Language!

 Both of us have been finding the language quite tiring - I have really enjoyed catching up with some of my friends who I worked in Happy Child with, and speaking loads of Portuguese again but it's frustrating when lots of common words escape you and you know the accent sounds a bit classic, and I often get home exhausted. Claire is really enjoying hearing and speaking again, and even though she's picking it up again so quickly, I think it is a lot more frustrating for her, people's perceptions of who you are based on how much you speak..i'm sure she'll describe it herself...it's going to be a difficult first period with language but we're looking forward so much to building relationships with people in Medina so I think we'll get through it!

Matt, Dani and Milo! Matt and Dani run Meninadança in Brazil, and they are looking after us very well in Belo before we head up to Medina :o)

    View over Belo Horizonte from our room in Matt & Dani's flat

(Claire) Setting foot in Brazil

Normally when I arrive in a new country after a long-haul flight, I feel that surreal, slightly detached sensation that comes with suddenly ‘appearing’ half way around the world in a matter of hours! Everything seems different around you and it’s hard to take it all in and really feel through and through that you’ve arrived. This time however we walked out of the airport, met Matt (who had patiently waited a very long time for us to come through!), and wheeled our bags to the car, feeling entirely normal, unsurprised and deeply peaceful! The sun wasn’t particularly showing itself, and I wouldn’t say the scenery was the exotic tropical horizon that some might imagine when landing in Brazil, and so there wasn’t really any scope for romanticised feelings of ‘finally arriving in the Americas!’. I just felt extremely happy, peaceful and interested in learning about my new surroundings. It struck me that this may well be one of many ways that I would feel the difference of having had such a long time to prepare; yes we’d said goodbye to England, travelled thousands of miles in a matter of hours to our new home, and yet there was absolutely no way that my mind could be shocked! That was a wonderful feeling, and just in the first few days of being here there have been many more such moments...

(Claire) Saying goodbye

Saying goodbye to our families was the last big hurdle that we had to jump before we made it to Brazil. I’d been dreading that moment, as my parents live in South Africa for half of the year and so we didn’t know when we were going to see each other again. We all woke up at 3am, ouch! To get to Heathrow for our 6am flight. Everything went smoothly at the check-in, all our many bags were just the right weight (relief!) and so, all too quickly, the time to say goodbye arrived. Somehow having a ‘next date to meet’ seemed like it would have helped, but without knowing when that would be it was instead a painful “I’ll see you when I see you”. After making it through security we sat down for a quick coffee and I read through the beautiful leaving book that my Mum had made for us, with encouraging words and smiling pictures of friends… I read this entry and was reminded that I walk hand-in-hand with God, and with him nothing changes…


“In heavenly love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear,
And safe in such confiding,
For nothing changes here;
The storm may roar without me,
My heart may low be laid;
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed?”

I decided not to push any of the emotion down, but let it all out (!) so that there would be room for the deep joy and excitement that I’d been feeling up until this point to re-surface. And so it did! As I sat on the plane ready to take-off, I thought, with excitement bubbling, ‘we’re about to fly into the next chapter…’ !

(Sam)

Oh man!! The time has arrived...it's Tuesday night and we're flying at 6am tomorrow morning so there's very few hours of sleep left.
I am so tired from a ridiculously hectic month, but my head is still spinning too much to head to bed yet.

It feels so surreal that we will be there tomorrow afternoon, in a completely different situation..and so it's hard to actually engage with the feelings that accompany it. We are definitely sad, especially thinking of the last goodbye to our families tomorrow, and also pretty daunted at the thought of what we're stepping into..mostly because of the many uncertainties and even though we've tried to build as much of a picture as possible, I still feel a bit like we're heading into the unknown.

All day today though, amidst the surreal numb feelings and the sadness and uncertainty/stress/fear, I have definitely been getting that jittery excited feeling too!! There's no turning back now. All our stuff is packed, stored or chucked, we have the flight tickets and so we just have to get on the plane and we'll literally be taken there..aagh! I feel slightly inadequate and rather nervous, but also massively excited at the potential of what could happen as we just simply show up and let God use us.

Please Father stir our hearts but calm our nerves, and take us safely there tomorrow. Please guide us in plans and preparations over the next few weeks and then by your grace grant us amazing favour in the community of Medina as we try to build relationships with those we're going to work with, with other services and schools, and above all with the young girls and their families that we desperately want to reach. Help us to understand them and to make decisions that will be transformative and life-giving for them and their whole community. Amen.

3 weeks before we fly!

Claire:

Three weeks left and I have an overwhelming desire to pack!! The other day we had a few Giant suitcases delivered…with TAP Portugal you get a hefty 64kg each! I’m so excited about filling them! A few friends have given us beautiful things to take to put in the Pink House (safe house in Medina) One friend gave beautiful colouring books, plasticine, pencils and paints – all in exchange for a hair-cut! I did warn her before I got chopping that my basic skills were acquired in the course that cost me £8 and a bag of beans ;) I’m looking forward to packing well… taking things from our lovely home here to help set up home there. I know that culture shock is unavoidable and in various ways I’ll struggle to settle in, but at the same time I’m excited about making that transition, and getting to know another little space and making it our home. A few key items that we want to take:

Sam: 2 x hand-painted bird egg cups (!) & mini black-board!
Claire: Pink pizza-cutter & African safari table mats :)

In amongst the excitement about packing, there are lots of other feelings taking place… a sense of quiet peacefulness about going; a growing anticipation and excitement about the opportunities for lasting change in Medina; a deep desire to begin the challenging yet beautiful journey of getting to know the girls on the BR116; anxiousness about saying goodbye to family and friends, and sadness about stopping working with the children and young people in Eltham who we’ve had the privilege of getting to know. I also feel a great sense of awe before God for leading me on this journey from the start; there are many unknowns, and yet I feel peaceful that we are part of something bigger than ourselves and that we do not go alone.