Head and Shoulders.....

Last Saturday we had the privilege of going to one of the favelas (slum)
here in Curitiba.
Karen is a young woman from the church who
volunteers there to teach a class of 9-10 years old English.
They love her!
She had wondered if Warren and I might join her and her nephew, Pedro,
so that the kids can hear English
"without the accent"!

the class (w/ Pedro in front)

We jumped at the chance!
Karen introduced us and then opened the time up for questions and answers.

Questions like:

What do you eat for breakfast in the U.S.?

(they tend to think that all Americans eat bacon, eggs, pancakes, etc.
every morning of our lives. It's a huge disappointment to hear we tend
to open cereal boxes most week days!)

How big is your house?

(I assured them that we don't all live in houses like what they see in the movies.)

How many kids do you have?

How old are you?

(they were told that is rude but I answered anyway!)

What is your favorite food?

(we then had to talk about ice cream for a while!)

Are you rich?

(what? are you kidding? I am soooo very rich in ways that really matter...)
(Warren answered wisely : God provides everything we need.)

teaching the words to the song

After the many questions we were able to teach them a song in English.
Warren had thought of a kids song earlier that morning:

head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and tooooeeees,
eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!

(I know you were humming!)

Writing the words to the song.

We sang it over and over, faster and faster.
With the motions of course!!!!

They also thought they had to teach Warren and I to sing it in Portuguese.
I'm a better teacher than I am a student :(

We finished the time with plenty of hugs and assurances that I would be back next week.
I'm bringing marsh mellows!!!

(Warren will be studying on Saturdays and won't be able to go again)

A stone walking street.

After leaving there we headed to one of the malls where we ate lunch
and then walked around some of the downtown area. Beautiful.

Many beautiful churches in the area. Most of them Catholic.

"My Lord is my God"

I love the colorful buildings in this area.

This area had a small park in the center.

This is a line of Taxis in front of a building where an artist had done the pictures
that you see on it out of tiles.

It was a wonderful day with our new friends, seeing another side of life
and a new-to-us city.

Although, a truly beautiful statue, my first thoughts in seeing it were
"I am so thankful the Savior I serve is no longer on that cross"!

We're enjoying our time here and can hardly believe
that we have already been here for 2 weeks.

Warren starts teaching this Thurs. night.
(John, Flavia and the children arrived in the states yesterday)

We both will speak at a couples dinner on Saturday night.
(It's valentines day here)

Warren will teach twice every Sunday
and I will lead a women's study every other Saturday.

We're needy of prayer.

We are weak but He is strong.