I love "Not Quite"

So Marcy and I have 6 days left including today. It is strange to be at the end of our time here.

I have had many good moments in the past week, and I know there are more to come. One of my favorites was yesterday. Our language teacher, Jaci, decided she wanted to cook lunch for Marcy and I. We went over to her house yesterday and when we walked in she has flowers on the table and it was set up all nice and neat and Ray Charles was playing in the background! So sweet. Her son and granddaughter also ate with us and it was really special to see them all so happy and dancing. Jaci told us that she misses us already.

Another favorite of this week was last night. Jen and Randy have let me help them with a couple's Bible study that they are teaching. There are married couples and engaged couples that come, and it is fun to spend my Friday nights with them. Tiago, one of the men last night, also talked to me a lot about how people are people anywhere you go. He said that sometimes people have a bad picture of Americans in their head, but he said that he has never met an American that he doesn't like. That was nice to hear :)

Another big one for me is Marcelo, one of my English students, has finally been able to pronounce the word "these" correctly. We've worked hard on that one. He has improved so much on his English.

I could tell you lots of little stories of special memories that I'll take home with me, but basically these last two weeks have been dedicated to last minute sight-seeing on my days off, and planning last get-togethers with the church members here when we aren't in the office or at Bible studies. Russ prayed over Marcy and I the other day, and he praised God that all our lives are different now because of our time together. I couldn't agree more.

Still, No.

The women's conference this weekend was held at a resort called Agua Vida. If I were being honest..it seemed more like camping to those of us from the states. No hot water, power outages, "beds" that were maybe as soft as the floor, bed bugs, spiders, mosquitoes, beans and rice and more beans and rice, at times no toilet paper or sheets...you get the picture. I loved hearing Jen, the missionary with us, speak of her want to get over herself as she remembered how nice a place like this was for many Brazilians whose living conditions are always far less than comfortable.

I gained a lot of respect for these Brazilian women this weekend for many reasons. One was for their appreciation of their surroundings. The second, their patience. As Jen says, the entire country as a whole really has grasped the virtue of patience. It's true. Brazilian lines are never fast and never short. This held true on our trip this weekend. Any meal took about 2 hours and then some by the time every woman stood in line and got her food. Anytime they gathered together to listen to speakers (yes plural) the gathering lasted close to 3 hours..maybe more. And don't get me started on announcements. But all the women just sit and smile and cheer and laugh and listen. So patient. I don't think it's because I don't speak the language that I didn't hear complaining this weekend.

The third reason is their friendliness toward strangers. In fact, I don't know if I should word it that way because I'm not sure a Brazilian knows a stranger. Multiple women would come and hug Jen and just rant and rave with big smiles and greet the three of us interns...after they would leave we'd ask Jen if she knew them. "No," she'd answer. Of course not. They don't have to know each other. We also had many many women ask to take pictures with us and kiss our cheeks and the whole bit..one woman even gave us a huge bag of Ruffles chips.

Here's probably my favorite example of the weekend..
So..being that we, the interns, don't speak Portuguese and all, you can imagine the kind of walls we ran into with 300 people we would only be around for 3 days. Most conversations were short and ended with "Nao se" (I don't know); "Nao entende" (I didn't understand); "Nao falo portugues" (I don't speak Portuguese); or a simple thumbs up. But fortunately, we were still able to find moments to connect with these Brazilian women who saw us as fellow sisters.
One afternoon, I decided to go for a run. There was a short road right by our room, and I mean short. Fortunately it was a steep road which made the run worth it. As I was running back and forth, one of the women was walking the road as well. I thought she was just looking at the grounds of the resort because she kept pointing to things and speaking sentences that I obviously didn't understand. One time she called me over to look at a puppy. I went over and we both oo-ed and aw-ed over the puppy and then she told me to keep running. Next time around she started speaking again and then gestured to see if she could join me in my run. We ran and she decided we should run the length twice and then walk it twice, and so forth. We were able to have simple conversation. I told her my age, where I was from, why I was here and who I was staying with, etc., and she told me about the same. The we continued on in comfortable silence because even though we'd reached the end of possible conversation, it was okay because we were still running together. She didn't need to know anything else about me because to a Brazilian, strangers already know each other. I was grateful for the low pressure and easy acceptance. Those women love the Lord and love each other.


Also another thing I enjoyed about the weekend: Simply the drive there and back. The landscape was beyond beautiful. Huge rolling hills of thick tropical green for miles and miles, plenty of palm trees to sprinkle the scene. Oh! And these are the animals that were wandering around this weekend on (yes, on) the property of the resort: dogs, horses, mules, roosters, geese, crabs, monkeys, HUGE toads (one we named Hubert), and a peacock. When you leave the city in Brazil, you LEAVE the city. We were definitely in the country.

What is.."HaveFun" ?

So last week was a big week. It was Campaign Week. We had two families fly in from the States to help us, Mike and Debbie Quirey and Greg and Cynthia Powell. The week was full but probably one of the best weeks we've had yet.

What my week entailed:
A Red, White, and Blue potluck
Plastering a room of one of the church members' homes
Prayer walk through the neighborhood
More plastering
Night of prayer
A trip to the beach and Pelourinho for our campaigners
English Bible Study for those wanting to improve their English
Morning Devo on the beach
Spreading information around town about our Saturday
A trip to an Autism School here in Salvador to bring toys and visit the families of the students
Staff Bible Study
Painting the room we plastered
Setting up for our Saturday
Super Sabado (Super Saturday- or in other words.. VBS)
And to end, of course, another potluck :)


So obviously, lots of activities. Amazingly enough, it wasn't stressful. If anything, the people and activities were refreshing. Okay, maybe there were some moments during the game time at VBS that were pure chaos and maybe I got a little sick one day this week most likely from a tasty coconut popsicle I bought from a street vendor. A week like that doesn't go without any hiccups. But hiccups and all, I'd love to do it all over again. Absolutely worth it.

In other news, yesterday Trish, Marcy and I went to a beautiful park named Campo Grande in the middle of the old down town. Russ calls it the heartbeat of the city. We basically got off a bus with no real destination but to wander around and it was so nice. I have pictures from the park and from VBS last Saturday.

Today around 2 I leave for four days to go to a women's conference out of the city. I am definitely excited to see another side of the country. There are 11 women from the church going and I also look forward to spending more time with all of them. Updates and pictures to come :)

Suburbia

Today during the kid's Sunday class time, I held in my lap a little girl whose future is being contemplated as of late. With her mom in jail, and two more sisters to accompany her, her grandmother doesn't know how much more she can take by herself. She thinks maybe it would be best if she were to give the girls over to the state. They have a large family who will hopefully protest this. Hopefully.

She sat next to me in Trish's lap during service. She pined for my arm and I watched as her little fingers slowly but then firmly interlocked with mine. My eyes met hers and she revealed the whitest bright smile I'd seen all summer. As we held hands I prayed that God would make warm moments like these last forever in her heart.

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Last night Geraldo, a sweet, sweet 70 year old man spoke to me and Marcy about his diabetes. He showed us his medical equipment that helps him check his blood pressure and told us a little about how he watches what he eats. He's good at communicating in English, even if it's not always correct. He has to speak very slowly. Through broken sentences and long pauses he told us that working used to be his top priority. Since his diabetes, he can't work as much. He's found the Lord since, and his eyes watered when he told us how much joy Christ brings to his life. Through his smile he said that his life is much more rich than it ever was when he was working, even with diabetes and all. This is not the first time this man has made my tears surface in a simple conversation.