story.

The students were very attentive and anxious to learn more about my experience inside what they considered "the world's most violent slums." At the request of the university's research committee, I gave the lecture mostly in English so the students could hear a native English speaker's voice. Nevertheless, I found myself switching to Portuguese often to better make my points understood. To my surprise, only two of the more than a hundred students had any knowledge of what it was like in a favela. Favelas were a foreign world to them. Their misunderstanding of the favela's in general was appalling. I left Facig University that night with a deepened belief that education is a major step to reconciliation for the favelas. The favelas and the outside world will never progress towards peace if they don't make an effort to understand each other.

Chief Commander Urry & General Perry reunite

Tuesday night I caught a ride from Sao Jose dos Campos to downtown Sao Paulo for a surprise arrival at a small return missionary reunion. I was the only American there (as expected), and the only one from my era. The two other returned missionaries who showed up had just gotten home, so the only people I knew were President Urry and his wife, the guard outside the office, and the cook who prepared our dinner. President was down there for the dedication of the Curitiba temple, and it just so happened that my return to my mission coincided perfectly. It was nice seeing President and catching up on what we have both been up to since we last talked. His strict obedience and love for the Lord has and will forever serve as an example for me to follow.