Jesusluvsall's Blog

As I write this, I wonder if there will be a fun adventure for me this year. June has been a month of fun adventures for me. When I think of fun adventure, Brazil definitely comes to mind. I have had many amigos brasilieros, Brazilian friends, over the years and have had a lot of fun with the ones who came to the university in my city as students. So when Pastor Johny shared at my church in June 2012 that they had done many things for students, but want to do something for teachers, I knew it was something I wanted to do.

My home church in Lincoln, First Free Church, partners with a church in Rio do Sul Brazil a small city in Santa Catarina. The name of the church is Celivris. Groups have gone there from my church in June for many years, but the focus has been on high school students going, so I did not try to go. When Pastor Johny said they wanted to do something for teachers, I was hooked. After all, I am a teacher. 🙂

In June 2013, I went to Brazil for the first time. I LOVED being in Brazil. It was a great experience to meet teachers at their schools, show the computer teachers some free websites for English, and meet the wonderful people of igreja Celivris, Celivris church. We even watched a futbol match, soccer, at the church one evening.

At the end of our time in Rio do Sul, we put on an English Camp. It was a weekend of fun and games in English and also some classes. I provided a seminar for teachers in the morning. One school I had visited was in Pouso Redando a small city about a 45 minute drive from Rio do Sul. The teachers there had been having a difficult year because of complications in remodeling the school. So I went to their school on a Wednesday evening to do a shortened version of the seminar for the teachers there.

There were so many new adventures for me that came about in my life because of that trip, but more about that in future posts.

I will never forget my first evening there. I was tired after a LONG flight and wanted to go to my host home, but Johny told me he needed to do something at the church first. When I got there, they surprised me with cake for my birthday. It was also the first time I drank Guarana, a soda I LOVE.

Landing in Brazil on my birthday that year was like the perfect birthday gift from God, through my church,  to me. The cake and Guarana woke me up for a little while, but then it was time to go to my host home.

The next morning after sleeping eleven hours, I made brigadeiro, a chocolate treat made from sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder and butter, for the first time, or I should say I helped stir it.

In all of my travels and among all of my friends from other countries, Brazilians have given me some of my best memories. I hope to go back again. My dream would be to travel around the country for several weeks to see friends in their home cities.