Ask and You Will Receive

Well... I asked for a busy day...and it was provided! (As you can see...this is the ONLY post for today...)

We did not get to start our preteen groups today...it will start tomorrow!!

So instead of our group, we raked and cleaned out the playground. Pulling out the rocks, weeds, moving sand around to fill in holes, and removing the trash bits from candy and other objects.

Playing on the playground was quite nice at 9:00, I didn't have to worry about any rocks or bits scratching my feet. Before the kids got to play today, we set down some ground rules. No throwing sand, one person on the slide at a time, no fighting...the usual stuff, but here in Brasil, "Two strikes you're out!" I was given the whistle...the kids were not allowed on the playground until I blew it and when I did blow it, the kids had to find the playground buddy (I didn't do that today...maybe some other day). I also had to blow the whistle to let them know it was time for them to leave.

Bill also taught Laura and I a new phrase to use when the kids are misbehaving. I spell it this way so I can remember how to say it... "Sain Bagoonsa" which means "without goofying around." You also have to shake your finger and say it with AUTHORITY...which was hard when Bill was having us practice in front of the kids and NONE of them had done anything wrong...yet!

After the playground time, we learned how to clean our room Brasilian style. Sula was very patient with us while learning how to do it. It isn't that hard, but there are a lot of steps. Sweep, mop, spray, move this, line this up with that...you get the picture! But now we are ready to help make Sula's life easier!

Then the work REALLY started...As Laura says "we turned a jungle into a Volley Ball court." We raked leaves, searched the land for coconuts, rocks and large logs, mowed extremely thick grass, collected all of the trash and grass and leaves, weed wacked other parts of the land to get rid of over growth, then white washed lines in the grass for the VB court. We started at 11:00 and weren't finished until right around 4:00...which doesn't sound too bad especially since we had a white washing shopping trip (which included a Popsicle) and lunch during that time...but we also had 5 people working on that area (two which had been working in the yard ALL day!). One of the guys kept looking at Laura and I weird...Bill told us that he probably has never seen females working in a yard like we did today...interesting!



(Dad I have to be honest with you...I definitely did not follow ANY "B" working in the yard rules...and at one point I was wearing a UT cap...which I traded for a Notre Dame cap ASAP...yes Bill has a picture...yes my thumb was up...PLEASE BRING BILL AN A&M CAP!! PS...I think I am going to have to build Bill's bubble a lot sooner than yours!)

But the Volley Ball court looks VERY nice and I'm ready to PLAY!!! And Bill is very happy about it too...as you can see in the pictures!!





Later we had a Bible study with all age groups (it was more like a mini sermon)...



At the service I finally got to see Marcos!! I was so excited...(Emmalee he asked if you were coming back...I think he wants to wrestle again!)

Once we made it back inside, it was time for dinner...hot dogs...and no we did not have a hotdog fight! And of course our before bed smoothies!

Tomorrow the plan is to meet with our first group of preteens and then relax in the afternoon (this is usually when the Moore's take some family time and relax), and we are heading to Forteleza!!

Well...I am exhausted! My eyes are heavy...so good night!

Prayer Requests:
~ Preteen groups
~ The rest of Jordan's travels (she should be here 8:40 tomorrow)
~ Patrick, Douglas and Amanda (along with all the other kids in school) start their exams tomorrow and they last until Tuesday