07 Agosto 2005
It’s been actually two full days since I wrote last.
It’s Sunday night.
Yesterday was our day off. We were allowed to sleep as long as we wanted, and then we pretty much just played with the kids. I was very surprised at how quickly the small ones (maybe 10 and younger) attached themselves to us, and I mean that quite literally. I had been sorting the goodies, and when I went outside, Eric and David had meninhos crawling all over them. The first kids who seemed interested were Janete, Lucilene, Andreia, Elielton, Rita, and Valdiclea. We played tag, duck-duck-goose (pato-pato-ganzo), and all sorts of other stuff. They know we can’t speak Portuguese, but they tried to communicate anyway. We had fun, but they definitely wore us out.
My favorite part of the day was when some kids were singing and I said something to one of them, in Portuguese. Luci said to me “You don’t speak Portuguese”, calling me out because she knows I don’t. Later we actually had a short conversation. I told her I didn’t understand enough and that I wanted to learn more. She told me to go buy a book and learn. Then we talked about who on the farm speaks English. She’s pretty helpful.
I think God is helping me to learn Portuguese, but my Spanish is definitely helpful. It’s not completely the same, and words aren’t slepped the same, but I can make out what’s being said sometimes. Also, if I don’t know a word, I will often alter the Spanish word to try to “portuguize” it in hopes that they understand, which they usually do. I think I’m learning stuff fairly quickly, but the biggest help is Spanish.
Today we had church. It’s definitely different. The morning is less formal, although today we had communion, and folks dress up more for the evening service. I like the evening because there is a lot of singing, many spiritual thoughts, special songs, and more praying than I’ve experienced in a service. Between services we ate lunch as a whole family, which was excellent. I also told Mary not to give me as much tomorrow. Then we hung out with the older kids, teenagers, playing a bunch of games. We played “Capture the Chanela (flip-flop)” for like 2 or 3 hours. I definitely haven’t run around this much before. Ever. Combined.
God is speaking to me so far, although I’m not sure exactly where we’re going. Church is different than what I’m used to. I didn’t understand the language, so I didn’t understand what was going on, so I felt uncomfortable with the difference. Not because they are bad, but because I couldn’t figure out what to do and my zone was gone.
I’m also learning about kids. It’s really neat to finally be able to put a personality with a name. Elielton is very loving; Lucilene is motherly; Andreia is interested in us and enjoys teaching us Portuguese; Rosenilda is very shy but very sweet; Rita is adorable (she called me fat byt said it really cute); Valdicleia is…Valdicleia. She enjoys fooling around, imitates whatever you say (very well too), and seems to be the most individual of the bunch, very independant. They all love us, though, and God used this to show me how His Spirit communicates His love. Even though they have been abused and neglected in the past and have no idea who we are or what we are like, they somehow automatically trust us and seem to feel completely comfortable around us. I am anxious to see how God keeps teaching me in this vein.
I'm Jason, and I like to write.