December 22, 2008
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The official Christmas letter
Hello and Happy Easter, Birthday, Anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas and everything that comesin the middle. I hope this letter finds you someplace not too busy and not too empty. I hope it
finds you wiser than you were last year, but not worse for the wear. But most of all, I hope you you
experienced the overflowing love of God in every part of your life, as you learned how to receive
and give that love.
God has blessed me with quite a year. I traveled over New Years to Brasil, after a wonderful
Christmas with my family, and arrived for a very hot January. A couple of days after I arrived,
my dear friend/adopted mother passed away. The rest of the month passed quickly, spending the
time in Paudalho with my Brasilian family, Aninha and Junior. I did manage, by some reason or way,
to pass the college entrance exams (in Portuguese), and was accepted by a private university
(FALUB) for an Education major.
February we celebrated Carnival with a delicious week at the beach, followed by the end of summer
vacation and a rigorous school schedule. The International school has doubled in size every year
since 2006, and now has 60 students. As always, I enjoyed teaching the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th
graders.
With money that was kindly given by Carson’s, a department store I worked at over the holidays,
and the help of the Living Stones program in Paudalho, we were able to take 11 children to Recife
(the big city), the Zoo, the Mall, the movies, and McDonalds—all for the very first time in their
lives. The most exciting parts for the children were walking around in a huge building with air
conditioning, the escalators, and taking home a happy meal (which all of them saved to share with
their families). It was an experience worth living your life for.
March and April passed quickly as I taught school all day, taught an English class for the
teachers at the school, an English class for adults in Paudalho, took some internet classes in
the evenings, and then on Fridays volunteered with the Living Stones program. During this time
I began to feel that I didn’t just fit in, but that my church in Paudalho really was my home.
May was my trip home to the USA, where I got to go to my cousin’s wedding, as well as enjoy an
amazing road trip in California with my sister, aunt and uncle. June included swimming lessons
and picnics with my brother, enjoying the company and love of my mom and dad, and getting involved
with my sending church, Horizon Central. July was when I had planned on returning to Brasil, but
a delayed visa included three extra weeks of rest, family time, and Anna getting engaged.
In August, I finally received a student visa, allowing me to return to Brasil (up until this time
in my life, my tourist visa only allowed me to be in Brasil six months out of the year—making for
a lot of transitions, plane tickets and plans not really settled). It was a bittersweet return,
as one of my girls at the youth center decided to go through with an abortion, after I had
committed to adopt the baby.
September began a new phase to my life in Brasil—where I teach English during the day, and then
during the evening take classes at FALUB (a University in town). My schedule is complicated, and
I have had trouble balancing things out, but I enjoy the challenge, and received mostly A’s from
my mid-terms.
October was full of parties, like a special “lice-killing” party for the children at Living Stones
(including washing everyone’s hair, styling them, and then sending home lice-killing shampoo and
instructions for their parents). We also, with contributions from generous souls in the US of A,
had a special party for Children’s day, which normally goes by unnoticed for the poorer children
of Brasil. On the other side of the equator, my sister tied the knot and I got a second brother
in the deal—Donovan Embry. But she decided to wait until April 2009 to celebrate with everyone,
so that I could be included.
I have spent this whole letter talking about me, so I hope I can make up for it by hearing fromyou…please e-mail me at amobrasil99@hotmail.com, if you have not already. I have lots of pictures
(as well as everything between the lines) of the year on my weblog— www.xanga.com/rwinzeler,
if you would be interested. God bless,
Rachel Winzeler
1 Corinthians 13:12
