All Good Things Come To An End

Wow... obviously I have lost track of time. I had to be reminded by my grandpa when skyping on Thanksgiving that I had not posted a blog since October! Unfortunately I don´t have time to write alot but I promised you grandpa, so here is a final blog for you. I was so fortunate to share a wonderful week in early November with my dad, brother and around 17 other Americans. It was more special than I could have ever imagined to share the experience with the two of them.. it was a very emotional week for all of us, but especially my dad! :) It was so incredible to think of my mom and dad starting this mission so many years ago and now for me to be continuing it in a way. It was really neat to walk past the house we lived in all those years ago.. it hasn´t changed one bit! I have been living within 5 minutes this whole time but I didn´t ever know where it was and now that my dad pointed it out I have made a point to walk past several more times. The group was so enthusiastic and really jumped into every situation we put them in but especially working with the kids at PETI. They made a huge impact on our kids with their contagious laughs and young spirits and willingness to try capoeira, probably one of the funniest things I have seen yet in Brazil! I will be returning to the States with lots of cards and presents for them from our kids! Since they left our sole purpose has been just spending time with our kids as the end drew near and it came, 2 days ago. On Wednesday we said our finally goodbyes to the children... and it was rough. I worked on a video of pictures from the year and it was a great thing to sit down on our last day and run through memories from the year in picture form. The kids really loved it too! The day flew by as we had to say our goodbyes to all the people in Imbau who have been a huge help to us and our project and before I knew it we were headed back to Telemaco and I felt like a little piece of me had been left behind. I will be spending this weekend, our final weekend, in Imbau with a few of our kids while Katie and Megan and Craig head to the beach with Bruno (Katie´s boyfriend) and his family who have a house there. We will all come together again on Monday to have lunch with the Sisters and finish packing up on luggage and our house. I know Thanksgiving has already past but I would like to take this time to give thanks for such a wonderful 6 month journey that the Lord led me on. I feel more blessed now than ever and I could not have asked for more in my life. I am so grateful to everyone for their continued support and prayers for us, I truely believe they have helped make this experience more powerful and more recently I think it made the goodbye to the children a little easier. I´m sorry I don´t have more time to write more and that I have been so neglegent with my blog... I did however keep up with my journal everyday and once I am back in the States I will be more than willing to share all the stories! Hard to believe I will be leaving this excruciating heat and be greeted by snow possibly! Can´t wait to celebrate the holidays with you all, and one again thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking an intrest in something that meant so much to me. Ate quarta minha familia! Deus abençoe!

Where Does The Time Go?

This is probably something I ask myself at least once a day... where is the time going? It is hard to believe that a few days ago marked my 3 months down here! Right after I last posted my blog Katie became sick again with something that just seemed to drain the energy from her. As a result she had to miss several days at the program. As much as I hated to see her feeling this way this was a huge growth period for me and Megan. Being at the program alone, all problems that came up were brought to us and anything the kids needed was our responsibility. It was absolutely a test of how far we had come thus far in the trip and our ability to be the reliable teachers without Katie by our side. It was tough at times and challenges arose but I think we both learned that we are capable of a lot more than maybe we thought.
We made another trip to renew our visas, this time to Ponta Grossa, a little closer but a lot more complicated! Who knew the city would have more than one Policia Federal?? It was a long day of asking for directions, lots of walking around the city and scrambling to ensure that we had all the proper documents but by the time we snagged the last 3 bus seats for our ride home, we were officially given permission to stay in the country another 3 months!
Something new we have been doing at the program has been picking a Student of the Week who gets to fill out a poster all about themselves: their favorites, how they show others they care and interesting facts about themselves. We try and pick the student based on behavior throughout the week, attempts to try all the activities we offer and most recently we have been looking for a student with good manners. We hang up the poster along with a picture of themselves on the wall for everyone to see. It has been really neat to see their pride at being chosen and put on display for their good behavior!
Another Friday Megan and I prepared a craft for the kids and had a successful, MESSY, day painting and decorating large photo frames. Although the clean up was tideous and long, it was well worth the fun we had getting creative with the kids. They came up with some really unique designs and now they are hanging on the walls at Peti giving the classrooms some nice color!
We had a special activity for the kids one Saturday, something we have done in the past, where we had trampolines, ball bits and face painting. Our original plan was for this to be our introduction to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program between our kids and students at FATEB, the local college in our city. Unfortunately, despite our many visits to speak with students there, we only had 3 students show up to help. It was a little frustrating but you have to start somewhere. Despite this we had a wonderday turn out of students and it was a great chance for us to just play with the kids and not feel like we had to constantly be disciplining them, instead we just got to enjoy their company!
Unfortunately the numbers for our Monday night English class continues to dwindle. With a lot of schedule conflicts we are now down to 4 students who come on a regular basis. We had several people on a waiting list so hopefully the class will work for them and we can start to fill in our numbers again to have a full class. For now we are loving being able to give our current students some wonderful one on one attention and it is so amazing to see their improvement each week, absolutely gives us a sense of pride!
This past week we have been hanging out with some groups of friends that we have formed including the Telemaco Borba police force and an amazingly fun class from FISK English school. It has been nice to feel like there are still people in this town for us to meet because it was starting to feel that the town was so small and we were running out of fresh ideas for things to keep us entertained on the weekends!
We sent Sister Rose off to the United States with a pizza party at their house followed by a classic game of Rummikub. There is nothing like putting yourself in the company of 3 nuns especially when you have us 3 young girls who have alright matched ourselves up with one of the nuns and constantly talk about how that is us in a few years maybe minus the religious life but who knows! They are such a wonderful example to us of a life dedicated to service and it is great to just exchange stories with them and soak up what we can of their knowledge. Sister Rose will be in the States for almost a month and situations have already arisen where we have requested her presense only to remember her absense! We wish her a wonderful vacation and break from her hectic life down here and hopefully some of you will get to visit with her while she is in town!
Another new aspect we have added to the program is literatura. Us 3 absolutely LOVE reading so this has grown to be one of our favorite things! The students have about 30 minutes each day for silent reading. Also they are given a new task each day involving some sort of a summary of what they read or designing a picture to depict what they read. It has been really important for them to see us reading as well because it is rare here in Brazil to find people who enjoy reading. Hopefully we can reach out to some students who never knew what they could learn or experience just from reading a book!
We had around 15 students come to Telemaco Borba this past Friday for a capoeira houda. It took place in the front of the church and involved both our kids and other kids and adults who practice capoeira at our gym. It was one of my most proud moments thus far in Brazil. Without taking any credit, I felt so proud to see our students work up the confidence to fight in the middle of the circle with more experienced people. They never backed down and continued to arise to whatever challenge they faced playing with the older students. The smiles on their faces as they left on the bus that night was priceless and the whole night was something I will never forget!
We now have plans to go to Curitiba this Saturday with our selected 37 students who have earned the right to travel with us. Right now the plan is to go to the mall for some food, possibly visit the Botanical Gardens and then finish with a soccer game! This trip was always in our plans but the date being this weekend came together yesterday, giving us 3 days at the program to plan. It has been hectic and chaotic but we were able to get both a bus and the tickets to the soccer game for free!! We are really proud to have been able to pull this off so quickly and we are excited to experience this with our most well behaved and deserving students!
Hope everyone at home is doing wonderful and enjoying the fall weather, something I am sad to miss. We are anxiously awaiting and preparing for the arrival of possibly 18 travelers in only a little over a month! May God continue to bless you all as He just continues to shower us with wonderful friends, experiences and opportunities to spread His love to His most beautiful people here. As usual I would like to thank everyone for their constant support and prayers for us; know that we continue to keep you in our morning prayer as well.
Bejos (kisses) from Brazil!

Another Month Down

Once again starting off with an apology for the time between blogs. Flipping through my journal proves just how much has happened since I last filled everyone in on our lives here in Brazil. Before we got back into the routine of going to Imbau everyday, us girls decided to have a mini retreat/bonding afternoon in the local park. We all prepared an aspect; I started us off with some team building and group bonding activities, Megan followed with a contemplation on prayer and the importance of silence and we wrapped it up with Katie asking us to reflect on our time thus far and Brazil and goals for the remaining time. It was such a special afternoon with the girls and such a unique experience to have here in Brazil. We are hoping to do another one shortly before the group arrives in November and possibly another one when our 6 months is drawing to an end. We have gone to FATEB, the local college, several times to speak with students there about participating in our project once a month to spend time with our kids, sort of a Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. We had a great response of enthusiastic students who want to be a part of it! Right now the 18th of September is set to be our first "fun day" hopefully using the trampoline, ball pit, stilts and other fun toys from our friend Lucas. We celebrated the birthday of our special friend and trainer, Bubbles, by creating a cake out of cardboard boxes that was big enough to fit Megan inside. He had mentioned several times how much he loved when Marilyn Monroe came out of a cake for President Kennedy (I think) so we decided to recreate this for him. We traveled to the gym with our big boxes, stacked them up outisde the gym and prepared for him to come out for his surprise. Our friend Bruno went inside to get him while Katie and I set up Megan and prepared to blow bubbles when he came out. Come to find out he had left early to travel for work so we stood on the street with our large cardboard cake and ate the cake we had bought for him! Luckily we were able to perform our surprise for him later when he returned but nothing can compare to the looks we got from passerbys as we stood on the side of the road that day. We were invited one Saturday evening to attend the youth ministry program at our friend Bruno's church. It was upbeat and lively with teens singing and dancing and praising the Lord. It was just what I needed as I had been missing the youth ministry program back home and being around teens who had such a fun, energetic spirit which they used to praise God! Hopefully this is something we will be able to do again. We finally headed back to Imbau on the 16th of August and I noticed such a big jump in my ability to communicate with the kids; all that studying over vacation payed off! On the second day back one of our afternoon students asked me if I now spoke Portuguese. :) It is amazing the difference it can make to have a little more confidence and ability to speak with the children... now even more so than before I want to spend each and every moment with them, trying to communicate with words rather than only body language. I will never cease to be amazed at the patience they have with me as I stumble to convey my message. The hardest part is still discipling as it is difficult for them to take me seriously. Some of the students are only one year younger than myself but I have learned some lessons from Megan who is quite the expert at commanding their attention! We have finally settled down enough to start other aspects of the program that have been lacking these first couple months. Megan and I began photography with some of the students, taking them through the town and teaching them how to use the computer and basics about what makes a good photo. Some pick it up quicker than others but they are learning so much else along the way. They are required to ask permission before taking pictures in a store and we don't leave until they have thanked them, this is really helping to improve their manners and make them become more of a habit. Also we successfully completed our first community service project. We visited the house of a family who is struggling to provide food for their son as the mom is not able to work because she is home taking care of her husband with a disease that requires that he not be left alone. Our students did a great job bargain hunting to find the best deals on food and provide the family with the most for their allotted $100 budget. We have been spending a lot of time planning for our first travel experience with the kids; right now the plan is to travel to Curitiba for a professional soccer game in late October! We are in the process of narrowing down the list of students who will be able to travel and continue to stress on a regular basis to them the importance of participating and behaving if they want the opportunity to travel with us! We have brought a new aspect to the program every Wednesday. We started this Wednesday with a presentation on the importance of not fighting with the other students. We put on several theatrical shows to demonstrate our point and asked them to do the same with situations they deal with everyday. It was so cute to see them get into the roles and really strive to find the right way to handle arguements. We gave them a 3 step model to follow: first try to ignore the other person, second ask them politely to stop and third ask the teacher to get involved. We knew just how successful the day was when before we left we had a girl come and tell Katie that another girl had been pulling her hair. These were two girls who fought on a regular basis and normally both were in trouble before the end of each day. We were all SO proud that at least for that day she had stepped up and taken the iniciative to follow our advice! Next week we are planning to talk about the importance of manners... we will see how that goes! Megan's birthday was the 28th of August and since she was away from her family Katie and I wanted to plan something extra special for her. We woke her up early on her birthday and sent her on a scavenger hunt around Telemaco Borba, having stops at all our frequently visited places including the bus station, grocery store, photo shop and computer house. At each location she received a gift and a clue to send her to the next spot. For example at the bus station she recieved a ticket for the upcoming week and at her favorite restaurant she received a chocolate pastel! We met her halfway for a snack and then finished up with lunch at the Sister's house. She had such a fun afternoon and we were so happy to do our part to make her day special! We had a spa day where the girls got their nails done as well at the salon of a friend. We all went to Mass together that night before heading out with friends to celebrate her birthday :) Overall it was a fun day for everyone and hopefully a birthday Megan will never forget! This past weekend we traveled to Curitiba, a big city a little further south, to try and renew our visas so that we can stay another 3 months. Come to find out we were too early to do this but luckily when we try again (this Monday) we can travel closer to the city of Ponta Grossa. It all worked out alright though because the girls had a capoeira course in the city this weekend anyways. It ended up only being Saturday morning and afternoon but we got to meet alot of other people who love the sport of capoeria too! We saved a lot of money by staying in the apartment of a friend as he headed home for the weekend. This was my first time actually staying in Curitiba so I loved all the sightseeing and window shopping. It was great to eat McDonalds again too! Sunday night Megan and I were going for a walk and happened to come across a Catholic church with Mass starting in 5 minutes, the timing could not have been more perfect and the church could not have been more beautiful. It was an old church with such beautiful decorations and paintings on the walls, it was probably my favorite Mass thus far in Brazil! One of my favorite things was that we sang the Lamb of God for the first time since we had been in Brazil; this was something my mom told me to listen for to remind me of her and this was the first time that was able to happen. I was overwhelmed with emotion and love for my mom! We had both yesterday and today off as today is the independence day for Brazil. Everything in town in closed so we are using the time to catch up on everything and prepare for our manners course tomorrow. We recieved a little rain this morning but other than that the weather continues to be beautiful and sunny and our jackets are off before noon! Crazy to think that exactly 3 months from today we will be returning home to see our family and friends.. so much time left yet I know the time will fly by with the group coming in November. Thanks once again for your continued support and recognition of the work we are doing here in Brazil, we can really feel the impact of your prayers on days when we are struggling to find the patience or energy to continue and make it through but each day is a blessing, one that we strive to never take for granted. Happy Indpedence Day Brazil! Ate mais :)

Vacation Time

Sorry for the lag between blogs. Although our students are on vacation for another week, free time has been limited. Following my last post, we were able to be a part of a very special reunion. Isabelle, a girl whom my mom breast fed when we lived here 17 years ago, met her mom for the first time at Sister Rose´s house. Her mother has a skin disease that ended up killing all but 4 of the 20 kids she gave birth to. We were able to spend the afternoon with Isabelle, her adoptive parents and her entire birth family. It was unlike anything I have ever been a part of before and I felt honored to just be there. We started our Monday night English lessons with only one student, Bubbles, our trainer from the gym, but as of this past Monday we are up 8 maybe 9 students. Word has spread and we have many prospective students although we decided early on that we could not successfully handle more than 10 so we may have to turn some people away. It has been a test of my Portuguese skills surprisingly as I have to convey the English message in Portuguese. Our first homework assignment was "2 Truths and 1 Lie" all in English and for the most part our students did a wonderful job in coming up with creative statements. The money we are earning is going towards paying for our amazing maid who comes once a week. Different than I originally thought, we ended up painting a mural with the mother´s club on the walls outside of Petchi so we arrive each morning now to the beautiful sky blue walls with cute pictures of critters and children. We let the children and mothers do most of the painting but it was really neat to watch the mural come to life! We had a great turnout the first week of vacation for both Capoeida and our English class but the following week the students traveled to another city for a soccer tournament. We contemplated traveling with them but Katie got an ear infection that led to a much more serious sickness. We ended up visiting the PAM, or public hospital one night to ensure that she did not need her tonsils removed. Luckily they just prescribed another medicine and she was feeling better the next day! I spent one morning traveling with Sister Rose visiting 3 bairros that are a part of our sister parish. They are requesting monetary support to continue the construction on their individual chapels. It was amazing to me to see these poor communities working hard and fundraising to earn their share of the cost that goes into building these chapels. The gratitude from our visit was quite evident on their faces and I even walked away with a jar of honey from an appreciative family. Us girls were invited to a special dinner at the house of Amari, a close friend of my dad´s for many years. They had played baseball together back when we lived here many years ago and he has been to the United States to visit us. He lives right down the street from us with his adorable son and wife. We enjoyed a traditional Brazilian barbeque and we were in great company with many English speakers including his brother, his wife and their child as well. We have now had the opportunity to spend two morning at a company, Brass Lumber. They have a very selective program called Projecto Pescar for young adults ages 16- 19 who come from poor living situations. They attend classes at the company during the morning and go to high school at night. They are given a chance to learn about the business, health care coverage and a job internship with the company. It is a great group of hard working, dedicated students. We spent our time with them dancing and playing games such as the human knot and the macarina. We always have an amazing time with them and we have hopes to do something with them and our kids in Imbau in the future. Exposing our kids to these young adults who come from the same living situations yet have chosen to make something of their futures could be very reassuring and motivating for our students. Late last week and early this week there was a group of high school students from Sao Paulo visiting and spending each day visiting bairros and playing all sorts of games with the kids. They are kind of like a key club from the States. We were able to spend several days with them and it was amazing. Quite a few of them spoke a good amount of English and challenged myself and Megan to speak in Portuguese with them since they were so willing to practice their English. It was a good challenge for us! They were inspirational because at such a young age, they came each day with so much energy and love for the children they were interacting with. It was really special for me to get to know them and be a small part of the work they were doing. This week we missed the bus to Imbau one day and went the next day only to discover that no kids had come, so it has now been almost 2 weeks since we have seen our children and I am really starting to miss them. We have one more week of vacation in which we will still go to Imbau on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and after that we will get back into our schedule with the Project. We continue to go to the gym everyday and this has become my favorite place to test out my language skills. Generally the girls do Capoeida while I have a workout regime with Bubbles, whom I mentioned earlier. He really pushes me to speak Portuguese with him and I have learned so much from our conversations. I am continually surprised at the amount of vocabulary I have stored in my head from all my studying but it really comes out with him. The weather has been really cold this past week and I find myself never quite warming up but the past few days the sun has started to come out again! :) The weather would not be such a big deal except that without sun, our clothes do not dry. This week laundry was done on Monday but our clothes were not dry until Thursday. Other than this, really no complaints from the small town of Telemaco Borba. The three of us continue to get along way better than I could have ever expected; we never cease to stop laughing and enjoying each moment of the day. No one is ever down and out for long because we quickly step in to ensure everyone´s happiness! I continue to think of my family often, especially my Grandpa who took a spill and needed stitches and also for my Uncle Carl who was having some health issues. We have vigilantly continued our tradition of morning prayer and these special intentions are always included. We love being able to pray for special intentions from the States so if you have any that you would like us to include, please email me at lzatkulak@yahoo.com Thanks once again for your continued support of our Project and the work we are doing down here, none of this would be possible without everyone´s constant prayers and support in so many ways. I wish everyone the best as summer wraps up and kids start preparing to head back to school, something I will not miss! :)

short and sweet

What a great week I have had! I was able to skype with my family twice to celebrate the birthdays of both my mom and today, Marcos´. We were so blessed with lots of help from Brazilian friends this week at the program and on Thursday we had more Brazilians than Americans helping out. The hardest part this week was saying goodbye to a student, Hulian, on Friday as he is moving to Curitiba on Monday to live with his elderly grandparents. We gave him a goodbye gift and card... it was heartbreaking to hear this 15 year old boy almost refuse to open the gift in front of us for fear of crying. :( Katie and him were really close and it was difficult to see them have to say goodbye. We have promised to visit him whenever we are in the city! The kids are now officially on their month long vacation but we will still be traveling to Imbau on Tuesday and Thursday for two hours of optional Capoeida and hip hop for any students that want to come. Also on Wednesdays we will be going to teach intense English lessons to 20 selected students who show great potential in the language. On our days off we will be taking advantage of having Sister Rose as a neighbor. We will help her out in whatever way possible. Starting this Monday we will be holding English lessons in our garage for around 5 friends from Telemaco. This is a great opportunity for us to earn some extra money and build strong relationships in the community. Grocery shopping is a must today but more stories will be coming soon! Sending love and gratitude to everyone in the States.

wow, I´m here!

Just when I think I am good with words, I struggle to describe my first week. After arriving to my house with three amazing friends proclaiming "Welcome Home!", they quickly dressed me up for a festa junina, a typical hoedown celebrated many times in Brazil during the month of June and even after. I threw down my bags and dressed the part of a cowboy (don´t ask) as we headed out the door and on our way to my first taste of Brazil! I was so happy to reunite with many of my Brazilian friends on my first night. It was wonderful to be caught up on all the amazing experiences these girls already had! I was so exhausted from the travel so it was a relief to have the next day to rest before starting at the program in Imbau on Monday. Each year I can´t help but smile when I see all the familiar faces of these beautiful children. Each morning we greet them with a kiss and an English "Hello, how are you?" I always laugh when before I can ask how they are, they respond with "I am fine, thank you, how are you?" They just get nervous and quickly say all the English they know without really listening to us. Monday Mary and I worked with small groups on counting numbers in English. I am constantly amazed at their patience and determination to get their message arcoss to me, even if it means saying the same thing five different ways or using big hand gestures! :) It kills me to not be able to communiate with them all the time so I study every night to really learn this language. Tuesday and Thursday we have hip hop class where they are learning a dance to ´Beat It´by Michael Jackson. Also on those days they have an instructor and friend come in to teach them Capoeida, a Brazilian martial art that I even did with Katie in the United States! I never tire of seeing them work to learn these moves that make me sore for days after. While working out at the gym on Monday we met an English speaking proffessional soccer player from the country of Ohman. He really liked the idea of the program and offered to come teach the kids some soccer skills and help them out for their upcoming soccer tournament at the end of July. He could not be better with the kids; he had to break up several fights and just handled every situation wonderfully. It is so great to have a male presence around the program and I can see the large impact it has on the kids! He came back to the program the next day and I think will continue until he has to return to Ohman for soccer. He is just here visiting family until the 17th of July, Marcos´birthday! We compare him to playing for the Pacers in the USA so it is a big deal for him to be spending his vacation with these kids much in need of his attention and love. We are having a big 4th of July party at our house this Sunday with around 40 friends to celebrate the American holiday and also give everyone the chance to say goodbye to Mary, who leaves on Tuesday. :( Maybe then it will sink in that I am here for 6 months since I have traveled for short visits with her the past two summers. I feel so very blessed to be here now and be with these wonderful friends. My faith continues to grow just being in their presence and the presence of all the people here. Starting each morning with prayer really gets us going so early in the morning and prepares us for whatever the day holds. I miss my family and friends so very much; I really cherish the pictures I have on my bedside desk that are a constant reminder to me of the tremendous amount of support and love I have back home. I have absolutely no cares or complaints, life is great! Pray for all of us that we continue to have the strength to be just what the children need in their lives and that we lean on each other through the tough times. Also keep Mary in your prayers as she returns home. Can´t wait to see what is in store for the future!

counting down the days...

I can hardly believe how fast my short summer vacation has flown by and I am now sitting here preparing to leave for Brazil in 3 short days. My excitement really started mounting after hearing from my fellow travelers Katie and Mary Zimmerman and Megan Cress who left June 15th and are already getting settled. I can wait to join them and celebrate the continued success of Brazil's soccer team in the World Cup.. very exciting for the country! Last night I dragged the two biggest suitcases into my room and hopefully today I will start loading my belongings into them.. first I have to fold the laundry though, the chores don't stop until I get on the plane! :) Today I celebrated my final Mass with most of my family as we remebered my deceased uncle and godfather Mark Bucci. Family is now over for a final farewell party and I can smell the spagetti cooking! I am off to eat, please keep me in your prayers as Leo and I depart on Friday.. hope this blog will bring you many laughs, tears and happiness in my upcoming 6 month journey to follow God's plan for my life!