December Celebrations

'Tis the Season . . . to say 'tis!

It's celebration time! Many festivities were held this December to celebrate our Lord's birth. From church programs to Ladies' Tea, from children's parties to ice cream parlors, I made the rounds to a number of events this month. I must say I am a little tired, but I am headed to the great white north of Minnesota for a little R&R (and yikes - cold!). It will be a little adjustment to go from 90 degree weather to below zero, but I am excited to see family and friends. Below are pictures of the many activities this month.

Student Year-End shots

One of the many uses for toilet paper rolls . . . Nativity scenes

Celebrating the Anniversary of Projecto Semear and a Successful Year!

I Scream! You Scream! We all Scream for Ice Cream!

English Students decorating (and eating) sugar cookies

Lar Christmas Pageant

Time for Presents

Cookies, Cookies and More Cookies! I baked over 400 sugar cookies for different events!

Morumbi Church presented 'The Miracle of Christmas'

PACA school presented "Meet me at the Manger"

Calvary Church Ladies Christmas Tea - Theme: Do you hear what I hear?

(I'm sitting next to a Brazilian missionary to S. Africa - it was nice to connect and share stories)

Calvary Church kids and singing 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus

Teachers I work with (left - Lar Batista, right - Vila Andrade)

Updates at Vila Andrade

The elevator is being installed slowly, still needs electricity. And a generous donation brought a great kids library and activity center to the Community Center.

What is the biggest thing Brazilians celebrate - soccer!
The Sao Paulo team won a Championship recently, and I happened upon a store in a mall which sells their gear, and had a picture taken by a trophy from another tournament. That's probably the closest I will ever get to a soccer game!

The Real Reason to Celebrate - celebrating the birth of the one who was, who is and who is to come - the Hope for all nations - Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!

"All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed." Ps 72:17

November

Busy Hands
This month in Vila Andrade I taught the kids a different Christmas craft each week. It was fun to interact with all the students (not just my English students) and get to know them a little better. We made 'Hand' Wreaths, garland, stand-up stars, trees from magazines, and a Nativity Scene from toilet paper rolls. It was a little challenge finding craft items here, as I don't have the convenience of a local craft store, but we did alright!

Paint

Lots of painting has been going on at Vila Andrade as well. The art teacher painted Christmas scenes inside the Project building space, as well as a beautiful Nativity mural on the wall inside the church lot. The outside of the church building has been painted once again, and I think its the best color yet.

Going up!

An elevator is being installed in the church building, to help people access the upstairs Telecentro, Vilabyte and Library space. A handicap ramp is also being built.

It's a Wrap

I ended my English classes at the Lar this month, and we had a special day of reading the Christmas story, doing a Christmas activity sheet and making a Christmas craft. Now it's time to get ready for next year!

Student Elections

The Lar is having the equivalent of 'Student Body' elections - the older students have created 'parties' with logos and campaign signs, each representing something different. They held debates with each other, and topics ranged from having dessert on Mondays, to new DVD's and sports equipment, to wearing special Lar uniforms and having clean bathrooms with toilet paper all the time. The students will be voting soon for their choice!

October - One Year in Brazil

One Year!

I've hit the one year milestone here in Brazil - yeah!

Children's Day

Brazil celebrated "Dia das Criancas" or Children's Day, on October 12. It's a day set apart for kids, with special events and gift giving. My church sponsored children at two orphanges, and I went with a group to visit the Tia Edna (or Auntie Edna) home. This home was started by an American missionary named Edna 40 years ago. It is well-maintained and the kids were excited to see us. The gift-opening time was a little like Christmas!

Day of Health at Vila Andrade

The Association at Vila Andrade, along with Operation Blessing and other supporters, sponsored the first ever Health Day at Vila Andrade. Medical personnel came and provided various services and workshops to the residents of Vila Andrade free of charge. A bus was used to bring people from all over the neighborhood to take advantage of this opportunity. After people completed their health visit, they could come next door to make bracelets using the Wordless book colors and hear the Gospel presented. I helped out in this area with friends Biba and Andrea from the Morumbi church.

Bridal Shower

I was invited to my first Brazilian Bridal Shower for one of the teachers at the Lar, and experienced a little cultural confusion in the process! When I was given the invite by another teacher, I was asked to draw a slip of paper from a bag. It had a word on it that I didn't know, so the teacher was trying to explain with hand-motions what it was, but I ended up looking in the dictionary anyway. The word translated was for a 'drainer of noodles'. So what I thought I was being told was my 'gift' was to help drain the noodles at this bridal shower. Okay-different I thought, but that is what I was prepared to do. When I arrived at the shower, however, I saw all these gift bags. I asked the person who invited me why there were gifts, and that is when I learned, that no, I was supposed to bring a noodle strainer as my gift! So I explained to the bride my confusion, and promptly went out the next day to find a noodle strainer and brought to the Lar the following Monday. It was good humor had by all! Below is the bride-to-be Ligia and myself.

Library Opening

The Library at Vila Andrade had it's official inauguration this month, though there are still items that need to be completed, and there is not a staff of volunteers to keep it open on a regular basis. The children were shown where books were on the shelves, how to check out books, and how to use the carrying bags to tranfer books home and back and to keep them protected.

Certificates of Completion

We officially ended English classes at Vila Andrade the last week of October, and the students all received a certificate of participation for their efforts. We will be continuing classes, though, outside the regular project time, as most of the students begged me to continue. So we will now have classes on Friday's through the first part of December.

Lar Video day
We had video day at the Lar, where the students watched an English video from Disney. The video is in English and Portuguese, and I had handouts for them to follow along and do activities at home.

Student shots