The Start Of a Dream - Canada

* # All Posts That I will make will be in English and Portuguese

* # Todas as postagens que eu fizer estarao em ingles, e portugues.


The dream of playing basketball overseas comes from many years ago, probably started when I had my 15-16 years old, my life was not very easy, I lost my father when I was 14 years old, and had to start working at that point to help my family, BUT I never gave up of my dream, and now begining to tell a little bit of my journey, I will make this a little shorter, after trying to play professional in Brazil, after many negatives answer, after a lots of practicing, and participate in many events on exchange programs, students fairs, all that was about left Brazil to study, I was there, not because I do not like Brazil, but because I had a dream to study and play basketball outside of Brazil.
I will be focusing this blog about my journey in coming to Canada, I will explain below:

* ENGLISH

It all started on Monday at a student event that was in Curitiba - Parana - Brazil - February 24 (Thursday) In Station Embratel Convention Center.
The fair began 3pm until 8pm, after a day of work went straight to the event, I  got there around 7pm / 7:30pm I'm not sure. People who were working at the fair were already preparing to finish another day, and I was looking for an opportunity to realize my dream. I used to work with fair and events, I know the last minutes are very important, and when someone comes to talk it is not very pleasant. hehehe
Passing through the halls, all stands closed, but I saw there at the very end of the last hallway a light at the end of the tunnel, yes, I started walking faster to talk with the people that were there. At that moment God gave me the opportunity to meet Stuart, a very nice guy that now is my friend. I introduced myself, told my dream about play outside of Brazil and gave my DVD and my basketball resume so he could take to the coach and maybe schedule a try out for me.
I spent a lot of time doing it, sending my videos and my resume for foreign universities, but all said the same thing, they would answer me, but ..... Do you know... I'm waiting until today. They never email me back.

After about two months email me, I was discrediting already, but God has a right time for everything. I was at that time giving God all the glory just because I received this email.
We talked a little more in detail, then I had the opportunity to tell my goals and he made some contacts for me at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops BC. On June 2, 2011 received one of the best news of my life, in an email that I will summarize:

Stuart send me:
Some people from Thompson River University are interested in help you get a try out for the basketball team, knowing that 's hard to judge your skills in basketball in videos only the university decided to give you a scholarship to do 1 semester of English course, to be closer and contact basketball Coach and do the tests. One semester of scholarship costs $ 6,900 Canadian Dollar, you will be responsible for other expenses such as airline ticket, visa, accommodation, food, among others. The semester starts in September.

Now the miracles really started to happen.

God gave me the scholarship, excellent $ 6900 (Canadian Dollar).
But it was in a difficult financial time for me, and I had no money for airplane tickets, let alone accommodation and feeding.

Talking to a coworker (Fernando), visiting customers and telling him about my dreams and the miracle that God had just do, just telling my financial difficulty, then, God touched his heart, and after further conversation he said that he could help me with the airplane tickets and the visa.
At that time I was working in Ferragens Negrao (hardware Negrao), as a Business Annalist. And the people I met through facebook who lives in Kamloops, starting with Wagner that also has a blog called: - Semeando em terras canadenses.

Rush to have the visa,with the tickets in hands but still with no house to live, but in July, the same guy that helped me with the scholarship introduce me to a Canadian family Carol, Trisha who used to rent the basement. However this rent was 800 dollars, and with no money only with my faith in God, that He could do some miracles for me in Canada. After some weeks in Curitiba, Stuart went to another event, and in July he introduced me via skype, to this family, who offered me the house for 6 months FOR FREE, I have to say a special thank you for Stuart, Carol and Trisha, who helped me a lot.

Scholarship, airplane tickets, place to stay. All ready to leave.

The visa took so long to be aproved 56 days, I had to change my ticket 2 times, and arrived one week late for class, but very happy.

Then I went to meet the basketball coach, at that time I was thinking that I got the scholarship to play basketball.

However when I introduced myself and said I had sent some videos, he told me:
- Marcio, I have never seen your videos, resume, and never heard your name.

I looked to Carol that was helping me, i had no words to say, because I had won a scholarship to play and study, to my thoughts, but it was not. So I asked if I could practice with them, since I was here. He said yes, but I could not play because the team could have only two international players, and they already had.

This h the first part of my testimony, and my history here in Canada.

NOTHING IS FOR MY TALENT AND SKILLS. GOD WHO REALLY BLESSED ME WITH THIS OPPORTUNITY, HE GAVE ME ALL, I ONLY HAD THIS STEP BY FAITH AND COURAGE WHEN I WAS AT THE STUDENT FAIR, AND HAVE THE BOLDNESS TO COME TO CANADA WITHOUT MONEY, AND KNOWING NOBODY.

A big hug to everyone, AND A SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR:
Stuart; Carol; Trisha; Mike; Fernando; Andre; Wagner; Pamela;

Glory to God and God bless everyone ....