No Need for Coffee

No need to grab a cup of coffee and find a relaxing spot to read this week. It was a pretty ordinary week; just Portuguese class, working with the kids, and an intense wiffleball game. That’s Carol Sue with the clipboard keeping up with hits so all the kids will know their batting averages.

It’s been a little cooler this week. We are still hitting high temperatures each day, but the highs are just for a few hours a day then it cools off midafternoon. The mornings and evenings have been very pleasant.

The boys were able to find a little time to grill some kabobs and play in the pool (the large bathtub, as I like to call it) for a little bit this week.

Portuguese was tough this week. We started learning past tense of some of our verbs and even though they are written differently they sound the same except for where the syllables are stressed. Our Georgia ears can’t tell the difference when they hear it. But we will get it…hopefully.

What do we do? That is a good question. Things are always changing, but in general, Trevor and I have two days a week that we are in the office and the rest of the time we are with the kids. The boys are with the kids every day. I don’t usually take too many pictures because we are so busy and I have a hard time keeping up with my phone, but I was able to snap a few this week.

Serving looks like a lot of different things:

from making snacks with the teens…

…to washing dishes…A LOT of dishes

…to eating and hanging out with the kids

…to helping with devotional times and tutoring

…to computer work

…and recognizing when things are kind of “off” with a kid. We had several kids this week that were going through some hard things at home. For two kids, that meant being very quiet when they are usually smiling and chatty, for another that meant anger issues, and yet for two others, it meant a lot of acting out. I didn’t take any pictures of this for privacy reasons, but the staff really cares and when they noticed these things, they sat down and counseled these kids. It really is precious and encouraging.

One thing that unifies us all is our sin. All over the world, people are dealing with similar issues, even if that looks and sounds a little different from place to place. The best thing we can do, is help them know a Jesus that sees them and loves them in those hard places.

After the week of serving, we took a day to chill. We went to Bragança again; ate and walked around their lovely lake. It was good to hang out as a family and talk.

I got my nails done. Yep, she came to my house, with all new supplies and tools, gave me a mani and a pedi, all for $12 (which is R$60 reais- Brazilian dollars and sounds like hey-eyes). No tip. There’s no tipping anywhere in our area. It took about two hours. Everything is social here. You clip, you stop and chit chat, you file and then you chit chat, you paint the nails and chit chat. No one is in a hurry. Relationships are important. Part of me was excited and another part of me felt bad. This very sweet lady just off her shift at the hospital, came and did mine and Anna’s nails, and then was going home to sleep before her next shift. Am I helping her by providing extra income? I just don’t know. At first I felt like I was taking advantage but that’s relative. Charging that in the US would be unheard of, but here that’s a good side gig. What I do know is she did a good job and she was happy to have the money.

And speaking of making a living, as part of our rental agreement, the landlord requires a housekeeper, specifically Mrs. Edna, to come at least once a month, in order to ensure his property is being taken care of. Mrs. Edna showed up at a little after 8am and cleaned the house, porch, and outdoor kitchen until 4:30pm. She moved furniture around in order to clean under the furniture and around the walls, she bleached the floors and the bathrooms, she cleaned the inside and outside windows, and smiled the whole time. All for about $36 or $180 Reais.

The economic gap between people is quite evident here. Like everywhere on Earth, there are haves and have nots. You’re really not in the middle much in Brazil. But these two ladies I met this week are working to make a better life for their families.

And now for our weekly – What Dumb Thing Did Holly Do – update. I was doing pretty good this week until Saturday night. We attended a portion of the Word of Life missions conference. Although we are not affiliated with them, we are quickly getting to know a lot of Word of Life missionaries, as a lot of them live in the same community we do. One such couple, is Dave and Maryanne Cox. If you remember, they are the couple that host the weekly wiffleball game. They were being honored for their 60 years of ministry in this area and for starting the WOL seminary in Brazil. It was a sweet event celebrating their amazing lives. During this program in an auditorium full of people is where I decided to do my dumb thing of the week. At one point the people around us starting standing. Not knowing a lot of Portuguese, I usually follow social cues in these type circumstances, so I stood. I assumed we were going to sing again or pray. I look over at Trevor and the boys who had started to stand, since I did, and noticed them sitting back down very quickly. I looked back at Roberto and his family, who were seated, and his eyes were opened really wide and he is giving me a slight but urgent NO shake of the head. I quickly sat back down as I then noticed not everyone stood up. The emcee had asked for all graduates of the seminary to stand and be recognized! Whoops. Roberto and his family got a good laugh out of it (after the shock left his face). Can’t learn that Portuguese fast enough. Why am I allowed out of Georgia?

So that was pretty much our week.