Wednesday 3/31/2010

Linda: I haven’t written for several days for a number of very good reasons. The major one being that we work very, very hard and then we play even harder!!!! The result of all that hard stuff is I barely have enough energy at night to get myself ready for bed let alone write on a blog. Monday my job was to turn dirty, smelly laundry into fresh, clean clothes. The on-the-job hours were longer but it was MUCH easier on my feet and legs than crawling around on my knees all day at the “upper house”. I had 16 loads, 2 washers and 1 dryer and thankfully a sunny morning. It started raining just before lunch and was too humid to line dry anything after that. Put the last load into the dryer just before bedtime so didn’t finish my Monday job until Tuesday morning.
Yesterday afternoon we went to a privately owned zoo not too far from here. If I have the correct info it is the largest privately owned zoo in Brazil. There were lots of very beautiful birds. Julia and Kris got to hold a sloth, Scott and Morgan held a snake and several got to hold white cockatoos. I had decided I really should experience traveling in the back of the pickup at least once. Once was enough but I am glad I did it and the kids were proud of me but they really laughed at the hair do I wound up with!!!!
I have met my match in Josiah!!! He is sharp and quick!!
Today I did more laundry, but less than half of what I had to do on Monday. The last of the painting and LOTS of clean up was done at the “upper house” today. Once rooms were clean the boys hauled up bed frames and mattresses, preparing the rooms for the retreat that begins tomorrow evening. I think that is really cool that a large group is coming and getting to enjoy the fruit of our labors while it is still fresh and clean. The plan is that we are to leave for Fortaleza ‘early’ in the morning; which usually means 1 hour later than we were originally told. The plan is to go shopping and out to eat before going to the airport. Our flight leaves some where close to 9:30 p.m.
Please, please, please pray that there will be lots of empty seats on the airplane so that all who want to (me, for instance) can have 3 seats to themselves and get some sleep. We are all getting very tired!! It is a good tired though. Thank you for praying for us!!

Kris: I love following Linda in the blog because she tends to tell most of the story already and I don’t have to say quite so much. Tonight I am so tired I don’t really want to type too long or I may be asleep.
It is really sad that today is our last day, but I also know that we need to return to our world sometime. This has been a wonderful experience and one I hope I won’t forget. I really enjoy the Brazilian people and watching the kids. Yesterday, we spent some time in Pacoti and I really liked standing on the street and watching the traffic go by. School had just let out, so lots of kids and teens. The school bus went by and Kaycee waved at the kids in the bus and really made the day of one young Brazilian teenage guy. We thought it was pretty funny. This has been a real learning experience for these teens to understand how boring a 9-5 job can really be. It is good “real world” experience.
I can’t believe the progress we have made and that we actually accomplished as much as we did.
Everyone is really tired, and sore, but we haven’t had any big disagreements yet. That may change tonite as the girls and guys have been planning some pretty amazing pranks for tonight. It will be fun to see who wins this one. Pray for safety as we go home tomorrow, that planes will be on time, and we actually get some sleep. Love to all at home.
P.S. the sloth was really, really, really, cool.. It was like holding a little baby that wanted to hang on to everything. They are so soft and gentle. That was about the best thing I have ever done!!!!!!,
Devan: hey everything is great down here. I don’t want to leave, because it just so much fun down here. The people love us and Al is just a great guy. I really can’t wait to come back well see you all soon at home.

Julia, this is the first time I’ve written on here because it has always been so busy and everyone else was writing. But now with only a little time left I think it’s about time that I had something to say. This has been a really great trip. We have gotten everything done with the painting that was possible to get done. It has been very hard to work around all the other workers. Kris today painted a spot and then the one worker came over and smoothed some cement in that spot so she had to paint it again. What good times.
The flooring is all done to the point that we had planned. There was only beams and now there is a solid floor in 5 rooms and a hallway. It took us the whole 2 weeks. We finished the this morning with the last 2 boards and then spent the rest of the day cleaning yucky dirty bathrooms. They were really gross, but they are all finished and ready for the retreat that starts tomorrow. We leave tomorrow morning and will shop with all day and leave in the evening. I’m sad to leave and I’m going to miss having my meals made for me  but I’m ready to see Naddy and Seven and to be home in some comfort. I’m also not going to miss the constant wet. The humidity is sooooo high here that nothing ever dries and the sheets and mattress are damp all the time. Anyway, I really am happy with everything that has happened. The greatest part of the trip was getting to go to South America’s largest private zoo. It was the highlight for me, because I got to hold a sloth and I got to hold different kinds of birds, big and small, older and baby, and I got to hold a couple snacks and I got to sit on a llama.  It was so fun to go to a zoo that I got to touch the animals in. I praise the Lord for the blessing of coming here, it has been such a neat experience.

Donna: It is hard to believe our time is about done here. It has gone fast. It is amazing to have the job basically done, it didn’t seem possible last week. We are tired but satisfied. The retreat center is so big, and has many rooms. Seemed like I was discovering new rooms daily. I think we will be masking and painting in our dreams for a while! Yesterday’s excursion to the private zoo was fantastic. One main event for me personally was that I finally got to see a parakeet in the wild sitting still. There were also some macaws there in the wild which I don’t think we would have seen elsewhere. Our time in Picoti on the way back to the retreat center was interesting. The “traffic” is hard to believe. The roads are small and there seems to be no rules, zip this way and that, motorcycles passing wherever. While we were at the corner getting some meat on a stick from a vendor, we watched the traffic. Al was parked on one side, a bus was trying to get through, and a couple of motorcycles were impatient and going around the bus next to the vendor, while a guy on a bicycle tried to do the same and ran into the vendor’s bbq wagon. Meanwhile, a dog was laying in the middle of the street taking a nap and a guy on a motorcycle stopped, got off his bike and woke the dog up and got it moving. It is hard to describe the chaos, but it seemed like the locals took it all in stride. Today I had the privilege of spending time with Lohana. She is 10 years old. Alisa served as our interpreter while we had tea and made bracelets. We spent a couple of hours together, it was a good time building a relationship that I am hoping to continue. She comes from a broken family. She is so sweet and loving. It has been interesting and fun to try communicating with the local workers. Some warm up to us faster than others. It is a privilege to represent Jesus to them, and pray that they come to a saving knowledge of our Savior.

Lee: Well we made our last working day. We really got a lot more done than I had thought we would. The crews were staggered working on different phases of the painting process(doing 4 to 5 coats on everything). It took us 4 days before we finally were able to finish a room. Along with this the plaster men were working in various places and it seemed that when we got a room painted all of a sudden here would be a man coming along with a bucket of concrete making a mess of the paint. Some of the rooms we probably cleaned up a mess as many times as we painted. It has been a great experience. Today we finished all the walls inside and out, more than I ever thought we would get done.