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| Me and Evilásio and Gustavo, two boys I help with their reading |
Christmas is definitely well on the way here in Brazil, over
the last few weeks everything has turned into a rush of ‘confraternizações’ (Christmas
parties), end of term exams, Christmas trees, so many sparkly lights and a
gazillion last minute rehearsals for Christmas concerts or services. It’s been
a hectic week with lots on but one of lots of laughter, excitement and seeing
God at work in incredible ways.
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| One of my last theology classes of term, lacking a suspicious number of people due to it being the day our work was due in! |
Some moments from the last week or so...
We’re sitting in Thursday morning’s Library session. Today
the children are making Christmas cards for their ‘madrinhas’ (godmothers).
These are ladies from within the church family who have chosen to be godmothers
to a child from Porta Larga (the community where I’m working), looking out for
them at church, loving and welcoming them and of course, as the children are excitedly
remembering, providing a longed for new pair of clothes at Christmas. I realise
just how much this means to each child as I listen and read what they want to
say to thank them, Rosanna, aged 13, writes “you have a special place in my
heart”. I watch Evilásio, aged 10, with his brow furrowed in concentration as
he slowly manages to write his own name inside the card and proudly shows it to
me. Evilásio is one of the little boys I’m trying to help with his reading.
It’s Tuesday morning, I’m sitting on the bed that Evilásio
shares with his brother and sister and we’re trying to learn the sound of the
letter C . I can see from his face that he’s trying so hard but moving from
spelling out the letters to saying the word is something we’re just not quite
reaching yet. I wish I could do more to help him but these moments sitting here
trying to read the word “carro” ‘car’ feel precious and I love the chance to
sit here with this family and be a part of their lives. I want to give them
moments like I had as a child, sitting on my Mum’s knee as she patiently
listened to me read time and time again.
I’m doing a Portuguese Christian version of the Macarena
with the youngest class at the Barra de Jangada project when Tio Jota Jota
(Uncle JJ) arrives for an extra Hip Hop dancing rehearsal. I sit at the edge of
the room watching them rehearse for their Christmas show and trying to persuade
6 year old Renato to take part. I could sing the songs in my sleep we’ve
rehearsed them so much over the past few weeks and every day I seem to wake up with
one of the Christmassy raps in my head.
“É Natal em
toda parte, no centro, na favela. No asilo, no presídio, no
quarto triste do hospital.”
“It’s Christmas everywhere,
in the town centre, in the favela. In the nursing home, in the prison, in the
sad hospital room.”
I’m reminded of how this is
not only true in terms of Christmas lights going up literally everywhere, but
so much more in terms of what Christmas is really about. The hope and salvation
that came through a baby being born in a manger, a baby that would grow up to
pay the ultimate price for anyone who chooses to trust in him, whether from the
luxury beachside apartment, the ramshackle home in a favela, or the darkest of
prison cells. Before we go home 6 year old Fernanda, who has a speech
impediment, prays. It’s a beautiful moment as we manage to understand her
thanking God for all that he has provided and asking him to watch over all
their families as another morning in the project draws to a close.
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| Ícaro and Evilásio playing in Porta Larga |
I’m sitting in church next to
a man called Alexandre. He sells chewing gum at the traffic lights on our way
to and from church and today Adrian and Judith have picked him up to have an
eye test because he needs glasses. Alexandre goes to a different church and he
seems on edge in this new place, it reminds me of me in my first few services
here as he gazes around taking it all in. On the way home he tells us a bit
about how much he works, its long hours every day out in the burning Brazilian
sun but he dreams of one day buying his own house. As so often here, I’m
reminded of how lucky I am and how little I deserve the life that God has given
me.
I’m in the kitchen at home trying
to make flapjack for the Christmas party at the seminary where I have my
theology classes. My whole Brazilian family is in there too, including Lucas (aged
20 like me) who has arrived back from a year at Bible College in Hungary to
spend a month at home before heading off to Mexico for the next year. I’m
reaching for the strange Brazilian version of Golden syrup that I found in the
supermarket when I manage to knock the butter off the kitchen side. Bruce, one
of the pugs, seizes the chance for a midday snack and charges forward. Soon the
whole family is trying to wrestle a big chunk of butter out of Bruce’s jaws in
fits of laughter, to him it’s the best game ever and he tries to swallow so
quickly that he chokes! Gabriel, my Brazilian cousin, manages to salvage most
of the butter and we are left with a dog making strange choking noises with
butter all over his face and everyone else crying with laughter. Then the food
mixer mildly explodes in a flash of sparks and is promptly thrown in the bin, I
stir the oats into my flapjack and laugh to myself at my amazing, yet crazy, Brazilian
family.
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| My Brazilian sister Clara and pregnant Bella the pug |
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| Erica blowing up balloons! |
Erica and Diana and I are
blowing up balloons before the party starts. They are Evilásio’s sisters and it
has been a big few weeks for 12 year old Erica, whose church godmother managed
to enrol her in volleyball lessons at a local private school. Tuesdays and
Thursdays are now the highlight of her week, not only because of the class but
because of the chance to help Judith in the library afterwards, counting money,
using the photocopier and seeing a completely different side of life. It’s so
different from the monotony of day after day in the streets outside her home,
where a crowd of men are always drinking with her Dad. She is learning so much
from being in a different environment and it’s amazing to see her growing in
confidence and realising that there is a whole world outside the community
where she has grown up. Tonight she doesn’t even have a class but, as an honorary
member of the seminary, she has been invited to our Christmas party and 13 year
old Diana has come too. Together they’re like a double act and I’m struggling
to keep a straight face long enough to even blow up a balloon, as they provide
a hilarious running commentary on everything they see! The Christmas party is a
great evening of yummy Brazilian food mixed a little taste of Christmas at home,
in the form of a mince pie. It’s lovely to spend time with my classmates and as
always there’s lots of laughter, often at my Portuguese fails, such as when I
manage to get the words for Piranha and steak mixed up! I come home smiling and
even though it’s far too hot for December I realise that I’m starting to feel
at home.
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| Diana and Erica loving the coxinhas (amazing chicken snacks) |
I hope all of you are well and Happy Advent to everyone! Sorry for any fails at replying to things at the moment, December is proving to be very very busy but I am thinking of you and missing you all,
Lots of love,
Flo/Flor/Flower/Florencey!
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| With Diana and some of my friends in my classes Rafa, Paulo and Davi |
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| Pass the parcel with little challenges and a lot of laughter |
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