Pictures!

Family photo

Dining Room project - helpers Luciano, Kias, Adriano

Dining Room project - progressing!

Chicken Coop project - initial clean-up work

Chicken Coop project - scrubbing the chicken house down

Chicken Coop project - "white-washing" it green

Chicken Coop project - The chicks arrived!

Corina's birthday - a special and memorable birthday!

Corina's birthday - a cake train!

We enjoyed a special adult dinner a few days before we left.

Finally Home

Well, we've arrived back home again. It's amazing how fast 4 weeks can pass by! We are so thankful for the prayers that covered us during this trip. All of our flights were good and on time, all luggage arrived at our destinations, and nothing was missing. We had no major injuries. Thanks be to God!

The most eventful part of our trip home was the wait at Miami airport on Sunday night. They must have had several planes arrive at the same time, so the passport control area was jam-packed full. It took 2 1/2 hours to get through passport control, baggage pick-up, and final customs clearance! We were very thankful we were overnighting in Miami - it would have been difficult to make the connection on time.

So, now we're home and jumping back into the busy-ness of North American life. As we settle back in, we hope to take some time to reflect back on some of our Brazil experiences. Hopefully we can make the time to share some of those reflections with those of you that are interested in hearing about them!

...corina

January 11, 2012 – Another project update

Dan managed to repair the keyboard wall plug power supply – it was a simple matter of the polarity being reversed.

On Wednesday, Dan repaired a power line that fell off the pole feeding the pump near Ben's house. This was tricky – setting up an extension ladder against the pole and keeping his balance while working, as Kias kept the ladder steady from below.

Dan also completed some electrical work in Ben & Stephanie's house – he installed a light in their dining room and laundry room, and relocated another light, etc.

The final wall has been started on the dining hall, and has several layers of block already laid now. This project has progressed more quickly than any of us anticipated, which is a blessing.

The girls have continued work on the chicken coop project. They have been smoothing out the yard area, and beginning to uncoil the barbed wire fencing material and lay it out to set it up. They have also faced the reality of losing a couple of chicks to disease, having to bury them, and then scrub down the area where they were found dead to disinfect it.

January 10, 2012

For any of you readers that have been down here to visit GOTM, you may recall a vehicle that they called "Old Faithful" ... and some work team members (about 5 years ago?) dubbed "The Rat-Mobile". Well, "Old Faithful" has been faithfully hanging around in their garage for a few years now ... undriveable. Today, we all gathered around the garage as a flatbed tow truck came to haul it away. Not for a "job-well-done-graveyard-for-old-vehicles" as we would do in N America. No. This ancient specimen of a Chevrolet has been hauled off to a mechanic who has volunteered his labour to overhaul this old diesel vehicle. (Parts will be charged to them, but free labour is great!) Their hope is to sell the newly refurbished vehicle, to provide funds to fix up their in-use vehicle, nicknamed "Oliver" (as in, green like an olive...) ... it's an SUV-type vehicle, with a diesel engine that's still hanging in there, but a body that's crumbling due to rust. Fortunately, vehicles hold their value pretty well in this country, which means that after Old Faithful is all well again, it can sell for a reasonable amount of money. But if it can't be sold, at least they have another vehicle to use. And with 20-some children in the house, another vehicle would be handy!

Oh, in case you're wondering about the name "Old Faithful" – this particular vehicle has been in the Freeman family almost since the beginning of their time in Brazil. It has taken them from Southern Brazil up to Amazon area, and to this state where they currently reside. They have a lot of memories associated with this vehicle! (....Corina)

January 10 – My Birthday!

Well, at this point in my life, I generally try to downplay my birthday, not advertise it. But now that it's past, and it was a very unique birthday this year, I thought I'd share a bit about it. Once we're home, we'll post photos as well, which will help you picture it all.

This family – the Freemans – enjoy making a person feel special on their birthday .... celebrating the day that God brought us into the world, and giving Him thanks. They did the same for me – and I felt very unworthy of the blessings they showered on me.

To start off, the birthday person (and their spouse, if married) get a special place setting at the table ... instead of using the usual tin plates, Dan & I got to have a regular plate set nicely on a placemat. Kiel arrived to breakfast late due to early morning work duties, but true to his usual creative self, he presented me with a lovely bouquet of wild flowers. The breakfast and lunch meals were a little more special than usual, to please my N American palate (very appreciated!). Then, from late afternoon on, I was banished from going through the kitchen area of the house, as there were preparations underway for the "party" in the evening.

The "party" was stirring excitement among the kids, as a flurry of activity ensued in the kitchen. When I was finally led into the kitchen ("Close your eyes!") and saw the sight, it was wonderful! They have a large island counter in the middle of their kitchen. Almost the whole thing had been transformed into a scene that looked like low mountains with a train running through a tunnel in a mountain. The train cars were little cakes (a special pan that bakes them to look like train cars) ... plus 2 other cakes baked by my girls ... all were variations on chocolate cake / brownies with a Dulce de Leche topping – yummy! The whole scene was covered with candles, and the lights were out to get the full effect. Then they sang to me, both the traditional "Happy Birthday to you..." and a Brazilian birthday song. It was a very memorable birthday celebration!

January 9, 2012

I offered my services, along with my girl's help, to provide one of the evening snacks for the family. My offer was palacinka. (Not sure if my spelling is correct, but my friends/family with European heritage will figure it out.) For others, that's basically crepes. (But crepes sounds too fancy for our humble but delicious palacinka.) ;) They asked us if we could make them today ... so we obliged. Victoria & Ashley helped out, as well as Leticia (Ashley's good friend), and Kiel, who is very handy in the kitchen! We started just before 4 pm, and finally finished around 6! It takes a lot of time to make 5 batches of palacinka for 30ish people! (For those interested, we used the recipe in the Kitchener cookbook x 5.) Ashley & Leticia did most of the filling ... we sprinkled some with a sugar/nutmeg/clove mixture, and the rest we spread with Creme de Goiaba, or Goiabada. That's a jam made from goiaba fruit, which we call guava fruit in English. We have come to love it (and we understand Dennis Delic did too!). (Dennis – if you're reading – let me know when you want to come over, and we'll make some palacinka filled with goiabada – yum!) Kiel enjoyed helping man one of the fry pans, and so did Victoria – so now we have 2 newly trained apprentices in the art of making palacinka! (...Corina)

January 8, 2012 – evening

We enjoyed having our own little "Sing-Stund" around the keyboard tonight! The Freemans expressed on our last trip that they would love to learn Zion's Harp songs better. After that trip, Eric Denzinger sent down several more copies of the ZH for them to enjoy. We have been here 3 weeks and didn't even think of singing from the ZH with them, because we didn't realize they had extra copies! So earlier today, Debbie requested that we have a time of standing around the keyboard and singing some of those songs. It was enjoyable for our family, since we miss our singing at home – I don't think we realized how much until we started to sing together. We sang for almost an hour. What a blessed heritage of music we have, and rich hymnology. I hope we can all appreciate it, right alongside newer songs! (....Corina)

Sunday in Pombos

January 8, 2012

We are heading to Pombos, to the mission school property, for a morning worship service with some church attendees in that area. It's a drive of approximately 1 1/4 hours, so we're using internet connection in the car along the way to get caught up!

We are thankful that all has been going well, and are amazed as we realize 3 weeks have passed, and in one week we will be heading to the airport to begin our trip back home! The dining hall construction work is progressing well, considering that we can only contribute 1 labourer to the project (Dan) ... and laying concrete block is not a strong skill of his. The girls have been diligently helping Kezia with the chicken coop project, and were rewarded on Friday with a trip to town with her to go and pick up the chicks: 40 hens and 20 roosters. The last main part of the project will be to get the fencing up around the area, but otherwise the main work on that project is done. I (Corina) have been helping a bit with data input for Debbie, as well as just keeping up with our family's laundry needs! (Laundry is not as simple a matter here as it is at home ... ladies in N Amer – be thankful!)

Saturday, most of the family enjoyed an outing to a remote water fall here in the mountains. All enjoyed the hike in God's creation, and then swimming in a waterhole at the base of the mini-falls. (I expect Ashley would like to share a blog entry to update everyone on this activity, as well as others.)

This week will pass quickly, as we work to wrap up projects, go souvenir shopping (that usually takes a whole day – trips to town usually eat up most of a day), and pack up to go home. Thank you all for your prayers on our behalf so far. Please keep us in your prayers over the course of this last week. It has been a blessing to be here, and there will be some sad goodbyes next weekend. But we look forward to being home again, and seeing family and friends that we have missed while we were here! God be with you all!

....Corina

Saturday, December 31, 2011

As I was typing the date at the top I suddenly relized that today is the last day of 2011! Where did it go? It feels like just yesturday we were welcoming the New Year! But this will be a different New Year. As I have been saying, what better way to start off the New Year than to be in Brazil? :)

This year has been quite the year, as always there were the ups and downs, but through it all it was probably one of the best years! I am looking forward to New Year's Eve with the Freeman family, they are so much fun to be around! And I am also very sad to say that our stay is almost half over! Time is flying WAY too fast!

But we are definitely enjoying each day! Some of us girls have started on the chicken project, and that has been keeping us busy! We usually work on it for an hour or more, and then we cool off by taking a swim! When the kids are done their chores we go up to the barn and play soccer, or volleyball. What better place to play soccer than in Brazil?!

On Thursday afternoon a group of us went to a big green-house business half an hour away. The Freeman's are friends with two of the men that work here, and one of them gave us a tour of the whole operation.

It is quite the place! There are over 50 green-houses! After the tour was done we met the owner of the place, and he wanted to give us cake! These Brazillians know how to welcome people! :) So we all sat down in the dining hall and ate cake, Pastels, (a Brazillian pastry, these ones had cheese), different pop, and cookies and crackers. We tried not to eat to much, because when we got home there was still a fancier meal for Mrs. Freeman's birthday! So we went home, us young ones in the trailer, along with Mom. (she was being brave, riding in the trailer!)

Today is a special day. Not only is it Saturday, but it is New Year's Eve day, so the kids are getting a break from most of there chores. After morning dishes were done, a whole group of us went swimming for almost two hours! It felt so good to cool off! (even though it isn't the cleanest pond to do it in!) Then we came back and our 'lunch', was ice cream! What a good lunch! We had different flavours here than we usually do at home, we had mint, (you might think it's the same that we have back home, but it's not!) lemon, and grape. It was very refreshing!

After our supper almost everyone went for a nap, so that it would be earsier to stay up late. So everyone slept until 9:00pm, and then we started 'Sound of Music'. We watched until midnight, and then.........

(this takes place in January 1, 2012)

everyone went outside for a surprise! We all stood there at twelve oclock, in the first minutes of 2012, and watched as beautiful fireworks exploded in the sky. We watched the fireworks, and then went back inside and finished the movie. After the movie we had the midnight snack! There was homemade egg rolls with sweet and sour sauce, veggies and dip, different snack foods, and a creamy jello salad. It was delicious! And by the time we were done feasting, it was late enough to go to bed, and that is what we did!

~ Ashley

Project update summary

The project work is progressing quite nicely. There have been several trips into town to buy supplies and tools. These trips take at least a half a day even though town (Gravata) is only 13 km away, due to the rough roads!

Their music keyboard was not working, so I attempted to find out what was wrong, but was unsuccessful. After buying batteries, and putting them in (previous to this it was powered from the wall plug) – it worked! Praise the Lord! I will look to buy rechargeable batteries for them, and a replacement wall plug power supply.

Luciano's special tape player for the blind was eating tapes – cleaned it and listened to it with him for awhile to see if it would be able to control its appetite. It seems somewhat better, time will tell.

Replaced a few rusted out and non working light fixtures around the propery. It's incredible how things don't last here with the high humidity year around and especially during the rainy season.

We started construction on the dining hall that will be used for their camps. This is the first time they are using this new type of block, which looks a lot like our 4 inch thick block in North America. They seem to be much better than the the conventional clay blocks that have been used in the past. This is my first attempt at laying blocks, so I am learning from the Freeman`s experience, who have done lots of masonry work in the past. It was difficult for me to do – getting the right amount of mortar on the trowel, placing it on the block in the correct way so it won't fall off, placing the block straight and level, etc. As well, I am not accustomed to this level of physical labour in the hot sun, so I am sore and tired. I have discovered that doing this is providing growth towards having a good attitude in doing things I do not enjoy. Looking at it another way, it is confirmation that I chose the correct career for me – electrical and not masonry work! However, after a few days, I actually started to enjoy the work. It caused me to think of Ecc 2:24 "There is nothing better for a man ... that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God". There are 3 of us laying blocks, plus a few others mixing mortar, bringing blocks, etc., which is a good opportunity to work along side the Freemans. The project is expected to take about 1000 blocks, so I have many days of sore muscles ahead! After working on it for 1 week, we are about half done with the block laying.

The girls started on the chicken house project. Their goal is to fix up the chicken coop and re-fence the area around it for better living space for the chickens. They removed all the rocks and

bushes from the area and took down all the fencing, which was a lot harder than it looked! But it was a good experience for all of the girls working together. Once that was finished they scrubbed the walls of the chicken house. They are planning on painting it and also taking a trip into town to buy some new chickens.

Monday, December 26, 2011 – Reflections of Christmas

Our family just experienced a very different Christmas weekend than we would have at home!

Saturday saw a flurry of activity – which is normal for Christmas Eve for us as well. But there were a few twists. It wasn't just their own family celebrating Christmas. This year's celebrations included our family, a church family that live on the mission school property (one hour away), and a few extra children that have lived with them previously (back just for Christmas). Some of the children were unexpected, but welcome nonetheless. As Debbie reflected on the extra guests, she dubbed them "Christmas gifts from the Lord" – even though it meant the total # altogether swelled to approximately 45 people!

Later on, once it was dark, all of us headed out on a little journey, one that has become one of their Christmas traditions. It's called a "stable search" or a "manger search" – we go hunting for baby Jesus on their property. Stakes are set out along a set path, with a Bible verse secured to it. Each progressive stake/verse outlined our need for a Saviour, prophesies pointing to His arrival, and then finally detailed events of His birth. The path ultimately led us to a "manger" with a swaddled baby doll, and two of the older Freeman children dressed as Mary & Joseph. Once there, we reflected on His birth, and what it means to us today. Those who were willing could testify to all of why they are thankful for Christmas & Jesus. It was a moving experience. (But it was also cold and wet – unfortunately, the "dry" season has so far been a little wetter than we expected!)

After the stable search, we all headed back to the house to dry off, change, and enjoy a special Christmas Eve spread of snacky foods, cookies, punch, and ice cream.

The next morning, we enjoyed a wonderful spread of fruits for breakfast, and then gathered upstairs for a Christmas morning church service. Brent shared about light – Jesus came to be the light of the world. We need light to survive in a physical sense, and although scientists have learned a lot about light, there are always new discoveries that show us that we truly don't fully understand it. We need to trust in God to light our path, because He IS the light. As we see lights around us a lot a Christmas, it can be a reminder to us of that light that we find in Him alone.

Following the service, we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas lunch together. Several of us chose to enjoy a time of rest through the afternoon, but Dan went along to a special children's Christmas service being held further in the mountains that afternoon. Here`s Dan`s report on that: There were approximately 20 children, and 10 adults, awaiting our arrival and gathered in a small building. Some of us were outside because we did not all fit inside. Benjamin, along with a couple of Brazilian Christian friends, is furthering the effort to evangelize to the people who live in the mountains around them. His friends have been reaching out to these kids for about the last year, kids who come from very rough situations that include alcoholism, drugs, and immorality by the time they are 13 years old. The children were quite enthusiastic with singing and very attentive, sitting quietly and respectfully during the entire two hours or so. This included singing, prayer, Kezia telling a story, Benjamin teaching, and then at the end they were reading some of the letters the children wrote to God. (Last week they were encouraged to write letters to God instead of to Santa).

In the evening, we all headed up to the stable area of the ranch, where Benjamin & Stephanie live. They had invited neighbours to come over for a bonfire, special Christmas service, and a light supper. Benjamin shared what sounded like a summary of the Gospel story (it was all in Portuguese, of course), and various family members & guests (including Victoria & Ashley) provided musical special numbers. The soup was made using a "Gleaners" soup package (which our local southern Ontario friends will recognize), accompanied by rolls and cake. They are hoping that such events will continue to build contact and friendship with their mountain neighbours, and hopefully lead them to the Lord. (Thankfully the rain held out until we were heading back down for home!)

We are thankful for the mercies of the Lord, which we experience daily. And sharing this time with the Freemans has been an added blessing – it is a Christmas we will never forget! :)