Before the Baylor Sports Ministry team left American soil and headed to Maceio and Rio de Janeiro for a two-week mission trip in Brazil, Athletics Chaplain Wes Yeary challenged the group to "say yes to Jesus."

So, whether it was teaching children from the Maceio favelas, working a three-day football camp, surviving a somewhat treacherous bus ride to a drug rehab center outside of Rio or even standing up to give their testimony, the answer was always a resounding "YES!"

"His favorite line was `say yes to God,''' said senior All-American forward Nina Davis from the women's basketball team. "You can't say no to Wes, and you definitely can't say no to God. So, you have no choice but to get up there. It really brings you out of your comfort zone. And when you look over there, Wes is just smiling."

Going back to Brazil last month for the second time after serving six years in Africa, Yeary led a 34-person team that included Baylor student-athletes from football, women's basketball, acrobatics & tumbling, volleyball and track, along with a number of trainers and staff leaders.

"After our going last year, the seeds that we planted, some of the relationships that we built, really grew throughout the year," he said. "So when we returned this year, there was a lot of excitement and eagerness for us to get there. Everywhere we went, we were able to share the gospel, and the schools were so open and eager."

- Jana Brusek, Volleyball (from May 20 blog entry)

As one of a handful of returners, senior receiver Lynx Hawthorne caught himself being "that guy that ruins the movie."

"I think I got a little annoying at times," he said. "I would get so excited and I would start explain to everybody about what was about to happen, what we were about to do. . . . They weren't really getting the full effect. So, I started slowing down. And when they would ask me, `Hey, what's this like?' I would be like, `I don't know, just wait and see.' But, it was awesome going back. I would go back 100 more times, if I could."

After the long journey from Waco to Houston to Rio to Maceio, the group met with pastor Jonson Henrique from Igreja Batista no Trapiche on their first full day in Maceio, toured the favela of Trapiche and finished that night with the first of three clinics with the Maceio Marechais football team.

A year ago, they had just picked up American football, with most of their limited knowledge coming from video games and YouTube videos. Now, they were hungry for more and eager to soak up whatever the Baylor players and coaches brought them.

"We actually went a lot deeper into things," Yeary said, "where maybe we didn't do as much X's and O's last year, we added some of that element this time. Last year, we were just doing basic stuff like lining up in the right place and then reacting. And this time, because we spent more time with them, it gave us the opportunity to kind of dive into some of those things with them. And they wanted it. They were so hungry and eager."

Even in a three-a-day session that went from morning to night, the Brazilian players went non-stop, Hawthorne said.

"They don't need water breaks, they don't need rest. I've never seen anything like it," he said. "We were like, `Y'all go get water.' And they'd say, `No, we're good.' They're not even sweating. We're coaching, sweating bullets, and these dudes aren't even breaking a sweat."

Because of the language barrier -- the Baylor group's Portuguese was extremely limited -- senior quarterback Seth Russell said, "There is more drawing out and acting out the play, rather than talking through it."

"It was tough, because it was hard for them to grasp our type of offense," Russell said. "All the offense they know is off YouTube and the 1970s, with a wingback and all that kind of stuff. When we asked them how many times they throw the ball, they said about 90 percent. And we all just looked at each other, because in practice they ran it almost every time."

Through football, Yeary said, the Baylor group and Pastor Jonson have been able to add a "spiritual element that they weren't necessarily seeking."

"I noticed last year after our first workout, when Colin Brence shared his testimony, those guys didn't blink. They were locked in on him," Yeary said. "We certainly love the football element and watching our guys teach them different skills. But to see the impact spiritually as these men are turning to the Lord . . . that Sunday when we came back, there were over 30 of them in church, bringing their girlfriends or wives and families. We were packed out in that church, which was really exciting."

That Sunday was the same day that Kristy Wallace from women's basketball met a 7-year-old girl named Gabriella.

"We made a cool hand shake, the kind only best friends make. We clicked," she said. "It was interesting to see her be so accepting and including of my friendship," Wallace said. "Her welcoming attitude reminded me of God's willingness to accept us. Although we are sinners and fall short of his glory, God wants us to accept him in our life; and by his grace, we are saved."

Wallace said crossing the young girl's path taught her to "be more like Gabriella and her childlike faith."

With five different sports teams represented, it gave the athletes a chance to spread their wings and spend time with some fellow students that they barely knew before this trip.

"I remember last year, I barely even hung out with the basketball players," said Davis, who has gone on both of the Brazil trips. "One of my closest friends now -- basically my best friend, I met out there. And without the trip, I probably would have never even talked to her. And even this year, there were times where I was like, `Where is Kristy?' And Chardonae (Fuqua) would say, `Oh, she's with the volleyball players or she's doing this.' It's just crazy."

Hawthorne said Wallace is "awesome, and you would never know it until you get there and get around her."

"You see enough of the football guys. I've seen Seth a million times," Hawthorne said of Russell, his former roommate. "But, when you get to some other people that are hungry for Christ, hungry to share the news and teach about their sports, that's just so cool. The acro girls, how good are they at what they do."

- Kaitlin Randle, Athletic Trainer (from May 21 blog entry)

Nothing in Maceio -- or anywhere else, for that matter -- could have prepared them for what happened in Rio de Janeiro and back home in Waco, Texas, on Thursday, May 26.

Driving to a drug rehab clinic about an hour outside of Rio, there was a fear and near certainty that the bus wasn't going to make it.

"We pretty much thought we were going to die on the way out there," Davis said. "I remember getting to this bridge and thinking, `This bridge is just like way small.' And we're on this really big bus. So, we were like, `There is no way. We're going to fall into this water, can everybody swim?'''

"As we were getting off, the bus driver's waiting out there with a screwdriver and another tool in his hand to try to get the bus going," Wallace said. "The bus was absolutely battered."

Yeary said he could hear the "laughter and joy just echo through that area" as the Baylor group loved on the men in the rehab clinic that "had gotten addicted to something and were trying to find their way out."

Davis said she met a former pro basketball player who talked about being addicted for the last four years and how it had affected his life.

"We just let them know that yes you've sinned and yes you're addicted to whatever you're addicted to," Davis said. "But God still loves you. And you can still get out of here, whether that's three months or nine months or however long it takes you to get out of here."

While the group was finishing up lunch at the first rehab center, sobering news came of the Pepper Hamilton findings and "suspension with the intent to terminate" head football coach Art Briles.

"There was all this speculation about what was going to happen, and I just took myself away from all of that," Hawthorne said. "Literally, I couldn't speak. . . . I just wanted to sleep. And when I woke up, I remember thinking there is nothing I can do about it over here. And the last thing you want to hear is what could happen or what might happen, because that's like bringing an umbrella and expecting it to rain."

Reciting Hebrews 13:8, Yeary told the football players, in particular, that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

"That was really what we leaned on in that time was knowing that in the midst of change around us we can turn to the one who never changes, and he'll see us through," Yeary said. "That was a special day, because we had heavy hearts, and yet at the same time we were given the privilege of seeing God at work and we got to serve others that were so grateful and thankful."

Before getting off the bus at the second rehab center, Hawthorne told himself to "leave it on the bus."

"That's the same thing we do in football," he said. "You've got problems, but as soon as you step on that field, you've got to have all that behind you."

"I feel like God was testing us," Russell said. "He was saying, `Where's your faith? Is your faith in me or in what you want?' . . . God has a way of showing you that there are bigger things in life. Yes, football is important. Yes, we respect Coach Briles. I respect him more than anyone I've ever met. But what's happened has happened. You can't go back in time."

Although Yeary says he has had other requests from all over the world, he said the plan is to go back to Brazil next year.

"It was such a great experience this year, again, and I feel like our student-athletes were impacted in a great way," he said, "that I think we'll continue to just build on that until the Lord leads otherwise. . . . Just in returning this second year, it gave us the opportunity to go a lot deeper with our partners and the people that we've cultivated relationships with."