Soccer, Babies, Bananas, the Amazon, etc.

On Thursday we had a new girl arrive at the orphanage. Her name is Larissa and she is 8 years old. At first she was really confused as to why she was here, and had to leave her 7 year old and 10 month old brothers. It was so hard to tell her that we didn't know either. All we could do was hug her. Later, we found out from Sarai, the director of the orphanage, that she was being abused by her grandfather. She is a very nice girl. Please pray for her!
Much of Friday and Saturday were spent preparing for our BrasilAmericano night, Saturday evening. We got to visit some colleges and english schools around Campo Mourao, and invite them. We also prepared by giving them a taste of some American food. We made chocolate chip cookies, salsa, and quesadillas (a little on the Mexican side). The Brazilian food that they made was very delicious as well! They made tapioca, which we think of as a type of pudding, but it was fried in oil and filled with ham and cheese. We had a wonderful turnout of 40-50 people and got to share our testimonies, cultural differences that we've seen, and sing songs in both portuguese and english.
On Sunday we were able to take in the second Brazil game of the World Cup. When Brazil plays during the World Cup, everything stops in the country. All work stops, schools are let out, no stores are open and all the streets are silent, while everyone watches the game. It is similar to the Superbowl in the U.S., only seen as even more important! They have now won their first 2 games :) After the game, we got to sing for the service at Cohapar.
Our Monday consisted of more doctor's appointments for the 11 month old twins, Thavilidy and Altieres. Everywhere we take them, they have lots of admirers! This time was no different. We had 15 or 20 different ladies stop and play with them and ask about them. Everyone wants to adopt them (however their mother is still involved and wants them very much, so this is not possible). Please continue to keep them in your prayers as we just found out at a recent appointment that they both have fetal alcohol syndrome and will be growing and learning slower than normal their whole life. This was definitely the most difficult appointment we've had to face. It was absolutely heartbreaking.
We found out last week that we will not be able to go on the missions trip to Paraguay, as they're out of space on the bus. So, we are now planning on making a trip up to the Amazon on July 8th. Hopefully we'll be able to share with some of the tribes that we meet as we go travel up the river. Please pray for our safety and health during this trip (denghy is a definite possibility with all the mosquitos up there).
So...I'll end with a funny story about Ana, our 4 year old. This morning we walked over to the orphanage and started talking and playing with all the girls and Ana was eating a banana. Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting on her bed in her room and there were like 3 more banana peels sitting on her nightstand. Amanda and I hadn't seen anyone else eating bananas and we looked at each other and said, "Where are all these banana peels coming from?" Ana currently had a banana in her hand that she was eating, which we thought was still the first one. We asked the other girls where all the banana peels were coming from and they just smiled and said that Ana really likes bananas. Ana then proceeded to open up the drawer on her nightstand to get another banana and we found a cluster of about 12 more bananas. She had been going to town on the bananas, and trying to eat as many as she possibly could before she got caught! We just laughed and left the bananas in her drawer. We'll have to check in her drawer again tomorrow to make sure we don't end up with a drawer full of rotten bananas :) We might have to make banana bread (what a treat!), if we leave them too long.
I'll leave it at that for now, and update more sooner rather later!
In Christ,
Bethany