CRAZY!!!!

Almost a month ago, Lee Ann and three students of ours made the trip of a lifetime. With our sister parish, Sao Jose, we travelled to Nossa Senhora de Aparecida do Norte and to Rio de Janiero! Nossa Senhora is the patron saint of Brazil who has a deep and rich spiritual past. In 1717 there were three fishermen who hadn't caught anything in a while and finally they pulled up a statue of Mary, that had never before been seen. The crazy part though the body and head had been broken off and pulled up in two different parts. Brazilians have a huge devotion to her and it was surely proven at the site of her basilica.  We had the opportunity to share mass with thousands of other people, something so special and awe inspiring. I would have loved to stay there at least a few more days just to walk around and really enjoy the place. But, fortunately for us, we took one of the days in our trip to go to RIO!!!!! Rio was everything I had expected, the touristic spots were overcrowd, but very cultural. A few stops we made were to the cathedral of Rio, Christ the Redeemer statue(SOOOO amazing), Copacabana beach, Sugar Loaf mountain, and the street where the samba parade passes during Carnival! Needless to say, it was a fantastic trip and experience! 

1) Erval= Lee Ann and I organized a lot of toys, candy, and donated clothes so that we had gifts to give each student for Children's Day last week. This day is very special for kids here; it's almost bigger than Christmas! Each student received a shoe box to decorate for themselves, then we stuffed each box with a pair of new socks, candy, a bookmark, and a piece of clothing. It was the most precious thing to watch them open their boxes and see the excitement wash over their faces. :) 

Another event we are organizing is a clothing sale for the capoeira students. The four that I have been taking with me to Telemaco will have their first "baptism"/graduation in December, which costs $70 reis per person. Lee Ann and I decided selling donated clothes would be a nice way to get these students involved in fundraising for this event. If all goes well, tomorrow our students will be one step closer to achieving all the money they need.

2) Imbau= Last week was very difficult for us at our work in Imbau. As we arrived there Thursday morning, we found out that our 10 year old student, Natali, had a brain hernia the night before and died. Obviously this was a total shock to everyone and we still continue to mourn for her and her family. Please keep her in your prayers.

3) ILLEGAL=As some of you may know, our tourism visas here are valid for 90 days and after that 90 days we are required to go to Ponta Grossa to renew them. A few weeks before we were due to renew, Lee Ann called the department of foreigners to set an appointment. At that time, the receptionist informed her that that department was on strike and couldn't help anyone. A little nervous, Lee Ann asked what we could do in the meantime. The lady told her to just keep calling back each week to see if they were still on strike. Every week for the past month we have called at least 2 times and received the same news. Until yesterday….a different person answered and told us that he'd been working during the strike and taking care of emergency cases. His solution for our situation was that we would have to pay $8 reis for every day over our 90 days and then leave the country for Argentina or Paraguay! Needless to say, Lee Ann and I were very concerned that this was our only option. We decided to make an emergency trip to Ponta Grossa yesterday to get everything resolved. Only by God's great mercy did we get through everything…our visas were renewed and we didn't have to pay any fine or retreat to another country! Thank you Lord! We are officially not illegal aliens in Brazil anymore. :)

Needless to say, our lives here have gotten even more crazy than normal and are constantly in need of prayers. Thank you for all you who send us inspiring e-mails and messages, you are so important to our morale and work! God bless.

Natali 

Rio :)