Wound up Wednesday?

Actually, I think we're losing steam. So wind down Wednesday? But one last day to get the roof up! Just kidding!

We had devotions with the kids today and sang songs in Portuguese and several in English. We sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", "Deep and Wide", and "Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock". We then played with the kids with beach balls and had enough to give each kid their own.

There was special music from the pastor of the daycare who played the violin for the kids. We got a somewhat decent group photo of the kids and all the beach balls. The kids had showers and lunch as we recovered and some of our team visited a woman who makes origami, which were also available for purchase.

Mary Ann and Carl joined Andressa and Wilmara on an ATM trip to the mall. Keeping Mary Ann out of stores is like fighing with a shark in the ocean. You have to watch her... I tried to get driving lessons along the way, but Andressa is difficult to persuade! I'll bring American crackers and American peanut butter next time, and perhaps and iPad 3. I'm sure I'll find a way!!!!

We returned to the project for lunch and joined the rest of the team. Today we had spaghetti and red and white chicked Alfredo sauce and also rice black beans and kalbasi-like popular dish called "..." which all food is amazing! Thanks to the kitchen staff and Pastor Gilmara who takes great care of us!

We checked the work site and can't wait to show some videos of how the site is progressing... The footers we dug now are walls, bricks we moved are now permanent walls, and it's exciting! By weeks' end, all walls should be complete!

The afternoon we visited with Caio (a helper) and his mother and brother in their home. We gave them gifts (T-shirts) and then finally got to play soccer (or an attempt thereof). Zach, Carl, Lyndsay Rex, Pastor Fernando, Caio, and Galliello played a quick game until we had to leave to catch our van ride. We started off strong but soon fell victim to the locals...

We returned to the hotel for some cleaning up and then headed on our way to pastor Fernando's church for Thursday night service which they are hosting tonight so we can attend!

hours later....
We worked our way through Recife and the soccer/rush hour traffic where tonight Pastor David gave a sermon on John 1:35-39. What a welcoming church! With the team we had about 47 in attendance, with songs and music and dancing, the service was amazing yet again. We ended the night with food and drink in the fellowship hall and made new friends. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel.

We shared our God moments of the day and reviewed the schedule for tomorrow! Everyone is sad about saying goodbye, but a trick I learned is not to say goodbye, but see you next time... Next year, next month, next week, it's relieves the heartache of saying something that could be permanent. You never know what God has in store for you...

We returned Pastor Gilmaras car to her and Andressa, as sweet as she is showed us the soccer stadium where Santa Cruz plays. GPS coordinates: Lat: 8D 1'31"S Lon: 34D 53' 36" W The biggest stadium in the NE!

What blessing to have been witnessed today. Truly amazing of what people can share with fellow Christians.

Goodnight everyone!
~Carl