First Visitors from America

G'ma & G'pa Kimball Come to Visit

It was so much fun to have visitors come and see our new home. G'ma & G'pa didn't get to stay a real long time, but we were able to see some new things and show them our new world.

We squished 8 people around our table and enjoyed sharing yummy meals together.

Grocery store discoveries...Mayonnaise can come in a box.

Grandma shows us a maracuja, passion fruit, as she prepares it for making juice.

Check out the length of these green beans!!
VERY long, but tastes the same.

G'ma & G'pa brought a Christmas decoration kit with them. The kids made up these pretty ornaments. We used them to decorate the island area of the kitchen. Very fun to make, and enjoyable for years to come.

We celebrated Christmas with they were with us. Grandma loved the beautiful pottery wall plate. Unfortunately it didn't make it back home in one piece. It shattered into about a million pieces in their luggage. Bummer!

Grandpa loved his new hammock! He put it to use right away...and it did survive the trip home. :)
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Mosquiero Day Trip

We took a day and went out to the island of Mosquiero, an island in the Amazon River. Karin & Baia Lacerda and family showed us the way.

The river is tidal here and has waves like the ocean, but the water is "sweet."

Mosquiero Island

The girls with Nathalie Lacerda

Playing in the sand

Swimming in the Amazon River

A fun picnic lunch with the Lacerda family.
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The Church We Attended

Igreja Crista Evangelica do Amazonia
Japanese Brazilian Church

They have Japanese translation for the older Japanese members.
There was a large number of Japanese immigrants to Brasil after WWII. This church compound also houses a boarding home for college age student who come to the city to study.

The service is held in an open-aired gym. Worship music is shown on the overheads and the pastor uses power point during his sermons. This helped us to be able to follow along easier, seeing his main points written down.

After the service they serve cafezinho, little coffee. It is strong and very sweet. They also have cafezinho com leche, little coffee with milk. Yum!

To get to the church, we exit out the back gate of the AVA compound or condominium. There is a box on the wall that calls the guard at the front gate. You then state your name and password and ask for the large gate, and he opens it up.

Thanksgiving 2006
We are thankful for our new home & ministry.
We are thankful for G'ma & G'pa's visit from America.
We are thankful to be learning so many new things about a wonderful new place.

So Many New Things

Harvesting Coconuts

We were able to harvest our own coconuts.

Bethany & Elisabeth show us some of the harvest. We often got between 30 - 40 coconuts when we would harvest them.

After chopping them from the tree, Dennis cut off the top with a machete.

Stick in a straw and have a refreshing drink.

After you drink the water/milk (depending on the age of the coconut), cut open the coconut and eat the meat from inside.
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Unique New Things

The grasshoppers are gigantic!
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Breakfast foods are similar...but not!

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Sleeping in hammocks is comfortable and cooler.

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Laundry, Laundry, Laundry

Laundry was a never ending chore!
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Rainy Season Storms

Giant rain storms come during the rainy season. It cools off the temperatures and fills up the yard with water.

Heading up to school to see the water from the storm.

Elisabeth & Mackenzie

Hannah gets a ride on a boogie board from Jenn Gibson in the AVA soccer field.
The water all drains away within hours of the storm.

New Beginnings

First Shopping at Makro

This is a warehouse type store. The cost is no better than a regular store...everything is just in larger quantities and is a whole lot dirtier.

They have Pringles, but the cost is outrageous! The flavor looks a bit odd too.

Dennis figures out which coffee and filters to buy.
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First Day of School

First day of school at Amazon Valley Academy
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Caleb's 9th Birthday

Caleb celebrated his 9th birthday on his first day of school at AVA. We took a cake up to share with his 3rd/4th grade class.

Birthday cake at home that night!

Trevor and Janelle Collazo went through PFO with us and got their visas a few weeks earlier than we did. They helped us a great deal when we finally arrived. They came down for Caleb's birthday meal and gave him some flip-flops.
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First Trip Downtown

Standing by the front gate of the school. A guard is at the gate only letting in folks that are supposed to go in.

The road from the school's gate to the main road where we can catch the bus...the BR, a main highway that runs from Belem all the way to Brasilia, over a thousand kilometers away.

Crossing over the BR on the passarela (overpass) to get to the bus stop.

A statue of Jesus by the Amazon River
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Docas

Half of the shipping docks have been turned into a tourist area with restaurants and shopping.
We are standing along the riverfront outside that area.

Walking along the Amazon Riverfront

The shipping area of the Docks
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Ver-O-Peso

This is a large outdoor market area. You can buy just about anything you need down there.

This is the grain area.

This man is selling various dried meats and fish.

They are sewing up the baskets of shrimp to be sent inland for selling. There were area for fresh vegetables, tinctures, medicines, small animals, the large building in this picture is the actual Ver-O-Peso, or fish market, with TONS of different kinds of fish to buy. It is an amazing place!
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Belem Fort

One of two forts on the mouth of the Amazon. The other is in Macapa, which is the far north side of the mouth. The mouth of the Amazon is approximately 250 miles across.

Heading into the Fort. There is a museum inside (all in Portuguese) that tells all about the fort and its protection of the city.

One of the many cannons that still sits at the Fort. You can see the battleship in the background.
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The Praca

By the park next to the Fort is this beautiful, old Cathedral.

A pretty clock tower in the Praca.

We bought some coconut water to rehydrate ourselves in the heat.

Trying coconut water for the first time.

This is how Elisabeth thinks it tastes.

Here is a view of the Per-O-Peso and the Docks from the Fort.
Beautiful!

A floating gas station in the river.