brasil

Acappella

2009-08-08T18:08:00.004-03:00

The last weekend I had in Brasil consisted of one thing: ACAPPELLA!

Acappella started their tour in Brasil in Itu. On Saturday night, the church had microphones synced, lights up and ready, and a line wrapping around the street corner waiting to hear 5 men sing their hearts out.

It was a blessed event and the Brazilians LOVED it! after Acappella stayed for autographs and pictures. little did they know... pratically the whole crowd wanted to be included in on this... :)

the man in the middle of this picture is Keith Lancaster, an original member of Acappella and now, the Producer

a full house!!

Sunday July 26th

Acappella joined our church for Sunday morning worship.
Keith Lancaster led some songs and helped our church sing to some English songs. Acappella did 3 or 4 more songs by themselves. it was beautiful!!

that was my last weekend in itu before I left.
I left that Tuesday, July 28th at 9:45pm from Sao Paulo.

more on my complete internship experience later...

katie.

max lucado

2009-07-23T13:08:00.003-03:00

july 18-19: Max Lucado

Max Lucado came to Itu to promote his latest book "Sem Medo de Viver" or "Fearless" (the title in the states).

on july 18, saturday, he talked about the first chapter from the book. afterwards, he signed books for everyone!
on july 19, sunday, he preached from his book "John 3:16" or "Joao 3:16".

it was great having him here. :)
these are some of the pictures from that weekend.

you can see him in the back signing books

i'm at the bottom in the blue.

we've been preparing for Max Lucado to come and now we just have one more thing...

Acappella.

yes the singing group. Acappella!
they're coming to Itu and this week the church has been preparing for them to come.

we need prayers because the team here has become really tired. what with all that's been going on at the church lately.
bilingual camp, festa junina, church inauguration, medical campaign, max lucado... and now, acappella.
it's just ALOT to deal with. and in only 1 month. WHEW!

also, after Acappella, i leave.
yeah--on july 28th i head back to the states. its a weird realization to come to. and its also going to be hard. re-entry is more difficult then transitioning into another country. i know its going to be difficult. i've been trying to prepare myself for that but i would appreciate your prayers.

its been a wonderful wonderful amazing adventure this summer. (yes i know i put 2 wonderfuls in there haha)
full of self-discovery and love and joy.. more on what i actually learned later.

beijos,
katie.

july 4th & 5th, july 6-10

2009-07-22T16:51:00.009-03:00

hello everyone.
sorry its been awhile. this month has been crazy!!

(picture of the finished church building!)

my last post was just about camp. we came back on July 4th for camp wrap-up and Festa Junina. festa junina is a typical june party here in brazil.

we opened up the church to the community and invited surrounding neighborhoods to come to the party. first it was the camp wrap-up with a slideshow/video of the week. then we walked outside into the back and had typical Festa Junina food and a bonfire!
it was really fun to see everyone there..

me and my parents. they came for the inauguration of the church

July 5th: Church Inauguration (the next day)

mike cope, preacher of Highland COC
Antenor, our preacher, translated for Mike during the sermon

halfway through our service, we called Highland through Skype and talked using cameras we have set up in both churches.
it was great to see my two churches talking to each other especially on such an important day.

july 6-10: Medical Campaign

shelana playing with one of the children

to celebrate the finished campaign, we had a nice dinner together with the Doctors, Volunteers, and Coordinators

kris, ali, pedro, mark

me, shelana, soraya

God is doing great things in the city of Itu.

katie.

Here are some of the blooper videos:

i'm in the second one! :)
i think my favorite part is kris switching hands with the basketball in MID-AIR! and Scott Brown doing the Cupid Shuffle... oh man so funny!

we're singing for the glory of the risen king

2009-07-11T21:13:00.019-03:00

June 30-July 4
bilingual/church camp
30 Americans, 60 Brazilians, 10 Administrative Staff

Theme: Motion
God works for those who love him

Day 1: Promotion
we live in a self-promoting world
---adopt attitude of servanthood

Day 2: Commotion
lives are busy, distractions
---trying to focus our lives on Christ Heb 12

Day 3: Emotion
lives being run by our emotions
---living by our passion for Christ

Day 4: Motionless
sometimes we have to stop and be still
sometimes paralyzed by fear, past
---God's view, trying to understand Sabbath

--Go into all the world--
the final motion
God has called us to be in motion, to touch lives around us

camp meets here for morning warm-ups

me & vanessa, micala, and josh love

afternoon soccer games

we celebrated the week with lots of dancing

craft classes in the afternoon

the group from last year:
minnie, me, sarah, shelana, pedro
-sarah & shelana flew down for the camp-

mark&ali, me, carol, kris, and garrett
the youth ministers with the interns
(garrett isn't actually an intern, however, he lives in rio and helps our team out ALOT. so therefore he is our surrogate intern)
i love this picture!!!

the last night we had a talent show. one of the groups performed Lifehouse "Everything"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA

one of the acts from the talent show
Did You Hear?
written & directed by: kris
played by: the 3 interns
i wish i had a video to show you. basically we ended up spewing water all over each other the entire time. it was hilarious. except we weren't supposed to laugh
--click on the picture and you can see kris spewing the water--

here was my involvement at the camp:
1. dorm mom
was paired up with Vanessa [pictured above] to set the mood for the group, to have a mix of Brazilians/Americans in the room

2. small group leader
co-leading a group of 10 americans&brazilians in the curriculum
(such a blessing and battle)

3. photography class
afternoons, we have arts&crafts classes
i led a photography 101 class

4. helped lead praise&worship at night
singing in front of people (EEK)

camp is always interesting in brazil and by 'interesting' i mean, always different.
it never happens the way that you envision it or the way that you think it'll happen.

i've never come to camp when it hasn't been organized by Highland. so, i already knew this year was going to be different. a church from San Angelo, TX called Johnson Street organized and led this year's camp. and they did a FANTASTIC job.
i don't know if i could say any more about that.

this year, i had a much larger role at camp and even before camp. getting people to sign up (brazilians) and organizing the event in general. i was there from the beginning, i was there to experience it, and i was there to wrap it up.

on the last night after the Lifehouse skit, something happened. everyone could feel it.

God was there.

we danced the night away in joy and laughter. we celebrated Jesus in his entirety. we played. we joked. we celebrated one another. we cried with one another.
a brother and sister confessed their belief in Jesus Christ and were baptized that night.
it was a joyous occusion.

joy is the only word i can use to describe it.

or maybe i should say 'heaven'
because that is what i believe heaven will be like.
with my brothers and sisters from around the world, laughing together, dancing together, just BEING together in community---with Christ as our sustainer. with Christ as our love.

the song that really moved our camp was Hillsong's "Mighty To Save"
i think you should listen to it.
and be blessed.

may you feel God's ever present and loving spirit in your life RIGHT NOW
you do not need a camp to feel the love of Christ overwhelm your soul
the joy that we experienced should not ever be limited to an experience.
instead--it should be your life.

katie.

p.s. i sang a song for the talent show by Bob Dylan called "Make You Feel My Love"
here's the version i did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syRjXyA1Yew

loco por ti corithians

2009-07-07T11:16:00.007-03:00

so BEFORE camp, BEFORE mary lou left, BEFORE 30 Americans came to itu....

mary lou, carol, and i went to a soccer game!

a rival game between Sao Paulo FC vs Corinthians

pedro and our other friend, Minnie (Leandro is his real name, but his nickname is Minnie because well, he's a pretty big guy) met us in Sao Paulo and took us to the game.

you should know that whenever we told Brazilians that we were going to this game they responded with "WHAT?!" or "Are you crazy?" or "Do you want to die?" or "I'll be praying..."
APPARENTLY, it gets a little rowdy...
don't worry--we lived. :)
although one guy did get a little grab of my butt but you didn't need to know that...

people cheer the entire game. you stand up the whole time. there's about 30 different songs that you can sing. they have these HUUUGGGEE flags that cover the stands from the very bottom to the top and they are pushed up over the crowd from the bottom. THAT was amazingly cool. and also when my brazilian friend next to me got a squeeze.
the video that is mostly black is when we are underneath the flag. really cool!!

corithians won 3-1
YESSSSS

katie.

us under the flag!

after the game..

when it gets to 25 seconds, you can here me say something and hear Mary Lou scream. hahaha

when it gets to 20 seconds, you can hear them start chanting "Corinthians, Corinthians..."

i also should tell you after the videos, that we are not amongst the mayhem of that crowd.
most of the videos are one section in the stands. this is a club of supporters for the Corinthians soccer team. they are the largest and Minnie is actually a member.

june 29

2009-06-29T15:14:00.009-03:00

hey guys!

sorry its been awhile. times around here have certainly been busy.
we are preparing for bilingual camp and for 30 Americans from San Angelo coming to help with the camp too.
it's from June 30-July 4. so YES it starts tomorrow!

prayers are needed for everything.
for the Americans to mix and mingle with the Brazilians. for the discussions we'll have in our small groups. for those leading small groups the ability to communicate past their spoken language but to communicate God's words to hearts. and for the events to flow smoothly. and for not being tired.
thanksss.

however, it's been a couple of weeks and alot of things have been happening here in itu.
i'll fill you in by pictures mostly. who doesn't like pictures? :)

mary lou wanted to celebrate a girl in the youth group's birthday (Debora) before she left. so we had a Girls' Night. we went around itu taking pictures of us dressed up. after, we went out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant and spent the night at Julia's (where I'm staying) house. we ate birthday cake and watched a movie too! :)

the interns.

at the restaurant, they had a HUGE projected TV show playing. it was something like the Discovery Channel. nonetheless, it wasn't something we wanted to watch while we ate.

mary lou's last Sunday at the Church. we had a surprise farewell party for her.

June 25
we went to sao paulo for a combination of things. we needed to buy alot of supplies for camp and to drop off mary lou for her flight back to the states.
these are some of the pictures from that day.

we had lunch at Mercadao de Sao Paulo. a huge covered market in Sao Paulo. we all got bread bowl soups.

the girls: mary lou, ali, carol, phyllis

June 26
the campaigners from San Angelo arrived and Kris has too!
kris heiderich is here to take mary lou's place as the new intern.
it is now me, carol, and kris.
the interns.
kris goes to acu and has been a friend for a couple of years now. we studied abroad together in Oxford for a semester.
this picture says it all. :)
that night we had over all of the brazilians who wanted to come and all of the Americans from the campaign to eat pizza and meet one another.
some of the group playing cards in Mark and Ali's house.

June 27
gui, josh (from ohio), gabriel, garrett (from A&M, lives in Rio--pretty much our other intern), thomas, and bruno
eating lunch at the mall with the campaigners
this afternoon we went to the Chocolate Farm which i haven't been back to since 2002 with my family. kinda weird taking pictures by myself.

gabriel, gui, thomas drinking hot chocolate (chocolate quinte)
pretty much melted chocolate.
me and bruno. with chocolate mousse. it was REALLY good!

that is pretty much what has been happening these last couple of weeks.
me and carol went around to all the English Schools in town promoting the camp. all the spots are full for camp and the Americans are here.
we have put together a fantastic camp and i'm excited to see how it goes down.

HOLLER
tomorrow is camp.

prayer prayer prayer

love.
stan stan

june 16

2009-06-16T11:02:00.006-03:00

pink and black jackets are the other 2 interns: mary lou and carol.

on that same thursday...

when it got really late, families started to leave and go back to their homes. but me and the other 2 interns stayed behind with 14? or was it 16? girls between the ages of 6-12. we were asked to be counselors for a kids camp following Family Day for the next 2 days.
well not counselors, but like administrative counselors. there were 2 girls from our youth group aged 14 and 15 that were the counselors for the girls. and a boy from our youth group aged 15 over 6 boys.

we were originally supposed to sleep in our own room separate from the Girls Dorm. however, we were asked to move in the Girls Dorm to help the 2 counselors..
we walked in and it was immediate panic for me. it was INSANE.

the girls had pushed together all of the bunkbeads so they could all sleep together. they were jumping around on them and oh boy was it loud... they were REALLY excited about kids camp.

i didn't sign up for this...

we didn't get alot of sleep that night.

or the next one.

this is one of the games they played in the afternoon. they had multiple games with these huge t-shirts. during one game, they had to fit two kids in them on facing forward, and the other backwards and run/walk and then switch at the other end. it was funny!

games at night. we played games... alot. :)

2 of the counselors. they are both part of the youth group. heloisa and zacca. they wanted a cool picture. i hope this is what they wanted!

one of the girls' birthday (julia)
the candles were sparklers--cool idea!

the 3 interns. do we look tired yet?

its Brazil's winter because we are below the equator. but its been really really cold unlike previous years were its cool in the morning and you can wear a tshirt in the afternoon.
and up in the hills=freezing.
one day i wore 3 shirts and a fleece jacket with 2 pairs of socks. i got made fun of. but i wasn't cold anymore!!

it was a crazy weekend but good.

june 16

2009-06-16T10:26:00.004-03:00

i know i know... 2 blogs within 12 hours? it's because i'm really behind.. haha

so last thursday was a national Brazilian holiday and no one had to go to work! so the church put together a family day where we could play games and eat and just be together.

boys played soccer.
girls watched.

we had roasted corn on the cob for our snack.
later that night we had a talent show which included both hilarious and really long/awkward acts (like all talent shows have haha!)

we were at some ranch/campsite near itu.

it was a good day!

this is the campsite.

that's me in the blue with Soraya, a longtime friend of mine. she's goes to a medical school in sao paulo (she's brillant)

i got to play chicken foot!

june 16

2009-06-16T00:57:00.010-03:00

hellooooo everyone!!!

well we've been super busy here in itu these last few weeks. sorry i haven't been uploading new blog posts (mom). my internet was out for awhile at the house and we've had tons of events.

2 weekends ago we had a youth weekend retreat. it was called Virados Para Fora (turned inside out). mark and ali (the youth ministers) led the event and it started on saturday morning and continued on into sunday morning with some kids from the youth group leading sunday morning church!! it was very exciting because it was good to see kids from the youth leading the communion thoughts and speaking about what was on their hearts about "relationships". that is the topic for Virados Para Fora.

mark and ali were primarily hoping to target a new audience and not just have our youth there. like youth that go to other churches in the area and also our youth group's friends at school, etc. etc. however, when we started on saturday morning, it was JUST our youth group. which turned the event around completely. however, by the end of the day, we had about 10 kids who were not apart of our youth group show up throughout the day! which was great! it turned the event in a new direction and we just ran with it.

i've never read The Heart of the Five Love Languages but we talked about the five different types saturday morning as our discussion/speaker topic. this was probably my favorite part because it was interesting to learn about how i love other people and how i receive love from other people. and also, to hear about other people's love languages and to see the difference between myself and them.

the afternoon activity was a game (to liven up the spirit of the weekend) haha.
this was my part for the weekend. it was a photo scavenger hunt where groups have to make posters and take pictures with specific things around the city of itu. haha it was hilarious and really fun. it was funny when we all came back at 7:20 (yes 7:20 exactly!) and all of the group leaders were huffing and puffing. WHEW those kids are energetic. :) :)

the pictures below are of the weekend and i threw in one of the photo scavenger pictures. this is the one we had to take with "a man more than 80 years old" hahahha he looks scared. :)

this is mark and ali. the couple i'm working for. just in case you haven't met them yet! :)

pray for these upcoming weeks. its started to become realllyyyy crazy busy. pray for patience for our team of 3 interns and the youth ministers. also for sleep. because that is essential too. :) love you guys and thanks for the comments. i really enjoy reading them!! however, i don't know how to comment on my own blog.. hmmmm
i thought i was internet savvy..

amor.

june 7

2009-06-07T23:28:00.007-03:00

JUST SO YOU KNOW--YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO SEE THEM BETTER.

the two pictures above--i am SERIOUSLY impressed by. because they were by car.
and if you know brazil or have ever ridden with a brazilian... you know... it's quite a ride. :)
i like the first one because you can see a speed bump (they are EVERYWHERE) and the beautiful colors they paint their houses/businesses. practically any building! it makes for beautiful scenery even when walking around.

well it has been one insane week! mondays are our days off since the weekend is usually taken up with youth group stuff (either events or hang outs) and because of sundays too. so our friend, pedro (the one in the bottom right corner), asked us if we wanted to come to his hometown in atibaia. it was an adventure. :) :)

mary lou and carol forgot the cell phone. so when we arrived in jundiai and were supposed to call pedro to come and pick us up... we did not have a way to call him. so we were stranded in a bus station in jundiai for about 2 hours. we made some collect phone calls. chatted with many brazilians trying to get in touch with pedro. but it was monday and most people were at work or in school who had his phone number. phyllis, of course, saved the day. along with regiao. thank goodness i stuck that piece of paper with phyllis' phone number in my wallet.

so pedro picked us up and we drove into atibaia. his brother, davi, was waiting at the house [the guy to the left of pedro in the above picture]. he didn't have school either that day! it was awesome seeing him because i hadn't yet. he goes to school in sao paulo. he's studying to become a doctor. i forgot what kind though...
pedro comes into itu usually on the weekends when he's off from working and school. so we see him every once and awhile. he helps out the church with the sunday morning services. he does the slides.

pedro and davi drove us up a steep mountain to the very top... can you see the little car in the above picture? if not--you can click on it.
just imagine--a standard small car with 3 girls in the back squished. livestock blocking the road. trying to carouse them off of the road from within the car. cranking loud tunes through the radio. windows down. the dog herding the cows trying to herd OUR CAR. trying not to run over the dog. trying to pass dog in a standard up a steel incline. car dieing mid-way. dog gives up. start the car again. dog comes chasing after us. standard pushing, edging forward. dog hauling it. WE MAKE IT OVER and we're gone.
we just got herded by a dog.
we finally make it up to the top of the mountain up to Grande Pedra (big rock) to overlook the city. and as you can see--it was beautiful. totally worth the sick feeling of brazil driving + standard car + steep inclines.
the above picture is us dancing. we're excited. and frozen.
it's brazil's winter and unlike before when i've come... it was freezing. especially so high up.

this is the group. pedro, mary lou, carol, davi and me!

the rest of the day was made up of going to grocery stores. none of us minded though because the boys were going to make us a Japanese meal. we had to go around finding all the ingredients which was an adventure in itself. i'm still not sure what it was but it was delicious. regardless though--it was really really really fun. we (the interns) talked about this later... we were hanging out with people our age and having an awesome time. we love the youth group and we love mark and ali. but sometimes you just need a day with people your own age. fantastic day off.
later we watched a movie and then the next morning headed out to come back to itu.

love those demarco brothers!! :)

i just wanted to post this picture because i love it. haha!
this is a picture of the 3 interns and Guto and Vitinho.
Guto teaches math at a high school in Itu and has an English Club there. This is the English Club that the interns do not lead but participate in. he's hilarious and so much fun.
Vitinho is currently in school in Campinas and comes home every once and awhile to Itu to spend time with his family. we are inside the church building on Sunday morning.
oh, and don't worry. that is not carol's baby. :)

more to come about this weekend. we had a youth event and it went really well! hope everyone is doing well!!

brigada and tchau.
te amo!

june 1

2009-06-01T00:39:00.005-03:00

ooiiii familia e amigos!

this week was a little less hectic than the last one. these week we worked on some new projects and continued with the usual.

we're still working on the garden and it is really coming along well. regiao is really detailed and very thorough. this is both frustrating and rewarding. the end result is going to be amazing! the trip there is taking awhile though. mom, your much needed wisdom on planting/building gardens is needed! i keep thinking "i'm glad my parents made me work in the yard when i grew up. otherwise i would really hate this!" haha! also, i think college has spoiled me. i'm not used to manual labor anymore. regiao doesn't speak a whole lot of english so a day working with him and Mary Lou (another intern) is always hilarious.
check it out. we've constructed the individual plots. also, we've put in gravel in the bottom of them so they don't gather water, a filter system out of both of the plots down to the church wall full of gravel. laid another layer of sand on top. whew! lots of work.

so these individual plots will be filled up with planting soil and then a beautiful garden will grow! YAY! i think this is the first trial run with what we are going to use to surround the gardens. regiao doesn't like the steel and i think he's going to use the roof tiles. you can see them in the picture above on the left.

we still haven't finished painting Mark&Ali's house but we should finish this week sometime. on friday for lunch, Mark&Ali open there house to the homeless in Itu. This past week, we went to the grocery store and bought soap, jeans, shirts, underwear, deodorant, and more for a man who eats with us. Then he took a shower and Mark cut his hair. If you know me, you know i have a passion for those who cannot help themselves. The only problem with lunch is that i do not speak portuguese. MAN!

what else? OH i've been kind of designated the photographer of the youth group. all of the activities that the youth or the interns participate in, i take pictures for! which i love! we have to make programs/flyers for the inauguration of the church and so i've been snapping away at every oppurtunity.

we meet on thursday with Guto and his English Club to talk about American vs Brazilian culture. I really enjoy this and another English Club lead by the interns (us!). Our English Club meets on Saturday mornings from 11-12 at the Church. We play word games. It gives the Brazilians an oppurtunity to use what they have learned to interact with actual Americans instead of a Brazilian teacher who has learned English. Also, its less structured than a classroom setting so it is not nearly as frightening. Also, they are no grades!! bonus!
this is my favorite picture from English Club.

may 25

2009-05-25T15:08:00.001-03:00

well, its been go go go ever since i've gotten here! i expected it but because i missed sleep on the plane i've been extremely tired. however, mondays are our days off. so i got to sleep a total of 12 hours. YES! :) completely rejuvinated.

well the youth group is amazing! i absolutely love it here! they were so welcoming and they are really fun to be around. right now, we have been visiting other churches in itu to see if their youth groups want to join ours at an event. we've literally been thrown out of one church (haha whoops) but the others have been welcoming. we're hoping to join together with other youth groups in the community through this process.

because of the approaching inauguration of the church, we are helping landscape the lot behind the building. the shack will be turned into library. the ground around it will have grass and then further along we will have a garden. the garden will be split up into individual plots of ground for church members to grow their own gardens!! i hope to have some beginning and after pictures up but unfortunately, the ground has already been cleared and today they are laying down the fertile soil for the plants and grass. so it won't be EXACTLY "beginning" pictures because 2 days ago it was all very tall weeds. which would have been cooler. bummer

i've been living with a brazilian family from the church. renato and denise are the parents. julia and ligia are the 2 girls. renato actually turned 45 today! he is a dentist and denise works with him at their dentist office. julia is in the youth group and ligia is probably like 9 or 10. they are so sweet and almost constantly offer me more food. i don't know how they are so skinny! the only problem is i get up when they are already gone to work (they wake up at 5) and then i get home after midnight. they call me the "invisible child". hah whoops. i can't help it. :)

i still have trouble speaking portuguese but i've learned alot even within the week. brazilians have been speaking portuguese and i'll add in (speaking english) to their conversation and they'll be really impressed. i mean this is my 5th time here and i pick up alot on words that are interchangeable between spanish and portuguese. i'm hoping to start portuguese classes soon too. its always amazing though because you communicate in many different ways other than your words. until i can communicate my love for them, i will continue to show it with my actions.

as a team, we have really great dynamics. there are 2 other girl interns here right now. mary lou and carol both graduated from a&m. we have a great time together!! mark and ali are really flexible to the youth group and our needs. we kind of all look out for each other. where someone lacks, someone else will step in. the only problem is that mary lou and carol's apartment is a pretty far walk. i live close to mark and ali's and the church too which is super nice.

favorite moments so far: getting caught up singing christina aguilera in the car thinking everyone else was singing too; having homeless men eat lunch at mark&ali's house and one of them says about me "i bet she's really strong"; a woman at the bus stop thinking i was a mute; playing word games at English Club at the church with brazilians; going to Guto's class to talk about American vs. Brazilian culture; seeing old friends: Iara, Ivan, Felipe, Bruno, Guto, Pedro, James, Victor, and meeting new ones :) :) :)

love always.

may 20: first day

2009-05-20T21:59:00.000-03:00

hello everyone!
i am currently in itu. i flew from abilene to dallas, from dallas to miami, then miami to sao paulo. i flew out of abilene at 2 and flew out of miami at 1 o'clock. and then the 8 hour plane flight in. WHEW i was tired.

whenever i finally walked through the doors though, a group was waiting for me!!
they were all wearing birthday hats too! it was funny. i think the term "dazed and confused" comes to mind when thinking about this morning. i don't even remember what i said. that could be bad.
pedro and minnie were there but they stayed in sao paulo. ali and the other 2 girl interns drove me back to itu.

we had lunch at antenor's and phyllis' house. it was so weird driving by the portal and the soccer field NOT filled with Americans. i thought about how it would be different since i came by myself instead of with the whole mission team. but its different experiencing it. the food was delicious and i was really hungry after the flight.

after mark and the interns dropped me off at the house i'm staying at. i'm staying with a family from the church. i took a shower and napped (i was out cold. completely missed ali trying to skype me or them ringing the doorbell/knocking on the door).

and i just met my host family! they are really sweet and they totally want me to feel at home here. i can imagine that would be easier than trying to please a foreigner. i would rather someone feel comfortable than always being on their toes. we hadn't eaten dinner yet so we made ham/random meat i don't know what it is sandwiches. yum. :) it was 10 so i was hungry.

tomorrow the plan is to go to the lar (orphanage) and then we'll have youth group at night. so a good first day! i'm set and ready to see what God has planned. it's midnight so time for bed.
YAYYY i made it!!! :)