(Steven)

     So I was just wrapping up a pillow fight with one of the girls this evening when I suddenly had the illution that all of this was a dream, the trip, the friendships, the work, I quickly snapped out of it and was just awe-struck by the reality of it all. Here we are, a couple of 19 year old, living and breathing, created human beings who have been blessed with the opportunity to come down to a completely different country and culture where we don't understand the language and build relationships with the people of that land. And all the people here are very real, living and breathing, created in the image of God, human beings. At that point I just sat amazed at all of this and thought of everything we've been blessed with. The ability to walk, breathe, talk, sing... the list goes on for a long time. The possibility of anything coming about by random chance is unthinkable let alone life. It had to be created by God. I start to wonder how anybody could possibly think otherwise. Now Romans 1:18-22 comes to mind. You can go there and read it yourself if you don't already know what it says. I also think of the quotes of Sir Arthur Keith: 

"Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable." 

And George Wald: 

"When it comes to the Origin of Life there are only two possibilities: creation or spontaneous generation. There is no third way.Spontaneous generation was disproved one hundred years ago, but that leads us to only one other conclusion, that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds; therefore, we choose to believe the impossible."

I think that's all pretty self explanitory so I won't say more.
       I know none of this is new to any of you that I know are reading this blog; it's not new to me either, but I just wanted to share my "smack in the face experience from God" with all you and hope that it's a blessing to somebody. Don't take anything you have the abillity to do for granted. It's all a gift from our Creator and it's pretty awesome that he's blessed us with that.

Fighting a War with Prayer (Joshua)

Each new situation provides its own challenges. This experience is no different. After finally getting used to life at CLM Entre Rios, I have found the new change to going to CLM Turvo somewhat challenging. Though not as difficult as first getting to Brazil, Turvo has thrown some new things in my way. The first challenge that faced me was that Turvo is considered the witchcraft city of the state. There has apparently been a lot of demon activity in the past in the city as well as at the home here where we are staying. Things like moving furniture and strange sounds and seeing weird things and the place surrounded. We found some of these things out the afternoon that we arrived and to be frank, it scared me half to death. That night when the electricity went out killing the lights, I was really starting to lose my head. I have to coninually remind myself that God is in control and his angels are protecting me. However, this does not stop the fear that I experience. That was last Thursday night and I have found great comfort from God and the encouragement from others since that time. Last night the leadership of CLM (both Turvo and Entre Rios) had a night of prayer which Steven and I joined them for. The group prayed from around ten to three in the morning walking around the place and laying hands on each of the leaders. It was a powerful time. Though I do not understand what they were saying, I assume much of the prayers were about demon activity and spiritual warefare. It is interesting to me how blind we are in the states when it comes to spiritual battles. One thing Kevin commented on was about Satan's strategy for attack. Maybe the reason we do not see these things very much in the states is because why would Satan want to wake up a church in the US that is asleep. Let them feel that everything is going fine. Make them apathetic to the things that really matter; the things unseen. In some ways I think that Satan has a stronger hold on the US because we do not actually see these things. But, the reality is very real now that I have come to a place where things do happen. I don't know if I will see or hear anything or not but ultimately I know that God has power in this place and I can sleep peacefully at night because of that.

Turvo (Steven)

    We've now spent an afternoon and night at Turvo. So far I must, I'm impressed. Almost nobody speaks english, but the kids have been very helpful already. They gave us a page of Português to english words to work on which I'm very thankful for. Well there's not a lot else to say right now. Just wanted you all to know the curent status. One more thing. If I have hundreds of misspells it's not my fault. It's this portugués computer :)

(Steven)

    So last Sunday afternoon we climbed in the car with Andy and Dan Farney and drove 6 hours to Foz do Iguacu. We did this for multiple reasons. First to take Dan to the airport so he could fly home to his family. Second so Josh and I could renew our unchecked period of 90 days by crossing the border to Argentina so we could get our visas stamped being that we will be in the country for 91. Third so we could pick up Roger and Gwen Stuber who were coming to Brasil after visiting friends in Paraguay. So sense we were in the area, we went to Paraguay the first morning to do a bit of shopping. It was about the craziest thing I had ever experienced. There were hundreds of people on crowded tight streets with cars driving through and another person running up constantly trying to sell us sock, body spray, and flash drives. We bought a couple soccer jerseys then headed back. On the drive back we just had to keep our windows shut i hopes that people would come running up to the car trying to sell stuff while we were stopped waiting to get across the border. It was quite the experience and I must admit, it was kinda fun.
    After that we took Dan to the airport and said our "see ya's", then wet met Roger and Gwen at Iguacu Falls which was nearby.
    The falls really are quite the sight. There are over 200 waterfalls in the area. It's pretty hard to describe them and pictures don't give it the credit it's due, but I'll try the pictures anyway.

This was the begining 

 We went over to the Argentina side and got to get a closer look 

 

(Steven)

This is a post I wrote three nights ago before going to Foz do Iguacu. The internet went bad so I couldn't post it.     

This has been a pretty sweet week. I took part in a large variety of very unique activities. I finished cutting firewood on tuesday. Later that afternoon Josh and I were given task of pulling porcupine quills out of a dogs face. When we first started trying to do that, the dog was screaming so loud the other dogs came running. Seeing it thrashing around biting my gloved hands, they decided it was showing aggression to me and pounced on it. At that point some of the kids jumped in trying to get the other dogs away so there was a mass confusion of dogs, kids, yelling, and barking all in a rather tight place. At that point I picked up the dog and carried it to the wood shop where we could work in peace. After about an hour of fighting the dog, we had all but one or two quills out and decided to call it quits before the dog had a heart attack. Sadly we got no pictures of the experience.

      Another exciting event was on morning when I was sent under the building to check the bolts holding the laundry spinner to the floor. First I had to move a mountain of firewood that was blocking the 15 x 24" door to the crawlspace. After accomplishing that I got down on my belly and slid in. Shining the light to the back, the first thing I saw in wet musty dungeon was two or three rats running back and forth. After finishing my task, I went and reported to Kevin and informed him that there were rats under the building. To that he replied "if rats are the only creature you're having to deal with, you should be thankful. We were guessing there were snakes and tarantulas." 

       We then hopped in the car and headed to the colony to buy some rat poison so I could climb back under and feed them. 

       The rest of the week we spent tearing apart the washing machine and spinner; sand blasting and painting them, the putting them back together. It was all very exciting.

       Last night I camped out with the older boys. I don't have a lot to say about that being that I couldn't understand them, but I can tell you it rained most of the night.

       Today we mostly spent relaxing. I did by doing very little and Josh did by mowing grass.

 Josh giving up efficiency so the boys can gain some valuable experience. What a man! 

Dan hard at work. 

Look at my beautiful paint job! 

Ok... so maybe it's not mine... but at least it's pretty! 

Some requested pictures of Amanda

She didn't want her picture taken so as a punishment we post this bad one :D

All prettied up for the wedding

About to go off the zipline while swimming      

   

    This is sadly going to be our last night here. We will be leaving for Foz de Iguacu tomorrow afternoon and spending a couple nights there. After that we're heading off to Turvo to start another adventure.

Birthday Surprise (Joshua)

It tasted really good

Well, I never thought I would spend a birthday in Brazil but I'm pretty glad I did. For lunch they cooked the usual special Sunday meal that they make; usually pork and rice, some pastries and such. But then for my birthday Jocieli made a cake with my name on it. Everybody sang some version of happy birthday and they clapped, I blew out the candles, and then we ate, after I had taken the first bite. Then Mary brought out three wrapped gifts. I opened them:  a calendar, a shirt, and a hat. That was a really nice thing to get. I was not expecting to get any gifts from anyone. Patrick and Telissa also got me a chocolate bar. So then after I was finishing up my cake I was all of sudden grabbed out of my chair by Kevin and Andy and dragged outside being hung unto by my legs and arms. Then, much to my surprise three eggs came whack smashing into my head and handfuls of flour were thrown all over me from Steven and Amanda, quickly followed by me being thrown into the pool! That was quite the birthday tradition if you ask me.

Lighting the Candles

Me and Victoria

Egg and flour feels weird in your hair

Beauty in Brazil (Joshua)

When most people think of Brazil they think of lush jungles of the Amazon filled with large snakes, bugs, trees of all kinds, and lots of water. Southern Brazil is not actually like that at all. It is a plateau with a lot of farmland and is at 5,000 feet elevation the same as Denver, Colorado. However, while most of where we are is not junglish; there are patches that make us wonder if we are in the jungle. Steven and I did some hiking yesterday in a very thick and green forest area behind the home. After biking back aways in the fields we decided to venture into the forest to see if we could find the waterfall that we could hear from the field. It took us a while to get to the water as we slowly made our way down through the dense wood down a cliff and through some not so fun poky plants. But after a while we made it to the river and saw a beautiful waterfall. Steven was the first to notice that there were many rocks in the river that would be perfect to climb up the river. So, for the next hour or so we made our way up stream jumping on rocks and weaving into the forest when rocks were not available. We had traveled for so time when we realized that there were steep cliff faces on both sides of the river with no rocks in the river to jump to. Instead of turning around we decided we would scale the walls grabbing ahold of roots or climbing up trees. Steven was the first to get up to the top and with some help from him and a trustworthy tree I was able to get up as well. When we had climbed up the rest of the small hill to see where we were we saw that we were on the opposite side of the field from where our bikes were. So, we walked for about half an hour around back to the home and on the road to get our bikes. As we passed through the home we heard we were invited to lunch by Bethany and Juan (Bethany works here at CLM). We got cleaned up and went to eat at their house which is about ten minutes drive back on dirt roads full of pot holes and mud. We made it to their house and had a very nice meal of tomatoes and onions, rice casserole, and cabbage salad. It was very good. We talked for a while and then we found out we were going on another hike though some fields and forest back to yet another waterfall. We weren't quit prepared for it; me with my flip-flops and Steven in his dress shoes (his other ones were wet); but we took off on the trek anyway. I soon found out flip-flops would not work well when wet, so I took then off and hiked on the forest paths barefoot! The hike took about 45 minutes one way and it rained the whole way back. The waterfall was cool but I was definitely tired from the previous hike and was looking forward to a nice shower and dry clothes. Later that evening we went out to eat with Kevin and family to a Cafe in Victoria. Afterward, we watched The Sting on Steven's lap top, were pleasantly interrupted by a Skype call from my family, and then we went to bed. A very good and full day.

Yes, this is real life

One of Jake's Bike that we took

Beautiful

Awesome Spider

This is who I live with...

Fun Day at the Park (Joshua)

This last Friday all of CLM went to a park in one of the colonies here. Since school is starting soon, they had a big going back to school party thing to end the summer here. It was a nice park with a lake for swimming, a zip line, small soccer field, shelter and fire pit. The older boys and Steven and I took advantage of the nice morning weather and biked the seven kilometer distance to the park. Wow, was that interesting trying to bike on those crazy roads. The cars got pretty close sometimes and the other boys would switch lanes depending on which direction the cars were coming from. Steven and I didn't know which side of the road to ride on. But we made it to the park safety. Once we were at the park we swam for a couple of hours and went of the high dive and zip line. I really am starting to wonder if the kids here are part fish because swimming is all they like to do. They love the water so much and can swim really well in it too. For lunch we had sandwiches under the shelter. After lunch we swam some more and I played soccer with some of the adults from the church and older boys. That evening we had hot dogs in the fire pit. I had about eight or so and kind of regretted it. You can buy hotdogs in bags or 100 for like 10 reals (currency pronounced hay-i-s) which is only around six dollars. Really cheap hot dogs in more way than one. We biked back then leaving after the rain from the afternoon had died down. Overall a pretty good day.

Steven on the Zip Line

Cook Out

Patrick and Telissa 

Romulo and Amanda by the fire pit

Soccer (fyi Brazilians are good at soccer)

(Steven)

    Isn't it interesting how two things usually happen when you're around somebody for awhile. You start enjoying your time with them more and they annoy the dickens out of you. I guess those are the marks of friendship. After hearing myself referred to as 'Chica' for the hundredth time or having my ears pulled on to the point of tearing, I'm about ready to do some serious kick-but on them (which is exactly what the boys calling me a girl are looking for), but at the same time I wouldn't trade this time for anything and I'm going to miss everyone of these kids when I leave.
    This really was a great week. I did the usual mowing or cutting firewood in the morning. On two or three, maybe four different days "fights" broke out right after work. I personally thought it was pretty fun. The first time Kevin gave one of the boys permission to throw water on me. That resulted in me giving him a nice wholesome meal of grass. Then he threw water on Josh and that resulted in him learning how to fly. On another day I got myself caught up in a "wedgie war". I'm pleased to announce I tore somewhere between 6 and 10 pairs of underwear or pants. I won't tell you how mine turned out. The boys seemed to enjoy it because when I walked into the dining room for lunch right after, they all raised a cheer for me :D

Arivaldo hard at work with the firewood 

Josh... Working hard.... or so it seems 

 Telissa got involved in a mud fight with the girls

 Me on a waterfall

Posing as a lion on a rock we found on our hike   

Don't ask 

The beast! 

I'm in front of a cliff in the woods. 

(Steven)

  Something that I've been trying to be careful with is being overly protective of my stuff. When I first got here I was trying to keep all my stuff safe and was worried that one of the kids would break in and take all my stuff. While I'm still always careful to lock my room and keep my things safe as possible, I also want to show the kids that I trust them and want to be-friend them. There's been a couple occasions where the boys asked about using my computer to watch a movie and at first it scared me, but then I told myself that none of this belongs to me. It ALL belongs to the God and if I'm going to place these worldly possessions over these kids, then I never should have come. Since I've started being freer with it, the boys have opened up and have come into our room with us just to hang out. It's been great slowly getting to know them.