A Packed Week

There is always so much to catch up on, but this past week was exceptionally packed, and a really fun week, too!

(below) Friday evening was our latest Cafe Club. Although the group was a little smaller this time (about 50 people) at the end we all agreed that it was the best one so far. This time about half of the people were from the community and not part of our (or another) church. The conversation at this Cafe Club seemed to be exceptionally meaningful, and we really feel like we were able to begin or deepen relationships -which is exactly our goal.

Above is a picture of me with my student Nina (second to right) along with the group she brought from her family.

The people who came out seemed to be genuinely interested in the message,

as well as interested in meeting others, practicing English,

as well as participating in the discussion groups about the message....

that Tiago (James in Portuguese) lead (above)

Also the logistics seemed to go especially smoothly. Since this was our third time pulling things together, we seemed to really be getting the hang of things. I made chocolate chip cookies for the event (something that is only beginning to exist here) and people really enjoyed them! Someone came up to the food table and rather skeptically wanted to confirm that he was going to eat "Authentic American Cookies". I said, well I'm American and it's a recipe I found in the States, so I guess they're as American as they can get. He seemed quite relieved and ate 3 :)

Above is a picture with another one of my students, Angelina, who also came out to Cafe Club.

Then on Saturday morning we took several teens from our church on a panoramic flight. (By "we" I mean Jeyson did and I took pictures :)

You might remember a while ago that we were asked to be part of a challenge for the teens in our church to take their faith seriously. This involved a movie night, a talk with the teens, and then a tour of our mission. To follow up with that, we raffled off a panoramic flight and the three winners finally were able to do that this weekend.

Jeyson doing a pre-flight check of the plane

It's critical to make sure everything is in order

Clear for take off! These teens had never flown before, so they were a little nervous but did great.

It was so refreshing to once again be involved with these teens and we're looking forward to future opportunities.

The rest of the weekend was tons of fun. We went out with some friends to a restaurant where you choose your own pasta sauce ingredients (mushrooms, chicken, etc), sauce, and pasta and the cook puts it together in front of you...Think an omelet bar, but with pasta. Jeyson's mom also came by on Saturday with one of Jeyson's cousins that he hadn't seen in over 15 years! It was fun to get to know her. We also went out for some pizza with some missionary friends and their 4 kids, and then on Monday we returned to Asas as usual. However, the weekend fun wasn't over yet! Monday evening we went to a country style "county fair" here in Anapolis where I even got to pet a zebu. I don't have any pictures yet, but will post them when I can. I told you it was a really fun weekend!

Now back to pictures....we also went to Walmart in Goiania. In a lot of ways, Walmart here is just like in the States. Almost all of the products are produced here, and there are a lot of American things you can't get, but it's basically the same kind of feel....except for this aisle.

In Brazil it's very common here for even middle class people to have a "maid", or housekeeper, so Walmart has an aisle to meet your maid's uniform needs! Look at all the colors you can choose from!

Another VERY, VERY exciting find at Walmart is a Brazilian brand of tortillas! We have seen imported tortillas before, but they were way too expensive. We have also seen some Arabic bread that is similar to a tortilla in texture and shape, but the taste was pretty different. Although we used it, it just wasn't a taco to us. So, now they've finally arrived...affordable, "real" tasting, Brazilian tortillas! We bought 5 bags since we don't come to Walmart much, and we're celebrating with fajitas tonight. Speaking of which, I better get cooking!