Brazil 2012

 Well, I think it's about time I've posted about my trip to Brazil!  I think the main reason I've been procrastinating postponing, is because I honestly don't know where to start.  Do I give you a day-by-day schedule of our time there?  Do I tell you all the stories?  Do I show you the 550 pictures that I took, not to mention the thousands that the rest of the team, put together, took?

 What did we do there?  We spent time with the kids at Reame -- a Christian shelter for children sent there by the government.  Reame means in Portuguese, "to love again".  These kids have come from loveless homes and families, and have heart-breaking stories.  We also worked on several projects during our time there.  We painted the boys' lockers; sanded & painted a gate; painted an office room; tore up old sidewalk, put down clay, cemented it, then put down tiles; made a heart mosaic for the driveway; sanded & stained the playground.  If I made you guess which one of those projects was the most complicated, stressful, made-you-want-to-give-up-and-cry projects, maybe you could.  The sidewalk project.  Let's just say that Brazilians do things way differently than we do.  Way different.  :-)  As our team kept reminding each other: "It's not wrong, it's not weird, it's just different!".

 I'm adding just a few photos to give you a feel of what our trip was like.  I've captioned them, also.

waiting at the airport on our way there

sanding/painting the gate.  This gate was about 3/4 of the way up the
driveway. The houses, as you can see, are on the other side of this gate.

clay portion of the sidewalk project

playing soccer with the kids...they loved soccer!    :-)

making pillowcases was one of the crafts we did the kids

it took diligence and God's strength and patience to get us through making this beautiful mosaic.
Reame's property is used for a soccer school, aerobics class, and other classes, plus, there is a 
doctor on the property -- all of which are open to the community.  We made this mosaic so the 
community would feel a sense of warmth and welcome (we were in the slums).  Only when we 
stepped back could we see the big picture: we had just laid hundreds of broken pieces to make a 
beautiful heart.  

another part of the sidewalk project: mixing the cement.  By hand.

painting the office room

one of the young ladies and I 

We four (I'm on the far left) painted the boys' lockers.  We painted 12 of these
lockers, and they turned out great!

During church on Sunday night, this young boy fell asleep on my lap.  I guess it
was his power nap because on the way home, at 10:00pm, he was not sleepy! :-P

another activity we did was balloon animals (or hats).  these girls were excited to make them.

part of the sidewalk team

the kids even helped with sanding and staining the playground

one of our team members' birthday was during our trip and we celebrated the
Brazilian way!  with a delicious cake!  :-)

cute baby, or what?! 

a few of the finished boys' lockers

one of our translators and I 

visiting Christ the Redeemer statue was one of our tourist spots. 

great place for a mother/daughter photo!   :-)

I got to see my monkey! :D

we also got to go to an authentic Brazilian steakhouse -- boy, was it amazing!
it was a good thing we had translators :-)

Guarana was like Sprite and Gingerale mixed together.  it was the best!  we all drank
as much of it as we could while we were there!

I had the privilege of having my fingernails painted by this young lady.

kids of all ages enjoyed our craft of making tambourines.  especially this 3 and 4 year old

another activity we did just with the girls was making duct tape wallets.
well, they wanted purses, so we made purses.

  My mom and I both came home with an itchy, and blistering rash and we didn't know the reason.  At one point, it itched so bad, I off-handedly commented, "Oh this is miserable!".  But I had to rethink that statement.  There are different levels in each financial class.  One of the lowest levels in poverty in Brazil is translated, "miserable".  It really put it into perspective.  My little rash, which is now completely gone, although itched and sometimes hurt badly, was certainly not miserable.

 God worked in great ways during our time in Brazil.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

Love,
  Sierra