We started off with a tour of the favelas. We walked around one of the neighborhoods we would be working in and got to see what exactly were some of the conditions the kids live in.
The favelas we saw today were made from brick and cement. The "houses" were crammed literally on top of one another with some of the steepest staircases I've ever seen. The corners that didn't have scraps of wood, metal, or other materials we used for trash, clothes lines, or in one case, a sort of side yard for a dog. It's funny how much their property values are like those in the US, except these are blatant night and day illustrations of fluctuation. You would see a series of brick and cement rooms and right around the corner or sometimes right next door would be what is considered a middle class home: a house with tiles, cars, garage doors, painted walls. It was kind of mind boggling.
After the tour we hung out the ministries Day Center. It's a building the ministry owns that they use for church services and Sunday school as well as English classes ad crafts for the kids. We attended a staff meeting and got to know some of the leaders who run the ministry and camp. It was interesting to hear why they the came to this ministry or on this trip as well as what God has done in their lives. It got a little emotional towards the end when we prayed for one of their staff members, Italia, who is in the hospital after being hit by a motorcycle just last week before we arrived. He is in ICU and two of the ladies on the team made what is called a prayer quilt. Everyone said a prayer and ties a knot on the quilt to show they've prayed and there are several different bible versus in the pattern. He can't have it with them in the room, but we're hoping it will bring his family and friends some comfort and that he might be able to have it once he stabilizes...
We came back to the hotel afterwards and got ready for some Brazilian BBQ! Can I just say this needs to be more popular in America and that it was pretty much the best food I've ever had? Can I? Yes? Okay cool, because it was and I would be lying to you if I even attempted to omit the awesomeness of it all. There was a salad buffet, a pasta buffet, and they came around carving pieces of all sorts of different kinds of meat for you to eat. Oh and the desserts! Heaven in my mouth if I've ever experienced it! There were so many "Oh. My. Gosh."'s and laughs shared with the entire table (umm party of 23, please?) Lindsey drooled, Jacey fell over laughing, Ryan and I found out our legs are the same length, John almost cried he was so happy, and Tyler basically had his phone stolen for two hours as the kids played with the "Fat Photo" app on his iPhone, illustrating what we would all probably look like tomorrow morning ;)
It was an awesome fun filled day and the real work begins tomorrow with our first day of VBS! Kind of nervous but mostly excited! Excited to tell you more!!
Love you and miss you!
-Karli
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