Boa Noite! (Goodnight from Recife)

Those words come at the end of a very full 36 hour day. All our families are on their way to bed in beautiful Brazil. We began the trek back at DFW early Sunday and arrived safely in Recife to the warm greeting of Pastor Lecio and many others at the airport. After a brief stop to drop our bags and change clothes we headed straight over to Kid’s Place.
When we arrived, Cole, Paul, Chad, Nathan and the dads put their back into lifting and hauling the 24 giant duffels we brought with supplies and gifts for the ministry here. Our group began to mingle with the children who were just finishing up their lunches. What wonderful smiles and joyful voices!

Boyd, Davis, Abby, Naomi and Stacy started right in with games in the play area with the Brazilian children. It is amazing how little speaking a common language matters to children as they play. There were Futbol, Ring Around the Rosie and many other impromptu activities.

Soon Pastor Lecio gathered the Kid’s Place staff, the interpreters who serve us this week and all of our team together for introductions and lunch. What a lunch we had! Brazilians say that if you have not had beans then you have not eaten lunch. We had one of their staple bean dishes called Fagole(slow cooked beans with pork), rice, stewed beef steak and a tomato cucumber salad. Our team enjoyed the food and fellowship as we met our new and old friends.
After lunch all the family groups began to unload the bags of supplies. Hannah, Sarah, Tallia and Emily worked on colorful namebadges for the children. Mary Ann, Stacy, Sonya, Christe and Cindy lead the organization of all the multitudes of items into planned piles we will use throughout the week as we teach the children about American culture, help repair and spruce up the specially chosen families in the Coque Favela and play.
After the mess was cleaned up, our family groups began t decorate the four classrooms we will be in tomorrow teaching the children about Easter, Christmas, Texas and Birthday celebrations American style. Each of the four classes will rotate through each family’s presentation during the mornings this week. In the afternoon we will head out into the Favela to be the guest of the several women and their families. We met these beautiful women and a few of their children late this afternoon and shared some time getting to know one another and sharing prayers. Our team is excited to be used in these family’s lives as the hands and feet of Jesus.
Shortly after six we boarded our bus back to the hotel exhausted. We received our room keys and enjoyed a quick shower before gathering to hear a heartfelt devotion lead by the Reddings encouraging us to keep moving up the staircase of our spiritual life and trusting God to provide us strength. We will have the privilege each evening to hear from a different family in our group as they lead our devotion and share a short testimony.
Lastly, we had a quick trip to enjoy some pizza and an ice cream bar. Now let sleep come quickly to our tired families.
Pray for us tomorrow as we begin the programming we have planned. Pray that we will see those we serve as our Savior does. Pray that He would keep our eyes off ourselves and on the children and families of Brazil.
Thank you for following us on this adventure. We appreciate your prayers and love.
Boa Noite!
Your family in the southern hemisphere

Today’s Laugh out loud: In Portuguese an “R” is pronounced as an “H”. When our families were introduced by Pastor Lecio to the women we will be serving, Randy was introduced as “Handy” only to be followed moments later by Rick, or as he will forever forward be known by our team, “Hick”.