Miachael-san the judo man

Steve and I decided that Michael needed some kind of physical sport/activity this year. I wish we had baseball or basketball here, but we don't so I had to think of something else. You are probably thinking, "duh, what about soccer!" Well, I thought long and hard about that, but I have heard some things that left me thinking that it would be close to impossible to find a team that would be a positive experience for him. I happened to remember seeing children in the video rental store wearing the karate style clothes and I knew they were the owner's children, so I stopped by and asked the owner where they take their kids for training. Turns out that it is judo class, not karate. The owner even told me to tell the people at the judo academy that he sent me and that I would give me a discount! Well, do I need more confirmation that this is from God???? I don't think so! I talked to Michael about it and he was really excited. I took him for a test-run and he LOVED it. So, Michael used some of the birthday money he got from his Papaw and Mamaw to buy judo clothes and we have made the judo academy our new hang-out from 6pm-7:20pm on most evenings! Maira doesn't want to take lessons, but she does some of the exercises on the bench as we wait. She wants to take ballet, but we'll have to find some place with a discount! Anyway, there are days that there are about 4-5 kids Michael's size, but the day I took the camera there were only big guys training. Michael's not intimidated though, and goes at it with all he's got! What is really great is the way the owner/trainer stresses respect and self-discipline, enforcing what we are teaching at home. There is a great spirit of encouragement during the training as well...when one of the guys is struggling with a certain exercise, the others tell him to "keep breathing", "you can do it", etc. Now, when it comes to the actual competition stage of judo, I'm not sure how this mommy will be able to watch!

A Unique Birthday Party

This is the most unique birthday party I have ever been to. I happened to get involved with this after a phone call on Thursday afternoon. A friend of mine asked me if I could help coordinate a program for about 200 kids on Sunday! I wanted to pretend that the phone suddenly went dead, but instead I agreed to help. These 200 kids are from a poor section of town and a man named Washington invites underpriviledged children to his house every year for his birthday. He gives them a wonderful lunch and someone always does a program for the kids. This friend of mine did hear me clearly state that a 2 day notice would not be sufficient in the future, but just this once I would try to throw something together. Another young lady in the mission helped me call around and we quickly formed a group of 8 who was willing to help. Turns out that there were only 120 children on Sunday (can you imagine only 120 children in YOUR house?) and there was another team that works with the kids every year that was there. Oh, yes...the ever present lack-of-communication strikes again. We quickly joined the two groups and combined both programs. They led the singing and then did a short skit. As it turns out, they were really struggling with what to do this year and they were happy that we showed up.

Our team had 4 stations for the kids to rotate through: story, craft, dance, and (the big distraction) the trampolines that Washington rented for the occasion! This is a picture of the craft station where the kids made a "God's eye" using the colors of the Wordless Book. I'm not sure why it is called a "God's eye", so I didn't even tell them that is what it is called. Most of them decided to use is as a ninja throwing object! Oh well....at least they got to hear the story of the Wordless Book!

Washington has been a Christian for only 2 years, yet he has done this for kids for at least 10 years. He owns a beauty salon here in town and saves money all year so that he can celebrate his birthday by giving a special day to these children. Humbling, isn't it?

Asas Family Conference

January 24-27, Asas de Socorro had their family conference. We had a wonderful time together with lectures in the mornings and free-time every afternoon and evening. There was a wonderful lady who took care of the children during the mornings and they had their own time of growth around the theme of Psalms 119:11. Even little Maira memorized the whole verse! The conference was in Caldas Novas, a hot spring town about 2 hours from Anápolis, so the afternoons and evenings were spent in the warm water pools chatting with everyone! Maira was still taking antibiotics and recovering from pneumonia, so I had to be firm with naptime and bedtime schedules. I was just so happy that we could go and the doctor gave me strict instructions to not let Maira play in the hot sun for very long, not to put her head under water in the pools, and not to let her go in the pools at night. Maira knew the rules and had no trouble with them. It was so fun to be able to relax and talk with the other missionaries in the mission during these days! So often we work together daily but we don't have the time to casually talk and just have fun! The speaker for the conference was excellent and challenged us individually and also as a mission. I was particularly challenged by the lecture he gave on not giving up on the dreams that God has given us and he used the story of Hannah as his reference. I have several dreams that I have not fulfilled, so I am praying for God to show me if these dreams are mine or His!