Free Time

Megan has been traveling a lot lately for capoeira events, generally being gone from Wednesday until Sunday or Monday which has given me a lot of alone time. At first I was not sure what I would do with all this time by myself but it has ended up being the best thing for me! I have kept myself busy by being very productive with my classes, traveling with the kids, attending extra Masses, go to Reconciliation, and spend a lot of quality time with friends here I have not gotten to see as much this year. I have found this time to be really important for me actually.

This past week I had the chance to travel with our students from Imbau, who I have not gotten to see as much this year, to the nearby, bigger city of Ponta Grossa. The participated in something they call ´the games´which is really just some friendly competition between different PETI programs in the state. There is a PETI in almost every city yet sadly only 3 came. It was 3 days of physical activity for 10 hours a day in the blazing hot sun. We took about 40 kids and they played everything from soccer to ping pong to volleyball... any American would have gotten a kick out of watching these kids attempt basketball; not a natural sport for them! :) The kids loved the friendly competition and makes friends with the other kids from different cities but at the same time, it was exhausting. We had several injuries and by the end of day 3, just about all of them were dead. I found it really draining just to sit in the sun and watch them so I can only imagine how they felt by the end. That being said, it was such a fun trip and I had an amazing time! I think I loved it even more because I have seen them so little this year and it was nice to see that our relationship is still strong and my love for them grew so much more! I will forever cherish that time I had with all of them!

We are now planning for another trip with the Erval kids this upcoming weekend. If you remember from last year, we took the Imbau kids on an overnight camping trip to a place with a beautiful waterfall and lots of open space to play- we are taking the older Erval kids to the same place on Friday. We have been really busy running around, organizing everything for the 20 kids we are taking; this is a little more complicated in a town in the middle of nowhere with very few contacts or connections but it is coming together nicely! We are really excited but I think they are even more so!

We have our monthly store for the kids to spend their money they earn through participation and good behavior at PETI and this last one, a sleepover at our house was a big purchase! We had 3 different groups of 4 girls buy this night by putting their money together and last night we had the first group! We took the four girls to Telemaco with us for the night and two of them did the Muay Thai class with me. For some reason, my teacher decided to make it a very difficult class with complex moves that were really tough for the girls. Regardless, they had a great time and loved the chance to try something new! Then after we all headed to a pizza place in town to stuff ourselves with the amazing pizza here in Brazil, finishing with a chocolate and strawberry pizza. I think the girls took at least 100 pictures to capture the night. We all had such a great time! 2 more groups of this to go before we come home in around 3 weeks!

Sending lots of love to my sister Maria in Denver!!! She made the big move to the new city just last week and I am sure it has not been the easiest adjustment far away from the family but hopefully she knows the strong support she has from all of us and that we all have so much faith in her! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that you found it easy to find so many things to be grateful for.. I know I sure did! Enjoy the colder weather, I can´t wait for it as I am burning badly in this intense sun! My love to everyone!

Unexpected Vacation

This new work place of ours, Erval de Cima, has given us a couple challenges in the last few weeks. This already impoverished city struggled when almost three weeks ago they ran out of water. They have a pump that provides water to a majority of the homes and a piece broke and for a reason that I still don't understand it took them almost a full three weeks to get this piece and fix the pump. It was hard for us to go three weeks without work but it was even harder for the people; as they got desperate they made their way to nearby rivers to wash clothes and take showers. Without water they were unable to cook so PETI was out and we were given a mini vacation in which somehow we found a way to get ourselves busy and accomplish other things. It was just this past Friday that we finally returned to work and got to see the kids again- it was a happy reunion!

 

We were lucky enough to still pull off our first trip with the kids during this break. We planned a trip to a nearby city, Telemaco Borba, where we have lived in past years. It was our plan to bring the littler kids to the bigger city just so they could experience the environment of a new city that had more to offer. However, almost a month ago when we were running around between bus companies trying to figure out the cheapest option for our trips, we met a man who lived many years in the States and who actually grew up near Erval de Cima. He heard us talking with the people at the bus station and decided to wait and talk with us afterwards to practice his English. His name is Leo, and he has ended up being a HUGE help to us with planning for this trip. I don't know if I have ever met a Brazilian so willing and wanting to help others the way he does. It was him who found us the cheapest bus for our trips and it was him who turned our small half day trip into a full day trip that the kids loved. Our trip was this past Tuesday and we took 29 kids from the ages of five to twelve. We picked the kids up at 8:30 in the morning and it took us one hour to arrive at a club in Telemaco called Alvarada. (This was an aspect that only happened because of Leo; he is a member here and he told the owners about our project and they allowed us to come in for free!!!) We lathered the kids up with sunscreen and they spent the next two hours playing in the pools. There was a baby pool where many of the younger kids stayed and splashed around and there was also another pool with a small water slide. The majority of the kids do not know how to swim so me and Megan had to stay in the water and always stay on guard. It was such a fun afternoon seeing these kids run around in their underwear, as many didn't have a bathing suit, and just have the biggest smiles on their faces the whole time. We basically had to drag them out of the water to eat lunch but they sure did have an appetite. After lunch they had some time to play on the playground before the bus came back to get us and we went to the 'zoo' that they have in Telemaco. The teachers were super organized and they had their individual groups; the kids were great about staying together and not once was I worried about losing a kid. We spent a good half hour walking around the zoo looking at all the animals they had- the teachers I think got more excited than the kids! :) We then went to ride the cable car which scared a few kids but everyone got on the same one and everyone had a great time as we passed over the river. It was a quick 2 minute ride and we rewarded the kids after with 2 ice cream cones each! After a long day in the sun with lots of excitement and food, these kids passed out on the bus ride home. It was such a fun day and so much of it we owe to our friend Leo; God put Him into our lives and he has already blessed us such much with all the help he has given us!

 

Last Monday was my 21st birthday, an age that is not as special here in Brazil but Megan did a great job making sure it was an extra special birthday! The weekend before we traveled to Maringa, a nearby city that we travel to every year, to celebrate. I think Megan told literally every person we met that it was my birthday weekend which led to some interesting costumes and experiences! We had a great time together and really enjoyed meeting new people and also getting to hang out with some friends that we have in the city. We came home on Sunday and discovered that they were without water at PETI still so Megan and I woke up early on Monday, my birthday, and spent the day walking house to house with another teacher to get permission from the parents for their children to go on the trip the next day. It is a good thing the town is so small and we were able to get to everyone's house before taking the next bus home. I was then able to open the package my family had sent me and inside was a birthday in a box- I had balloons, cake, icing, candles, etc. We quickly made the cake and enjoyed a little piece of heaven :) Then that evening after my Muay Thai class we went to a restaurant and enjoyed the bottle of champagne that my parents had sent and we drank out of beautifully hand made wine glasses that each of my siblings had decorated for me :) It was amazing birthday that continued even late into the week as on Friday when we went back to work they planned a special surprise party for me. I had no idea it was coming but one of the teachers had made a giant cake in the shape of two hearts and all the kids had made cards and posters for me.. it was such a special surprise! The only thing missing to make my birthday perfect was my family!

 

Me drinking my champagne from my personalized wine glass

 

 

I am so glad that PETI is back in session and that we are able to get back into a normal schedule. This unplanned 'vacation' that we got threw us off a bit but we are ready to jump back into things and continue our classes with the kids. Our time is quickly winding down as it is almost the middle of November now. Please continue to pray for all the kids we work with and we will remember to keep all of you in our daily prayers as well, especially Katie who is normally in Brazil with us but this year is back home planning her wedding :) I am so happy for her and Bryan! May God continue to bless the beautiful couple. Sending our love to everyone back in the United States!

Month of October

October has been such a crazy month in a number of ways which is why I have been unable to stay on top of the blog. You can ask my parents, even a number of limited emails have been sent and I don't think we were able to Skype even once. I will give you a few of the highlighted things that took place and are taking place in our lives here!

We had some really hot weather for awhile. It actually became so hot that a few Sundays ago Megan filled up the baby pool we bought with water and we are both officially got burnt! That same Sunday was also a big day here in Brazil, it was election day. Megan and I could not be more thrilled that all the propaganda and nightly gathering they have been having with fireworks and loud music, are finally all done! We did a pretty good job staying neutral, trying to promote that what we want is just the best for the city and the kids we work with. The candidate that the current mayor was supporting ended up winning in a close race and that Sunday night was the biggest party I have ever seen in Imbau, with loud music and honking cars lasting late into the night. Megan and I are so glad it is all over as these elections even ruined our plans to go to Mass that Friday night, as it was cancelled due to it being the weekend of elections. :( Instead we were able to visit with a neighbor that we haven't seen in awhile and play with the new puppies they just got! 

Us with some of our students at the election party

We have really been trying to work on our relationships with neighbors again as for awhile our lives got super busy and we were lacking on those friendships. One way in which we are doing this is on weekly commitment we have made to eat breakfast with the neighbor across the street who is the owner of the house we are renting. We have decided to take advantage that we stay in Imbau on Thursdays and we can get to work a little later so we just wake ourselves up 45 minutes earlier and go over to catch up with our sweet neighbors. It feels good to be able to keep up our connections with the community in which we live!

Children's day is a special holiday celebrated only here in Brazil and it took place in the middle of October. We were so blessed to be able to find and gather the most random things to provide our kids with a special day and presents that they would otherwise not get. A few weeks before the holiday Megan and I randomly found almost a hundred empty shoe boxes in the trash right near our bus stop, so of course knowing we would find some way to use them, we stole them! They soon became our inspiration and the kids all decorated them, without knowing for what. We worked to get a piece of clothing for each of the kids, a pair of socks, a bookmark, and a lot of candy and sweets that we stocked in their boxes and had them open on the special day. Megan took a video of some of the younger kids opening their boxes and it is probably the cutest thing you will ever see. They are all screaming with excitement, quickly taking off their clothing to try on the new stuff, and comparing with friends in excited voices.. it was a really neat day!

The kids with their shoe boxes, anxious to open them!!

We had a little bit of a scare a week ago that we may be deported after missing the date to renew our visas. Our tourist visas are valid for 90 days before we renew them for another 90 days to stay our complete 6 months. This year our first 90 days expired the 1st of October and since the middle of September I have been calling the federal police to mark a day for us to renew however they were on strike all throughout Brazil and I was informed that we would just have to wait out the strike, without any problems on our end. I continued to call twice a week just to make sure I knew the minute they came back from strike.. Well last Tuesday when I called I was randomly informed that they had been there all along taking emergency cases like ours!! We were informed that is was the fault of lacking information on both ends although I will defend to the end that I was very clear on the phone each time I called about when our visas expired. We were informed that we had to pay $4 every day that we were over our expired day and that we would need to leave the country, with a possibility that we would be allowed back in.. we couldn't believe it!! The next day we went directly to talk with the federal police and see if we could, politely, fight our case :) It was not even necessary; the gentleman explained to us that he would be renewing our visas outside of the legal system and that he was putting his job on the line, but that we could stay until the date of our flights! We could not believe it was that easy!! God took such great care of us; this man had even told us that he had already sent others out of the country for the same reason so we have no idea why he took sympathy on us but we were so grateful!

We received a bunch of used clothing donations from the youth group from our church, so much so that we did not know what to do with everything. The four kids that train capoeira with Megan in Telemaco have a baptism coming up in which they have to pay $70 to participate and receive the first cord. Since none of them can afford this, we decided to have a bazar, selling the clothes really cheaply, for them to raise this money. We had these kids do a lot of the work by making posters to advertise the event, talk about it in the community and school, organize the clothing, and actually work the bazar the day of. It was so good for them to be able to see how a little hard work could help them accomplish things they want in life and that nothing comes for free. Our bazar was so successful with us raising $260, only $20 short of paying for all the kids to partake in the baptism!! The town loved it so much too that the mothers are asking when the next one will be and even went so far as to give us suggestions on what clothing would be a big hit! 

I had my annual Muay Thai graduation on Saturday and I was feeling very little pressure knowing I was not going to trade cords. There had been a little talk that I would fight with this newer girl who is more the size of Megan, with really strong legs and punches, with the only thing making her valid against me being the fact that she started recently. However our teacher told me I was not coming to fight against her the week before our graduation so I arrived relaxed and ready to watch others. When the moment came for people to start fighting in the ring the gym has, the teacher asked for two women volunteers. I was sitting next to this girl, Fabi, and she was really nervous so I convinced her we should volunteer to gain points with the teacher… I really have no idea what I was thinking!! So we were the first official fight of the day with everyone surrounding the ring ready to shout and give their advice. We got our head pads on and the first of 2 two minute rounds began. It ended with both of us exhausted but unharmed. We had a minute to rest in which I had a million people shouting suggestions to me for the second round- it was fun! Well that mood quickly changed when after about 20 seconds in the second round I took a kick to my knee when my leg wasn't firm and my knee twisted in.. it was extremely painful and I knew I would not be able to continue fighting so we had to stop there. The poor girl felt so bad but accidents like this happen. Unfortunately my knee is still swollen and I am unable to walk normally. Luckily the nurse things nothing serious happened, it just needs time to heal. I think my mom will officially kill me :)

Me and this girl getting ready to fight!

We are now working hard to get two field trips planned before we leave in less than two months, one for the older kids to go camping and one for the younger kids to come to Telemaco and ride on the cable car, visit the zoo and walk on the avenida. Please pray for us as we work to get all the details worked out and we negotiate prices to make sure we can afford these trips. Thank you for everyone who prayed for our visa situation, I am positive that those prayers made all the difference in allowing us to stay here! I am so jealous of everyone enjoying the changing fall weather back at home.. we have a Brazilian friend who is currently visiting the States for one month and he took a picture of my street with the beautiful trees and it made me wish I could be there, just for a day to experience it all. I continue to pray for everyone back home knowing that you all are doing the same for us! Sorry again for the delayed update! God Bless! 

ONCE AGAIN!

We had all day Monday to catch up on sleep from our trip and to get caught up on laundry and all other things we were behind on from the weekend. Monday night we were notified that there would be no PETI on Tuesday as well because of a parent meeting. We took advantage of the rainy day by going to Telemaco and I was able to do an afternoon Muay Thai class. The kids were not able to come to capoeira class in the evening with Megan as we had not left money for them but on Thursday we had all four of them again. 

By the time we were back at PETI on Wednesday it had been a week since we had seen the kids. I don't know what happened with the weather but it became FREEZING! It was impossible to get out of bed on Wednesday; even though there was sunshine, there was a bitter wind that was unbearable. I had to search to the bottom of my clothes to pull out my turtleneck and scarf! With this cold weather we ended up staying indoors most of the day, first doing our partnered reading and then doing capoeria in the classroom. Megan and I provided quite the entertainment when we were balancing one another on our backs and somehow toppled over landing in very funny positions! It was good to be back with the kids and get back into our schedule. 

Thursday we made ourselves get up early so we could go over and eat breakfast and visit with our neighbors from whom we are renting our house. We have been really busy lately, especially on the weekends, so we thought it was important to catch up with them again. From there we went to PETI and got some older kids to take to the computer house. We found a great website that teaches the basics of typing and teaches the kids about keeping their fingers on the primary letters.. these kids did a great job although after 30 minutes we had a few complaints of hand cramps as they are not used to having to keep their hands in a fixed spot to type! :) In the afternoon the computer house is closed so we ended up just hanging out with the kids and making some string friendship bracelets. I had the chance to really get to know one of the newer children, Luiz as we worked together on bracelets. Sometimes I get discouraged with not really having a connection with the new kids at the Imbau PETI because being there only one day a week does not give us a chance to build too many bonds, so this was the perfect afternoon to lift my spirits and make me realize they are still reachable!

Thursday all day my head had been itching like crazy and Megan thought it might have something to do with the change in weather and off schedule of showers.. who knows where she came up with this, but I decided to have someone check at the gym Thursday night and they were pretty sure I had lice!! :( I woke up Friday morning and ran 3 loads of laundry to get all my stuff clean just in case and then at PETI I had the teachers take a look- sure enough I somehow got lice for the 3rd year in a row… I luckily caught it early and immediately put the shampoo in my hair that kills it but we are putting ourselves at risk every week with two of the kids that come to do capoeira with us. The brother and sister that normally come on Tuesdays both have extreme lice, their whole family does, and even though we immediately wash all the sheets and pillowcases they use each week, the risk is still high that we might get it again. Luckily Megan avoided it this time; I just seem to have the bad luck with this! 

Friday we had our store once again and thanks to the large package our parents sent down, we had all kinds of wonderful new toys that were really popular with the kids! Quite a few of them saved up a lot of their money for the next store in the hopes of combining with a friend for $35 to 'purchase' a sleepover at our house. Our weekends might soon be filling up with these overnights with the kids :)

After a relaxing weekend in which I got to Skype with both my friend Erin and my family, we were back to work Monday with a regular schedule. Monday was successful English classes, giving tests over pronouns with almost everyone passing on the first try.. I was so impressed. We then combined the pronouns and the verb 'to be' with feelings so that they could begin formulating sentences such as 'I am hungry'.. it was really exciting! Then on Tuesday we split our time between math classes and decorating shoe boxes that we plan to fill up with goodies next week when we have a little party to celebrate Children's Day on the 12th! It is a surprise; the kids think they are just making these boxes as storage but little do they know they will get stocked up by special 'secret' friends!

I am so happy to hear that my new cousin Will is home from the hospital and doing well after being born on the 19th. I'm sure his big sisters are so thrilled along with his parents! I also continue to ask for prayers for my other cousin Callie as she is also expecting and due early October! Please let us know any prayer requests that you have- lzatkulak@yahoo.com 

TRIP OF A LIFETIME

Monday we decided we had gotten a good amount of sleep over the weekend and had the patience to try English with the younger kids! So we had a classroom of 8 five year olds counting from 1 to 5 while using their fingers as well to show the number. It was the most precious thing I have ever seen to see these young kids repeating the numbers with big smiles on their face as they succeeded. Who knows if it will actually stick with them but it was evident that they loved to feel like they were a part of something that normally only the older kids get to do. Then we switched and worked with the older kids on the pronouns and reviewed some previous things we have learned so they could make their own BINGO boards for future classes. We did the same thing in the afternoon with two different groups of selected English students. 

On Tuesday since we did not have a speaker lined up, we ended up using the day to test out the math skills of the students. We worked briefly with the younger kids just on the basics of counting and then with the older students we gave them time tests to see their addition and multiplication skills. It is amazing the small emphasis put on these abilities in the school and it was evident as it took students as long as 30 minutes to complete a 100 question basic multiplication worksheet. A few of the older children excelled and were rewarded, hopefully motivating the other students to see improvement. Just to give you an idea, even one of the teachers took 25 minutes to complete it and got a 90%. 

Wednesday we finally got some rain!! It has been almost over a month since it has rained here and the weather has been extremely hot so we were relieved to have a little rain to cool things off. That being said, capoeira did not happen. Instead we had some partnered reading in the morning with the older and younger kids, then we just had free time to play all kinds of games. It was really neat to see all the kids sitting at different tables, old and young playing together a variety of things including matching games, puzzles, and UNO. We also recently were able to purchase a bunch of new games for the kids with a donation from a generous family from our church. 

Kids solving one of the new puzzles!

Friday at 5 a.m., Megan and I woke up to finish our packing and head out in the pouring rain to meet all the other travelers at the church before taking the 16 hour bus ride to Aparecida de Norte. There were two full buses, one with people only going to Aparecida and then our bus with people also taking the day trip to Rio de Janiero. We spent all day Friday traveling and had such a great time on our bus with lots of singing and guitar playing. One guy from the church brought along a megaphone and refused to allow people to sleep; he was a character the entire trip and made all the time spent in the bus, which was a lot, enjoyable. Once we arrived late Friday night, we all just passed out in the hotel. We were up again at 4 a.m. on Saturday to head out for Rio- another 5 hour bus ride. We were able to squeeze so much into one day and just being in the city was so great that the overcast, chilly and sometimes rainy weather didn't get anyone down. We stopped off in two different churches, one up on a hill with almost 400 steps, and then the cathedral in the city. We also got to spend a little bit of time at the beach, Copacabana!! Rio is known for their large festival of Carnival that comes in January. We stopped at one place where they celebrate with lots of women in fun costumes dance the samba. Megan and I of course paid the cheap $2.50 to put on costumes and we quickly became celebrities, taking a million pictures with both people from our group and strangers. Who knows how many iPads, phones, and cameras now have our pictures on them! The most memorable stop was of course to see the Christ statue high up on the hill. I had been there with my family when we lived here all those years ago so it was really special for me to visit the amazing site again! It was amazing to see so many people, speaking a variety of languages, all gathered to see this amazing statue as a tribute to Jesus. Some people ended the day going to see Pao de Acucar, or Sugar Loaf, a high mountain peak that overlooks all of Rio, but Megan and I opted to stay on the ground and spend some more time at the beach. We didn't get back to our hotel until midnight and although it was exhausting, we had such an amazing day! It was something I will never forget!

First picture of the trip- on the bus!

Us with our students in Rio!

Before we got close to the Cristo Redentor!

AMAZING!

Us girls in our crazy samba costumes!

Sunday we were once again up early as we didn't have much time and there was so much to do. As soon as we stepped out of the doors of our hotel until as far as we could see, there were hundreds of street vendors selling all kinds of things at really cheap prices. We pushed our way through SO many people to finally make it to the famous ramp that people with amazing faith walk on their knees, that leads to the beautiful basilica that is dedicated to Nossa Senhora de Aparecida- the patron saint of Brazil. Once there, there were so many things to see and do but we only had a limited amount of time so we went to Mass; just so you have an idea, there were 6 visiting priests from all over Brazil and this gigantic church was standing room only for all those attending Mass. We also had time to wait in line to see the original statue of Our Lady that was found by 3 fishermen in 1717. There is so much history around the city and the story behind everything that I unfortunately do not know but it is the dream of every Brazilian to travel to this sacred city and I felt so blessed that I was able to go. We also got to see the Room of Promises which is covered in pictures, license plates, statues, etc. that people have offered up as prayer requests to Our Lady of Aparecida. It is a big thing for people to buy wax body parts if they are suffering from something such as cancer or any other disease, and then they give these wax pieces as offerings in the hopes of receiving healing. Like I said, there were so many other aspects to this place, like a candle room in which people buy candles the size of the person they are praying for and then they burn these candles to the ground, that we really wanted to see but we just didn't have time. We walked back to the center of town and searched the shops for presents for friends and family before we had to head back to the hotel and by 2p.m., we were back on the road. Aparecida was such an amazing city but Megan and I later discussed that it reminded us of the story in the Bible were Jesus goes into the temple and angrily turns over all the market tables, frustrated that this place of worship has become a place for selling and buying things. Aparecida is a lot like that- you cross the ramp and you are in a marketplace with swarms of people buying things and it made me wonder if people were there more for the amazing history of Nossa Senhora de Aparecida or to get gifts at cheap prices. Regardless, it was a great and unforgettable trip!

Our bus had decided to do a secret friend gift exchange so on the bus ride home we all exchanged our gifts and explained our choices. I chose a woman named India, someone I had not known before this trip but everyone talked so highly of her and the amazing faith she has. She is a frequent traveler to Aparecida so it was hard for me to choose a unique gift for her but after I discovered that she was a survivor of breast cancer, I bought her a little statue of the saint that is the protector of cancer patients and I bought her a rosary with the promise that I will keep her in my daily prayers. She was so touched and offered an invitation to Megan and I to have lunch in her house. I think that was one of my favorite aspects of the trip, besides getting to travel with our 3 students and have that time with them, we also got to build so many relationships with people from the church, something that I think has lacked in previous years with us living in another city. Overall the trip was very quick and lots of time on a bus but so worth it. I have such a desire to return to Aparecida and really have more time to see all the other things it has. I offered up so many prayers for all of you there and I so appreciate all your prayers for our safe travels. It was a once in a lifetime experience!

Approaching the basilica on the ramp!

Look at all the people!

The original statue!

great week!

What a productive week it has been. With some off time and an inconsistent schedule these last few weeks, Megan and I decided Sunday night that we were going to dedicate ourselves this week to getting back into the swing of things and really get things moving.

On Monday we had English classes all day in Erval de Cima. We have been teaching them some random information such as colors and the months of the year but we decided it was time to actually select the ones that are showing potential and move past the basics on to some more complicated yet beneficial learning. We worked on teaching the pronouns along with the verb 'to be' in English. I think the whole concept is confusing to many of the kids and it is times like this that I wish my Portuguese was even more advanced to be able to better explain the process of conjugating verbs. However, we were able to get the point across and by the end of the day, the kids were finally starting to get it! We just recently starting going to Erval de Cima on Tuesdays as well and this past week we had our first speaker come to visit the kids. Agusto, the owner of FISK, an English school in a nearby town, came to talk with the kids all about the importance of studying, not just English but in general. He was so great with all the kids, even the younger ones which I think sometimes are harder to reach. We have also selected 10 or so students that will begin to study English at his school, hopefully soon; right now we are just waiting for the government to assist us in transportation for the kids as they will have to travel 30 minutes to reach the town the school is in. Agusto pulled those kids aside on Tuesday and talked to them all about what the course will entail, the amazing opportunity this is, but also the reality of the difficulties that come from learning a new language. We are so excited that he has partnered with us to allow our students this chance to extensively study English. Same as our students from Imbau studying English, we are looking to have these kids sponsored by Americans with the price being $150 per book. If you or anyone you know is interested in helping sponsor one of the kids, please let me know! The kids are so thrilled to get started!

Agusto talking with our kids!

On Wednesday we decided to try something new in the morning as there are much few kids. We had the older kids partner up with a younger child and read to them for 30 minutes. It took me back to my days in middle school when we had 'book buddies' and we would read with the little kids once a week. The older kids were great and everyone seemed to enjoy the quiet time, including myself as I got some homework done! It was really neat to see the younger and older kids interact as that does not happen too often. Then we finished with capoeira classes in both the morning and afternoon. Not everyone loves the class but it gives them a bit of physical activity and teaches them about a sport that has a lot of history in Brazil. 

One of the older students, Emile, reading with Larissa

As you all know, we have two boys from Erval participate in a capoeira class in Telemaco with Megan on Thursdays; starting this week we have two more children coming to partake in capoeira on Tuesdays. We selected two siblings, Bruna and Jonaton to start up these classes as they both have shown a strong interest in the Wednesday capoeira classes Megan gives. They also are one of the poorest families we work with and this seemed like a great chance to get them out of the 'house' they live in and treat them to something new. Megan has been dying to have a girl come train with her so this all worked out so perfectly. It is a little more work for us, now having kids sleep in our house twice a week, as the other two boys will continue on Thursdays, but it is nothing in comparison to seeming the kids get so excited about something and show a desire and passion to learn and challenge themselves. We are so grateful to the capoeira instructor as well for allowing them to train for free at the gym. Also, it makes me so grateful that we can afford our own place this year so that we can do things like this and have children stay with us. It will be exciting to see how well they progress from now until December!

Also this week I worked with kids to finish a photo project that has taken us awhile- the calendar of photos taken by the kids that we will sell to earn some extra money to travel and buy necessary things for the kids. We now have allowed all the older kids the chance to take pictures and this week we had all the kids vote on their favorite 12 pictures that they think are deserving of being in the calendar. Now that the pictures have been chosen, we will get to work on making the calendar. It is exciting that 12 students will get this recognition for the photos they took! 

Example picture of one of the photos that will be in the calendar

Friday we went back to our 'dia de beleza' or beauty day in which all us girls gathered in one of the classrooms, put on some music, and did our hair, makeup and nails. We had such a great time! One of the other teachers has taken a manicurist course so she was designing all kinds of beautiful flowers and lady bugs on the girls nails. We also have a lot of talented girl that were helping out with the younger girls and I even got my hair braided in a fish tail braid- made me think of my sister Becca and all the crazy braids she does on her hair! Us girls had such a fun time also chasing the little boys around with makeup brushes threatening to give them a little color :) In general we had such a productive and fun week!

All the nails done :)

Next Friday we will already be traveling to Aparecida de Norte and Rio de Janiero with the church group. We will leave Friday early morning and return Monday early morning so please keep us and all the travelers in your prayers as we journey to a place with so much religious background and faith. We are so excited to be taking 3 students with us as well! My special prayer request is for my dad and all the men on the CHRP retreat this weekend that God may draw them closer in relationship with Him and with each other, that these men may leave even stronger in their faith and prepared to be examples for all other fathers, brothers, sons, and men in their lives! 

Behind On Things But Happy!

We had a nice little unexpected break in our week when the water in Erval de Cima ran out two weeks ago which left them without PETI from last Tuesday until this Tuesday. It is crazy to me that this is a common thing in this already poor community and that the majority of our students also went without water for that week. We took this week then to spend some extra time with the kids in Imbau and I was able to play some catch up with my online classes as well. Last Tuesday Megan ran around like crazy trying to organize some things for what we plan to do starting in September. We are going to start going to Erval de Cima four days a week, leaving just Thursdays in Imbau to work on computers and individual English lessons with our kids who are studying at PBF. Our goal is to save Tuesdays at the new PETI for guest speakers on a variety of topics so Megan went around asking people if they would be interested- it looks like we are going to get someone to come speak about drugs, dental hygiene, respect within the family, physical fitness, and the importance of taking care of the Earth. We are excited to see where this will take us although we are sad that we will be cutting back another day in Imbau. It is hard but we really think God is calling us to spend more time and energy in Erval. 

Last Tuesday was Megan's 25th birthday so we spend the whole weekend before in Telemaco Barb celebrating and commemorating with our friends there. We have an amazing friend, Steven, who lived in the United States for 9 years before just recently returning to Brazil. He was an extremely kind host, allowing us to crash at his house and cooking a delicious lunch for us on Sunday afternoon. We got to meet some of his family and friends from other cities as well who speak English. Then on the actual day of Megan's birthday, Matt and I organized a service our friends offer called a telemensagem. I came up with a ploy to get Megan outside and then a car drove up with loud speakers playing one of her favorite songs in Portuguese. Then 'Happy Birthday' was played over the loud speakers followed by a beautiful message. Then I was given the microphone and I got to say a few things to Megan for all to hear. As the final music played, Megan received a bouquet of roses, balloons, and cards- it was a really special surprise for her! Then that night we got together with some friends to enjoy a pizza buffet that in Telemaco that comes with Megan's favorite, chocolate pizza. In general, it was a special day for her despite the rainy weather.

This past weekend, I traveled with Matt to Curitiba, the capital of the state where we live, as a pitstop on his way to Sao Paulo to travel home. We had a great time in the city, spending two days with great friends who acted as great travel guides for us, taking us all around to the beautiful sites the city has to offer. We even went to a park that I remember going to over 10 years ago with my family when we traveled to Brazil all together to get the Sister Parish started; it brought back some great memories! Matt is now safely back home and he is being missing not only by me but especially by all the friends he made down here and the children that he touched in infinite ways. He was a great asset to Project Discovery and I hope one day he comes back! 

This past Friday was Independence Day here in Brazil so we went with the kids from the PETI in Erval to a parade in a nearby city. The majority of the kids are a part of the band, that I showed a picture of in a previous blog, so they marched in the parade and all us teachers marched behind. It was a scorching day and the kids did so great handling the heat in their black outfits and carrying the heavy instruments. It was a lot of fun to participate with them! A lot of people are traveling this weekend as it is a holiday but we are just relaxing at home, getting caught up on things, which is why my blog is finally happening. Sorry for the delay; it started to become apparent that my classes were taking a back seat to other things so my blog had to be put on hold for a bit for me to get caught up but I feeling more on top of things now! 

Megan and I recently made a big poster of a prayer list that we keep near our morning prayer table and we want to fill it up so please send us any of your prayer requests or send them to my mom and she will pass them along to us! The big poster is a great reminder for us to offer up prayers for you all and your special intentions… it is such a powerful tool! Hope this post finds everyone in the States extremely happy and feeling God's blessing all around them- I know I sure feel that way!!

Our Family Grew!

Sorry for the delay in posting a blog; my excuse is valid. Starting last Tuesday we had two students from Erval de Cima living with us. Gabriel, 13 and Ana Paula, 9 lived with us through the weekend because of a fight between their mom and another woman over water payments that resulted in their mother first trying to kill the other woman, then herself later in the day. It was quite an eventful day but by the afternoon we decided it was a good idea to take the kids out of the house for a little bit and the mom readily agreed. The first night their 15 year old brother, also our student, came along too but by the second night he wanted to be home; we think it had more to do with a young girl that he has a crush on that lives nearby :)

Matt playing monkey in the middle with the kids!

It was a week full of playing soccer, visiting the temporary movie theater that was set up near our home, Mass to celebrate the Assumption of Mary, black and white birthday parties, and playing with our neighbors. We kept the kids busy with lots of fun activities but also made them do their share of housework too- they learned to cook rice, always helped with dishes, and had to also make their beds every morning. We took the chance to teach them some English with 'thank you' frequently being said and each night ending with 'I love you'. There were several times that I had to smile to myself thinking I was acting exactly like my mom! It was tough work but thinking about the alternative for them made it worth it. Sunday night after Mass we sat them down to talk about why they had to go back home to their mom but also the importance of constantly keeping us up to date if they ever feel in danger in their home. Luckily it is evident their mom loves them, she is just severely depressed and sometimes causes harm to herself. Hopeful this time apart from her kids will strengthen their relationship and she will realize just how much they rely on her and need her to be strong for them. 

Black and white birthday party- all decked out!

Last Monday we spend all day in a school in a nearby town called Jose La Cerda; this is where our older students at the new PETI in Erval study as their town does not have a school and this is the closest town. We had a great time going into each classroom and talking about what we are doing here in Brazil and answering some questions about our culture and country. We also played a fun winking game with the kids that led to many laughs. The day ended with some capoeira taught by Megan for everyone to learn the basics. It was amazing the behavioral differences between the kids here as opposed to the kids in Imbau. We have heard that those who live in rural areas are better behaved than those in a 'city' (not that Imbau is much of a city, but more so than Erval), and we saw this first hand on Monday. The students were so respectful and polite- it was a very noticeable difference and one that made me so proud of the work the school is doing to keep these kids on the right track. We really enjoyed the day! 

Playing at the local school!

Since we had those siblings living with us, other students have said their parents now are requesting we take them to our house for a night.. imagine that, parents looking for a chance to get a break from their kids! :) Our plan is to sell this 'sleepover' as an option in our upcoming store that we will have the last Friday of the month so that it is open to all the kids without us having to pick. Our house might always have kids coming and going; I wouldn't want it any other way!

Our Imbau students studying English extensively at PBF are doing excellent. Unfortunately we had to lose one student who had missed a large amount of classes and was too far behind to try and catch up. However, two other students have since passed the test to complete the first book and they are moving on to the second of four!! I am so proud of them and their dedication to the language and their studies. The others who are still on the first book are close behind. I would like to take this chance to once again thank those who are sponsoring these kids and making a huge difference in their lives- they too always make a point to thank you for your help in making their future have greater possibilities! 

Praying for everyone in the States as school starts back up again! Hope the adjustment goes well and that the school year starts off well! 

MOVING DAY!

The big news for us here is that we have moved houses! Our old home was giving us all kinds of problems with mold growing on our clothes, pillows, sinks- basically everywhere. With Megan's allergy it was crucial for us to get out of there so when the house next door opened up for the same price, we quickly accepted the offer. Monday we spent a good 4 hours moving everything over to the bigger, cleaner house. Our first night there was a success! We are still in need of doing a few home decor things around the house but soon it will feel like home and we will forget we ever lived in the presence of mold! We had a fun house warming party on Friday night with some friends both from Telemaco and Imbau; it was a great time!

Tuesday in Imbau we spent a good while trying to figure things out for a previous student who stopped studying several years back because of laziness. We were under the impression that last year he had started up again only to find out this year that that was not the case. He claimed that the director refused to let him back into the school, as he was probably a troublemaker in the classroom and missed a lot of days but when we found out that there is a new principle, we decided to give it a shot. We took him there to talk directly with them but unfortunately he is unable to start until the new school year starts in January. We are worried that having already missed 3 years of school, it will be tough for him to jump right back in and play catch up so we stopped by the library and got him several books for the 7th grade, the year he will enter into, so that he can start to study a little bit and refresh his memory before he starts up again. Even though he is no longer a part of PETI we arranged for him to stop by once a week so we can sit down with him only for a half hour to practice some math or english. It is nice to see that he once again shows an interest in studying again and we want to encourage that the best we can and support him in this mature decision!

In Erval this week we had several eventful days. On Monday we had a full day of English, breaking into groups to teach the basics and then numbers. For now we are saying that it is a required class as the teachers want the kids to think of PETI as a school in which there are going to be subjects you don't like but you have to still participate in them. On Wednesday we had our capoeira class again which becomes just more of a PE class for the younger kids with tag and cartwheels. I then continued with photography as well. On Friday we scheduled to have a woman come to speak with our kids about the importance of avoiding drugs and alcohol but she never showed up unfortunately so we resorted so a day full of capture the flag- the kids loved it!! We also had a friend come in the afternoon to teach some of the older girls crochet; I myself took part in the class and am learning the basic knot for now, hoping in time I will have the skills to make some Christmas presents! 

Here is our friend teaching crochet

A lot of time on the weekends is spent doing laundry as it is quite a process. Although I am so grateful that we bought a washing machine, it is 100% different than doing laundry back at home. I am used to tossing in a load and letting it run its cycle until it is time to put it in the dryer. Here the wash is 15 minutes, then I have to drain the water into a bucket then refill the machine to let it rinse for another 6 minutes before draining again. Then we have a small machine that we borrowed from a friend that spinning your clothes for a few minutes to get rid of the excess water as clothes come out of the machine soaking wet. This machine holds only maybe 2 articles of clothing at a time then the clothes are hung up to finish drying. Overall it is quite the process! On Saturday night though we were able to go to the wedding of a student's sister. It was actually a double wedding with her cousin who had had a child literally the night before, how crazy is that! It was in a really small church and there were a ton of people. It was a very informal ceremony but it was so special to be there for the big day and witness the beautiful exchange of love. This was my first wedding to go to in Brazil and there were several similarities that I saw with weddings in the States; the bride threw her bouquet, the couple cut the first piece of cake together, and they said similar things when putting the rings on each other. It made me think about how all my family will be gathering together in a few weeks for my cousin Erin's wedding. I will be bummed to miss another family wedding but I pray that it is a great time for everyone who goes and I wish all the best to Erin and C Jay!! 

With the bride and our student (holding the baby)!

This weekend was a beautiful example of the results of the effort we have put into really having and maintaining relationships with people in the community. Megan has been learning crochet from a woman who lives nearby and I am looking to start some fun, simple things as well so Friday we spent all night there with her and her family and then again on Sunday we went back for lunch and stayed all the way until we went to church on Sunday night. After Mass and the youth group we help with, we visited our neighbor's house and enjoyed some cake that they had made for us! Saturday we had English lessons with our selected students in Telemaco Borba and then we participated in another youth group of a smaller chapel in town. They had a special group come from out of town to sing and speak with them. Everything was more aimed at high schoolers but it was nice to show our support of the work they do. From there we headed to a festajulhinho at APAE, the local school for special needs kids. It was a costume party with traditional country attire and Matt was able to dance the quadrilla for the first time! In general, our whole weekend was focused on the community we live in and the people who we have grown so close to in a few short weeks. I am so grateful for the relationships we are continuing to build here!

The new kids at PETI have their own band- impressive!

Some other exciting news- on Sunday in church the priest mentioned that they had 5 spots available still for a group traveling to Aparecida de Norte, another city in Brazil near Rio de Janiero in which Our Lady appeared many years ago. It is a city with a lot of cultural and religious background and is a big tourist spot for many people, somewhere I have been wanting to travel to. They were struggling to fill those spots so they agreed that if someone could fill 3 spots, they would give that person the other 2 spots for free.. we were so quick to jump on that one! After mass we talked to padre and the 3 of us are officially traveling with them at the end of September, the best part being that we have decided to take two of our students to fill those free spots since they would never be able to travel on their own! Padre is happy to have the spots filled and we are thrilled to have the opportunity and the chance to take along kids who will truly appreciate the city and would otherwise probably not be able to go.. everyone wins! 

Our old PETI kids still studying English on Saturdays

Once a week now Matt and I have found a new form of exercise to keep us moving! Our friend from the gym, Bubbles, teaches poor kids how to play basketball during the week and then on Wednesday nights they have open court in which anyone is welcome to come for some pick up games. Originally it was just going to be Matt but I decided to join in as the only female player. We have a lot of fun as the games are not super competitive and all the people are very friendly and welcoming! I have continued with Muay Thai at the gym twice a week and still find it to be really enjoyable. Megan has been doing capoeira the other 2 nights a week and starting this week we chose two boys from the PETI in Erval to train with her and the others at the gym in Telemaco! Our teacher is so nice and has offered to let them participate in the class once a week for free.. he has a real passion for letting sports be an outlet for kids that are dealing with tough situations at home. The two boys, Rifael and Fernando, will take a bus together from Erval every Thursday and arrive in Imbau to meet us at 6PM then we will all take the 6:30 bus to Telemaco. They then have class from 7 until 8. They will be able to shower at the gym and grab something to eat and get some homework done before we leave to go home at 10:45. They will then spend the night at our house and will take the bus back with us in the morning- it works out perfectly!! We chose Rifael specially because he recently moved here and the documents that allow him to go to school did not come along so he missed the opportunity to start school this year, he has to wait until next year unfortunately. Right now he comes to PETI in the morning and then stays in the streets all afternoon with nothing to do and no one in his house so this is a chance for him to get away and do something! 

The two boys doing capoeira for the first time

first full week of work!

I'm not sure if I could love this place any more, unless I was able to bring my family and friends to be here with me. I know I already mentioned how great our neighbors are but I just want to reiterate just how helpful and welcoming they are. Weekends are rough around here with little to do and not a lot going on and they have been wonderful about welcoming us to join them for breakfast, lunch, or just to hang out. They have allowed us to use their washing machines multiple times along with their internet for Skype sessions. It makes me stop and wonder just how welcoming people are in the States to new people in a neighborhood or church community or just any setting really.. I notice a big difference and I am so grateful to God for placing us on a street full of such kind people. 

A few minor concerns about the safety of the house we live in- with all this moisture the walls of our house have become damp and actually quite a bit of water runs down them. Due to this moisture in a closed space, we have found quite a bit of mold in our kitchen, on the ceilings and walls, and under our sink. Sunday we spend all morning scrubbing with vinegar to try and get rid of some of this, especially since Megan has an allergy! So far though God has taken care of our health.

After Mass Sunday night we sat in on the group of young people from the church; it was more for high schoolers but they want us to participate and incorporate some of what we do in the States with our young adult group. It seemed a bit unorganized and a little chaotic but I think its great to see some young people with a desire to gather together and at least sing a few songs of praise. We will see where our role falls with them but if nothing else, it will be nice to be a part of something from our sister parish. 

This has been our first full week of actually working 3 days in Erval and 2 days in Imbau which is crazy that almost a month has passed since we have been here and yet we are just now getting into a routine. At Erval this week we have started both photography and capoeira classes. Our first photography project was the idea of the PETI coordinator- we are going to make a calendar of pictures that shows off their town and then we are going to sell them for the year 2013 and the money that is earned will go towards buying stuff for them at PETI. I am really excited to see how it turns out! Megan did a great job trying to teach the basics of capoeira to lots of younger kids who really were struggling to pick it up. They enjoyed so much more the handstands and cartwheels aspect of the class even in the very muddy grass. We have also done quite a few house visits to get to know the stories and situations of these new kids- some of them are really heartbreaking. You would think I would get used to it but that has yet to be the case. :( We have come up with dozens of ideas for where donations we have received can be used so once again, thank you for all your support, both monetary and with prayers. 

At the old PETI in Imbau we are searching out in what ways we can best be of assistance as they are pretty on track. We plan to continue with English on Tuesday, something they are faulting, and on Thursday's Megan and Matt are going to take advantage of the computer house the government has opened for the public to teach the kids the basics of computers instead of just allowing them to search youtube videos and play games. We are also having a meeting next week to discuss the large amounts of money that are sitting in the bank in a PETI account that we can use for a variety of supplies and materials that the teachers are requesting. It is a complicated story and process but hopefully if we keep insisting that it be used, we will finally be able to make some improvements and allow for changes in the system at PETI. It is great to see these kids still but it feels more like we are visitors as opposed to teachers with them. This is actually a great thing, meaning they are doing so well on their own. I know it is early, but I am already having feelings of wanting to be in Erval maybe 4 days a week instead so we feel more productive but who knows. 

I have been praying the rosary weekly with Dona Rosa and yesterday as we were sitting drinking coffee we talked all about the sad reality of how little emphasis is put on families these days and the truth that so many families without God at the center are crumbling. With that in mind, I have been praying a lot more for not only all the sad, broken homes and families here in Brazil, but for all those around the world. May God continue to bless all of you and your families back home!

Don't Get Too Used To These Frequent Posts :)

Wow, the weather has taken a little turn for the colder which only seems worse when the sun stays behind the clouds. We are surviving with heated blankets and constant trips to the gym to warm ourselves up! Some of the perks of the cold include fewer bugs in the house and lots of green tea. I caved and took my clothes to a laundry mat as our washing machine is not working and 2 weeks is about the longest I could go without getting replenished. I thought she would have a dryer with her business but apparently not as I took them to her on Friday and I am still waiting for a call that they are ready! This is not cheap so I am hoping we can figure something out soon or I might start hand washing. With the kids still on vacation through this week we have had a lot more downtime to get things organized and it has given Matt some time to get adjusted here in Brazil. 

We spent the whole day Thursday in Reserva, a nearby town about the same size as Telemaco Borba. The director of the PETI in this town invited us there to show us around and what we quickly learned was that another motive of the visit was to convince us to come help them with the PETI there! Overall it was a great day spent getting to know government figures such as the mayor and visiting all kinds of programs in the community working with the poor. It made me realize just how important our expansion is and the potential of how long we could continue our work here in Brazil just within a 30 mile radius in other cities. It made me excited to think about where Project Discovery could be in a few years if we continue in the direction we are headed now! 

We went to the new PETI twice this week again and had a great time with all kinds of minute to win it games including attempting to move a cookie from your forehead to your mouth, throwing balls between your legs to get them in a bucket, and sorting through a full deck of cards. It was a ton of fun and the kids did a great job cheering each other on! We took this opportunity to give the winners some of the donated winter clothes that we brought down this year before the warmer weather hits (hopefully soon!). 

I have been getting back into my fight class as well, Muay Thai. I have been able to do it a few times and so far I have avoided any bloody noses or extreme bruises! It is great exercise and I am loving the chance to get back into and see all the old people I did the class with last year!

I have missed two birthdays this week in my family but I hope both mom and Marcos had amazing days with the rest of the family- I'm sure you guys celebrated in style! I have been eager to talk about my family and allow the new kids we work with to learn a little more about my life back home in the States. I am really looking forward to skyping with them tomorrow night and catching up with them!! I have really missed them! 

I continue to be so grateful to God for each day here and every moment that I get to spend with my friends and the kids- they are a constant reminder of how precious every child is in the eyes of God and how blessed I am to be in their presence! God never ceases to amaze me!