February 12, 2007

• Satan walked to heaven’s gates after wandering the world to and fro and God asked, “have you considered my servant Rachel?“
  Satan replied that he had, but if he could just take away her kids, cows, and camels…oh wait, she doesn’t have any…what could he do to her? “Just let me make every day the first day of school and then let’s see what happens“

  before this gets any more sacrilegious, let me tell you that the first day wasn’t SOOOO bad. actually, the worst part about it is that i found out there is no more flip=flops  this year. not professional enough. yes, i realize that, but it made for very happy teachers, and sometimes happiness is more important than professionalism. and my dress shoes gave me blisters. we had a couple incidents with 33 kids running around loose, thinking they were free forever, but other than that–amazing.

  And just to remember the difference from last year. last year i spend the first hour trying to stop Lili from crying, and then ended up teaching them one word–“cat“ in English. and then one kid went home and said i was “chata“ which is something like boring, annoying and so forth. i cried after that day. horrid. i had also just arrived from the day before and was not fully there mentally.

  For our opening assembly, Tele spoke to the kids in English and Portuguese, introducing them and explaining the merit and demerit system. He had the kids from last year sing some songs in English and they actually remembered most of the words. Well, at least they sang the word “NO“ really loud. We don’t have all the curriculum yet, so i am going on my own. But the kids are amazing. i have 1st through 5th grade. Gabriel learned his colors, Rebeca helped me clean up, Lucas does not know how to stop talking, Ciao is the only one who wanted to listen, Isabela learns faster than i can teach…the classes went great. The kids did a great job “reading“ my “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?“

  it is so hot. i don’t think i have ever been in weather like this. it is alt hotter than last year. even laying on the bed, no covers, with the fan directly on me i have trouble sleeping. so during the day…we had drink breaks every five minutes or so to keep hydrated. tomorrow everyone WILL bring waterbottles. lets not even discuss the resulting bathroom trips…

  Yesterday was the 1st year anniversary of Acacais (the church at the Alcance) which meant a churrasco (BBQ Brasillian style)! i love life. yum. The music group from Guadalajara came, and they play traditional northeaster Brasil music. awesome stuff. and then the guy told the story of David and Goliath in “Northeastern style“ which would be comparable to someone really really ghetto telling a story with all the slang words and accent and all…it was great. but he did it in a way that really got the point across. Problem being, humor is one thing i don’t really get yet in the Portuguese language (it comes after you are even more fluent than i am–although i am starting to mix up my words when i speak–saying one thing in English and then switching to Portuguese without even knowing it…the funniest thing was when i started translated for David. heh. like he needs it…)

  This week is the first ever missionary conference at the Alcance. There is a family here who used to/is/will be working with some tribes in the Amazon (they are Brasilian and are living next door to me at the Alcance for awhile). Their kids are in my class and great. Pictures of them and all these things will be coming as soon as my temperamental computer remembers that it likes me.

  We also had a baptism. i should have been a good girl and found out the story behind the guy who got baptized…but i know he is a new believer and just recently began coming to the church. If Tele were here, he’d have an amazing story to tell you about a changed life. i just saw the dunking. it made me jealous. who says you can’t be baptized again? next time, i wanna do it at the beach. ahh.

  Sunday night i went to the church in Paudalho. They have something special about them. okay, all the churches do, but God is doing something special there right now. Alot of new converts recently, and so many people are young and on fire and passionate. wow. when they start asking for prayer requests and praises, they end up having to limit it sometime, because it NEVER stops. amazing. I[ve been praying for Anihas mom, who had FOUR surgeries on her heart–and just got out of the hospital. She was there sharing a testimony at church. and so was Marcellos grandmother, who everyone thought wouldn’t ever walk again–she actually rode a motorcycle to church! i told her i was very jealous because no one ever lets me ride a moto (they are the cheap taxis around here) anywhere. grrrr.

  
  Our first lunch

  
  The boy on the left is my favorite. His name is Gabriel. he is the brightest crayon in the box.

  
  The baptism and those from the church. don’tcha like the pool? it is right outside me room. ahhh.

  
  Churrasco! Pastor Assuario, Diego…Kel and Fernanda from what i can see…

  • 5:12 pm
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