Waaka-Waaka!

Hey everyone!
Well, today was a pretty great first monday of summer! we woke up around 730 and had breakfast, then headed to Evair's house (or lack there of) to start the construction. The group was Fabricio, Thiago, Evair, Patrick, Douglas, Robert, Pastor Eudes, some other guy whose name i didnt catch, Leninha (shes pretty much the only girl that has class in the afternoon and doesnt work in the morning), and me. There wasnt a whole lot of help us teens could do considering we're not real great brick layers, so we spent most of the time either asking Pastor to give us a job to do, or trying to put up with the crazy drunk lady that showed up 10 minutes after we did. She's rather well-known in the community for being, well, the crazy drunk lady, and was under the impression that Rob was from Chili, Douglas was Italian, Fabricio was a mute Frenchman, and Thiago was from Africa. Now, some of that may be due to the fact that Rob and Thiago were pretending to speak in "zulu" (their own special language consisting of gibberish nonsense and speratic clicking noises)... they even taught the lady how to say good morning in zulu: "Waaka-Waaka". haha. It was a good morning, although we didnt get to serve as much as we would've liked to, but hopefully tomorrow there will be something for us to do!
As we walked back home, i talked with Leninha about how she hasnt been going to school but once or twice a week for a majority of the semester. She only has until thursday, and then she'll be on summer break, but she insists that, for her, summer vacation has already started so she's not going to go to class. Now, get this, this girl really wants to be a lawyer when she gets older. How does she expect to be able to do that if she doesnt study?? I've asked her that several times and she just says "i know, i know" and keeps doing what shes doing. We've talked about how its a commitment issue and she says she isnt obligated to go and only goes when she feels like it. I just pray that she sees how much potential she has and how many great things God can use her for if she just gets out of her own way! She says she wants to give up school all together, but she only has one more year left and she's completed highschool! please pray for her, that she would see how much a blessing she has to have the opportunity to study, and how important it is for her future and for her testimony as a representation of Christ.
After we got home and ate lunch, we went to check out the place where we'll be holding the teen retreat with the Lakewood Park missions team, and oh my goodness, this place is GREAT! its right on the beach, i mean like 50 feet from the ocean, and there is plenty of room for everyone to sleep and lots of space for games and room for the lesson times, and of course, seeing as we're in Brasil, it little tiny soccer field! And we have it all to ourselves for 5 whole days! 5 days of community and learning and fellowship and building relationships and watching God explode in the hearts and lives of the future of this community! and it couldnt be in a more beautiful spot! Praise the LORD!
From there we hurried over to Erika's parents house to watch the Brasil v.s. Chili game (and drove through the second most dangerous slum in all of Brasil on the way). We had a fun time watching Brasil actually play a solid game and win 3-0! And you can bet that at every one of those 3 goals, there was plenty of screaming, jumping around, and Erika hitting people in the head with whatever was within her reach, which most of the time happened to be an empty 2 litre bottle of Guarana.
After the game, we stopped by the ice cream store to get some ingredients for Billiam to make one of his top notch milkshakes later on tonight. For now, Robert and i have some planning to do for our lessons for tomorrow and Friday night. Keep us in your prayers! We're both feeling like our time here is so short, but there is so much work to be done! Pray that we seek after not our own desires of how to serve, but the ways God has brought us here to bring glory to Him!
Until Next Time,
Jo