Brazil - Week One in a Rather Large Nutshell

So Katie, Lucas and I left Regina on June 1st. We flew from Regina to Toronto and had about 4 hours to waste until our flight left for São Paulo. As we were wandering around Terminal 1 of the Toronto airport who should I see munching on some peanuts but Len Sass. Len is a member of the Glen Elm Church of Christ and he was on his way back to Regina from Salvador, Brazil. He had been there for a month visiting his son Travis, daughter in law Alicia and their baby girl Ceara. As I'm thinking what a small world it is to run into Len in such a huge airport who should come walking up but Kevin Vance, the president of Western Christian College. Let the Regina CofC reunion begin at YYZ! So funny!

As we made our way to our departure gate I felt like I had already arrived in Brazil. We were definitely in the minority on that flight. Arriving in Brazil it was even more obvious. The line at immigration for foreigners included us and about three other people while everyone else on the flight was in the line for Brazilian citizens. My adopted Brazilian father, João, picked us up at the airport. The first thing I saw when I walked out of the security zone was him waving his arm in the air to get our attention. What a long awaited sight! It is about an one hour drive from the airport in São Paulo to Itu if traffic is good. It was fun to watch Katie and Lucas taking in the sights and sounds of São Paulo and the lush greenery that is the countryside of Brazil.

Lucas and Katie on 10 hour flight from Toronto to São Paulo.

During that entire first day here I kept feeling like it was all a dream and that at any moment I was going to wake up in my bed back in Regina. I am so thankful that it isn't a dream and that I really am back in Itu. Seeing my Brazilian family was something that my heart has been longing for since the day that I left almost a year ago.

The church building where we are holding our reading sessions. This building is for sale and they are constructing a new building close to the shopping mall.

I was so excited to worship with the congregation here Sunday morning. I have missed them all so much. Sunday evening we held our information meeting. About half of the people who had signed up for classes showed up at the information meeting. Each of us signed up an average of 10 readers. As the week progressed we signed up more and had a few drop out when they realized that these conversation classes are really designed for people who have some previous knowledge of English and have the capability to understand and be understood. Right now I have 14 people signed up for reading sessions with me. We can have a maximum of 15. Ivan, the church secretary has told me that the phone is ringing constantly with people calling, wanting to sign up for conversation classes. We have a waiting list and are contacting new readers as space in our schedules open up. Something that is extremely exciting for me is that there is a handful of people that used to read with Salena and a handful of people that used to read with me who have come back and are reading with either myself, Lucas or Katie. It is so great to see them again and see how God has been working on their hearts and to know that more seeds are being planted.

Thursday was a holiday here in Brazil. Corpus Cristi. It is a tradition that each year they shut down some of the streets and make "carpets" out of wood shavings, eggshells and coffee grounds. In the morning we went down town with some of our readers to see the traditional carpets. This is the 4th time I have experienced Corpus Cristi here. It was fun to watch Katie and Lucas experience it for the first time.

Making the carpets or "tapetes" in downtown Itu.

Last year I met a wonderful Brazilian girl in Regina. Her name is Leticia. She was in Canada for a short time but while she was there we did FriendSpeak together. She lives in São Paulo and I had been hoping that I would get a chance to visit her there while I was in Brazil this summer. I hadn't been checking my orkut (Brazilian version of myspace or facebook) very often and so she did some detective work and got my contact information here in Itu. On Wednesday she called the church office while I was here and asked if she could come to Itu to see me on Thursday because it was a holiday. I was so excited. So Thursday afternoon she and her boyfriend Mauricio came to Itu. A bunch of us then went to "Chocolate da Fazenda" or the "Chocolate Farm" to spend the afternoon. Chocolate da Fazenda is one of my favorite places to go to relax in Itu. It really stirred something inside of me that Leticia went to so much effort to get into contact with me and then came all this way to spend the afternoon with me. She is a good friend and I hope that I will be able to see her again before I leave.

Leticia and Mauricio at Chocolate da Fazenda.

Friday and Saturday we were back to work with our reading sessions. Saturday evening we held our first LST party. Each week of our project we will hold a small party. The goal of these parties is to offer more opportunity for English practice and even more importantly try to help build relationships between local church members and our readers so that there can be continued contact after my team and leave. Our first party was an ice cream sundae party. We had fewer people come than I had hoped for but we still had a pretty good turn out. There were 11 readers and 19 church members present. The party went pretty well and we had tons of left over ice cream and toppings.

This is my reader André and his son, my reader Eduardo, and Lucas's reader Mateus, all getting their sundaes ready.

Readers and church members visiting while eating yummy hot-fudge sundaes.

Trying to find ice-cream related words in English and Portuguese.

More people working on the word search.

After the party we went to Vitinho's cousin, Michelle's birthday party. Michelle lives with Vitinho's family here in Itu. She and I were roommates last summer and once again this summer. She is a very sweet girl! Her family lives about an hour away. It was good getting to see them again!

Michelle blowing out the candles. Zezé, Michelle's mom (They definitely look like sisters!) and half of her brother Rafa.

It has been a great first week. God is blessing us in so many ways here in Itu. Please keep praying for Lucas, Katie and I and for our readers and the congregation here in Itu.