Moments in May

Today I got my official RNE card!  This is a document that allows me to legally live and work in Brazil that we have been working on for over a year.  I never heard of an RNE card before I arrived, but now I know its a big deal. The government is not always an easy thing to work with!!

We took a math test a couple of weeks ago to see what concepts each first grader still needed to work on.  I created groups of children who needed to work on specific topics and then we partnered with the 10^th grade math class.  They created lessons and games/extension activities for each concept and then worked with the different small groups to teach their lesson.  It was a great success for everyone involved.  The high schoolers loved planning lessons with a purpose and then putting those lessons into practice; the first graders loved learning from the super cool high schoolers, and as a teacher I loved having all my students working on the specific topic they needed help on in a highly motivational setting.  Here are a few photos.

One more group of first graders performing a Reader´s Theatre.  Click the youtube link below to view:

http://youtu.be/aUs_vWHEplQ

The last two days I decided to drive a couple of places by myself.  I am always worried that if something happens I won´t know what to do since I cannot communicate, but I figured I have been here for 10 months and I was ready to try.  Well, the first place I went to was the dentist.  I went to get the car keys, but they were not there so I found the lady who had last used the car and she did have the keys so I got in.  I started driving a bit and decided to check the fuel.  I think that idea was from God because I am usually checking all the things going on around me, and that is not the first thing I check.  Well, it was on E and fortunately there was a gas station close by.  I pulled in, but was a bit nervous because there is no self-service and I wasn´t sure if I could communicate properly.  In addition, I really do not like having people out on the street know that I do not know Portuguese.  Anyway, I was able to communicate with him enough to get some gas in my car.  However, I only had a little cash on me and so I gave him all I had to put as much gas in the car as that would buy.  I drove on, and a bit later I heard a spewing noise from the back seat.  I couldn´t turn around for a bit (the traffic is a little crazy here), but when I did I saw a large bottle of old orange juice spewing across the floorboard of the backseat.  Oh boy; well there wasn´t much I could do while driving, but when I parked the car I took it out and threw it away.  The car smelled lovely.  When I arrived at the dentist was someone sitting in a little booth by the parking lot.  I know they typically want money (even though the parking there is supposed to be free), and I have heard stories that if you do not pay them they do things to your car or bad things to you when you return.  I did not have any money because I had spent all my cash on gas.  However, when I arrived it started down pouring and the person did not come out of the little booth to ask me for money.  When I came back to my car it started down pouring again, and again the person did not come out or give me any trouble.  Yea!  Thank You for rain!  As I was driving home the windshield wiper just flew off while I was driving!  Woe!  I was on a busy road so there wasn´t anything I could do about it, plus I do not really feel safe getting out of my car (not to mention it was raining rather hard) so I didn´t do anything about it.  Fortunately it was on the passenger side so I could still see fine to get home.  I did have the windows down a little in the rain due to the incredible smell coming from the back (old exploded orange juice), but I made it home and it makes for a good story. 

Saturday I went to one of my student´s birthday parties.  It was for her and her sister since they are moving to the US over the break.  The theme was Frozen and all of my girls were there and three of the boys in our class came out.  It was fun to spend time with them and their parents outside of school.

The Cake Table

Happy Birthday (Parabéns)

The "Frozen" Cake

I thought this was a cute idea for centerpieces

"Snowball Fight!"

Another cute idea

 The birthday beauties...the older girl is in my class

One of my students on the trampoline

Another student about to fall into a pile of balls

Sunday night we dropped a couple people off at home because most of them walk to church and it was raining.  While driving home we went past a seance.  I have never seen one and it was going on inside so I really didn´t see it, but outside there were 4 people dressed in white.  They were calling the spirits in to the seance going on inside teh building.  The girl from our church lived about 3-4 houses over from where this was occurring.  Keep in mind that the houses are all connected.  There were no yards in between.  That was a new experience for me.  I remember Dan Cook telling us that there is a good amount of witchcraft/satan worshippers in Brazil, and Sunday night I saw a little glimpse of it firsthand.  

On a happier note during Bible class this week two of my boys asked God to be the boss of their lives!  Thank goodness for Taylor (my nephew) and his mommy for using that language so I had an idea of how to describe "getting saved" to first graders.  I kind of wondered if they really understood or meant what they were saying.  We talked about not doing this for me, because their friends were doing it, or because their parents were Christians.  Neither of these boys are "teacher pleasers", so I began to realize they really meant it.  I had them pray first and then I helped them think of some more things to tell God.  The bell rang and it was time to go.  During the afternoon I noticed an calmness in these two boys that was not normal.  I didn´t say anything for a couple of hours, but later we talked about the difference I already noticed in them.  We also talked about the fact that they will still sin and struggle with sin, but now they have the power of the Holy Spirit within them to help them overcome the sin.  Our class Bible discussions have been pretty amazing since Easter.  These children have so many DEEP questions, they know so much more than I realize, and are so curious to know more.  I feel very unqualified for this and have to keep asking God to help me.  This is a pretty amazing group of kiddos!