Two Church of the Nazarene members in Brazil were chosen to carry the torch to the 2016 Olympic Games.

The torch is a symbol of unity among the nations and was carried from Olympia, Greece, to Rio de Janiero, Brazil, over a three-month period prior to the start of the games August 5.

Silvia Lana, the administrative and finance assistant on the Church of the Nazarene's Southeast Paulista District, entered a contest for stories through Nissan, an Olympic sponsor. In her story, she shared about her success in martial arts, which she began to practice at age 52. She graduated five levels within three years.

More than 80,000 stories were received, and Lana's was among the 1,700 selected. 

Sandra Giannoni Ferreira was also chosen to carry the Olympic torch. Sandra, her husband Luiz, and their family are members of the Church of the Nazarene in Atibaia. Sandra gives her mother, Maura, the credit for encouraging her during her adolescent years to become involved in sports. Last year at age 80, Maura won gold and silver medals in a regional swimming competition in Sao Paulo.

Sandra and Luiz came to know Jesus before they married and their lives were transformed. Today they are church leaders involved in a ministry through which God has shown them as an effective evangelism tool.

The Olympics concluded August 21.

Jordan Mageo, a former Point Loma Nazarene University student, competed in the women's 100-meter dash. She was not able to advance past the preliminaries, finishing with a time of 13.72, but enjoyed her experience.

"What an honor to be representing American Samoa in Rio," Mageo wrote on her Facebook page. "I feel incredibly blessed by everyone's support and can't say thank you enough. Shoutout to Jesus for being so good even when I'm so undeserving of His goodness."

--Church of the Nazarene South America Region