Typical Day

Let me begin by contradicting myself. There never is a ‘typical’ day here! There are always twists and turns that keep life very interesting.

At 7 am, several people need to go out and feed the chickens, carry the trash to the end of the road (if you had to do this you would never again complain about taking the trash to the garbage can). When I say the end of the road I mean it is probably ¼ of a mile…and not level. We also need to feed the dogs and last, but not least….well, maybe least liked of all the chores, we need to clean up after the dogs, if you know what I mean. Poop patrol. Who, when they sign up for a missions trip, ever, in their wildest dreams, think that will mean cleaning up doggie doodoo? No one. Hmmmm, I wonder if anyone will ever sign up for the EnglishBridge trip again????? Think of it as character building…cleaning up dog droppings helps to develop the virtue of humility. I know…that’s a stretch.

At 8 am we have a team meeting. This is just the US team. We check and see how everyone is doing…health-wise, sleeping, culture shock, etc. Jenn goes over what she will be teaching in the classroom. We also take some time to discuss where we sense God working in us. It is easy to see what He is doing in the program but we also want to pay attention to what He is doing in each one of us. Some of the most amazing transformations I have witnessed in others’ lives began when they were on a missions trip.

At 8:30 we eat breakfast which is usually fresh baked bread, jam, peanut butter and fruit. There is also plenty of wonderful Brazilian coffee. At 9 am we enter into a time a worship. The music portion is student led. They do a wonderful job. Then one of the team members gives a brief devotion. At 9:30 class begins. This morning Jenn gave them a new ‘idiom of the day’…’a needle in a haystack’. Yesterday it was ‘when pigs fly’ The students love them and then try to work them into conversation every chance they get. And you know from yesterday’s blog that there is also a verb of the day…today’s was ‘to suffocate’. I really don’t know where she is getting these verbs! :0)

We went over future tense verbs, definite and indefinite. Fun stuff. Not really. But Jenn makes it seem pretty painless. We play games like Bingo and memory to help re-inforce what they are learning.

We break at noon for lunch, which you now know is awesome. The entire team loves the food and we love the cooks. Every day they leave us a surprise…some type of cake, so we have a lovely dessert for evening.

At 1 pm, we have another class period. Today they began to practice a play, The Little Red Hen, which they will perform on Friday. At 1:30, we have language helper time which is a time where the students can ask questions and get individual help with vocabulary or grammar. We have a break from 3 – 5 for rest, walking, sleeping, etc. 5 pm is large group game. Last night we did the Human Knot. The students and team had a great time trying to ‘untie’ themselves. Then the students taught us two games they like to play. It was a relaxing time for the entire group to be together. Before dinner we have time to play cards, Scrabble, Phase Ten…small groups games. Again these times provide great opportunities for casual conversation. Occasionally, we will have a movie. Although the students love movies, we limit this activity as it doesn’t allow for a lot of interaction.

6 pm is dinner and clean up and afterwards we have conversation or play games. Although the schedule remains the same, each day is unique in the types of conversations and interactions that the students are having with the team.

Again, I have written a book. But I always feel there is so much more to tell. We want you (families, friends, past team members, churches) to be a part of this experience. So please forgive my detailed blogging. In the future you can just plan on spending a good chunk of your day on reading this blog. I think it is a good use of your time.

Tomorrow I will focus on some of the unique things we are seeing and experiencing here.

Until then,
Deb