Sunday, June 12, 2011

We Made It!

I had a lengthy blog post planned for you with lots of fun pictures, but Blogger unceremoniously dumped all those pictures as soon as I got them loaded. Since sheer exhaustion is causing my eyes to cross as I type this, I'll have to leave you with a brief overview of our last 48 hours. Hopefully if I keep it brief enough, I"ll be able to publish this before I lose it again...!

DFW: For some reason, check in and security took two hours, with no apparent explanation. Good thing Brandon insisted we get there so early! Even with the crazy lines and snafus, we made it through to our flight with time to spare.

Miami: Our flight was delayed in Miami, but we had no more connections to make that would be impacted, so we were fine with it. We got lunch, met for a team meeting and devotional in our own "private" corner of Terminal D, then as the delay dragged on we added an ice cream run...

The flight was uneventful, but unfortunately also fairly sleepless. Some did better than others, but fortunately adrenaline, excitement and caffeine kept everyone going despite the lack of sleep. We had the smoothest trip through Recife airport that a VFC team has ever had, according to Brandon. No lost bags, no customs checks, and no issues with the rented vans! Praise God!

We went straight to Kids' Place and started working. We had a "reverse packing party" as we unloaded and sorted all the donated items we'd packed on Thursday back at CCBC. The kids sorted children's clothes and sharpened dozens of pencils, and the adults sorted everything else on the tables in the lunch room. Once those tables were cleared it was time for an amazing lunch of chicken, rice and mashed potatoes. We got to know our translators as we ate, and enjoyed learning more about Brazil through them.

After lunch we started work on our classrooms, preparing for VBS to start tomorrow. We raced the clock and left with everything mostly ready. There's always more to do than there is time to do it in!

Just before we left Kids Place, we met some of the children who will be attending tomorrow. They were hanging around the gate, watching the preparations. Our kids were thrilled to meet them and try out their Portugese, and the Dodd children, who were here last year, eagerly renewed friendships with the kids they recognized.

But we had to get to the hotel to get checked in, so off we went in the vans again. Davis Dodd and Thomas Burgess entertained themselves with a game they call "Oi!" They shout "Oi-Phone!" everytime they see a public payphone on the street as we drive by, because "Oi!" ("Hi!") is printed on the side of them. And because they think it's funny that it sounds so much like "iPhone." (Did I mention we didn't get much sleep??) You would not believe how many Oi-phones there are in Recife. Almost every block has it's own. And they drive really fast here. So basically the whole ride sounded like "Oi-Phone! Oi-Phone! Oi-Phone!" When you're that tired, anything's funny...

Quick check in and showers at the hotel, then off for a church service on the beach with our team of translators. Brian Dodds spoke about Peter's "love" for Jesus, and how the best we have to offer as humans can never equal His "agape" love for us. But we can, through His power, share His agape love with others, and that is why we are here.

Rain showers threatened to ruin the fun, but entrepreneurial chair/umbrella renters saved the day (if not our budget) and covered us quickly. Josh Burgess led us in communion as we huddled under beach umbrellas trying to stay dry.

We walked from there (the rain stopped, thankfully) to a restaurant for a pizza dinner. I personally saw Lauren Young fall asleep in her chair at least three times, but she still insisted she wanted to swim back at the hotel before bedtime. Several children -- and adults -- were caught staring into space by the time the meal ended. Time to get some sleep.

Our schedule for tomorrow morning got bumped up by 30 minutes, as VBS will start earlier than we'd first expected. Please pray we can all get great sleep tonight, then be up and running on time tomorrow morning with fresh energy for serving these sweet kids.

We'll make our first visit into the favelas tomorrow afternoon. Please pray that God will orchestrate that visit and sovereignly choose which families we see, and that He will bless those conversations for His glory.

We won't be back to the hotel until after dinner, so it will be another late post. Sorry there isn't an internet connection at Kids Place I can use to post more frequently. Hopefully the pictures will work out tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers! God is good!

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