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 :)

The last two weeks have been great for us here; we've been really productive and enjoying ourselves a lot. At Erval we have done a ton including:

1) Started a math class. I gave a basic pre-test to all students around 8 years old and older. Each student received either a 50 question addition test or a 100 problem multiplication test, based on their age and skill level. They were given 25 minutes to finish as much of the test as they could. Thankfully the majority finished before the given time and received at least a 70% or higher. Of course there were those few students who took the whole time and failed still, but that's why I gave them the test. I want to know where I need to help each one of them. Unfortunately, the schools here don't give daily math timed tests, like in the states, so it's going to take a bit of effort and patience to get some of these kids back on track with their grade level and maybe even start to enjoy it! 

2) English and capoeira classes are still going strong.  Lee Ann and I chose two new students, a brother and sister, to join me at the capoeira class in Telemaco. Jhonaton and Bruna, are a very poor and shy couple, but seem to really appreciate the new opportunity and experience. Yesterday we had all four of our capoeira students come to the same class in Telemaco together. It was great to see them interact and help each other.

        3) We started a type of "Big Brothers and Big Sisters" program where an older student takes 30 minutes every week to read a story a toddler/younger student. They did such a great job and were so cute! 

4) We are trying to get the teachers more involved and organized with the students. With donations from some parishioners, we bought some new puzzles, toys, board games, and art supplies for them. The teachers were very grateful, but I am hoping that at some point they will be able to sustain themselves. I suggested that when they need certain items or supplies that the government won't provide them, they should have a bake sale or find another way to fundraise. They seemed very hesitant and shy about the idea, but I really hope they see the necessity in it. Other than that, they are doing a great job! The music teacher entered our students in the Independence Day parade and they were awesome! We have, also, started our "Student of the Week" program which is really getting the kids motivated to participate and behave during activities. 

IMBAU- We are still trying to teach computers there, but the government now closes all of their buildings at noon, due to the upcoming political elections….that's bad news for us, considering we work in their buildings and with their people! Pray that I find patience with these people and the politics here, I need it!

UPCOMING- I am currently preparing my  travel bag for this weekend's upcoming adventure. Lee Ann, three Imbau students, and I will be taking our trip to Aparecida de Norte and to Rio de Janeiro. We'll be leaving at 5am Friday and take a 12 hour bus ride to get there. After spending the night there, we'll go to Rio and spend the entire day there before returning to Aparecida. Sunday we'll spend there again and return home late that night. It is going to be a very exhausting, yet worthwhile trip! 

Brazilian Independence Day parade in Reserva!

Big Brothers and Sisters program!

After a "beauty day" where we painted the girls nails and did their hair and make-up. They were so excited to show off their new styles. :)

End of August and beginning of September

Sorry it's been so long since my last blog….we were just as busy as most you were, in the states, with the beginning of school and end of summer. Except that it's the end of winter here ( thank God) and the beginning of some great projects and ideas!

1) Erval de Cima-A lot has been going on there…One of the moms of our students was having a really rough week, so Lee Ann and I decided to adopt them until she could get herself together. :) We welcomed Ana Paula and Gabriel into our home for five days. What a trip that was! We had a blast making dinner, washing dishes and clothes, playing cards, and going to mass together! I loved hosting them in my home, but I have to say that I'm definitely not ready to be a mom yet! It's one thing to work with kids all day and come home and have all the free time in the world, but to work with them all day and take care of them all night too was exhausting. I definitely have way more respect to mine and all other moms after this experience. :)

For almost an entire week Peti was cancelled because the water pump for the whole town broke! Can you imagine not having any water within miles for over a week??? A lot of people had to walk to a river to get some and carry it back to their homes. In the time that we couldn't go there, we caught up on laundry, sleep, and visiting our friends and neighbors. One of the days I spent in Reserva, a city near Erval, talking with the government about getting transportation for some field trips. I, also, go the opportunity to talk with the director of a private English school, Fisk. He said that he is willing to waive the teaching fee and allow a chosen few of our students to study English there! The only thing we need help with is paying for the books, which cost a little less then $150. If anyone is willing to sponsor a child learn English, please let me know! Anyways…it was a nice break, but we were ready to keep things rolling.

We have continued teaching English and photography every Monday, Capoeira and dance very Wednesday, and crochet and beauty every Friday. This schedule has worked out well for all. And of course, when there's time, we play some outdoor games and get to know the kids and our co-workers better. Starting now in September we will be coming to Erval on Tuesday, too. To which will be our designated math and speech day. The speech part of this day is where we bring in speakers to help motivate and educate the students. We will have a new speaker each week with a different topic than the last. For example, next week Augusto, the owner of Fisk, will talk about the importance of learning English and getting a good job. Other speakers and topics include drugs and drinking, personal health, a priest, taking care of the environment, and a psychologist. I'm excited. :)

The last bit of exciting news is that we had our first store on Friday. For those of you who don't know, this is how our program functions: Every day that a student is present, behaves, and participates in activities they receive a check mark in our book. At the end of the month, those check marks turn into fake dollars that they spend in our store(which is made up of donated and new toys, candy, sports equipment, and even a sleepover at our house!) The purpose of this system is to motivate the students, because if they are not behaving or participating, they receive and X in our book. Too many X's and they aren't allowed to go on our field trips. Thankfully it's worked really well so far. :)

2) Imbau- Unfortunately not a lot has been going on at the Peti in Imbau. We try to teach a computer/typing class every Thursday, but because of the disorganization it doesn't always work like that. but, when it does work out, the kids love learning how to type correctly and practice with games online.

Last week, the teachers made a cake for all the kids who had a birthday in the last three months. We had a fun time singing and eating the cake! It was, also, perfect because my birthday was only a few days away, so we all got to celebrate together!

3) Capoeira- I have continued to train and go to class every week. I can, slowly, feel myself getting better. I love Thursdays when Fernando and Rivael ( my students) join me. Our "baptism" (capoeira event) is scheduled for December 21st, which is unfortunately 3 days after I return to the states. But, I will be able to attend other capoeira events beforehand. I am trying to get someone who trains with me to come to Erval once or twice a month to help me teach the kids…no luck yet, but we'll see what happens.

4) Social- My birthday was last week and it was a great one….the big 25! Lee Ann and Matt paid for a telemensagem which is someone who drives to your work and plays your favorite songs and Happy Birthday on huge speakers from their car! I was conned into going outside right when it showed up; all my co-workers and students joined me. Super crazy, but really fun! I, also, got a 1/2 dozen roses, balloons, and a speech from my best friend. :) Later that night, I was joined by friends in my favorite pizza joint. What a great day!

Unfortunately, things didn't worked out how we planned and Matt decided to go back to the states. He was missing his family and he decided it was best for him to return home. He did a lot of great work with the kids and learned a lot Portuguese and the 2 months he was here. He will surely be missed by us and all the kids, friends, and neighbors. Please pray for his safe journey home and re-entrance into the American culture. 

I pray for all families who are struggling with any health, financial, or social issues that they may find peace in God's guidance and comfort in his help. Have a great week. :)

3rd Blog...One month in!

A lot has been happening in the past few weeks since the kids have com back from vacation and we have settled into a normal schedule.

1) Lee Ann and Matt have been teaching photography to the students at Irval de Cima on Mondays. They are planning on creating and selling a calendar with the pictures the students take; the proceeds will go to supplies for the students. While they are busy with that, I have started teaching English to some of the older students. The morning group is easy to work with since there are only 5 of them, so we get through more material and they have more time to ask questions and practice what they learn. The afternoon has more older students, so unfortunately they don't  get the same one on one attention as the morning kids. BUT, each one of them has a desire to learn English and is trying hard.

2) I started teaching Capoeira to the Irval students on Wednesdays. They love it! Some aren't too interested, but many are very excited to try this new and exciting sport. I talked to Klecius, my Capoeira teacher, and he is going to allow 4 students train for free at his gym! This is a great opportunity, but we will only choose two students. ( Only b/c they have to take a bus on their own to meet us in Imbau and then the bus to come back to Imbau, from Telemaco, doesn't arrive until after 11:15pm. They will then sleep at our home until we send them back to Irval the next morning) A bit of a complicated process to participate in a one hour class, but worth it. Now, the challenge for us to choose two kids. I already choose one boy, Rivael, who has a great passion for the sport already and doesn't go to school b/c of complications created by his father.The other student, Lee Ann and Matt are helping me pick….we are thinking about taking the son of the cook at Peti. He has great potential and is very responsible.

3) We are hoping to start a craft class soon, to teach painting and crochet.

4) I will be going to the Capoeira event in Campo Largo this weekend with other people from our gym and I am very excited. :)

5) Matt, Lee Ann, and I have volunteered to help the youth group at Sao Jose (our sister parish) every Sunday night after mass. The group is small, but connected and welcoming. I've never worked with teenagers, so I'm praying God will guide me and the others to help these young people closer to God. Any and all suggestions/help will be welcomed and appreciated!

6) The three of us have decided to take a road trip with the people of Sao Jose to Aparecida de Norte, another city in Brazil near Rio de Janiero in which Our Lady appeared many years ago. It is a city with a lot of cultural and religious background and is a big tourist spot for many people, somewhere I have been wanting to travel to. The church was struggling to fill the last 5 spots so they agreed that if someone could fill 3 spots, they would give that person the other 2 spots for free.. we were so quick to jump on that one! After mass we talked to the priest and the 3 of us are officially traveling with them at the end of September, the best part being that we have decided to take two of our students to fill those free spots since they would never be able to travel on their own! Padre is happy to have the spots filled and we are thrilled to have the opportunity and the chance to take along kids who will truly appreciate the city and would otherwise probably not be able to go.

God bless!

Second Update! :)

Recently I've seen a lot of Facebook updates about the heat waves and lack of rain in the states. Well, it's still on the opposite end of that here….This week we received TONS of rain and cold fronts. My make shift rain boots (a nice, white pair of snow boots :)) have never been so handy. The hill we live on is about a half a mile from the nearest road and it's  not paved. Needless to say, I'm very thankful for the boots! 

Although it's a muddy trek, we still went to our new project at Irval de Cima this week. Since it is still vacation time for the kids (they're not obligated to show up) we didn't want to start anything serious but wanted to use the time to get to know them better. We planned and played Minute to Win It games, which is a television game show that gives contestants one minute to complete silly and weird tasks to win money.Our students had to use a straw to suck a peanut and transfer it to another table, complete difficult puzzles, keep balloons in the air just with their breath, and move a cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands! We all had such a great time watch and participating in the silliness. :) Vacation ends next Monday and I'm very excited to be on a normal schedule and  start our teaching. Lee Ann will start teaching photography with the older students. One of the organizers of the PETI in Reserva (another town close by) had the idea to create a calendar of the culture and landscape of Irval de Cima. She wants students to take the pictures, so we can create and sell the calendar as a fundraiser for PETI. While Lee Ann is busy with that, Matt and I plan on teaching the other students sports and gym games. Until he gets more of the language (which he's doing great at) I'll be coordinating activities which he can help with or things that we can do together. I, also, hope to be starting capoeira, dance, and math as soon as we get a good feel for the students and teachers. :)

When not planning for work or scrubbing mud off everything I own, I've been spending a lot of time with a woman down the street, Ines. We know her because her son works at the government office across front eh PETI in Imbau. She is a very kind and welcoming person, who despite her losses in life, continues to give to the community. This week she taught me how to crochet, which I've always wanted to learn since my grammy taught me how to knit. I am currently working on a small turtle, which will become a doorstop! I love learning new things and spending time with Ines!

Since all of the schools have been on vacation, the university bus that will be taking me to capoeira class has not been running. But starting next week I'll be back on track with practicing capoeira on bi-weekly basis. Lee Ann, Matt, our teacher Klecius, and I will be taking a trip to Campo Largo in two weekends to participate in an international capoeira festival, put on by my friend who's a capoeira master.

I pray that the bit of rain the states received this week refreshed the ground and your spirits. We continue to pray for all of you and your intentions! God bless.

Chegamos! (We´ve arrived!)

It may seem like no surprise to some, but I'm back in Brasil again! After 35 hours of car rides, planes, and multiple bus rides Lee Ann, my boyfriend, Matt, and I made it to Imbau, Brasil. Once we arrived, we only had one week to spend with Katie and Sarah Zimmerman, but we took advantage of every minute. Lots of friendships and memories were created before we had to send them home to the states.



Lee Ann and I are living in a small, concrete home close to the place where we work, called Peti. Thankfully, the Lord provided a very nice place for Matt to live right across the street!. We share our home with a wide variety of insects, a horse who lives next door (he hangs out within a few feet of my window), and a lot of mold BUT we are doing our best to make it a nice home. :) All of our neighbors are super welcoming and helpful and many speak a decent amount of English!



The Peti program that we have been working with the last 4 years has been doing very well. We have come to realize that the program has developed more than we had ever hoped and has good teachers that continue to help it grow. That being said, we started working with another Peti about 30 minutes away, which has about 80 regular students who are even more poor than the ones in Imbau. This new place is in a very small neighborhood called Irva de Cima. The students there are on vacation right now, so we plan to visit them every Tuesday and Wednesday to get to know them. We've been dancing, playing all sorts of games, and doing anything we can to gain their attention, trust, and respect. I am very excited to start teaching and working with them in a few weeks when vacation is over.



Once their break is over, our plan is to teach at Irva de Cima three times a week and spend the other two with our old students in Imbau and getting to know people in the community better. I'm excited and anxious to start all of these new adventures, but very thankful that I have Matt and Lee Ann always at my side.



Matt has being doing very well at practicing and learning Portuguese. The Brasilians and I are very impressed about how much he has already picked up by listening and studying on his own. I am so thankful that he is here with me. :)



Sister Rose and the other nuns are doing very well, continuing with all of their awesome work. They are as sweet and helpful as always. We plan on visiting them on a regular basis, even though sometimes it's a bit difficult to find a bus to take us to Telemaco.



I miss all of you in the states and hope you are well. We always keep you in our daily prayers. Have a great week!



Megan

October!!!!

Sorry about the delay in blogging, the month of October was nothing less than SUPER busy!
Everything has being going great with our new Project Discovery Center.We painted the two rooms PD colors and had the kids put their hand prints and signatures on one of the walls, SUPER COOL!!!!!!! Since finishing the painting, we moved some donated furniture and carpet in and bought some pillows, toys, and magazines! One room is used as a play/relax room and the other is for acadmics. I teach math classes with every kid in there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and LeeAnn teaches English to some of them on random days.....it´s so cool! The kids love it and we do too. It´s a fun place to get away from the daily grind and the noise level in Peti!

I´ve started back up with teaching computer classes to the kids and that´s been going well too. Some of the kids are excelling quickly and others are learning the very basics of typing and using computers. To motivate them to come, I promised to make them American cheescake if they come to every session! Tomorrow is our last one, so hopefully everyone shows up so I have a reason to make cheescake. :)

The capoeira master came in the middle of the month to teach a course to our students. It was rainy that day, so not a lot of kids showed up (but the ones who did had a great time). He was a very good teacher and taught them a lot of new things. After the course, he invited me to visit him in Campo Largo(a city not too far from here) to practice more capoeira and get to know the work he does there. I decided to take advantage of this invite, so I went to a capoeira baptism in Curitiba last weekend and then stayed with him and his family until the following Wednesday. I had a lot of fun, did a lot of capoeira, and met some great people!

We are spending a lot of time, these days, planning for a field trip to the beach. It should be very fun; we are going to take 50 students and 20 adults to a nearby beach for a weekend! The only thing I´m not excited about is trying to choose 50 out of 90 students who deserve to go. :( But, I know God will help us make the right choices!

The most recent, exciting event, though, was LeeAnn´s birthday yesterday! Our little girl is growing up...the big 20! Katie and I took her out dancing on Friday and then to her favorite cafe for coffee yesterday. We, also, made a poster about the top reasons we love her! After that, we went to a friend´s farm with our English students to celebrate Halloween. They had a lot of fun activities including a scavenger hunt and slip ´n slide! I think she had an enjoyable and memorable day!

I´m sure there are other things I left out on this blog, but I don´t want to write everything, because I won´t have any stories to tell when we get home. :) We continuously pray for all of oyu at home and hope everything´s going well!

God bless...

Project Discovery Center!

This blog I would like to focus on our newest and most exciting addition to our program...a Project Discovery Center(PDC)! This past week the girls and I found a small two bedroom place to rent out and transform into our P.D. headquarters. There are two small rooms with a bathroom. The first room we decided to make a meeting/classroom. We will conduct our English and math classes in this space and the other room is a larger hangout place. We put a carpet down and will buy some pillows to put in there to relax. We, also, have a small dresser with lots of books, magazines, and games in it. The best part, though, about this room is the fact that we had each student put their hand print and signature on one of the walls....pictures are coming! Words really can´t explain how excited all of us are about this new outlet for the program!

Other than spending a lot of time getting the PDC up and running, we have been preparing ourselves for Children´s Day (tomorrow). We actually don´t have PETI tomorrow, because it´s a national holiday, but we had a nice festival for the kids today. We found a trampoline to put up for them and gave them a lot of sugar! (what´s a holiday without those things!??!)

We are, also, preparing to have a Capoeira master come to give a course to the kids this Saturday. It should be very fun and interesting how a master of the sport interacts with our kids!

Besides all of that, we have been travelling on the weekends and enjoying the mostly warm weather. We miss all of you in the states and continue to pray for you! Have a great week. God bless,

Megan

September

I can´t believe I´ve been here a month already...time sure does fly....especially since we´ve been SUPER busy here. Since my last blog, we travelled to Londrina, for a weekend, to see a friend, spent another weekend on a very remote farm, and continued to do al lot of things at the program and with capoeira.

Two weeks ago I started teaching a computer class to the students. I chose five students from each the morning and afternoon groups. I eventually want all the kids to take this course, but can´t do more than a few students at a time given the little resources/computers we have. Each student will take three classes with me. I start them off easy the first class bu having them type out a letter to someone in the U.S. This activity is to help them learn how to type and form complete sentences (which, believe me....it´s definately a challenge for most of them!) I realized after this activity that most of these kids don´t know when or where to use punctuation and many don´t even know what a complete sentence is! The second class, I teach them how to change the font, color, and style of writing for their letters. After that, I let them playing a typing game to continue helping them with that skill. The last class will be focused on copying and pasting items. I am going to have them search a famous person on Google and then have them copy a paragraph of information about that person and paste it onto a word document. They will then need to type that exact paragraph themselves and copy and paste a picture of that person, too. The whole point of the course is to get them practising their typing and computer navigating skills. So far everything seems to be going well and they enjoy it, too!

The next thing I started at the project was math practice. I gave every single PETI student a math worksheet to complete to assess their skillls. The younger students received a 21 question addition sheet and the older students completed a 100 question simple multiplication paper. After grading and categorizing them, I found that many of the students seem to know their math facts, but I plan on using flash cards and games to continue to help them. A lot of the kids actually had to use their fingers or make tallies to complete the questions, so I would like to make time every day to work on-on-one with some of them. All in all, they did very well and I´m very proud of them. I can´t wait to kick off another new portion of the project!

Next to all that, we had a capoeira demostration this past Sunday, in Telemaco. It was culture week and we brought some of our dedicated students here to participate in the festival. They loved being here with us and being apart of something so important! I enjoyed it too, but I realized that I need to start training more on my own if I want to get better this year!

Katie and I have both been sick on and off. I still blame the silly weather for that! One day it´s hotter than can be and the next day it´s cold and rainy....:( I am trying to get over a cold right now and want to do it quickly, because we will be travelling to Santa Catarina (another state) this weekend for a capoeira demonstration.

The last thing I am excited to post about is the family prayer nights I´ve been apart of here at Lourival´s house. Every Tuesday night, they invite all of their family memebers here to pray for an hour. It is very beautiful and I´m so grateful that I get to be apart of it. if anyone has an special intentions you would like us to pray for, please let me know! God bless you and have a great week!

"If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you." Psalm 91;9-10

Second update!

Hello everybody! Making a second update in two weeks feels great...hope you´re loving it just as much as I am! I just can´t believe I´ve been here almost 2 weeks already.....I feel almost all the way accustomed to being back here. But, I have to say it´s been very different from when we were here last year. I´ve had to meet a lot of new people that we work with and people Katie and Lee Ann have become friends with. I am trying to form relationships that they have known for the past two months! But, all I need is a little time and I´ll be back in the game. :)

This past weekend(my 1st weekend here) went really well. I went to and English school on Saturday, where 8 of our students attend an English course. It was fun to watch someone else teach our students and see how much they´ve progressed! That night, Katie and Lee Ann took me out with friends for my birthday, where we danced the night away! The next morning, (my birthday) Leandro´s family had a bbq for us where we enjoyed a lot of food and conversation! My birthday was enjoyable and I am very thankful for everything God has given me this past year.

We have had a good week with the kids...the first few days were very hot and then we got a lot of rain and it´s cooled down since. We do capoeira and music lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Monday and Wednesdays we have been rotating groups of students between English lessons, morals class, and soccer lessons. Tomorrow (Friday) we will have a "store" open for the kids where they can spend the fake money they´ve earned by good behavior and participation. We will sell things like soccer balls, make up, toys, and clothes.... they love it!

Other than that, I was sick yesterday because of the temperature changes and trying to get accustomed to everything here. I feel a bit better today, but have been trying to take it easy. It´s hard to eat so healthy and be active all the time! :)

Every morning, I walk to Lucas´s house and LeeAnn, Katie, and I have morning prayer. Each time we have intentions, we pray for all you amazing people who continue to support us in the states. Thanks for you love and prayers!

God bless you,

Megan

BACK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

WOW....it´s been awhile since I last wrote a blog......let´s play catch up.....
Katie, Lee Ann, and I finished out a wonderful year in Brazil last December. Upon returning to the U.S. we all got jobs and worked hard to raise more money to return to Brasil. The two of them came back in June and I stayed in Fishers all summer, working to raise money.
I finally returned to Telemaco Borba, Brasil this past Monday, the 22nd of August.
I travelled here by myself, but found it to be a smooth and safe trip!

Since returning a few days ago, I have jumped right back in to our routine with the students, capoeira, and friends! The students I had last year were excited upon my return and to my surprise, there are many new children apart of the program! I was, also, very excited to learn that the PETI program, that we are apart of, hired professional teachers to teach and help our students. How exciting!

Since Tuesday, I have been to two capoeira classes (I´m soooo sore!) and two days at the program. We spent yesterday at a school for children with special needs. Our students enjoyed interacting and playing with these kids and it was nice to see them be so helpful and polite!

We have some fun plans for my birthday this weekend, but other than that, I am going to enjoy being back here and living with a wonderful family! (Leandro´s family) I hope and pray all of you in the states are doing well and enjoying the nice weather! I am going to attempt to update my blog every week, as to keep everyone informed about things here.

God bless you and have a great week!

Megan

Hello!
I want everyone to know that Ball State is finally cutting the strings and kicking me off their system, so I had to change my e-mail address.
My new address is megcrss1@aol.com
Starting today, I will not be able to receive any more e-mails from mkcress@bsu.edu
Thanks and have a great week!:)
God Bless you.

Megan

We´re halfway there...........

Well everybody, can you believe that the three of us have been in Brasil almost 3 months!?!? Time sure does fly doesn´t it? I hope you all are doing well and getting back in to the swing of things with school and summer coming to a close. Here´s what we´ve been up to:

1) We started last month with saying goodbye to a close friend of ours who helped us with our project. Emanuel, Manny as we like to call him, plays porfessional soccer for a team in Oman. He had to return to Oman to start training after vacation. We threw him a good-bye barbeque and sent him on his way. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

2) As we were saying goodbye to him, we were saying hello to our students after a long, but well needed break. It was great getting back into a routine and the kids seemed to really have missed us. They seemed to notice that Lee Ann and I have gotten better at speaking Portuguese and they were very excited to converse with us!

3) Since getting back into the swing of things, we have started choosing one student each week who comes everyday, participates, and behaves. This student gets their picture and a poster of information about them on our wall. We, also, had our first store where they can use the fake money they´ve earned. They were so excited about it and had a lot of fun.
Just two weeks ago we started our outreach program and visited a family who is not doing so well financially. We took three of the older students to go with us and take notes about what the family needed. Then they went to a grocery store and price checked everything they needed to buy and then budgeted the $100 we gave them. After they bought the items, the food was delivered to the family. The students did very well and felt good about helping their community.
Two new activities we have started are photography and moral classes. Each Friday we choose four students to walk around town and learn about how digital cameras work and how to take a good photo. Lee Ann and I did this by ourselves last week and had a blast teaching the kids and hanging out with them. I think the students had a good time and learned a lot. We, also, got to practice our Portuguese! The moral classes are on Wednesdays. We decided to start this, because many of these children often aren´t taught right from wrong. This past week we created skits and a 3-step procedure about problem solving. Our students tend to turn to violence when they have an issue and we want to help them see that there are others ways to resolve issues. They really seemed to accept what we were telling them and we even saw a few of them apply what they learned!

4) A few other things we have done recently are: throw a birthday party for one of our girls who turned 15 (a very important age here); attended some craft classes where we learned to sew, face paint, and create decopage; and started to plan for college students from FATEB to spend one Saturday every month with our students (to help our kids have good role models in their lives and to create a better bond within the community).

5) I am now one year older than the last time you heard from me and I´m loving it! The girls set up a scavenger hunt around town for me on my birthday (Aug 28th). Each place I went, I had to find a clue that would take me to a present and the next clue. It was so much fun and probably the best birthday I´ve ever had! Thanks girls!

6) We continue to make the best of every crazy situation and create dares everywhere we go. Lee Ann has earned around $20 from doing dares involving talking to random boys to doing the splits in the middle of an ice cream store! What a hoot!

7) The most exciting thing that happened recently was travelling to Curitiba. Our main purpose of going there was to renew our visas, but apparently we were too early and they wouldn´t renew them. Oh well! Next Monday we will head to Ponta Grossa to try again! The rest of the weekend was spent sight seeing and participating in a Capoeira conference. It was very fun to meet other people who enjoy the sport as much as we do!

That wraps up this issue of the Project Discovery update. We continue to pray for you all and hope that you´re doing well! Take care and have a great week!

Megan

"Time passes in moments
moments which, rushing past
define the path of life, just as surely as they lead towards its end
how rarely do we stop to examine that path?
to see the reasons why all things happen.
to consider whether the path we take in life is our own making or
simply one into one which we drift with eyes closed.
But what if we could stop?
Pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes.
Might we then see the endless forks in the road that shaped a life and
seeing those choices, choose another path?"

Wish I could rap like this!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUQYJ77qa50

Thanks Aunt Mary!

Almost 2 months in!

Hello everyone!
Can you believe that Lee Ann, Katie, and I have been in Brasil for almost 2 months?!?!?
I still can´t believe it! It´s been such an amazing trip with so many adventures, I don´t even know where to start with an update for you.

1. Vacation- Our students have been on winter vacation for the past 4 weeks, so we have been off of our regular schedule. We take a bus or have friends drive us to the program every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for Capoeira and English class with the higher level students. It´s been nice to be able to bond with those few students, since normally we have around 35 students at a time and now we only have about 10. They are such amazing people! Unfortunately, no children came to the program today. (we missed the bus last Thursday and when we don´t show up, they forget to come!) We tried making the best of the situation, though, and visited the orphange to say hi and play some games with them. I think they really enjoyed seeing us and we loved playing with them. Thankfully school is back in session starting next Monday, so we´ll be back on our regular schedule with the program.

2. Sao Paulo Group- In our spare time during this vacation we were preparing for a group of teens from Sao Paulo to come to Telemaco to volunteer with children in the outlaying neighborhoods. They stayed in a camp of long houses, which we helped prepare for them. Once they arrived, we went with them on their ventures. They were a very fun and lively group to hang out with. We sang songs, danced, played Capoeira, made balloon animals, and put on plays. A fun time had by all. :)

3. Capoeira- We have been keeping up with Capoeira classes regularly and I think we are making great progress. Katie and I really enjoy trying new moves and practicing with our friends. Apparently we´ve been doing something right, because both of us have had to take pants to the seamstress and have her take them in! :) The instructor we´ve hired to teach our students has come to our house twice to teach us how to play the tamborine and berimbau. These instruments are very interesting and very complicated to play, but we really enjoy it!

4. Funny moments- Yesterday was Brasil´s Father´s Day and at the end of mass the priest asked for all of the fathers to raise their hands....Lee Ann raised her hand! She claimed that she thought the priest was asking us to raise our hands and pray over all of the fathers! :P
One thing that always happens between the three of us is our choices of clothing always clash....Today we were supposed to go to a birthday party and Lee Ann was wearing shorts and a tank top, I was wearing jeans and 80´s top, and Katie wore nice jeans and a teacher sweater! This is pretty common for us, we never consult each other about what to wear and by the time we realize that we all look like we are going to different events, it´s too late.
Another funny thing that we did recently was have t-shirts made for my birthday on the 28th. They are pink and have our new nicknames on them. Katie has been dubbed Snow White, because she has light skin and lots of little people always surrounding her (the children). Lee Ann is now known as Ariel from the Little Mermaid, because she loves to swim and sings more than any person I have ever met! I am now Sleeping Beauty, since I sleep all the time and take naps as often as possible. Also, I´m waiting for my prince to arrive...in November. :)

I think that sums up the past few weeks for us. We are very excited for Friday, because we have decided to have a mini retreat between the three of us. We want to reflect on our experience so far, have some team building time, and spiritual reflection. Very Exciting! And as always, we continue to pray for all of you at home. If you ever have an special intentions you would like us to pray for, please let us know!

God bless you,

Megan
"Every calling is great when greatly persued." Oliver Wendell Holmes

4 weeks down...22 to go (thanks dad!)

Hello everyone!
I´m back and ready for another update!
It has been a wild and crazy adventure for Team Discovery so far, so I´ll try to summarize everything as best as I can.

1. Capeoira-for those of you who don´t know what this is, it´s a Brazilian mix of martial arts and dance......Katie and I have been going to a gym to take Capoeira classes. It is a very challenging and interesting sport. I don´t think I´ve ever been this fit in my life. :) Another good thing about it is that we are meeting a lot of new people and becoming good friends with some of them. We, also, do Capoeira with our students. The project has hired a friend of ours to come every Tuesday and Thursday to teach our children. Many find it difficult, but a few are really getting the hang of it and excelling quite well!

2. English- We have started some English with the children, but it has been very difficult to keep on schedule because the students are preparing for a large soccer match at the end of the month and starting this weekend, they go on winter break for one month! We´re excited to continue that when they get back. On the other hand, we have decided to start teaching English to some friends in Telemaco. Starting next Monday we well have about 6-10 people for one hour in our garage. :)

3. Sao Jose- We have seen many friends from the parish and even Padre Giberto since we have arrived. It has been so comforting to know that these amazing people still remember us and can´t wait to have us over for dinner! We are planning to meet with padre sometime soon to see how things are going with the parish and the other neighborhoods.

4.Social life-Many friends have taken such good care of us since we got here. Lucas, Leandro, Marcela, and their families have been so welcoming and have taken such good care of us! We love being with them at World Cup games, Festa Juninhas, game nights at our house, and whatever else we can come up with! We have been hanging out with other people that we have met throught Capoeira and people who work at Klabin. They are all so good at speaking English and helping us with our Portuguese! Another thing you all would be proud to know is....we are becoming such good housewives! We clean our house, wash dishes, cook, and entertain guests like we´ve been doing it for years! Such a new concept for us! :)

I hope that you all are doing well....we pray for you all the time!
Please feel free to comment or email if you have any questions about what´s going on down here!

"Go from your country and your kindred and your father´s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing." Gen. 12 1-3

We have arrived! :)

Hello all! I wanted to let everyone know that Katie, Mary, and I have safely arrived in Telemaco Borba, Brazil!!!!!!! The flights and travelling went well. I spent 3 hours by myself in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, waiting for the other girls. The terminal I was in was very nice. It had a very modern and artsy feel to it, which made my stay more entertaining. The flight to Sao Paulo was 10 hours, but I slept most of the way. Once arriving there, it took us an hour and a half to find and load up our luggage and then check in for our flight to Curitiba. After that we found a Pizza Hut booth and slept there for 3 hours! After waking up, we realized that many people around us were watching and laughing at the American girls sleeping in the restaurant, so we ordered a pizza to show them that we weren't there just to sleep! After that, we had our one hour flight and 4 hour drive to our new home.

Our house is absolutley amazing! Sister Rose and her workers have fully furnished our home with everything we could ever want and need. It is a perfect size for the three of us and we have slowly started to decorate it and make it our own. We have a tomato and pepper garden behind the house and a decent sized kitchen to entertain guests. Thankfully they found heated blankets for us, because it is a little chilly at night, but the day time is very warm! I have been wearing jeans and a t-shirt and by noon I wish I were in shorts. I would say that's great weather for winter in Brazil! :)

Since arriving, we have met our new neighbors, met up with old friends, and visited our students in Imbau.(another town, about a 35 minute bus ride) We have been treated like celebrities in many public places, beacuse many people here are very interested in the U.S. and want to know all about us. Today, we have been invited to a barbeque at our friend Lucas' house to watch the Brazil soccer game. It should be a good match and fun for all!

Tomorrow we will start teaching our student and I am very excited! I will keep everyone posted about our adventures in Telemaco and with our students. Feel free to add my skype name and chat with me! (megan.cress1)

Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers! As we start our new journey we will need those prayers of strength and faith that we are teaching to the best of our abilities. I will pray for all of you that you be successful in your ventures and have love in all you do. Have a great week and I hope that you will keep me updated with your lives. :)

"Do small things with great love." Mother Teresa

Megan

5 days and counting....

Being the first blog I've ever written, I feel I should keep this short and sweet until I have the hang of it. In that case, I have 5 days until Katie Zimmerman, Mary Zimmerman, and I depart for our amazing journey to Brazil. I am very anxious, but ready to begin a new chapter in my faith journey.

" Let us run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." -Hebrews 12:1-2