FUN FIRSTS!

It is hard to recap the fun, adventurous weekend we had on the farm of a coworker this past weekend but I will try and highlight the best parts! We left Friday after work and drove the 1 1/2 hours to arrive at a point in which we had to leave the comfort of a car and mount a horse- one of my bigger fears... this was something I was not aware of when we agreed to this weekend! Thank goodness I was with a real ´cowboy´ who knew what he was doing which really came in handy when we went to forge a river with what I would conisder raging rapids. We made it across the river only getting wet up to our knees and just when I thought I could let out my breath, the horse in front of us with Katie and our coworker, buckled and threw them off onto the rocks. Thank God they were not hurt and were only shaken up a little bit. By this point it was dark and I was able to let myself relax and enjoy the rest of the ride looking up at the beautiful night sky full of stars- we were in the middle of nowhere and the scenery was breathtaking! The rest of the weekend was full of true hillybilly fun- attempting to lasso poles, shooting beer cans off fence posts with beebee guns and just taking in all the sounds of the farm. We had goats in and out of the house, fish heads were popped off by the men and us girls just took the chance to take it all in. Saturday we spent the day down by the river playing in the water and relaxing before heading back to a town near Imbau for a festajuninha- a hillbilly themed party- for the birthday of a friend to wrap up our weekend!

Monday at the program we were able to do English with all the students which I have missed. It was nice to see how fast some of the new students have picked up on the basics and it never ceases to make me laugh that quite a few of them are unaware of what we are saying to them each morning when we ask ´How are you?´- they will get there! Monday night I got to see Sister Frannie for the first time as she has been in the USA since we got here in June. She is the 3rd sister that lives in the house with Sister Rose. It was good to catch up with her and hear all about her long vacation visiting her family. Tuesday morning was full of all kinds of activities... Katie was running around doing a few errands, Megan was doing computers with a few kids- something that she started last week and has been going really well- and a few of the girls were in the kitchen doing culinary with the other teachers. This is a new aspect of the program that we started a few weeks ago where the older girls, and sometimes guys, help out with lunch by preparing some aspect of it whether it be cooking the meat or preparing the pasta. It is so fun for them and it has given all the other kids a chance to branch out a little bit as they have tried some exotice recipes! So I was left with a few kids that were not doing anything. It was really nice to have some one on one time with a few of the students- I have missed that! I got one boy, Isaac, hooked on sudoku.. he was so proud when I told him he was the first kid I had seen comprehend the game! He took my book home to do more and share with his family. Katie and I left early on Tuesday thinking we had to go the bank to pay early for renewing our visas, something we planned to do today but luckily we called and discovered they were not helping foreigners this Friday for whatever reason so we scheduled an appointment for Monday. Then Tuesday night I had Muay Tai for the first time with a new friend Michelle- I could not have loved it more! It was right up my alley. I found it challenging but not impossible. My plan is to start doing it 1-2 times per week!

Wednesday I spend a large part of the afternoon with our student Lucas in the hospital here in Telemaco Borba as he injured his hand a month ago but did nothing about it so when he hit it again earlier in the week it made his whole hand/arm swell up. In Telemaco he was given an X-RAY then we talked with a doctor who said nothing was fractured or broken but still proceeded to wrap him up in a full arm cast?! We scheduled for him to come back in a couple weeks for an update. Last night we had our second parent meeting in the evening with the theme being ´drugs´. Our guest speaker cancelled the day before but we were fortunate enough to find a police officer who works with a program I would consider similar to DARE in the States. It was a small turnout of our kids and their families but it went really well! Those that were there we have to trust were the ones that needed to hear the message the most. It is always nice for us to feel like we have more of a connection with the parents as well.

I hope everyone is happy and healthy and enjoying the start of fall! Keep those prayers coming for all our kids and us!