Busy Start to a Busy Week

Hello to all, Live from Brasil!!
Im not gonna do a whole blog about yesterday cuz not too much happened. Laisa left which was sad, we went to IBC, we chilled in the afternoon, and at night we went to the Grupo CEO church. The church welcomed its new pastor and his family. (he actually looks a lot like you, Dad. its kinda creepy..) It was a good relaxing day to lead in to our busy week.
Today was the first day of our new schedual. (little kids from 8-930, then pre-teens until 1130, and teens from 2-4). We waited for the kids outside the Grupo CEO listening to the Children's Worship Hour music and dancing along. At one point, Bill decided that it would be fun to take one of my arms in one hand, and one of my legs in another and swing me around in circles! (yeah, you know like you do with 4 year olds? This man is strong!) Lucas was the first to show up around 830 so we got a bunch of balls out (the kind you find in ball pits at chuck E. cheeses) and played around with him for a while. When it was time to start the lesson we had three kids. The plan was to have them find stories in the Bible that show how God is in control (the Shadow question this week is "Who is in control of your Shadow?"). It didnt quite work out that way though, the kids told us that they didnt know any Bible stories, so we tried to give them the example of Creation, but they didnt know anything about it. We improvised and turned it into a lesson on the 7 days of Creation and they all got to pick a day and draw a picture about it. The whole thing reminded me of how we take our Sunday school stories and Bible lessons for granted most of the time. We disregard the stories because of our familiarization, but these kids see them for the amazing stories of God's power that they are!
When the lesson was over, the pre-teens started to arrive, (well, really they started to get there way before that, but that's another story) so we danced and sang for a while. We started out the pre-teen lesson with an illustrative game. We had four people in the middle and each had a partner. They had to close their eyes and try to find the balls in the middle of the circle while only listening to their partner who was "in control" of where they went. For the teaching time, we broke them into groups and had them find 3 different stories in the Bible that showed God's control, and this time it went as planned. All the kids participated really well and got introduced to different stories in the Bible.
After the lesson we had a snack, and then had sports (guess what we played..??). Then, once their hour of basketball was up, we prayed and said goodbye for the afternoon. I sat in the kitchen watching Sula and Amanda cook lunch/try and take each other down for a while and then it was time to eat.
Lunch was great, and i even got a nap in for an hour before it was time to get ready for the teens. 10 of them showed up and we sat at the big stone table talking about the lessons from last week that they didnt get to hear cuz they had school (Separation from God). We played a fun game with them about separation where you had to make a line with your team and try and hold a ball inbetween you and the person in front of you and walk a certain distance. It was pretty entertaining and took them a while, but eventually James, Douglas, Renan, and Alane came out on top!
We spent the entire hour of sports playing knockout (James has become my rival!) and got some pretty good videos and pictures that i'll be able to show you when i get back. Then it was time for playground time/soccer.
We started out watching the guys and Mariana (apparently the only girl brave enough to play with the guys!), and then headed over to the playground...BIG mistake! Sure, it started out as any regular playground time: i pushed Kelli on the swing as well as another boy, and got a bunch of hugs from little kids. But then i went over to where Douglas and Benjamin and Alane were sitting and they wanted me to sit in the sand with them. I wasnt really feeling it so i just stayed standing until they decided to make me sit. So i thought to myself, ok, im a little sandy, no big deal.
Then i went over to where Sula was sitting. She grinned at me and stood up and started coming my way i knew that could only mean one thing. But i wasnt too worried at that point, i can take Sula most of the time, but then she called for Douglas and Alane and Benjamin and long story short: i was no longer "a little sandy". And i didnt get taken down just once, but several, several times and eventually ended up getting burried in the sand completely. Needless to say i wasnt the giddiest person at that point, but i got my revenge and later Sula, Alane, and I all had to go rinse our faces, ears, and mouths! (dont worry, we have pictures/videos of that too)
Immediately after getting in the house i gathered my stuff and took a much needed shower. Then it was dinner time and we got a chance to talk with our new translator who just got here tonight. Not too much has been going on since then and im thinking that, after i go over the lesson im teaching tomorrow, im gonna be able to get to bed at a decent time!
Thanks to all you guys who have been faithfully reading my blog! i really appreciate your comments and prayers. Keep praying this week for the hearts of the teens with this being our first full week with them. Some of them have the attitude of "im too cool for this" and i pray that it doesnt get in the way of what God wants them to learn this summer! I'll talk at you all tomorrow!

Until next time,
Jo