Day Two started out with a full night's sleep under our belt and a wonderful cup of cafe con leche this morning. Truly, the hospitality of the staff at our new home has been outstanding. Roberto began our day with devotions and Leah, our new friend and the music teacher at the program, taught us the Portuguese words to God is So Good (Deus Tao Bom) and Seek Ye First. Shelby brought her guitar and that has already proven to be a great blessing for the community as a whole.By 8:30 am the crew, under the leadership of "Maestro" Denison and our very own "Heffe" Roberto, was scraping and sanding three large walls and having the time of their lives. The work crew from the neighborhood began laying the bricks to install a new roof over the dormitories where we are sleeping. After a lot of hard work, by lunchtime, half of the crew was beginning to paint primer on the first wall. By our good fortune, we have experienced glorious weather -- today was about 80 degrees, no humidity, full of sunshine and grace and a slight breeze to keep our spirits refreshed. The team is working well together and I beleive pleasantly surprised at what 10 women and 2 men can accomplish together in the name of the Lord!
Today we also learned that Brazilians take their largest meal at lunchtime. Over chicken and rice
and beans, we enjoyed the company of the full teaching staff as well as all of the roofers plus another group from the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference joined in the fun too. Then after lunch, a number of our crew headed to the roof while the rest of us finished priming the other two walls and painting the final exterior coat a cheerful "kiwi" green (pictured right). What has touched me most about working at the project today is that everyone connected to the ministry has been here no less than 5 years -- and some as many as 25 years. Teca shared with us that a number of the teachers who are now the backbone of the program were children once raised in the slums who came through the program themselves. I believe God has brought hope to this community through simple acts of love shared one life at a time. It feels good to be a part of that hope too.
and beans, we enjoyed the company of the full teaching staff as well as all of the roofers plus another group from the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference joined in the fun too. Then after lunch, a number of our crew headed to the roof while the rest of us finished priming the other two walls and painting the final exterior coat a cheerful "kiwi" green (pictured right). What has touched me most about working at the project today is that everyone connected to the ministry has been here no less than 5 years -- and some as many as 25 years. Teca shared with us that a number of the teachers who are now the backbone of the program were children once raised in the slums who came through the program themselves. I believe God has brought hope to this community through simple acts of love shared one life at a time. It feels good to be a part of that hope too.
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Really... it's hard to know if that's kiwi colored paint from here. I'm so happy for you. Great job with the blog. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteWhat great pictures! So glad to hear that you all got some rest. You're in our prayers every day.
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