Well, today was pretty blah.

Nothing that exciting happened, but I decided to write something about it anyway.

Well, today I had to clean all the windows at the house here along with the two boys.  The fact that I clean windows for a job in the US is like a completely foreign concept down here.  They can’t believe that people would actually pay other people to clean their windows for them. 

Later on after the windows had been cleaned, Warren, Stephen, and I went down to the field to play some soccer.  I’m getting better I think.  Well, at least I’m better than I was when I first arrived in Brasil.

I think it’s probably a good idea that I’m leaving on Monday, because I think that the Brazilians are getting to comfortable around me.  When ever they hear, or learn a new word in English, they love to use it.  And they especially love it if its a bad word or has negative connotations.  So somewhere, they learned “girl” and “gay” and decided to call me both.  At first I didn’t understand what they were saying, but after I found out I proceeded chase them around the field pretending to be really mad.  And let me tell you something, I think these Brazilians are the most cowardice people I’ve ever met.  They had no problem calling me, or Warren, or even each other, anything bad they wanted to, but If they were confronted about it, they would run away like little girls.  I have anger issues I guess, and I think the Lord is working on me about that, but oh man, I was ready to…enter into aggressive negotiations with them.  Well, I don’t think I would have really hurt them, I probably would have just probably taken them to the ground and scarred the brown color of their skin right out of them.  Then I would have gotten up, smiled at them, and invited them to church…just to show that there were no hard feelings.  LOL

Tonight we had really good steak marinated in Brazilian marinade, then we made smoores over the coals in the grill…yum yum.

Well, tonight we went swimming in the pool at like 9:00.  It was really cold, but we had a good time.

Well today was a full day.

Today we went to Panorama which is about an hour and a half from Osvaldo Cruz.  Panorama boasts one of the biggest rivers in Brazil.  13 Km across at some points.  It is second, I think, only to the Amazon.  It was way fun. 

 When we first got there, we went swimming.  They had a roped in area that was about 150 meters long that boats were not allowed to enter.  Warren and I swam around the hole thing.  It was an interesting feeling swimming in water(that wasn’t right off the shore) when you knew Parana were swimming in the same water.  I knew they wouldn’t bite me(probably), but still.  While we were swimming I saw a fish that was like a foot across.  I think it was Pacu, which is like a cousin to the Parana.  That got me really excited about fishing.

That is what we did next.  We went fishing.  We tried in one spot for a while with no luck, so we decided to head back.  On our way back, we say fishing splashing around not far off of the beach.  It was too good to pass up, so we stopped and cast out.  Pastor Iuri, the national Pastor, was with us and he hooked one and brought it all the way up to the shore, and right as he was about to grab it, it flopped off of the line and got away.  I hooked one that jumped the line before I even got it close to me.  We decided to try a little later, so we headed off to play some sports.

We ended up playing some basketball, and tennis.  Well, it wasn’t really tennis, because we didn’t have a net so we kind of had to pretend.
It worked out OK, but it wasn’t the real thing, so we decided to try our hand at fishing again.

Pastor, Corina, and I went fishing in the second spot where Pastor had lost his fish.  I did a number of casts and finally hooked one.  This time, I gave it an almighty jerk so that the hook would set.   I realed it in and pulled it way up on shore to make sure there would be no relapse of what happened to Pastor.  It was about a foot long and I don’t remember what it was called, but it wasn’t a Parana, but it was still a fish, so I was happy.

After that, we left for home and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the Brasilian countryside on our way home which made a perfect end to an adventuresome day.

Well, today we started out going to church and hanging curtain rods.

We took a break at lunch and watched sadly as Brasil lost to Argentina.

We went back to church after that and finished hanging the rods.

Then we went fishing with Pastor.  That was a lot of fun.  We went to a place where they stock the ponds for you.  Warren, Pastor, and I each caught 2 Egyptian Telapia.  Steven caught one.  We had a lot of fun, and it was really nice just to be able to chill and relax.   Now I’m all excited about going to Paranama on Thursday to fish for Parana.

Hey, just wanted to let you guys in on what God is doing in my life.

Well, God has really been teaching me a lot about ministry and how it works when the mission team is not here.

My favorite part about this trip is seeing Christians who love the Lord and fellow-shipping with them and having a bond with them even though I can’t communicate.

Please pray for me as God is stretching me in many ways.  I won’t put them all up here, but suffice it to say that God is trying to teach me patience. 

My Devos have been some of my favorite times of day when I can get alone and be with God.  I need those times just so I can lay on God whats been going on and how I need Him.  I have yet to walk away from one of my devo sessions and not feel at peace. 

As I attempt to put on the righteousness of God, I am reminded daily how far I am from God and how much I need him.

I am nothing with out Him.  I find my self here so often running back to God when I start getting to big for my britches and I begin to fall.

In my weakness, God shows himself to me.  So I guess you could say that I am trying hard every day to find points where I am weak so God can work

Please, as I said, pray for me as I continue in Gods path for my life.  Now, the path is taking me through Brazil, and I am taking in as much as I can.

 Well today was loaded!!!

After pressuring washing a LOT this morning, Warren and I decided to go for the same bike ride we went on a couple days ago.  It goes through the town then out a dirt road.  We end up on the highway and then make our way back.  But today, when we got to the highway, we decided to be a bit more adventurous.  So, we biked all the way to Inubia…the next town over.  It took us about an hour, but we made it.  And it wasn’t smooth either.  I thought I left the hills back in TN, but they apparently wont leave me, because when we weren’t going up a hill, we were going down a hill.

After finally making it back home, we went for a dip in the drink, then went up to the roof to dry off, tan, and work out.  Then we went down, had dinner and got ready to go to an English school we would be spending the evening with.

The English school was a lot of fun.  We had lots of students asking me questions, and the  teacher thought I have a beautiful voice.

Oh, well check this out.  Today I finally did it.  Yes, I did the “greeting/parting” kiss.  I hadn’t actually done that up till this time.  I had decided that I wouldn’t unless they were kind of going for it.  Well, ended up kissing I think 3 different women tonight.  ;p

Today went well for the most part.  This morning we went to church and had and that went well.  Then we went home for lunch.  We had stroganoff.  It was very good.  Afterwards we went to play soccer in the quadra(soccer court).  I’ve decided I don’t like it as much because I feel to closed in and for someone who has the footwork of a fish…I need a game where its not so one on one all the time.

After we got back from the quadra, we ate a quick dinner, and then off to church we went.  Warren and I were running children’schurch today, and we did a flanelgraph story of Samuel.

After service, some of the young people went out for ice cream.  MMMM…that was good.

After that, we came home and were relaxing when all of a sudden we realized the kitchen was smoking.  Mrs. Vergiel was planning on popping some pop corn, but forgot to put the popcorn in the pot…so the oil just started to burn. 

Well, we got a fan in there and blew some of the smoke out, but not before it sufficiently burned our eyes and throats.

Today was a good day.

Well, today we had an adventure. 

We started out handing out tracts in the busy part of town.  It was pretty empty as far as people go today, so the passing of the tracts didn’t go as well as planned.  After that, we went to church to set up a couple of rooms.  One of the rooms will be set up as a bedroom for pastors, missionaries, and people of the like that might be passing through.  Two other rooms are going to be set up as school rooms for the Vergiels.

After we finished with that, the rest of the family went home, but Warren and I jumped on our bikes to do a little exploring.  We were trying to find a river to fish in.  Well, we found one…sort of.  It was actually more of a sewer than a river.  We figured we would go home for lunch and then afterwards see if we could find the river farther down in hopes that it would be…less brown.   So we started out on our bikes through the town up and down roads until finally we came to the outskirts of the town.  We found a dirt road that seemed to be headed towards the river; we followed it in hopes that it would cross the river at some point.  Well, we followed it, and followed it, and followed it.  For MILES we followed it through beautiful Brasilian country side.  FINALLY we came to the river.  Well, actually, where we found it, it was more of a small stream, so fishing was out of the question.  We were rather annoyed at our find, and also at the prospect of having to ride all the way back through the hills to get back to town.  Right as we were about to head back, I heard a larger truck up ahead driving perpendicular to the direction we were going.  We came to the conclusion that that must be the high way.  So we pushed on.  Lo and behold, it was the high way!  So we got on the highway and road all the way home.  Poor Steven…I think he was pushed more on that bike ride than he has pushed in his entire life!  But he made it.   And I don’t think it was until Sunday afternoon the next day that his body caught up with him.  I think we did about 15 miles through dirt road and highway.  Fun Fun.   We are planning on doing it again…although I’m not sure if Steven will be coming with us this time.

That night, we had a youth meeting were the Pastor finished up a series in the book of Revelation.

Afterwards he quizzed them.   There were to teams and one person from each team would try to answer a question.  The one who got it first got to draw on the other persons face with lip stick.  Yes Yes, I got lipstick on my face…and yes I will put up pics.

On the way home, we had to walk, so I pulled out my guitar and played it all the way home.  Lots of people starred. But that’s OK, it was a cultural experience for them.

Today, we went to a small town about 15 minutes from Osvaldo Cruz called Inubia.  They have a really big supermarket there that would somewhat parallel a Wal-Mart in the US.   Well, mainly because it has a little bit of everything.  Its not quite as big, and not nearly as cheap.  There was a decent soccer ball there that you might by in the US for maybe 15-20 bucks, but it cost 100 heis here!

Before leaving, we had a bite to eat.  I had what is called a coxinha.  I call it a chicken pear because its shaped like a pear.  Its basically a…thing…with mashed potato’s and chicken in it with breading on the outside.  They’re not bad.

Tonight I’m grilling burgers for everyone so that should be fun.

Well, today, we went to a little town about an hour away.  It was a Lithuanian settlement.  First we stopped by a place that sold honey.  We got to eat some honey comb that was AMAZING!  It was really tasty.  Then we went to an old museum that they had.  Then to a small place that sold Sausage.  It was a fun trip.

OK, the only think worth writing about today is that after service, me and Warren and Stevo went out for Icec Cream.  It was a lot of fun cause I guess on Friday night, they close of the main street so people can walk around and all that.  So we went down and got some ice cream and walked around for a while…it was fun.