Recent Happenings

These past days have been jam packed and I haven't had the chance to blog until now. Here's a little catch up on what we've been up to.

On the Fourth of July we decided it would be fun to have a little celebration, expatriate style. We love the States and all that July 4th stands for, not to mention that American bbqs are a lot of fun. So, we invited over a few of our Brazilian (and Argentine) friends and lit the grill.
We made all typical American stuff - burgers, corn on the cob, mac n cheese, etc. My friend Camila was so funny about the mac n cheese. When I brought it out to the table and told everyone what it was, Camila said, "Oh! The famous American macaroni and cheese!!" She went on to explain that she had seen an American sitcom episode where a guy needed to by a box of man and cheese for his fourth of July party but all of the stores were sold out. Camila was very excited to see that it really is a real food in the American kitchen and that I also served it on July 4th!
Part of the group is above. We had a lot of fun to share a little of my culture and I hope to do this every year we're in Brazil!

For the past week we've been especially busy since it's Asas's yearly week for new candidates. The candidates spend 10 days here doing everything from flights to interviews. Several of the candidates are from Columbia and Venezuela so they don't speak Portuguese. Jeyson was asked to help by going on flights with these men as they were evaluated. Jeyson sat in the back and translated for the flight instructors/evaluators. Jeyson enjoyed using his language skills in this way. Also, by going back on these very first flights, Jeyson realized just how much he himself has grown in his skills since 2003 when he was a candidate! He's a shot that Jeyson took from the back of the plane.

Meanwhile, I was able to help with an area that I love, cooking! Along with a few other ladies, we have been preparing breakfast every day for everyone involved in the week. It's been tiring to get up at 5:30 to have everything prepared and served by 7 am, but also very rewarding to be able to do something practical that can be part of bringing new missionaries to the field. These are some of the Venezuelans. The man next to me is their pastor, who came along to support the men in their church who are considering this calling.

Jeyson has also been busy this week with something he loves, maintenance projects. He has been repairing the wing of this plane

And also repainting it, which I will have to post "after" pictures later.

More posts to follow soon!