Still At It

Things continue to be busy. I’m guessing that will be the case until the end of the semester.

I really couldn’t be prouder of our boys. They just jump in and do whatever is asked of them; from the simple task to the more hard labor stuff. I love this. Mason was exhausted after digging all afternoon but the new steps were much needed.

Halloween wasn’t a big deal this year. No costumes or decorations. But that doesn’t mean we skipped all the traditions. The day started with scary face pancakes and ended with pizza, candy, and Garfield.

We normally watch Charlie Brown, too, but we couldn’t find a place to stream it and all our videos are back in the States.

Trevor and the boys also volunteered at the children’s day event at AECA, which is the site of the other Vinde location down the road, and where Tucker takes tennis lessons.

They had over 300 kids show up for this two day event. How fantastic! The teachers walked the students to this event from the nearby school. There is such a huge opportunity, unfortunately, transportation is a big barrier for getting more of these kids to that location weekly.

The start of November, turned our attention towards Christmas at the ministry. The Christmas tree, aka Mason, showed up to get Christmas wishes for our shopping list. The kids attacked him when he came shuffling out of the kitchen and into the cafeteria. They all wanted to hug him. It was hilarious.

The kids were excited for the photo op.

Well, most of the them. A few of the older boys were too cool for that.

The girls asked me for a piece of cardboard and I wasn’t sure why but I looked around until I found a half torn box. I quickly realized they wanted to use it as a sled. They were happy as little larks taking turns sliding down the grass bank. Laughter and joy ensued. I loved the simplicity of it all.

But the simplicity is short lived when you remember that these kids aren’t far removed from the world because of technology and social media. Some of the older girls wanted to dance while we were inside the cafeteria due to the rain. It started out so sweet but quickly escalated. They know tictok songs and dances; many of which are so age inappropriate, in my opinion. The music and dancing was stopped and we went back to our upbeat camp songs that the kids like. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Footloose naysayer. I love dancing but the moves are so sexual. It breaks my heart, especially when one of the teens said she hates school because its all about pregnant girls and drugs. So sad.

Mason and I are still teaching English and we had our second week of devotionals in Portuguese. Mason did an amazing job. He didn’t read from his notes or anything. I love that he just has the confidence and skill to do this. I, on the other hand, did not fair as well. It was way too much Portuguese to remember so I had to read it all again this time. Leading devotional isn’t a problem. It’s the speaking it all in Portuguese that’s the problem. I really should have just asked for a translator. I think it would have been easier for kids to follow too. But you just keep at it. One day I will be able to speak fluently, hopefully, but that day is not anytime soon.

We hung out with Liandro, Chris and their boys on the weekend. On Saturday they invited us over to have supper and to watch a Christmas movie with the interns. This turned into Tucker chasing Davi the first part of the night.

Chris handles the MOYO Child Sponsorship program here. She’s great and the fact that she speaks English helps a lot. Liandro is the Atibaia location coordinator and has a great sense of humor. Davi, is their oldest and he’s such a funny kid. He’s learning Portuguese and English so we speak English with him to help him. And the little guy in the picture above is Daniel. We visited their church to see him be dedicated to the Lord. What a sweet, sweet family.

This little fella, has my heart. He is such a stinker but I love him. He’s the one with the terrible burn on his foot I treated for a long time. He still has a sore but it is so much better than it was. Leaving devotional one day, Sarah asked me if I wanted to show him to Jesus and I said “ok”, very disappointed like, because I thought he was in trouble again and we needed to have a come to Jesus meeting. She’s a northerner so I just thought she got the saying wrong. But NO! I soon realized what she meant. He wanted to know how to have Jesus in his heart and I couldn’t have been more joyful to share to with him. Sarah translated for me and then she prayed with him. What a sweet time.

Liandro said that seven kids have been saved this year. I don’t know which kids or if they happened at Vinde, home, or church, but wow!!! (Not knowing the language well I miss a lot of things that happen). At the parent meeting Liandro was approached by several parents talking about how the kids are telling them about Jesus and what they learn about Him here. Some have seen changes in their kids, with some kids correcting their parents when they do/say things that are not Godly. What a wonderful testimony for the ministry.

Switching gears from serious to silly. We found this big frog in our shower one evening. Don’t ask me how a frog that big got in the house and in our shower.

A new Mexican joint opened up in Atibaia so we decided to try it out with Robert and his family. There are only a few Mexican places in town (none of them great) so it was kind of a big deal for us. This one was more like a Moe’s/Chipotle kind of place. The food was ok but the wrestling theme was fun and we all tried on the masks, of course.

Our weekly “play dates” are still one of the boys favorite times. It’s good to have a group of friends they can hang out with.

We have some traveling coming up, so I’ll share those in a separate post. Sorry, I’ve gotten a few weeks behind.