A year ago today...

Today it is a year since I set off to Brazil, a year since I started this blog and a year in which I’ve met incredible people, seen some amazing places and learnt lots about God’s faithfulness wherever I am. It’s also been a year of hard things; feeling speechless with shyness in a new country, watching children I’ve come to love robbed of the kind of childhood I had and crying for hours on the plane home after saying goodbye to my Brazilian family and friends.

Over the past few weeks a few people have asked me to keep writing my blog. I still haven’t decided properly whether I’m going to but it seemed right to write some general thoughts today.

This weekend I met up with some other friends who’ve just come home from a year abroad as well and although we all have had completely different experiences there are some things that coming home has meant for all of us.

1. Suddenly you’re that slightly irritating ‘post gap-yah/yah abroad’ person with all those stories about “this one time on an obscure Nicaraguan island” or the time “you delivered puppies in the back of a Brazilian car”. I find myself daily apologising for how annoying I must be with yet another Brazil story or for laughing at some Portuguese joke on my phone that just can’t really be translated.

 2. Every so often slightly foreign grammar or vocab slips into English conversation. I found myself telling my dad that the time was “eight and fifteen” and I told a friend last week that someone “totally had the face of studying English”. The worst thing about this is you either look like you are incapable of speaking your mother tongue or like you are just doing it on purpose to remind everyone that you went on a year abroad. You also get frustrated that there’s not so good a way to express something as in your other language.

3. You have lots of people that you love in another country. I thought coming home would mean not missing out on big events in people’s lives as much or having to constantly calculate time difference but I was wrong! You also have a renewed love for the benefits of facebook and whatsapp and love (and yet also get a little bit sad) knowing what is going on since you left.

4. You look around at things back home in a different way. I often find myself looking at the English greenness or the Cambridge buildings or me and my family a bit like a tourist, like a Brazilian would. Gravy and fresh milk and custard are no longer taken for granted and yet you miss foods from where you were. Also you now know where you can buy obscure foreign items in England, or about that side-street Brazilian café that makes cochinhas, or where they make real paella.

5. You think you’re totally used to being back home and that you don’t miss it so much and then suddenly a song comes on shuffle or you look at a photo or it’s someone’s birthday and the nostalgia or ‘saudade’ (classic case of not a good enough word in English!) hits you. You realise that a little bit of ‘home’ and who you are is now somewhere else too. Life goes on and yet you desperately don’t want to leave behind everything that you’ve learnt and all that you experienced while away.

As a Christian this whole process of living abroad and moving back again and feeling like ‘home’ no longer just means one place has reinforced to me that home is not actually any of these places. The Bible says “We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope” (1 Chronicles 29:15) because “our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

 I love Gloucestershire, I love Cambridge and I love Recife and yet all of them are places with lots of brokenness, whether that’s in the form of my own failure to behave and treat people as I should or in the form of homelessness, poverty, injustice or greed.  Real home with God is something so much better and lasting, where homesickness simply won’t exist and where all nations and classes and languages will be together. Being away and missing people only makes me more conscious of how amazing that will be and how much I want to make sure that one day I and the people I love are there.

I'm going to leave you with the exciting news that my Brazilian parents will soon be visiting. Prepare yourself UK (or potentially non-United K after tomorrow). In a very typical turn of events I skyped them to make plans, found myself talking to my Brazilian Mum at the dentist, the dentist soon came to join in on skype, and the waiting room joined in too. I miss Brazil!

May :)

Sorry it’s been ages since I’ve done a blog post, things have been hectic as ever especially as I head in to my last few weeks here in Recife. It’s pretty surreal to think that this time in three weeks I will be in Gloucestershire,  back in the land of cows and quietness and custard without all the crazy Recife traffic and the constant music and rice and beans.

The last few weeks

With Immy

So a few weeks ago now my lovely uni friend Immy came to visit, she’s working down south in Porto Alegre and I was so happy that she managed to make it up to Recife and that we got a chance to catch up. She experienced a fun jam-packed weekend of life with my Brazilian family and I’m amazed at how many places we managed to visit; from the beach to the old town, from a Christian music concert to a night out with my sister Clara and even a pancake restaurant with my friends after church. It was really lovely to be able to show her a bit of my life here and introduce her to my friends and family.

With Vicky!

A few hours after Immy went home we were back in the airport to pick up Vicky. Vicky spent 9 months here a couple of years ago, working in the same communities where I’m working and also living with my Brazilian family. We were both a bit nervous to meet each other as we’d heard so much about each other from the family, however we got on really well from the moment she arrived and it’s been amazing to get to know her and gain a new gringa sister!

At the circus

Another highlight of the last few weeks was a trip to the circus! We went as a family and also took the Dulce (a fellow volunteer at the project in Barra) and her family. It was a really fun night, although we were quite relieved there were no animals as last time my Brazilian Mum went to the circus a lion genuinely ate a child. Fortunately instead of ending in tragedy, this time the circus ended with free spaghetti for the audience (always good) and the whole company sitting down to eat on stage!

Two weekends ago it was Brazilian Mothers’ Day which meant a great chance to invite the families in Barra to a special service. The children sung (see the very poor quality video) and lots of gifts were given to mothers and it was lovely to see the parents so moved by their children’s words and the work that the project is doing in their lives. Afterwards I managed to catch the end of our own family’s mothers’ day celebrations, with a big breakfast in my Brazilian Granny’s flat (on floor 1 of our building) and a chance to give our Brazilian mum her presents.

This video gives a little glimpse of worship time with the kids at Barra, it always makes me smile a lot when I arrive in the morning to lots of singing and enthusiasm and even the occasional worship conga (as you can see in the video!) It always reminds how much I can learn from their enthusiasm and joy in singing and praising God!

Brigadeiro joy

In other Barra news we made brigadeiro last week. Brigadeiro is an amazing mix of condensed milk, chocolate powder and a bit of butter cooked together until it becomes caramelly and then put to cool so it sets a bit. It’s incredible and always makes an appearance at birthday parties (and in my case at many other times too!) I think the photos probably speak for themselves at how much the children enjoyed it!

With Diana, Erika and Evilásio

Another great thing from the past few weeks has been spending some quality time with Diana and Erika, two teenage girls from Porta Larga. When Immy was visiting my Brazilian Dad suggested inviting them to the christian music concert we were going to, which turned out to be a great idea. The band were amazing and there was a really good short talk and then afterwards we went to a Chinese restaurant. The girls were hilarious in the restaurant and got the giggles every time the waiter brought anything and we had a really fun night chatting and trying new foods. I’ve been reading a Christian book for teenage girls with Diana and Erika and it’s been really great to get a chance to chat about things like identity and appearance and making decisions. I also watched a bit of one of Erika’s volleyball lessons for the first time in a while (she’s enrolled in volleyball classes at the private school attached to my church) and was very proud to see her playing away! I’ve got big hopes for Rio 2016!

The World Cup!

On Saturday Georgia, Vicky and I went to see the World Cup (as in the trophy!) with our friend Rafa, who works for Coca Cola (who are sponsors) so managed to get tickets. It was very exciting and even involved a free photo and can of coke! Everything is getting very World Cup related, with flags appearing EVERYWHERE and bunting in the communities where I work – there’s even a token England flag up in our apartment now!

The last couple of weeks also seem to have been full of lots of birthdays, which means lots of cake and chances to meet up with friends and family, so has been great! Hope you are all well and Im very excited that I will be seeing lots of you very soon, although very sad at the idea of saying goodbyes here. 

Two weekends away

Easter

We’re sitting at the table out the front of my Brazilian family’s holiday home. It’s a hot Easter Saturday and we’re in the middle of a typically rowdy board game that’s pretty similar to charades. It started off with just the immediate family, my friend Georgia and Clara’s friends who have come away with us, but with every round more and more Brazilian cousins keep emerging from the nearby houses to join in, making it louder and rowdier and funnier by the minute!

In Gravatá

We are in a city called Gravatá, a couple of hours inland of Recife. As it’s a bit higher up the temperature drops a tiny bit - I’m not in any way convinced it’s “cold” as people keeps claiming – but everyone’s enjoying the annual chance to whip out a cardigan! Earlier on we were walking around the market in the centre of town, stopping for a coconut and an ice lolly and trying to remember all the names to the thousands of strange looking fruits. In the meat section we bought lots of goat for lunch (a Gravatá speciality!) and stared at the rather gruesome animal parts lying around. My Brazilian Dad’s cousin had brought her 91-year-old father-in-law, who told us proudly how he had been married for 63 years when his wife died, and is now being pursued by many widows!

Georgia and I in the meat market

It’s Easter day and we’re all dressed up heading out for church. I’m excited at the chance to see a different church, to come back to the real meaning of Easter, to worship with my Brazilian family. However as we finally find the Anglican church, we discover it has no service this evening, nor the Presbyterian church, nor the Baptist one. Why is everywhere shut on Easter day of all days? “It’s because everyone goes away for Easter” I’m told, and yet from the look of the main square at night, the whole world seems to have come to Gravatá for the weekend. Eventually we give up and troop into a café, looking very overdressed. I’m frustrated and disappointed but we have a nice evening and, after all, whether we go to church or not today isn’t going to stop us celebrating Jesus’ death or resurrection or change for one moment the incredible price that he has paid to give us life.

With Emily in Barra de Jangada

A Viagem Missionária – The Mission Trip 
(will try and get hold of some of the photos to share with you soon).

It’s 8:30pm and we’re gathered around a minibus trying to fit in lots of mattresses and fans and bags. We are about to head to a town an hour or so away called Camela, and as we set off, I’m feeling both excited and apprehensive about the task ahead of us. We are going to work with a small Baptist Church to share The Gospel, putting on activities for children and teenagers, health talks for adults, drama, dance and lots of other things. We are a group of people from the seminary where I have my theology classes, some young people from my church and people from a church in the next city down from Recife and it’s exciting to be part of a team made up of all different ages, denominations, and backgrounds.

Saturday morning and I’m standing in the town’s Sport’s Court talking to some 12 year old girls. We are sleeping on the floor of a school here (that incidentally has no water at the moment) and last night none of us slept more than a couple of hours. However now the day is underway the tiredness is put to one side and we’re about to start a kids’ event with lots of different games. I head out briefly with Diego and Mariana (friends from church) some of the children to pick up more of their friends in the community where they live. We are winding round little alleyways and cobbled streets and I stop briefly to invite a little boy and his Dad to our events. As the conversation finishes I say “It’s going to be great” and take a step backwards, only to discover that there is a hole in the road behind me. Before I know it I am stuck in said hole up to my waste and Diego has to pick me out of it! In my extreme embarrassment/relief/imagination of how funny it must have looked I can’t stop laughing and gradually the others start to laugh too! Diego reaches down the hole to rescue my flip-flops and we all agree how good it is that it was just a hole with rubbish in and not a drain/open sewer. With a slightly bruised ego and a very red face I walk on, feeling somewhat like Miranda!

My team at the kids’ event is the Pink Team and we have pink sashes tied round our wastes. Team spirit is at a high after winning the first two games and we chant “ROSA ROSA ROSA” (pink in Portuguese) and then I teach them “PINK” which, as with most English words in a Brazilian accent, gains an “eee” sound at the end (Faceybook, footyball etc!). We walk around chanting “PINKY PINKY PINKY”. When we lose our first game the team spirit drops hugely, turns out team Pink needs to work a bit on dealing with losing, but we have a fun morning with some great conversations, followed by some hip hop dancing, a short talk and the presenting of trophies (sadly not going to Team Pink but never mind!)

Saturday night and we are in the main square of Camela listening to my friend Paulo explain the Gospel and then part of our team performs some dances and sketches. The square is packed, I am standing with some of the children we met today, behind me a group of men are smoking weed, and teenagers mingle around us looking for something to do on a Saturday night. The dramas are about freedom, life, salvation, hope and as I watch and listen to the music my eyes fill with tears. There is a sudden rush as the police arrive on one side of the square and raid a bar, arresting several people. People run to watch what’s going on but the spell is not broken, as the sketches come to an end I chat to the children and one of them says that she cried too, as she saw the actor playing Jesus take our place on the cross. It is late and as the crowds go home I sit and chat with friends about our day, about life, about the future. A few hours ago and I felt broken by tiredness; I was in our prayer room back at the school asking God to somehow keep me going through the evening and to give me something more to give when I felt empty. Now the tiredness seems to have gone completely, I feel full of energy, I feel grateful, I feel alive.

Sunday morning and after another night of little sleep we’re having breakfast. I’m working my way through my plate of cous-cous and sausage with a big cup of coffee when one of the leaders approaches me and asks if I can ‘direct this morning’s church service’. I’ve never directed a church service in my life, I don’t even really know what it means, let alone in Portuguese (!), but before I know it I’ve said yes and I’m handed a list of the different parts of the service and told to introduce each one. Outside the church I’m being teased by all my friends as one of them retells stories I’ve told him, everyone’s laughing and it stops me feeling nervous. I stutter my way through the service and soon we are heading out to visit houses in the community.

The community is built on a steep hillside and Hoton and I are climbing the narrow steps stopping to chat to people on the way. The houses are packed in on each side and each house brings different life stories, a Father’s desperation for his teenage son, the grandmother who’s just been stung by a scorpion, the woman who has drifted from church to church and eventually given up. We chat, we listen, we share a few Bible verses, we pray, we talk about our own lives. I couldn’t imagine how I would have words to say, talking to people I had never met before with a guy I had only met this morning, but it’s amazing how God gives you things to say. So many people are hurting, unheard, despairing and  it feels such a privilege to be able to share just a few words of an amazing message of hope.  Hoton and I come back to the school moved by what’s been a really special morning and back at base we all come together to share what God’s been teaching us. With each story, we see how we have all been touched by each life we came across this morning, by each tale of pain, by each moment of laughter and in my case by the way in which people were prepared to listen and welcome even a strange English girl with broken Portuguese and a slightly sunburnt face! 

It's been an amazing weekend and one from which I've learnt a huge amount, met some incredible people and seen once again how God is so faithful in giving what we need to keep going, even when exhausted, shy, out of our comfort zone and even down a hole in the middle of the road!

With Rai :)

Reunited with one of the puppies -
Look how big they are now!

More than conquerors

This week I went to see the film Noah with the youth group from church. Despite the film having very little in common with the Bible story we had a good time with the teenagers, who enjoyed some time chilling in the shopping centre as well before we went in to the cinema. I also saw Noah again on Monday evening with my Old Testament theology class, which was fun although led to lots of my classmates exasperatedly declaring that the director has clearly "slipped on the mayonnaise" (got very carried away - my favourite Portuguese idiom to date!)

Some of the teenagers at the cinema!

This week I also had a tapioca making lesson at my friend Dulce's house (one of the other volunteers at the project in Barra). Tapioca is this amazing kind of pancakey, bready, pastyish food, made out of a grated root vegetable - I'm mildly addicted. I'd like to claim those below as my own but sadly they are very definitely thanks to google, however by the end of my lesson my tapiocas were getting a bit less holey and ragged-looking! 

Halfway through tapioca eating, an adorable pair of twins turned up. I had met Davi and Vitória (who will be one in May) once before and so was very very happy to see them again and get to play with them!

On Thursday we went to visit Maria, a lady who came out of hospital last week. It was great to see her looking so much stronger and finally back with her two small children at home. It was also particularly exciting to hear that she'd been loving reading the Bible we'd left with her in hospital and had even decided to go to a church that Sunday. She is still pretty ill but she seemed so much more herself and it was really encouraging. 

I had a quite challenging lesson at the project in Barra on Monday due to one of the children's very disruptive behaviour. However definitely a good way of learning patience and despite this it was great to be there as always. 

I went for a long walk on the beach this morning to think some things over and this combined with the run up to Easter, the book I've been reading and just life in general made me want to write these next few thoughts down. 

The best thing in my life without a question is my relationship with God. However that doesn’t mean that life as a Christian is all smiles and easy and problem free, it doesn’t mean that tragedy, illness and pain will not be a part of our journey. In fact The Bible describes the Christian life as “a fight”, a “race” in which we “wrestle” and struggle and are  called to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Jesus (Eph 6:12, 2 Tim 4:7, Luke 9:23). I see that battle each day, in my own struggles with sin, in the health and money and relationship problems of the Christians around me, in the teenager teased because of his faith, the wife striving to save her marriage, the grieving father. However The Bible does not only tell us that this struggle is to be expected, but that it is already won. We do not have to despair, because as Christians we can have confidence in a certain victory; “weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). There’s an analogy that I love by a guy called Oscar Cullmann who likens the Christian life to the end of the Second World War, after D-day, when the decisive battles had been fought, Hitler’s defeat was inevitable and yet the battle was not over for another eleven months. The war was essentially won and yet the fighting went on. If we believe in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross then this is the position that we stand in as Christians. On the cross Jesus made a way for us to have freedom, forgiveness, peace and eternal life and if we trust in his death and resurrection then we can be sure that we can have these things. Yet the struggles here on earth are not quite over; for now we are still sinners, we still have those moments when we mess up, when our heart and our head seem to be longing for opposite things and when we are tired of pressing on. But how incredible to know that we are “more than conquerors” through Jesus and to see just how worth persevering it is. How amazing would it be to one day be able to say like Paul?

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking ‘what an absolute load of rubbish, I wish she’d stop waffling on and just put some cute photos of children up!’ If that’s the case, then I beg you this Easter to think about what it really means, to take a few minutes to read about that man who died on a cross 2000 years ago and changed the course of history. To read the story of his life, (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1) to understand what it’s all about, as I should have taken the time to do many years before I finally did.

Or maybe you’re reading this and you believe and trust in Jesus but you’re feeling worn down by the battle that the Christian life can be. Be encouraged that the victory is certain, that God is with you every step of the way and that Jesus walked where you are walking; he was tempted, he wept, he felt joy and sadness and excitement and pain. Keep going and remember this Easter how many reasons we have to praise God!

I hope this finds you well and that those of you at home for holidays are getting some chance to rest, sending lots of love xxx

Oceans

I'm sitting on the balcony looking out at the huge expanse of ocean in front of me. Some kind of tanker is moving sleepily in the distance and wave after wave rolls onto the sand below. The view is so peaceful and yet as each wave breaks, I see the huge power held in that water; the strength that is so far from human control.

"He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" Matthew 8:26-27

What kind of man can stop a storm in its tracks? Can walk on top of these powerful waves? Can create this huge expanse of ocean? 

Living by this sea it's so easy to be carried along by daily life and forget to stop and be amazed at it's beauty and power. It's so easy to forget the creator behind it, to walk on and under this amazing blue sky and not see that it "proclaims the work of his hands". And isn't it the same in the rest of our lives? We talk about coincidences, about how things worked out, about our day and we so often are so blind to God's hand behind it all. 

When I was on holiday with my parents a few weeks ago we got to see just a little glimpse of how much the ocean holds; the sharks, the millions of fish of every colour, the amazing plants, the hidden depths. It got me thinking about just how incredible this creation is and about how amazing it is that the same God, who has such power and made such beauty, sent his son so that our sins could be "cast into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). Who are we beside the God who made this ocean? Beside his son who calmed these seas? And yet this same God gave his very self so that we could be forgiven.

It's Thursday afternoon and Dulce and I are sitting on her sofa surrounded by a mountain of nappies, trying to sort them vaguely into sizes. We have just come from a morning at the project where I was teaching an English lesson on Weather and Dulce was making a huge chocolate cake for tomorrow's Festa dos aniversariantes (Party for this term's birthdays). Her phone rings and it is Pastor Roberto... "No" says Dulce "please tell me this is one of your little jokes, Pastor"... It emerges that half of the cake has decided to take a flying jump of his kitchen table onto the floor and he arrived home to find his two daughters cross-legged on the kitchen floor tucking in, worried that the fallen part might be wasted! I'm struggling to keep a straight face as Dulce tries to work out how this could possibly have happened,... the perils of large amounts of caramel sauce between the two layers seems to have caused a minor landslide!

A new cot

Soon, with Dulce still lamenting the cake drama, we head out carrying a cot, many nappies, a New Testament and a cuddly toy monkey. We are heading to visit one of the children's families, we've heard there's a baby there but when we arrive child after child seems to appear. There are at least 3 one year olds and a toddler with a mass of blond curly hair. We hand over the cot into which the three babies are soon put, to their delight. The grandmother invites us in to meet Marcelinho. His is 7 but is the size of a 1 year old, lying on a grubby mattress on the floor wearing just a nappy. I stroke his face and he grabs my hand, waves it around, looks up at my face. Marcelinho has Cerebral Palsy, a sister explains. 

 Later that evening I'm sitting on the sofa back at home telling my Brazilian Mum about my day, I can't get the picture of little Marcelinho out my mind. Where are social services? I remember the library of toys for disabled children in my hometown, the flashing colours, the sounds, the things to hold, to learn. There aren't always answers to all my questions but I know that God hears and that he loves Marcelinho and there will be something that we can do, even if for now it is just holding his hand and handing over the cuddly toy dog that my Brazilian Mum has produced. 

Rai and Emily holding nappies for Rai's sister who's soon to be born 

As I arrive on Friday morning there is an excited buzz about the project as everyone gears up for today's party. Balloons are popping all over the place and I head over to survey the hastily repaired cake... almost as good as new! I get my camera out and there is a mad rush of children wanting to take photos and be in them. It's amazing how many headless photos I now have on my camera! 

Dulce and some of the children

Dulce and the cake (pre-landslide!)

It's Sunday afternoon and me, Diana, Erika and Áldria have just arrived at the metro station. We're heading to Camila's house and then going on to church and the girls are getting excited about the escalator up ahead! I was hoping more girls would be coming this afternoon but God knows what He's doing and we have a really lovely afternoon chatting, watching the film and eating lots of popcorn and brigadeiro (condensed milk cooked with chocolate!) I love moments like these, seeing my friends Camila and Élida laughing with the teenagers, talking to them about school, clothes, life. 

Monday morning and the roads are chaos. I'm already running late and the traffic is at complete standstill. When a minibus finally makes it to the stop it is completely full to bursting. I jump on but I'm standing on the bottom step and every time he tries to shut the doors I feel a bit like Flat Stanley. The driver decides to take a different route and avoid the traffic jam, a good idea I think, but the 'other route,' which incidentally misses out about half the people on the bus' stops, is on unpaved roads and is bumpy to say the least. I don't really have a clue where we are but eventually I arrive in Barra de Jangada, very late but on time to catch the end of a ballet lesson. It later turns out that I actually had a pretty good journey compared with most people trying to get anywhere. It was 50 years since Brazil's Military Coup and consequent protests brought Recife to a standstill. In the ballet lesson 6 girls who have been chosen to dance in the project's Easter show are learning their steps. They don't know their rights and lefts which is complicating things but little by little they're getting there and 10 year old Karina, who is new in the project, is over the moon to be dancing! I head off to eat cous cous with the other children before running an art activity making flowers out of plastic cups. At the end of the morning I read the story of The Women at the Well. The children are noisy and full of "he insulted my mums" and "she hit mes" but I'm encouraged that at least some of them manage to answer my questions at the end and recognise that this man is the "Rei prometido", the Promised King who gives living water welling up to eternal life (John 4). 

It's a new week; learning at my theology classes, laughing with friends, planning classes, chatting with my Brazilian family, buying bread at the bakery across the road, skyping home, reading God's word, a day off to sleep, to read, to pray, to watch Call the Midwife. Life here is flying by so quickly, I want to press pause and just sit here on the balcony and look at the sea and take more time to thank God for all the things he keeps on providing.

Sending lots of love to all of you,

Six months in - little things, football and James Bond

A lift selfie with Nick and my Brazilian parents!

Last week it was six months since I arrived here in Recife and it got me thinking about how much God has provided over this time and the things I'm going to miss when I head back to England. Here are some of the many little things that make me smile in my day to day life here.

Children laughing
The bus conductors´ place name rap that they yell out the window
The sound of the sea
Being called Tia Flor (Auntie Flo)
My Brazilian Dad´s milkshakes
The way in which every time someone arrives late to class/Sunday School the whole lesson stops to say hello to them
Bible verses in the most random places, from the front of buses, to the side of the hot dog stand cart, to on receipts.
The constant music everywhere and our family car singing sessions
Hearing children reading
Arriving in Barra de Jangada and lots of children running over for hugs
Football banter
Learning new songs at church
Seeing my friends

The last two weeks

One big 'coincidence' (God-incidence!) recently has been that a friend of a friend moved to Recife for a few months and when I got in touch with her I discovered that she is living ON MY ROAD. In a city of three and a half million that's pretty incredible and as if that wasn't enough of a coincidence then it turned out that her boyfriend lives basically in my village at home and went to my 6th form! So now enjoying getting to know Georgia and showing her round :)

I'm standing in Barra de Jangada with zebra-puppet Bobby in hand, teaching an English lesson on introducing yourself. Apart from two boys at the back it's going better than I expected. As the morning draws to a close I start to think about the rest of the day. This afternoon I'm taking a lady to visit her sister in hospital and I'm feeling anxious. What if we can't find the hospital? What am I going to say? What will it be like? I pray under my breath as I walk to a friend's house to have a quick lunch. I feel shattered after a very short night and out of my depths.

We're standing at the lady's bedside on floor eight of a huge hospital after an easy journey and I sit down at her side to say a few words. She is crying and as I read some Bible verses and pray with her, I'm holding her hand. It is hard and the hospital conditions are pretty awful but I'm so grateful for the chance to be there with her, for the chance to see the joy she has in seeing her sister, at hearing news of her children, to see her listening so intently to each Bible verse. I leave her to talk with her sister and sit on the chairs in the corridor with Rafael, he is chatting away about Hebrew homework, in front of us one of the few nurses is on facebook, it is quiet, strangely quiet for a hospital.

It's Tuesday night and I am driving into Porta Larga with 12 year old Erika and my Brazilian Dad, in his huge, white, bullet-proof car. We're taking Erika home from her volleyball lesson and, as we slowly work our way through the community, it is busy and everyone seems to be out in the street. People look with interest at this enormous car and I try and wave to a lady I know, at which point my Brazilian Dad (laughing) reminds me of how tinted the windows are. It feels wrong to be arriving in such luxury, I want to be on foot, to be able to chat and hug and not attract so much attention. As Boe turns the car around, I open the door to speak to 12 year old Leticia. Soon we are surrounded by a big group of children, all trying to see inside the car and amazed at its freezing air conditioning. I wish we could take them all for a ride, but after a few hellos and a quick chat we have to rush on.

I'm standing in the library at the Seminary where I study, chatting to Paulo. My English Bible is out on the counter and he has just discovered that the book Tiago is called James in English. He looks thoughtful for a moment and then says "Wait does that mean that James Bond just means Tiago Bond?" I nod. "No no no nooo that can't be true!" I assure him it is. "But that's just ruined James Bond for me, that just can't be true... James Bond is such an exotic name and now it seems so normal!" Paulo starts to call people over and tell them this awful discovery. Soon there are several slightly put out men in disbelief at how James Bond could have such a 'normal' name as Tiago!

We're sitting at the World Cup stadium watching the local Recife derby of Nautico (my team!) versus Santa Cruz. My brother is spending 3 days holiday here after being sent to Rio with work and we have come to watch the game with Georgia, my Brazilian Dad, sister and several friends. Things aren't looking good, we're 4-1 down and the singing around us has melted away, leaving a frustrated murmuring, a lot of swear words and the sound of the man selling ice lollies. By the time it's 5-1 we decide to try and miss the rush at the end and leave slightly early. As we walk to the car we hear a cheer. It turns out to be another goal to Nautico. As we leave the car park the, extremely dramatic, commentary announces yet another goal to Nautico, 5-3... could this be an incredible comeback in the final 2 minutes?! ...Maybe not, but we head for home a bit less deflated and with a bit more defense against the many Brazilian uncles who support Santa Cruz!

Georgia and Nick

I had a lovely few days with Nick and although it was a quick visit we managed to see lots of places, catch up lots and have some great meals!

If you've read down this far you can have the privilege of my current favourite Brazilian song, Im learning to sing it in the car with my Brazilian Dad! 

When the parents came to visit....

Sorry it's been ages since my last post. My parents were visiting over the last few weeks and we had an amazing but very busy time of meeting lots of people, seeing lots of different places, eating a lot of Brazilian food and translating a lot between English and Portuguese! Here are some highlights of our time together.

Taking them to Porta Larga and church to meet lots of amazing children and teenagers!

Giving them a taste of Brazilian dancing (including me and my Mum and my Brazilian Mum taking part in a massively energetic Frevo class!)

A week's holiday on an island called Fernando de Noronha where we had a really lovely time relaxing on the beach, swimming with turtles and sharks (!) and generally catching up.

My Parents getting to know my Brazilian family and travelling with them, including late night dominoes, Anchorman 2 at the cinema and lots of yummy food!

It was really lovely to have them here and be able to give them a taste of my life here in Recife. Introducing them to everyone also made me realise just how much God has provided for me with the amazing people he has put around me. 

Since my parents went home life has stayed pretty busy with various birthday parties (including the most incredible 1 year old's party ever, featuring a three tier cake, 2 roller coasters, a 4D cinema, a bowling alley, a nightclub and some mickey mouse shaped pizzas, I kid you not.) This morning I was back at the project in Barra running an art lesson based around Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28:10-17).

"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

What a huge privilege to get to serve such a faithful God and to share what he's doing in my life with my parents over these last few weeks :)

I hope you are well and that this Lent is a really fruitful and special time for you all, 

I'll leave you with the video my Brazilian Dad made of my parents goodbye at the airport! Lots of love xxxx