Before ever stepping onto brazilian soil (dirt? clay?) i pictured brazil with shiny green jungle leaves, dirty amazon water (with scary piranhas leaping above the waves) and lots of gorgeous people with colorful dresses dancing.
This past weekend, i took a little trip that made the Brazil i saw in my head come to life (except for the piranhas, thank the Lord)!
7AM friday morning, i boarded the balsa (ferry) with 5 lovely brazilian woman. There's a couple doing some evangalism/house church work at an community down the river, so we were heading there for the weekend do some dental/medical work. After adventures of backing the huge stick-shift, hipster van up onto the balsa, we enjoyed a breakfast of fried delicious goodies and coffee that was out-of-this-world (because of how much sugar and cream it was loaded with, i discovered later). Three hours later, it was time for another adventure of getting this huge white van off the balsa. We had spent our time having a mix of English/Portuguese class! One of the girls was a Portuguese teacher that knew English semi-well and also some some tactics of how to teach language (repeat every word five times, etc). So i felt fairly confident with a few key phrases (how old are you, what do you like to do, would you like some water, and a few more) so these plus, "Eu sou Americana. Eu falo um pouco de portuguese" made me feel ready to take on any Brazilian who wanted to know where i was from and if i spoke portuguese. :)
We had a little drive ahead of us, so i enjoyed taking in the scenery and basking in the delight of bumping down dirt roads with all these Brazilians! We stopped a few times to ask for directions and/or clarification, and each time, the direction-giver waved us down the road. So we kept trucking away! After about 30 minutes, we turned around and promptly drove almost all the way back to where we got off the balsa, and pulled into a driveway where a family was waiting. A week later, and i'm still unsure why the people kept waving us farther down the road, how we knew to suddenly turn around, and also how we found the house we were going to stay at! Even though i would love to know the answers to those questions, i'm happy that we arrived at the correct house in good time. :)
The first thing on the agenda was to find good hammock locations among the trees in the backyard for where we would be sleeping. They told me the Americana got the best spot, and while that seemed to be true, i'm not sure i'll ever know if it was or not! We had some lunch and then settled in for our ritual afternoon nap. After an hour or so, we unloaded the van with all our supplies and began settling up.
I peeked around the corner of this little tent we constructed for the dental workers, and saw quite a few people sitting and standing around in the church (slab of cement with a roof) right across the yard.
There were about 20 kids and around 10-15 adults. Some had faces of excitement, some were looking a bit anxious. (how most of us feel getting ready for the dentist and we even know what's going to happen! I didn't ask, but i assume the majority of them, especially the little kids, hadn't had work done on their mouths before, or really any part of their body). I love kids. A lot, a lot. So i was getting ready to march over and start handing out hugs, when it hit me that i can't talk to them. I had no words of comfort to offer for the scared ones, and besides 'todo beim!(the main greeting here)!' i had no words of excitement to give. Right away i grabbed the leader of our team and asked if there were some games we could play games with the kids.
She responded as if it was a good idea, but then got up and left a few minutes later
(i assumed to do dentist stuff, because she was one of them).
After a few more agonizing minutes of peeking across the fence and silently wishing a big bucket labeled PORTUGUESE would dump its contents on me, i faced reality and made my way over. I stood between a group of small kiddos and a group of girls in their early teens. Smiling sheepishly, i stated that i was American and couldn't really speak portuguese. Deep down, i think i kind of expected us to break out into hugs and laughter, so when the older kids backed away, and the younger ones seemed to run away, i plopped down on the cement thinking what a long weekend it was going to be. Thankfully, a few looong minutes later, my friend reappeared with a bag full of small toys and bracelets with little beads representing the Gospel on them. Obviously, the little gifts warmed the kids right up, so after handing out toy cars, bouncy balls and the bracelets, we gathered them on the benches. I walked through the story of Jesus' life and how we can be redeemed, and Verena translated. We transitioned into playing catch and volleyball and the sorts. Before Verena left to go for her dentist duties, she helped me explain how to play "patoo, pattoo, gunsoo"(duck, duck, goose). :) We played that for the next seven hours (or so it seemed :) ), with all the parents and grandparents looking on with delight!
The evening was filled with a time of worship (cue all the dancing and clapping, totally up my alley, even if i didn't know what i was singing) and one of the men helping to disciple the community shared a little message.
We all hopped in bed (rolled into our hammocks) for the night and slept like babies (the kind that wake up when mosquitoes buzz in their ears and when four dogs are having a barking and growling contest. The 'best spot for the american' was also the spot that the outside light shone the brightest on too, it seemed ;) )
But with sweet, sweet coffee and early morning bread and butter, we were ready for day two!
I decided to stay behind the dentist curtain in the morning to just check it out and to be there if i needed to retrive tools or anything. The second patient needed a hand to hold (or so he claimed...he was a little older boy, so i'm adding that to my list of things i may never know for sure, haha). He was having a tooth pulled, so i gladly watched....for a few minutes. When Verana injected more numbing solution, i started to get a little hot...and it wasn't from the 90-some degree weather. Things started to get spotty, and i silently begged God to take it away because when that feeling comes, i know from past experience there's entirely nothing i can do! I really didn't want to cause any setbacks and i didn't want to leave this poor kid right when he was in so much pain. After a few more seconds, i had to plop down though because the fainting was coming and it was coming fast! So i plopped down, got it together after a few minutes and then assumed my position of comforter and not observer this time. Buuut the feeling came flooding back, so i marched myself back to the house and got some water, thanking Jesus that He's made it clear that my calling is not anything medical. So thankful to watch the other girls serve the people in that way though. They do trips like this often, and it was amazing to see how they spent their free time. A little bit different than the shopping and Six Flags trips i plan on my weekends off..
Back to the kids i went!
We had another day full of "pato, pato" and i tried to incorporate some new games, but there's only so much you can explain without words. :) I had about a half hour of complete sadness and dejection because the little ones would look up at me and ask something with hopeful eyes and the older pre-teen girls tried to ask some questions beyond 'what is your name' and 'how old are you' and i was so upset that i was missing such an awesome opportunity to talk with them and build that relationship.
After pouting for a little while, i kicked myself for being a baby and dug out my portuguese dictionary to at least be able to point out words and provide entertainment when i would totally butcher the words! It was truly a blessed time to say little phrases and watch them run three-legged races and proudly hand me the pictures they colored when we had a little art time. My heart was full.
There are all sorts of yummy fruits down here, and most of them are unidentifable (by me at least). This one we enjoyed lounging on our hammocks, and ate the skin and seeds as well as the actual fruit part. Delish! (even with our dirty hands).
Saturday night there was another night of worship and a message, but our little team decided to go jump in a nearby water hole to cool off instead! After swimming and dinner, three of us gathered around the table and hashed out life. It was like a giant game of Catch Phrase, where you would do a whole bunch of hand motions and one word to try and get them to figure out the word you actually wanted each other to know. :) Mostly dealing with boys and God and patience and life and marriage and worship. Similar to most conversations i've had in the States, so guess some things don't change when you cross countries! :) We cherished and celebrated every sentence we could share, which made it seem like we had been friends forever. The Body of Christ is wonderful.
Rolling into our hammocks Saturday night, we slept much better because we all piled our hammocks inside, due to the thickness of the mosquitoes (turns out i wasn't the only one whining)! I truly did sleep like a baby that time (a baby that is happy and content and loved)!
Sunday looked pretty similar to Saturday except that we headed back to the ferry early afternoon, after many hugs and happy, heavy hearts! A moment of humor came when a girl that i thought was from the village actually loaded up in our van with us and then hopped on the balsa as well...she was actually part of our team, just had come a day early. Oh the things that go over your head when you get the amazing chance to love an Amazonian community with 6 brazilians. :)
