BELÉM…

I got to Belém (which, by the way, is Bethlehem) June 1, got my bags really quickly (yay!!), and was met by my parents. We walked out of the airport into a sauna… I mean into the parking lot. I knew I was going to die in the humidity here! Man, that day was super hot – at least it wasn’t just me saying that. :) In Brasília it had gotten hot but was still dry, so mostly what still bothers me here is the oppressive humidity pushing down on me – not so much the heat. It just feels way worse because it’s wet. When I left Canada in May it was already over 30 degrees, and a few weeks ago I heard that it was around there again. Too bad I have to miss the only warm time there. ;)

The first few weeks in Belém I didn’t do much in terms of sight seeing. The 1^st day I got to see quite a few ppl again who were around the school (teachers & students). A lot of the teachers are new, so I also met some of them. The next day I went to chapel, which was small & different, and that night was the AVA graduation. I was definitely not impressed with it. I had come back when I did in order to make it to grad, but it was lame compared to my grad and others I had remembered. The 2 graduating (that’s right, I said 2) were Brazilians, so their families got there late & it started late. But there was hardly anyone there! The place used to always get packed out for grad, and now it was just high schoolers & the graduands’ families who came, pretty much. Not even all the teachers or families of younger kids, like they used to.

(Here's a blurry pic of the two grads, and then me with Mike at grad. He makes me feel so short....)

Maybe it was partly because they weren’t MKs (that more people didn't come), but I was saddened those first two days by the lack of school spirit here (not just from grad but from stuff I talked about w/ my bro & mom too). I’m so glad my high school was better & had great teachers who got involved with us – I would’ve hated it like this!! I went to the last chapel too - awards chapel, where Mike got a bunch of stuff. This is a couple of HS girls looking at their yearbooks afterwards.

Anyway, the rest of that week (June 5-12) I helped around the house, watched soccer (World Cup!), read, wrote emails, & got ready for our mission’s Conference that would be starting the next week (June 13-17). It’s a time when all the missionaries from the various fields get together at a hotel on the beach (hard life, I know…) to have business meetings, devotionals, fun, etc. I was in charge of choosing music & putting together a team for 4 of 8 sessions there. This was actually a new experience for me, bigger than what I had done in high school and more than I had done in college – there I just played piano, I didn’t have to lead the group! Anyway, so that was a challenge but it ended up going well – I found people to sing & play with me, we practiced before & at the Conference, and I think people enjoyed it.

The first pic is me with the group I played with 3 times - I had a trumpeter/guitar player & a violinist, plus 3 of us sang. It was fun to have different instruments. The other pic is me with the youth - we were involved in the last night's meeting, so I wanted some of them to help me with music. I just sang & let the guy on keyboard talk & play.

It was great to see so many people again, and to meet or see lots of new people that I had only heard about but not met yet. I also hung out with the youth during that week, instead of going to the adults’ meetings, so that was fun. All these kids were like in junior high or littler when I left – and now high schoolers! Craaaazy. It was cool though, getting to know them better (since before they were really little & I obviously wasn’t friends with them! ;)), helping with snacks, leading a discussion group, playing games…. I’m discovering that I really like working with kids and being a friend to youth. I was so blessed as an MK to have many godly people around me, and now I enjoy being a big sister to these high schoolers, to have fun with them, encourage them, share with them, and hopefully be a help to them in some way. It’s funny when I think how many “little” friends I have! :D

The week after Conference I pretty much didn’t do anything, because I was SICK! I had started getting a sore throat right before it, but thankfully God held it off till the last day, when I didn’t have to sing anymore. So right after getting back I was hoarse for about 3 days, and after that I had a bad cough for several days. Good grief. I hadn’t had such a cough in a long time, and it was NOT fun. So I spent those days reading, blogging, emailing, and watching TV. At least it wasn't like a flu sick... I guess....