I'm tired of crying whenever I talk about how I have to keep saying goodbye to people, so I'm going to talk about the inevitable DVBS. Hope it's worth the wait! LOL
So, Monday morning, two weeks ago, the DVBS started. The Canadians had decided to do the same program twice, once in the morning, and the other in the afternoon, to reach as many kids as they possibly could. The registration was interesting...they were trying to group kids by age by different coloured name tags like they do in Canada(unfortunately this is Brasil, not Canada) so...needless to say, it didn't work out very well all week, so we won't even talk about it. Some people were getting frustrated, but hey, this is Brasil, you have to go with the flow.
So, what they did every day was have a main group session, do the verse and sing, they the different groups would go to either music, drama, crafts, or sports, and then they would switch after a time. The crafts were difficult to plan, I can imagine, for Kay who was one of the Canadians to do crafts. The thing was, they could only bring so much stuff with them, right? So, she would have had to pick crafts that were the same, but that were challenging enough for the older kids, but easy enough for the little kids. It was difficult, a little stressful, but that's ok. That's life at a DVBS, né??? For translators, we had Joyce, Sadie, and ...me? it was good, most of the time I just stayed in the craft room and just had to translate simple instructions, like " Glue here, or cut there..." and sometimes the kids wanted to talk to the Canadians, so I could translate that for them. But...one day, Joyce had to do something, and I had to translate the drama Bible story of Zaccheus...there's only one word for that moment.... CRAZINESS!!! I asked Wellington(the sports director, a 25-year old string bean who is so hilarious) if I did ok...he said,"it was ok...you didn't get the verb conjugations right though!" Of course, that's inevitable with me! One day, I will know them perfectly!
And another day I got to translate some of the songs in the music room. It was fun! The lady who headed that up, Wendy, has lots of energy, so it was fun working with her.
Normally there were more kids in the morning group than in the afternoon groups. The sad thing was that kids from the morning group would repeat it in the afternoon. (I say it's "sad", because that just shows you that these poor kids have nothing to do on their holidays, so they would rather come back sing the same songs, do the same crafts and everything the same than be bored...but I guess that's better than being on the streets and getting into trouble!!!)
One 13 year-old boy was giving Kate(a very timid but ever strong daycare worker) an extremely hard time the first day. But she got me to translate that Jesus loves him, and that he is a good boy but he just has to show it. As the week went on, he still was impish with others, but she just kept giving him hugs, and showing him love, and he was pretty much fine with her. Later on she told me that he accepted Jesus into his heart! It's so exciting, but unfortunately we aren't sure how far that can go. I mean, I doubt that his parents go to church, so he may not have a chance to learn more about Jesus. Joyce has Saturday morning Bible studies for kids, but not many kids go. So please pray for Fabrício...I know that Kate is! She never gave up on him, not once! I know that the week was a success, all the kids enjoyed it, and the Canadians were happy to give it, even though it was stressful at times. At the last session, they handed out homemade knitted dolls and certificates. (I even got a doll later on too!Ok, everyone else got one too...lol) Anyways, it was a very good week, and I'm glad that so many kids showed up!
That night the Canadians bought a cake for Joyce and sang "Happy Birthday" to her...Her birthday is in December!!! They're such a funny group. It was so nice to get to know them all. oops! I forgot to mention one thing. On Wednesday and Thursday there were clowns there. WEdnesday had only 2, but Thursday there were 6, and I was one of them! Four of the Canadians dressed up as clowns, and then Wellington and I dressed up as clowns too! It was so much fun, and because Wellington is so tall, and kind of a ditz, he was the perfect clown! (Sorry to any of you blonds out there,(I am sort of one too) but honestly, if WEllington wasn't black, I would think he was a blond!!!) I will tell you one reason why afterwards. So, it was fun, all the kids loved it. Then, later, Nalva(Vôo Livre's telepromotor) had to go pick up a donation from one of the supermarkets. So Josh, WEllington, and I went along too. Unfortunately, WEllington and I were feeling in the clown mood, so Nalva was getting really frustrated when she was trying to talk to the manager. The manager loved it though, and she even told her daughter to get us a bag of candy so we could give candy out to people in the store. Well, don't get us started!!! We didn't just give candy out to the store, but also to the other stores on the block, both sides of the street!!! It was so much fun, and I loved it alot! The manager of the store said she would love it if clowns came to her October children's party that she always has(so we almost got a job right on the spot!!!)
When the Canadians left, Brenda(the team leader who was also the head clown) gave WEllington the face paint and many pieces of paper on how to be a good clown. It was awesome, and I know he liked it.
Friday night we went to a Churrascaria(a semi-facny barbecue place in Taguatinga) and it was a different experience for the Canadians.
Saturday morning we had to get up really early to take them to the airport. We had to leave at 6:30AM to get the team at their hotel. Here's where Wellington's ditziness comes in...he started washing Joyce's front windshield with soap and water, not even 2 min. before we had to leave. The scene was so funny, she walked out the front door, saw him and said," WELLINGTON! What are you doing?????!!!! We have to leave right now!!"
W: Well, I'm just washing you windshield.
J: But we have to go RIGHT NOW!!!
W: Ok, I just have to rinse this off.
J: Do you have all your stuff from the house?
W: Yes.
(2 minutes later we were just ready to go and he ran into the house to get his stuff. Joyce was about ready to throttle him. He is so funny, but at the wrong time, it just doesn't work!!!)
But we made it, got to the airport, almost everything went fine, except Kate found out that in Manaus on the way here, they took the wrong plane ticket, so Joyce and her had to hurry and get the problem fixed. It was hard to say goodbye, because they were a really friendly team, but we did it.
So, that was the long awaited DVBS story. Sorry that it took so long for me to write!
Love to everyone. Hope you have a good day! Today I'm at the school in Taguatinga, and tomorrow I'm back at Vôo Livre, but these two days are going to be the hardest because I have to say goodbye to students. So please pray for me!
Thanks for all your prayers. I know that God is with me and has been watching over me here!
Love, Ash