Oremos

Hello to all, Live from Brasil!!
Today felt really long. We had more little kids in the morning and i taught them about Noah and the Ark and how God was in control of every detail. Then we had a lot of time afterwards so we played Pato, Pato, Ganso with them. Well, really we only played with two of them cuz the rest werent really wanting to participate. it was still fun though. We did the normal dancing and singing with the pre-teens (although we had a little speaker trouble...son..son.. that was just for you Brian. ; D). Before we had the lesson we played ship captain, you know, the game where you have to run wherever the "captain" tells you? It was a lot of fun! We tied that in to the lesson by saying that it's not always easy to listen to instructions, but when we listen to God, He can use us in big ways, just like He did Noah.
The lesson went well and then of course we went over to the basketball court and played knockout for the rest of the time. When they left, we had a little free time before lunch and then (thank the Lord!) we an hour of naptime before the teen session. The teens listened and responded well to the lesson, but then it came time to pray and they all got dead quiet. We asked for volutneers, but nobody raised their hand. We reminded them that prayer is just talking to God and it wasnt something to be embarrased about, but still nothing. Then Carlyn made the executive decision that everyone in the group was gonna pray at least one scentence. When they heard that, Mariana put her head down and mumbled something in Portuguese about how she didnt want to, so i pulled out my sarcasm. I stood up an said "what, you mean we have to talk to God!? Ugghh!" Elo translated it and i pointed right at Mariana and she knew that she needed to change her attitude. Everyone at the table ended up praying except for two girls who had never come before and Joice. For some reason, we couldnt get her to pray. We're gonna do that same thing every day until we get volunteers. We'll see how long that takes..
From there we went to the court and played basketball, but most of the girls didnt wanna play. So we inflated the one volleyball we have and they played on the newly remodeled court. We kept with the same scheduel as yesterday and went to soccer/playground time, but this time i stayed 95% sand-free! I played volleyball in the sand and watched Kelli go down the slide about 15 times! Whenever i looked away i would here her little voice yelling "Jo! Jo!" and she would wave and then slide down the slide again. I'll admit, it was pretty cute!
I got a shower in before dinner and then we headed over to the Tuesday night worship service. (its basicaly a mini church service) The pastor that looks like Dad preached from Ephesians and i can see that he's gonna be a really good fit at the curch.
After the service we spent like an hour outside giving several hugs and taking some pictures. Ne Ne and Fatima were asking me if i could take them with me when i go back to the States. We decided that if they can sneak past security, i'll stuff them in my suticase and bring them home.
We finaly got home around 9 and have just been hanging out since then.
I have a special prayer request for you guys to cover this week. Erika is having surgery tomorrow, and for any of you who know her, she isnt gonna take the whole bedrest recovery time too well. Please pray that the surgery goes well, God give her patience in her recovery, and also, a speedy recovery. Well, i have to two long days of journaling to do, so farewell for now. I love you guys!

Until next time,
Jo