Some Serious Training Required

Our first full day in BRAZIL was absolutely AMAZING! But before I can go into any amount of detail I want to recap what happened last night. As Tricia told you, we all made it over to Brazil fine. Once we arrived in Brasilia, we were greeted by Marney and Andre… who are some of the most godly people I have ever had the opportunity to meet. Once we arrived to Agua Viva (our home away from home) we were greeted by our Brazilian teammates, who all presented us with homemade gifts! All of them have such passion for God and what He is doing in Brazil. After dinner we started our strenuous training. Part of this was to learn songs to teach the kids… both English and Portuguese. The language barrier has definitely been the hardest thing that we’ve dealt with so far. But when we all stood around in a circle and began to sing songs like “He is Exalted” and “From the Inside Out,” language barriers no longer existed. God was in that room and definitely was touching the hearts of everyone. Afterwards, we all ate a light snack and went to bed… which for most of us was much needed!

Today was our day to put everything that we and the Brazilian team had worked on together; we started with a break down of the schedule followed by Keenan explaining all of the games that we will be teaching to the kids. It was really funny watching our teammates learn the games… but then it was time to PLAY! Adrianne then had a chance to show her ‘crafty’ side… the kids will be making fluffy lambs and painting fish. Afterwards we were feed by John and Andre, who made a very delicious assortment of B-B-Q. Before we started back, John and Trudy took us on a tour of the grounds. There are some pigs that were just born a few weeks ago and they are terrified by people. In the course of the 15 minutes we were out there, most of us started to resemble lobsters. (A sign that we are definitely closer to the equator than normal)

Then it was time for wacky science! I had the opportunity to teach the Brazilians how to make oblect… a slime like substance… then paper airplanes and slushies. After trying my best to explain the activities to out teammates, I am very grateful that Juliana (who can speak Portuguese) will be teaching with me! Then it was time to Elena to shine. She has been working hard on some skits for us to do for the kids and they are very good. It was hard to work past the language barrier, but God can move mountains so He definitely was able to work through us to convey the message behind each skit… I can’t wait to see the reaction from the kids!

Now we are waiting for everyone to finish getting ready for church. Trudy and Angela Rubenacker have said that it will be a contemporary worship service, so most of us are very excited to see what it will be like.

John – has a secret talent… he’s a great cook! Girl’s Camp might be aware of this, but for the rest of us it was a pleasant surprise

Trudy – seems to be having a great time catching up with her long time friend Marney

Carol Erica – had to call the plumber today… she broke the shower!

Lauren – has bonded with Lar WinShape’s foster dad, Jonas… he signed her picture of the Jonas Brothers today.

Kristin – was the only one to NOT get burned today… she says she still glows in the dark

Adrianne – gave an Oscar worthy performance in our skits today… she played the character LOVE.

Savannah – has been to Brazil before and was reunited with an old friend, GUAVA FRUIT.

Melodie – has been working tirelessly teaching “My God is SO Big!” Which is hard for the Brazilians to learn… thankfully has great hand motions to go with it.

Tiffany – will be sharing her testimony at church tonight! God is definitely going to be using her wonderful story to convey His love.

Keenan – played leap frog with an actual frog… which was the biggest one that we have ever seen!

Leslie – was almost brought to tears during our visit to the pigs… one is a runt and was almost trampled today.

Juliana – was voted most likely to be a BRAZILIAN… vote done by actual Brazilians.

Tricia – produced one of the more humorous moments of the day… she shared a joke with one of the Brazilians, who took 5 minutes to figure it out

Angela R – is becoming a native with her language skills… she was seen talking to some of our teammates who can’t speak a lick of English.

Jimmy (Me) – was the example for one of our games for drip, drip, drop (like duck, duck, goose with water) and got a little wet to say the least

Well, I think that it is all that can be said of our day so far. Thank you all for your prayers, they are definitely being felt and needed. Continue to pray that God moves in the lives of the kids!

Until tomorrow… tchau!

PS… the first picture is from Keenan’s game time. He worked really hard to explain about 5 games in about an hour. Picture #2 is from lunch (Donna GonGon, our cook is pretty much amazing). The final picture is of Agua Viva! It is very nice and is nestled in a very quiet location outside the city.

Posted in: 2009,Brazil,WSCIP