80 rais

Yesterday was our Sabbath, so we had the day to rest and recharge. Nothing like a massage on the beach, soaking up the sun, taking a four hour nap, playing a cool train game with my host family, cooking eggplant parmigiana, reading and getting in bed by ten to regain my strength.

So today, I woke up well refreshed and renewed. There was something different about today and it was evident from the start. There was an excitement all around that couldn't be missed. That's right, today Brazil would play their first game in the World Cup 2010.

We headed up to the church after lunch and helped to decorate for the big event. We were showing the game on the big screen at the building for church members and for those who didn't have a place to watch. Green and yellow were EVERYWHERE.

Now, I have seen some sports fanatics in my life, but I have never seen anything like this. The entire country shuts down for this. Kids were out of school today. The majority of Brazilians were able to leave work by 1 or 2 for the game that started at 3:30. Once the game starts, there are no cars or people on the streets. Everyone is glued to a screen somewhere watching the great sport of futebol. When a goal is scored, if you step outside you can hear the celebration from all around and the fireworks going off.

Needless to say, BRAZIL WON. When we went home after the game, we made a drive in 15 minutes that normally takes 45 minutes in traffic. No one was on the road. Everyone was too busy celebrating. We've been hearing fireworks ever since.

Some people might think this is over the top or a mess of priorities. But it was really quite refreshing for an entire country to celebrate something so strongly together. It was so uniting. I am excited for the next game :)

We also have two interns from ACU who are in Recife for the summer joining us until Thursday. It is wonderful to see familiar faces. We hung out with them after the game. We ordered pizza (so American I know) and had some prayer time. It was a peaceful evening and a time of good reflection as Marcy and I got to talk to the Porters (my host family) about our internships so far.

The rest of the week? Tomorrow is our third English Bible Study; Thursday consists of English and Portuguese lessons and hopefully meeting with Ismael and Randy to discuss some of Ismael's questions over a Bible Study he is doing on his own; Friday will be helping the team by watching kids as they have a meeting all day with another missionary; Saturday will hopefully be visiting a family from the church and then a visit downtown to see some of the corn festival in celebration of St. John.

Things are getting a little bit more routine here. Adjusting can still be difficult at times, but not consistently. I am beginning to form better relationships with the team here and I thoroughly enjoy the two other interns I work with, Trish and Marcy. I still find the language barrier frustrating with some of the church members, but even with that wall, I am beginning to really fall in love with them. I can tell there are some very solid people in the church body here. From some I feel they have a lot of frustration and confusion, and I am slowly working to show them my concern with anything other than words..emphasis on the word slowly. Here, one of the biggest challenges is just simply "being". Being peaceful, being Christ's disciple, being faithful, being patient, being loving, being disciplined, being devoted.. May God continue to counsel us in this in His wisdom..