Kids Club

Wow.  Where do we start with this one??  Welcome to our hood :) 

On Saturday mornings, our co-workers Arlen & Cynthia (with their kids Nina & Dorian) drive over to the little community center less than a mile away.  Arlen then goes bussing around the greater neighborhood with the van picking up a couple loads of kids while Cynthia stays at the community center and plays games with the kids until Arlen comes back with the last load.  

      How many kids fit in a 7-passenger van??  Well….

 

    Cynthia singing a song with the kids.

 

      Arlen dramatically re-telling about the giants in Canaan that Joshua and Caleb saw (10 were bad and 2 were good!)

 

    Playing a game….  Believe it or not, this game is very close to Duck-Duck-Goose.  It’s called Pinga-Pinga-???? (I think it’s “drip-drip-drop” in English.)  Haha.  So…  Same idea right, but with a 2 liter bottle with a small hole in the bottom and no lid on the top.  “Duck” = “Drip”.  “Goose”= “two-liter-bottled-dumped-on-head,”  and then run!!!

 

     Julia, Jocelyn, Valeria, Bia, Everton!  Eating Pipoca (popcorn)! 

 

     Most of the Saturday morning crowd :)

Our level of involvement is pretty minimal.  Passing out snacks, telling kids “shhhh” during the Bible story, going along to pick kids up, playing games, learning names and ages, getting to know them with our limited Portuguese...and praying for them.  I don’t know if one of these kids comes from a Christian family.  And so many of their families have a dad in prison or a mom who’s a prostitute or a house made out a tarp stretched over some sticks.  The odds are not in our favor.  But!!!  The Word of God is living and active….  Pray for these kids with us!

  

In other news…

Here’s a Top 10 (random) list for you :)

1. Mango season is over.  Sad.
2. Avocado season has started!!!  And we’ve got them falling off our tree almost faster than Jocelyn can eat them!  (Brian is missing out!)  
3. Jocelyn’s birthday is on Wednesday.
4. We have a mirror in our house now :)  And the trim all around the windows—no more millipedes coming in that way!
5. There’s a new voice for Mr. Whitaker on Adventures in Odyssey this season.  Yes, we still listen.
6. If one hears a random crash out in the bushes (especially at night), it’s good to just assume it’s a coconut or branch that has fallen off a tree.
7. But, if you wake up in the morning and 20 chickens are gone, it probably still was the coconut or branch that made the noise falling off the tree.  Chicken thieves are very stealthy.
8. Next week will finish out one year of “community” living for us.  Thanks to everyone who’s welcomed us into their home for a few nights or even a few months…
9. Brian can whistle in Portuguese :)
10. We’re enjoying Season 5 of the Cosby show.