Toothless Michael

Michael has lost 3 teeth in less than a month! No corn on the cob for him for a while!

The Bananal Island of the Karajá Indians

Steve got back at the end of the afternoon on Sunday from his 5 day experience with the Karajá Indians. A business man from the US grew up in this tribe and wanted to show the movie "The Passion of Christ" to them. His daughter, mother, and father also went on this trip. Steve had lots of fun and came home with a bad sunburn! (He claims he forgot that I had packed the sunscreen!) The Karajá Indians have the New Testament in their langauge and have missionaries living with them. Steve said that the men speak Portuguese, but the women only speak their native language. The Bananal island is in the Araguaia river and is a very large island. Only the Karajás can live on the island, but there are towns and tourist areas just across the water on the shores of the river.

Their homes and faces

Notice all the dogs sitting around. Steve said there were another 3-4 that he didn't get into the picture!

Their homes are made of a type of dried mud brick.

Capivara

I don't know if they are called capivaras in English, but that is what we call them here in Brazil! They are part of the rodent family and are quite large. When we were camping a few years ago along the Araguaia river, we saw a family of capivaras and the mommy was the size of a very large dog. This one is tame and "belongs" to one of the Karajá indians.

Tropical birds

Steve said that all the Karajás have lots of pets. Aren't these birds just amazing?! Of course Michael and Maira want parrots now. Even though it would be neat, I would never want to keep a bird from flying high in the sky. I think the kiddos understood and are content with the 2 dogs and 3 cats!

Turtle soup anyone?

Apparently, they eat a lot of turtle meat...Steve said it isn't bad. Not that I would really want to know for myself though. I would have to seriously consider becoming a vegetarian if I were to visit their tribe!

Showing the movie...

Steve was responsible for setting up the "screen" and getting the equipment ready for showing the movie. They showed the movie "The Passion of Christ" and "The GodMan".

No living thing is left out...

Oh yes, we even let the stray dogs watch the movie about Jesus! This one payed close attention during most of the film, but kept getting distracted by distant noises that only a dog can hear...or maybe it was a distant smell of something. You never can tell with dogs. Anyway, he didn't make a decision that night, but we are sure that he heard all about Jesus! (Dogs do go to heaven, don't they??)
P.S. Please don't call the mission board...I'm just kidding!

Steve doing what he does...

Steve and I are somewhat different from many couples because he is much more the talker than I am! I especially admire his ability to carry on a conversation when I see him telling others about Jesus. By the time I figure out how to start a conversation, he already knows half of their life-story! There is a lady that called our house a year ago who Steve had shared the truth of Jesus with on the Project in 2005. She was calling to let him know that she was still strong in her faith even though she was having trouble finding a church that accepted her. She had kicked out her live-in boyfriend the day after Steve had talked to her and had changed her ways. Anyway, one of our teams went to this same town this year and Steve told them to find this lady and check up on her. (It was easy to find her because she has a mermaid painted on the wall outside her house!) So they visited with her and she was so excited that she wanted to go door-to-door evangelizing with the team! And she did! Now that is really neat!

Our Favorite Team Members!

Well, we do gotta eat! Here are the ladies who kept us well feed and very happy! The one in the orange vest is Eliane. She is the mom of the girl who watches my kiddos while I am at Asas. She is a dear friend and it was so neat to have her with us this year on the Project. She is a wonerful cook...I did pull some strings to make sure she was on my team! The other ladies are from the local church of Taiobeiras and they were a huge help to Eliane. These ladies served us with all their hearts and they really worked hard.

Children's Program, day 1 and 2

Here are some pictures of the kids who participated in the children's program on the first and second day in the community of Taiobeiras in Minas Gerais. Each day we had clsoe to 200 children attend. The school was quite large and things went smoothly after the first day. It took the first day for my teens on the children's ministry team to get the awakening that they needed as to their need for preparation and organization! I can proudly say that after the first day, my team keep the children extremely organized!