Introducing....Bethany as your new blog hostess!

I wrote this yesterday, but was unable to post it, so it's a day late :(
Hello all! This is Bethany blogging for the first time, not Amanda. It has been quite a while since we've updated...so I'm sure you've been waiting in suspense to hear more of the adventures in Brazil.
Well...we finished out the rest of last week washing all of the windows of the Bible School buildings and squeegying floors inside and out! This will become a regular morning routine for the next 5 months :)
We woke up bright and early at 3:15 am on Saturday morning to attend the women's conference in Londrina. It was just a day trip, so Amanda and I boarded the bus with only our purses and Bibles. Everyone else got on with a large bag or suitcase. We had no idea what these women were lugging along and we felt very out of place, not knowing what we had forgotten to bring, especially when we could not speak their language to ask them. It turned out that they had brought along all their shower supplies and AT LEAST 2 changes of clothes! Brazilians have extremely good hygiene and take at least 2 showers per day. It was a very hot day so everyone was sure to do so, and they brought their swimming suits to cool off in the lovely pool. Amanda and I were covered in sweat the whole day, yearning to enter the swimming pool, or shower or something! We have now made a vow to never leave to go anywhere without at least 2 changes of clothes again. This was one of our most embarrassing moments in Brazil. Despite feeling completely out of place with the clothing issue, it was a lovely day. We got to meet women from Londrina, Maringa, Curitiba, and our very own Campo Mourao. Hopefully we will be seeing them again soon, as we are planning to visit and share (skits, testimonies, music...) at many of the AFLC churches here in Brazil during our stay. Ladies of the two churches in Londrina hosted the event. Please keep these churches in your prayers as they are dealing with issues of direction right now. We made it back to Campo at about 3 am on Sunday morning. When we arrived back to our dormitory on Sunday we had a pleasant (NOT) surprise of two SOPAS (giant toads a little bigger than a softball) that made our home their's. We both screamed and ran to get the boys to dispose of them. After letting them outside, the boys braved the dorm checking for any more critters that might have decided to move in. Nothing else turned up but we still have not found the culprit of the mess in the downstairs bathroom. We're still a little leery of that. Anyway, we keep our door locked at night now. This morning the maintenance Edival and Karla and our cook, Odete, said that they heard our screams and were wondering what the crazy Americans were up to. How embarrassing!
Today turned out to be an absolutely wonderful day. Amanda and I started the morning by sweeping out all of the Bible School buildings. Then, after lunch we had a short english class with Karla. We taught her 18 english words :) Following that we began cleaning out the girl's dormitory to prevent other animals from making their homes there. We also got to work with Jon and Nate on our skit and songs that we will be sharing when we visit the church in Maringa this weekend. Then...we got a happy surprise! We found out that 3 sisters had just moved in to the Miriam Infant Home on Sunday. We went over to meet Melina (11), MariaEduarda (8), and Gabriella (5) and to play with them. At first they were very shy and quiet. However, they came out of their shells after being tickled! There mother was not able to sufficiently provide for them. We are so excited to have these girls to befriend and play with every day. Hopefully we'll get some pictures of them up soon. Please keep them in your prayers as they have to start a brand new school tomorrow. Also, when we first saw them they seemed very sad. I'm sure they've had a hard life, so pray that we might be a blessing to them and that we would have the opportunity to share with them about Jesus!
Our day ended with a churrasco to begin the new year of Bible School, so we had a nice time visiting with students and teachers. Before it started we got to have our first Portuguese lesson with Pastor Anilton. It was very informative and fun! We learned pronouns and vocabulary and are sooooooo excited for our next lesson with him.
Okay, this has been an extremely long post so I'll end it here, but hopefully I'll be better about giving a little input on our blog more often (when my online classes don't interfere so much). I'm so thankful that I have Amanda as my teammate who really enjoys blogging, etc :)

In HIS Grip,
Bethany

P.S. Our tastebuds are getting a little bit tired of rice and beans, so please pray for more tolerance in that area of our lives!