I am exhausted–well, not so much now after my two hour nap (thank God for naps!). we did VBS at Carpina last week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 2-5pm). They only invited a few kids, thinking that they would bring their friends. They did. and more. Each day we had well over 100…and Thursday we had well over 200! Crazy…especially thinking that we would sit them all down and teach them English.
The kids were so great. they called me “Tia” (auntie) and would crowd me in. We never could handle all of them, calling for alot of last minute planning, and I would jump in front to and lead in yet another round of “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” to buy them some time planning things. Somehow I always went into hyper mode and God always gave the energy needed at the time.
Tuesday we had a whole hour to teach a roomful of kids (about 80?) English. We divided into three groups and began–three groups in one thin long room. Besides the noise disturbing each other, we also found that all of our planning went kaplooie as most of the kids had never even pronounced English words (and Karine was trying to teach them the months of the year!) I was working on the alphabet…but did you realize that for 30 kids to memorize 26 different sounds at one time in a confined spaced is virtually impossible? we went through the alphabet forwards, backwards, mixed up…and for the most part, I think about 10 of them learned something. by this time I am sweating and I still have 45 more minutes to entertain these 30 kids in a corner…yikes! I ended up turning the alphabet flashcards over and learning colors, repeating “Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening” millions of times, teaching them “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” for the first of a million times, going over numbers from 1-10…and anything else that would keep their attention. whew.
Wednesday we did 2 half-hour segments with two groups instead, which went much better…I actually had them write some words in English and then draw their family, identifying their mother, father, sister, and brother in English. My only big problem was that my second group was ALL BOYS with the whole neighborhood of troublemakers mixed in. I finally kept saying “Silencio or Vai!” (be quite or go) loudly many times. I am learning to be a slave driver and dictator even in Portuguese:). Thursday we had even better ideas, having Cindy play a game for 15 minutes with some English and then having 15 minutes of vocabulary with me…which worked nicely except for the sudden onslaught of 50+ kids! and hey, who can complain about that, considering that was the day that the complete gospel was presented for them?!
Besides VBS, our days were filled with painting, laughing, joking, singing (well, alot of that was me), and cutting. yep, I must dedicate at least a couple lines to cutting flannel graph stuff since we spent forever and a day doing it. Steve has made sure that each church has a complete flannel graph set in the past, and had two more sets to go. he sent them up in these huge boxes. We are not talking about any little dinky thing here. it is high class stuff. So, in our spare moments, two to ten of us would gather in the library and pick up scissors to cut these monsters. We finished the first one the beginning of the week and began on the second. Oh my, there must be thousands of little people, creatures, and things to cut out for these elaborate stories. I know they will use them and it will last for a good long time, but wow, that was alot of work. I must say, it was a good bonding time and made sure we used all our time wisely instead of wandering around looking for something to do.
So putting these two weeks into perspective…wow. I know God did great things. Ana Maria told me that during camp and VBS she felt the Lord confirming her desire to be a missionary, and also leading her (wherever it may be) to specifically minister to kids. that is so amazing. and for each of the others, similar amazing stories of God working are true. For me, when they asked me on tape what God had been doing in my life, mostly what I had to say was that He was revealing my weakness.
a couple of weeks ago I finished reading “Mere Christianity” (which, by the way, was incredible and then I got to the last chapter and he suddenly throws in some bogus stuff about evolution and I got all huffy and decided C.S.Lewis was not perfect and was human like everyone else with problems) and it was talking about the greatest sin problem…pride. So I asked the Lord to reveal my pride…because I was getting into the “oh, I am doing fine” mode. So…He did. The whole deal with being in leadership is so humbling. Teaching pastors was humbling…even the lessons were on our weakness–comparing us to sheep and to little children. Not knowing what to do at VBS was humbling…each thing that happened seemed to reveal more of my weakness and more of my need for the Lord–especially just my own thoughts and motives. so I am in a good place. a place where I am weak and the promises of 2 Corinthians 12:9 are mine “for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Friday we painted the church in Guadalajara and then took off for the beach in Recife. It was a perfect day and the water was wonderful. they had a breaker, so the water was much like lake water–but that just would not do for me, so a bunch of us walked down and found some waves. Of course, there are shark warning signs all over, and so they would not let me go more than waist deep, promising that they would take me to a shark free beach later as long as I did not become shark food today. goodness. the chances of me meeting a shark are so slim that the phobia is useless. besides, if I get eaten, the beaches in heaven are SO much better:). j/k. okay, I will be a good girl now.
I have been having great talks with Karine. God is doing so much in her life–she is like a different person from last year and has opened up so much more. Last October she was baptized, and since then has grow alot in the Lord, opening up to Him and to people more after alot of disillusionment in the past with friendships. She will graduate in December (their school years are Feb-Dec here instead of Aug-May) from high school. She has some close friends at school, but they are not saved (or not living like it) and have tons of issues of their own to deal with, let alone be an encouragement to her. So she has just been a loner for along time. The Christians she was really close to are all older than her (she has a mature personality) and are all gone to college or busy. So, I think it is incredible how God has brought me here, brought us together, and I feel like maybe it is part of the reason I am to be here…even if just to pick her brain and bother her into action:).
Jaciara came in the room last night and we talked for almost an hour. this is quite big news as she does not know much English and spoke almost none the entire time! We talked about her and her relationship with God…she has a boyfriend now–a guy also in seminary. She told me about her life and how her parents were separated, so her mom sent her to Recife to work when she was 15. She begged her mom to let her continue with school, but her mother refused…finally, the people Jaciara was working for let her work during the day and go to school at night. It was exhausting for her, but she finished high school while working. Seminary starts August 4th, and then she will be living here at the Alconce (fun!). The Alconce pays for lunch for everyone, but the other meals they are on their own. Jaciara said they mostly eat goose-goo all the time. yikes. so I am going to learn to really like that stuff (and hopefully supplement the diet with some fresh fruit…man shall not live on goose-goo alone!)
Jaciara ended up sleeping in our room and I told Edjane how I thought she was a really neat person for letting everyone use her room and stuff. she looked at me and said that it was now OUR room. it meant so much to me and I got the warm fuzzies. Edjane does not waste her words. especially to me since I speak so little Portuguese. I don’t really know her much, except that she shares all her stuff with me and her room and she gives me fresh towels and sheets all the time. She is one of those people that I really want to please and have them like me…and I have absolutely no clue of how to do it. if you have a moment, would you pray that God would really bless her? She’s a neat woman. Karine said that they have known her 10 years but really know very little about her. That seems to be common here…not alot of deep relationships where you feel safe to bare your soul to someone. I know when I was younger this was a yearning of my heart…and often still is. God has given me some GREAT INCREDIBLE friends that have helped God shape His image in me, and that means the world to me. Maybe God wants me to be here to just be available for that for others. if so, I had sure better learn that Portuguese quick!
This was from my devotion this morning: “‘Thank God for the sight of all you have never yet been…You may call the vision an emotion or a desire, but it is something that absorbs you…We have not to live always in ecstasy and conscious contemplation of God, but to live in reliance on what we saw in the vision when we are in the midst of actualities. it is when we are going through the valley to prove whether we will be the “choice” ones, that most of us turn tail; we are not prepared for the blows which must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision.”
Rachel
