A very belated Happy New Year! Obviously my New Year’s resolution was not to be more faithful to my weekly blog! I can’t even call it a weekly blog anymore…sheesh!
Christmas was fabulous! Rafaela, Diego, and Mateus’ parents and older brother stayed with us in the Fazenda for a few days. Our Christmas Eve dinner was more wonderful than I could’ve imagined. Instead of trying to cook everything myself, as I like to do, I delegated everything but the potatoes and dessert. I made a conscious effort to have no expectations and was completely delighted with the results. WOW, what lessons I’m learning. J One major stress factor for me was the napkins…I have 2 sets of 8 of cloth napkins and they don’t match. Plus we had 17 people for dinner. I stressed for 2 days over what to do without a solution. On the afternoon of the 23rd I received 2 packages. One of them had 2 packs of beautiful Christmas napkins!! ALLELUIA!! (Yes, I know I get a little too excited about napkins. Thank God I have friends who understand me. Thanks Heather!) I also received a huge boxes of Christmas cookies so PRONTO—dessert! (Thanks Mia & Steve!) As we sat down at our beautiful table, full of good food, pretty decorations, and love, everyone was filled with joy. After midnight mass we roasted marshmallows and taught everyone how to make s’mores. A huge hit!
After Christmas a group of French volunteers arrived for a short mission trip. They came to help us with projects we had here in the Fazenda: painting the school buildings and renovating an empty house. They worked their butts off for nearly 2 weeks. We were all so appreciative to have them here because the projects would’ve taken months for us to accomplish. I was going on and on to some of them about how awesome I thought they were for spending their vacation working with us when they said how awesome it is that I am here for more than a year. Funny how I forget that I’ve given this part of my life. I feel that I’m getting so much out of this mission that I don’t deserve any credit for all I’ve given up. I guess that’s a good place for me to be. I’m learning to be humble and appreciative.
The French volunteers stayed through New Year’s and brought scrumptious treats with them. On New Year’s Eve I got to eat French cheese and wine! Oh how glorious!! My poor little taste buds had forgotten how marvelous cheese and wine are J What a way to start the New Year. We celebrated Epiphany by drawing names out of a hat as “secret friends” (like secret Santa, but without the Santa bit). My secret friend gave me a fan! So now I can sleep without sweating. But then a few days later he showed up at my house with a new mattress!!! Irma Leticia had wanted to buy me one for months knowing that mine was basically worthless, so finally just after Christmas it became possible. I slept like a rock for the first time in 6 months. I think it was the best gift I’ve ever received. During the 12 days of Christmas my secret friend also made me a cake, which was really funny since I am known as the “Reina dos Bolos” (Queen of Cakes). What’s even funnier is…well, so I didn’t know who my secret friend was, right? So unknowingly I took the cake over to casa San Miguel to share. My secret friend who made the cake lives in that house, so he got to eat it with me! Also one day at lunch he got a chicken leg, but when I arrive there weren’t enough left. He shared his chicken leg with me and I was so happy to receive half a chicken leg. I’m really learning to love this poverty--the fact that I was so excited to get a 2 oz portion of meat is hilarious!
So that’s Christmas and New Year’s in a nutshell. The kids are on summer vacation so are days are full of keeping them occupied. I teach English twice a week and music once a week. Plus I study with Diego for an hour everyday (well, it’s an hour when he wakes up on time). Friday is field trip day and I go with them sometimes. We went to the zoo once and learned all the names of the animals in Portuguese. One day we went to the museum of modern art which is conveniently located near a beach, so that was a bonus.
I have lots more to tell you about what’s happened in the past couple weeks, but time’s up so it will have to wait. I pray for you all daily. You can send me your prayer requests at sunnywallsings@gmail.com
Love,
No comments:
Post a Comment