Sunday, October 31, 2010

Kids!

In July, Andy & Becky Flink, my mom, and my brother & sister helped to put on a VBS program at the church in Lagoa de Itanega.  We had a bunch of kids.  Since then, the church at Lagoa de Itaenga has been overflowing with children.  We consistantly average 30 kids on a Sunday night...which is a ton, when you consider that we average about 20 adults.   The vast majority of them come from the neighborhood surrounding the church.  And most of them are very consistent in attendance.

I have switched from teaching the adults' English class to the childrens' class.  I teach the younger kids (6-10 year olds), while Pastor Ricardo teaches the older kids (11-14 year olds).  We normally have around 25 or 30 kids.  They are all eager to learn.  My class normally starts with an English lesson and ends with a very basic Bible story.  A friend of mine, Junior, helps me teach the class.  We have been using the left over material from the VBS for the Bible story.  We finished one of the little coloring books last week and the kids were super excited to take them home.


 Last night was our first youth night at the church.  Twenty teenagers came for "Inside-Out Night".  Though the program was only for teenagers, there was a group of little kids at the back of the church, wishing they were old enough to play the games and get points for their teams.

We have begun building relationships with these kids and are excited to see how God is using this little church to work in the lives of these kids.  Please pray that the Lord will continue to bless our children's ministry and our church.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Baker Is A Person In Your Neighborhood


Oh a baker makes french bread
Soft and fluffly, like a bed
Soup 'n sammiches, I must say
Are a perfect match tooooodayyy


The ladies at the bakery are always friendly.  Walking in, I hear "EMILY!  Minha amigazinho!" (My little friend!)  Discussions about family, friends, differences in the U.S. & Brazil, and language are accompanied by my bread order.


Lu & Selma

These are the people of my neighborhood
The people that I meet when I'm walking down the street
They're the people that I meet each day

Saturday, October 16, 2010

English Class = Perserverence Class

I've got this student. 
Last semester he was hopeless.  He understood literally nothing.  He didn't even fully understand the concept of two different languages.  I mimed everything.  He needed help with every question on every activity.
But, dude. 
This week we had two...count 'em two!...conversations in English.  He explained to me why he was late to class and why he needed to skip out on another class.  Now granted, the conversations were something to the effect of "Me go Teacher Manu Teacher Keilha want me". 
But he understood my question and I understood his answer. 
And it was English! 
This kid has gone from an infant's language skills to a toddler's language skills in a relatively short time.  It's kinda cool.