HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR HEATHER!

Ok, so today we had a birthday party... for Heather, the intern missionary here for those of you who don't know who she is! Actually, it was just one of the parties we have each Friday that was themed like a birthday party, and we realized at the party that Heather's birthday is on Wednesday. So, that's whose birthday party we decided it was and it was awesome. People didn't start coming really until about 7:30, and then there was enough people to keep things going for the evening. It's a really good time to meet the readers outside of Bible study, get to know the Missionaries better and also meet people within the church down here. At this party, we played some pretty funny games that are mainly for teenagers or younger but everyone of every age is willing to do it and have a really good time. There weren't as many people as we'd hoped, but everyone there had a real good time and we just hope that by next week or the following we will have more show up and have fun with us as well! Also, we had those long balloons that you make animals out of everywhere, and everyone was trying to make things or wearing stupid hats and running around; there were babies running everywhere and screaming and balloons flying everywhere (I almost typed 'there were babies flying everywhere' haha that would have been awesome too). So overall very hectic and noisy and that made it all better. Ryan also made a cake today that he decorated with different colours of icing into a picture of mountains and the sun... Oh man it was awesome and tasty. Anyways, that was our party, I'm sure we'll have pictures posted everywhere.

We also each had some readers today which was really good, at least for me I know it was, and actually I know it was for everyone as well. Unfortunately, some Brazilians are still pulling hooky and not showing up for all their classes, but enough of them have come and we've stayed busy. Today, only 2 of my readers showed up but they combined for 3-4 hours of really good Bible study and hang-out time. My one reader- get this: Julio Cesar (sounds like Julius Cesear!)- has come for 2 double sessions now. His english has already improved and that's kind of cool, but he just loves to study the Bible. Today we went through the section in Luke that talks about the Pharisee who prayed about how good he was while the tax collector was super humble in the temple, and also the section where Jesus rides in on a donkey into Jerusalem. It's really cool to talk with people from another culture about these stories and sometimes have a really similar understanding of the text. Afterwards he said he really appreciated being able to talk about the Bible to someone because he is used to just being taught in a more formal setting and not discussing as much. He said it was good because some things he didn't always understand and talking about it clears things up a lot. Iduno, he's just a really cool guy and I think maybe not having as many readers show up as we have scheduled maybe brings me a little closer to the readers that do come everytime they're scheduled. He just has a really good heart and it's awesome. My other reader today is 17 years old and his name is Filipe and he's a really cool kid too. I guess he's grown up in the church his whole life and says while he tries to read at least a few chapters every night before bed, he's no different than anyone else I know and falls asleep or forgets on occasion just like I know I do! We went through the story of the Angel coming to Mary and talked about a lot of different things. For such a young kid, he has a very strong faith and a lot of knowledge about more spiritual things and it's really cool to see. Ok, one more reader story only because this guy is really cool. His name is Marcelo; he's a new reader and has only come twice but he's super awesome. He's around 35 years old and he also just has a really good heart for serving people. He wants so badly to learn english so he can go to an english school and get a degree or whatever in language so I told him he can as many times as he wants. Well did he ever take advantage of that! He's going to come Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday! He's just so pumped to learn english and talk about Luke and everything it's really cool. He's a pretty quiet and humble guy, and it seems like he's gone through some stressful times (as I know all of have) and I just love hanging out with him and reading with him.

FF of the day- 'Sweet Dreams' (not sure who it's by) was song of the day today... Leandro sang it all day and got it stuck in all of our heads.

FF#2- the Brazilian version of happy birthday is wayyyy more fun than our version, you should look it up on youtube, it's awesome.

Well, maybe I'll to bed a bit early today, that would be nice eh? Hope you all are doing well, keep praying for us!

JG