Our Work Here is Done

Friday was amazing! We helped Adriana celebrate her birthday, and our reading sessions were great! Everyone was very encouraging with cards and gifts. It made us feel that much better knowing how much we have been loved and appreciated. Our last party was a huge success. Everyone loved the Brazilian pizza, and really seemed to enjoy the games! It felt strange leaving the party, knowing that we are finished with our project.

A riveting game of pre-party Pente

Video of a crazy balloon game!

The winners of a wild game of Steal the Bacon!

Our beautiful Brazilian friends

Today, we got to see the sun rise and set! In between, we spent some time at the beach and spent our last night with Pietro, Dayanne, and her family.

Sunrise

Our buddies

Dayanne's mother with Thomas

Our last Recife Sunset

I really can't stress enough how crazy it feels that we are leaving tomorrow. It didn't hit me until tonight, when we were telling Dayanne's mother goodbye. I realized that I am going to have to tell everyone goodbye tomorrow, and I just don't feel like I am ready! I can only hope that God has plans for me to come back here someday.

We will be flying out tomorrow afternoon, but won't get into Dallas until Monday. There, we will have our final meeting as a team, with some other LST teams that will be ending their projects as well. We will fly out of Dallas Tuesday night, and I will post as soon as humanly possible to let everyone know we made it home safely! Please pray for our safety, as well as for me not to cry all over everyone tomorrow!

Dear William, this last one's for you!

Just Another Day in Paradise

Things are winding down quite rapidly here in Recife! We only have 2 full days left and they are going to be packed with things to do! I had a very busy afternoon because all of my readers showed up, plus a few extras! Elidiane and Paula came for their one-and-only session, and it was great! They did very well, and speak better English than they realize. They are very sweet girls, and we had a lot to talk about.

Lee's cousin passed away yesterday in a motorcycle accident. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

The three of us have compiled a list of things we are looking forward to getting back to. This serves two purposes. To entertain you, and to alleviate the pain of leaving Brazil. That sounded really dramatic. So, I will be able to enjoy the following for 3 glorious days before leaving for Costa Rica:

• Brushing our teeth, and drinking water straight from the faucet!
• Taking a hot shower without the fear of being electrocuted
• Our wonderful and loving families
• A worship service in English
• Driving
• Our own beds
• Walking on grass
• Not having to plan a party
• Everyone around us speaking English
• The sun going down later than 5:00pm
• Baths (This is William's, and William's alone)
• Not having to convert from kilometers, celcius, and reais
• Our pets
• Fabric softener
• The kids at Harding Early Childhood (that's just mine)

And now, the things we will miss the most (I'm sure I will be adding to this list as I am reminded of things):

• Crunchy love (Brazilian candy)
• All the fabulous juices
• Going to the beach whenever we want
• Spaghetti at every meal
• 5 minute rains
• Spending our days at the School of the Bible
• Icecream Saturday
• Palm trees everywhere
• The Sport beat
• Walking to work everyday
• Fresh bread, daily
• Each other
• And of course, more than anything else, we are going to miss with all of our hearts all of the amazing and wonderful people we have met and become close to. The people from church, Escola da Biblia, our readers, and our friends. Even though we have only been here 6 weeks, it is strange to think about waking up at home and not seeing all of your smiling faces. Thanks to all of your help, encouragement, and laughs! We will miss ya'll!!!!

Enough sadness! Now, for the last round of random picutres!

This is a delivery guy. His box-backpack says "China in a Box" Yes, it is all there.

This is a truck carrying a lot of toilets. He never has to pull over.

The beach at Boa Viagem at night.

Another pretty church building.

Jarrod, Kensey, William





For William...the one that takes baths

Here Comes the Sun!

Today has been beautiful!! It is amazing how Recife is an entirely different city when the weather is perfect! Sessions went well, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. I think I even saw William do a little jig in the elevator.

Danny told me earlier that he saw a guy riding a motorcyle yesterday, wearing a blue and white University of Memphis jacket! Weird!

One more of my readers had her last reading session today :( Miserable. The only reason I don't feel too sad about the last sessions, is the hope that I will see my readers at the party on Friday. I think we will have a really good turn out since it is the last party.

Tonight is the last night I will ever have to do laundry in Brazil! (At least on this trip) Brazilians don't typically use dryers, so the only way to dry clothes is to hang them up and let them air-dry. That means, today is the last day that I can wash my clothes to give them enough time to dry before I pack them up and bring them home!

We just finished our last Wednesday night worship service. It went well. We understood about 5 more words than we did 6 weeks ago ;) Brazil is playing Argentina tonight, so that should be interesting!

Tomorrow is a special day. My adopted sister, Kayla is turning 18!!!! If you see her, give her a big birthday hug! I hope she has the best birthday possible!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA!!!

And now...for your viewing pleasure: More random pictures taken over the past 6 weeks

Jarrod and I have gotten much smarter since we got to Brazil

Lee, William, Me, Jarrod, Marilia in Danny's new car!

A really creepy door-knocker

A really pretty church building by the beach


Another picture of Everton, as has been requested by my female blog fans

This post is dedicated to Vince Vaughn

The Last Tuesday

Ok, angry blog readers...I had assumed that you would rather me not post at all, than to post about nothing. Judging by the hostile email feedback, I guess I was wrong! Yesterday and today have been very slow. It has been pouring rain, so we never really know which readers are going to show up. Also, I am pretty sad about this being the last week so it's hard to know what to write about. I have been designing the "goodbye" cards to give to my readers, and we have also been party planning. Last night, we watched "Feliz Natal." That literally translates to "Merry Christmas" in English, but I don't think that is the name of the movie in America. A lot of times, they change the entire name of a movie. It was a movie set in WWI, and it was VERY good. Once you get past the somewhat graphic battle scene in the beginning, the story is great.

Today, I purchased my plane ticket to Italy! So, it's official...I leave Sept. 22, and will be in Italy for 2 years! The work I will be doing is much like the work I am doing here, only much more involved. I am very excited because I can't imagine doing anything else at this point. I will be in Florence for the first 3 months, training and taking Italian conversation classes. Then, I will move to a different city (not sure which one yet) to work with a church. Guess who is playing in Bologna, an hour outside of Florence the first week I am there? Coldplay! I suppose I will give them one more chance.

Now, some random pictures to go with this random post...

Jarrod and William can't seem to stay out of trouble

I can't think of anything clever to say about this picture

Sport Flag. Very common to see hanging out of cars, from balconies, and even from people riding bikes!

William loves Brazil