Felipe - People of Brazil

   Another kid from Family Camp just having a great time!

Léo - People of Brazil

     Léo is a great friend of ours.  After church, our children enjoy playing with him and he is always ready to help in any way needed!

Ernesto - People of Brazil

    Ernesto is one of the men from a sister church here in Cuiabá.  I have been able to get to know him, thanks to the Camp that the churches here all attend.  It's also nice that our children get to play together. I posted a picture of his son Óliver last summer, here.

Venícius - People of Brazil

Henrique - People of Brazil

      On one day of this year's VBS, the kids were told to dress up as someone from another country.  This little boy decided to be an Indian - what do you think?

Óliver - People of Brazil

   We really enjoyed getting to know Óliver and his family at Family Camp earlier this year.  Both Mahalia and Johnathan got to play with him quite a bit and we got to visit with his parents a good bit as well. 

Márcio - People of Brazil

Here's one of the boys from this year's Family Camp.

Carlos - People of Brazil

     We had a great time at camp last summer with this boy, particularly on the soccer field.  He was a real go-getter and just had a great time all week!

Johnathan's 3rd Birthday

Our little man turned three years old on the Saturday.  Here are a few pictures from his special day.

Daddy hung some balloons from the carport.

One of the neighbor boys was pretty excited to have a couple of the balloons when Omar took them down later.  He even went back home and got "dressed up" for the occasion.  

I (Mommy) made a Suzy-Q cake for his birthday.  I normally make a separate little cake for the kids' birthdays (less ummm...."sharing" when they blow out the candles :)  So, anyway, our cake is the one in the background, and Johnathan's is the little one in front.  

We sang "Happy Birthday" to him in English and Portuguese. 

Here are his little friends that we had over to help celebrate the day.

He was pretty excited to open his birthday presents.  We had been telling him that he was going to have a birthday and turn three years old, but I don't think that it ever crossed his mind that he would get presents too!

This was definitely his favorite present.  Now he can stop riding pieces of wood and his sister's walker around the yard (yay!)

I think this was supposed to be a "Hey, I look pretty cool with my new wheels, huh?" pose. (Yeah, might have to work on that a little bit.)

João a.k.a. The Shepherd - People of Brazil

     This is one of the boys in the church all dressed and ready for his part as a Shepherd Boy in the church's Christmas play this year.  More Christmas Program pictures are coming...

Church Christmas Program - Presentation

     After all the preparation, the time for the Christmas Program came at last!  The program was presented by a combination of the Choir, Special Music, Children's Singing, and Individual Narratives.

     Another church about forty-five minutes away came and joined us for the program and so the building was packed!  There were easily over a hundred people in attendance! 

     "Maria" was definitely ready and eager for her part!

     Johnathan and the Lockhart's daughter eagerly await on the front row with the other kids. 

     The Choir.  There really was a row of men across the back, but somehow they are all standing behind someone else.

     Bro. João Agusto recited his part of the narrative.

    We were even treated to a trio by the three Duarte daughters.

     At last it was time for the children to get up for their part.  Maria and José were proud to be with the babe in the manger.

     All the church children sang "Belo Som." 

     And then the service was concluded by a message by Bro. Jed Duarte.

     Afterward, we all enjoyed desserts and a time of fellowship.  I guess I was too busy eating to take any pictures!

Ricardo - People of Brazil

Ricardo is yet another one of the boys who enjoyed Youth Camp this past year.

Dionathan - People of Brazil

Jordão - People of Brazil

     This is another boy from this past summer's Youth Camp.  He was a lot of fun, a great soccer player, and I even got him to play some futebol americano (real football) with me!

Garoto - People of Brazil

Rogério - People of Brazil

     Rogério is one of our neighbor boys and so we get to visit with him nearly every day.  He and his two older siblings have been coming to church very faithfully since they were very young.
     Although he doesn't speak English and Johnathan doesn't really speak Portuguese, they love to play (and tease) with each other.  As you can tell, he is always ready with a smile.
     He is a great boy and we are glad to have him as a neighbor and friend.

Pastor Appreciation Day

    Shortly after we arrived here in Brazil, the church we are working with celebrated "Pastor Appreciation Day."  What a great time of food, fun and fellowship!  It was a great reminder that even though we may be thousands of miles from the States, people are generally the same; they love to laugh and they love to eat!
     As soon as the morning service was finished all the ladies began preparing the dishes and Bro. Alex did the Churrascaria (Brazilian style B-B-Q).

     Of course, as the meal is being prepared, the men enjoy discussing, and solving, all of the world's problems!

And the women talk about whatever women talk about. (Can you tell this is Omar writing this time?)

Even the children had important business to discuss!

The children played . . .

and helped each other out.

     It sure was fun to relax and spend time getting to know the folks here!

Karate Kid - People of Brazil

   This boy was one of the many visitors at our recent Vacation Bible School.  All I can really say about him is that it seems that there has to be one like him in every group of kids!  I guess his type help to add a little "excitement" for the VBS workers!

Vacation Bible School - Escola Bíblíca de Férias 2011

     Last week the church here had Vacation Bible School for all the neighborhood kids.  Since we are in the Southern Hemisphere, we are in our winter and so this was during their "winter break" from school.  We had a great time with 60-70 kids per day!

It was great to see the kids line up to get registered and say their memory verses:

A few portrait shots from the week:

 Song time, led by Jeremy Lockhart:

    Memory verse taught by Jessica Lima:

     And the main Bible Story taught by Mrs. Duarte.  I am thankful that she never asked for a raise of hands for who wanted to be saved (probably 75% of them would raise their hands for various reasons).  Instead, she asked for anyone who wanted to be saved to come and talk to a worker afterwards.  Praise the Lord, ten children came and accepted Christ as Savior!

    The children loved "Chico" the talking monkey.  He really is quite an entertaining monkey and loves to get himself into mischievous trouble!

     Johnathan and Mahalia loved it all - mostly they loved the excitement of all the other kids!

    And then the prizes.  We were blessed by Daniel Bishop, a summer intern here from the U.S., who brought prizes and supplies for this week.

 And of course the best prize - a new soccer ball futebol for the boy who brought the most visitors!

And then, Snack Time!

   And of course there were many pictures taken throughout the week.  Here is Daniel Bishop taking some photos, I guess sometimes it takes two cameras just to capture all the excitement!

     Half-way through the week, one of our supporting pastors wanted a picture of our family with a bunch of Brazilian kids so they could use it in their VBS which is this week.  His request gave us a great excuse to get this picture: