A busy couple of days!

Sorry for the lack of posting but due to the crazy past couple of days I haven't had much time to post. So I will try to catch you up. On Thursday we spent the entire day here at Chain of Love. We continued painting in the gym and we were able to finish a couple of the paintings. However, we still have a ways to go until we have completed the project.

In the afternoon a couple of us went around to all the different houses and gave away the presents that we brought for the sponsor kids. It was exciting to see them open their presents and see their smiles across their face. The kids were all excited to show off their presents and pose for the camera. I was facinated with how excited the kids were to recieve the smallest present, and how greatful they were that someone had thought of them.

Friday was a long day. We got on the bus at 8am and headed north to the hill country. We arrived there just in time for lunch and we were given free lunch at a Brazilian BBQ! This BBQ is nothing like what we experinece at home. They have no hamburgers or hotdogs....its all different kinds of grilled meat. Everything from beef, chicken, pork, to the non regular meats such as chicken hearts!

We spent the afternoon exploring the town. This town was mainly a German community and the houses all looked like little German houses. At one point Kelly said "I feel like were in a different country," to which I replyed "Kelly we are in a different country." It was neat to see the change in the coultre from down near the ocean to up in the hills. At one point we were walking through the street and we were talking and a couple of people walked up to us and asked us if we were from the USA. We could tell that they were also due to their accents and we discovered that they were students from Indianna who were doing an exchange program here in Brazil. It was fun to talk to people in English.

In the evening we did another eye clinic. The day was rainy and cold and we were warned that their might not be anyone coming due to the weather. When the clinic started there was only a couple of people who showed up but Merle and the pastor from the local church went out on the street and started recruiting people to come. This was great publicity for the church because they were stopping people on the streets and many of the people who came had never been in the chuch before. The clinic started out slow but began to pick up. As the people recieved their glasses they went home and brought other family members back to the clinic. It was fun to see them excited about their glasses and they were not picky about what pair that they were given because they could see. These people were so thankful that we would make the long journey to help them out.