What a Week!!

Hello to all, Live from Brasil!!
Well, well, well, i havent talked to you guys in a while. How've you been? This week was intense to say the least! Our schedule has been non-stop since the boys got here. We've started splitting up the teen and pre-teen guys and girls during the lesson time and its gone really well! The girls have opened up SO much more, and the guys are asking some great questions! We had a lot of good sharing time on Wednesday which lead to us finding out about a fued of sorts between two groups of girls. Its all a result of communication and misunderstanding really, we havent had a chance to talk to all the girls together about it, so please pray that their hearts are sensetive and forgiving.
We hit the beach market on Thursday (yes, Logan, i got your flip-flops...yes, both pairs.) and ate at the pizzaria which was fantastic as i remembered! That turned in to an incredibly late night (pulled up to the house at 1 a.m.) that lead in to our busy busy Pre-teen retreat weekend!
The theme for the retreat was the Armour of God and each one of the american teens taught a lesson. The kids were great (for the most part) and we had an absolute blast! We spend almost 58 straight hours with the kids, and when we werent with them, Carlyn and i were hanging with Jamile and Leninha (two teen helpers) and teaching Leninha a total of 12 english words/phrases (the most entertaining one was probly "disaster of epic proportions", she had a little trouble with that one. lol) We spent all 3 days playing games like basketball, the Amazing Race, chocolate hunt, and had a party the last night called the Noite do Vixi (sp?) where everybody dressed up crazy (and i mean crazy!) and danced around and had a parade down the street! it was great!
Sunday, all the kids left from Grupo CEO campus to church at around 7 p.m. They preformed the Electric Slide (to the tune of Beautiful One) and Marvelous Light. Matheus, Luana, Dim Dim, and Amanda (pastor Eudes daughter) all gave their testimonies and as a result, Matheus mom relized the impact and importance Grupo CEO and the church has on the lives of her kids. She told us afterwards that she was going to start supporting the project more and wanted to be more involved! Praise God! I also had the opportunity to speak at church that night about Hypocrisy, which hit a little too close to home for a couple of the people there. (some of you may know who im talking about, if not, dont worry about it)
Some of the girls have already started crying because we're leaving on Thursday. I dont know how im gonna say goodbye to all these guys...
It took a while to get out of bed this morning. We got back in to our smoothie routine though and the normal daily scheule. Thiago saw how tired we all were and said we had a Pre-teen hangover! The question for this week is "how is your shadow changing?" and Rob talked about Saul/Paul and the change God made in his life. All the kids said that they have changed since the begining of the summer, which was encouraging. We did Mass Stance with them today, it was great, coach, you should have seen it!
It was great to see the teens again today! We spent a long time asking and answering questions the "bug day" way, and it got a little intense at some points cuz some questions posed the boys against the girls. Carlyn, Josefa, and I played against Joyce, Jamile, and Alane in a game of "soccer" on the porch of the dorm and let me tell you, it was no joke! ok, well we did joke around a lot, but it was intense too! dont worry, i have some videos!
After that and soccer, we came home, had dinner and i am currently trying to fill you in on everything you've missed this passed we, and, even though i am unsuccessful, im gonna leave it at that. Good night you beautiful people!

Until next time,
Jo