We spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoon (May 6-8) painting and cleaning at the Carl Harrison Center for Biblical Training.
This Center is being opened next year to train Indians so that they can then go back to their tribes and minister. Carl Harrison was the key Bible translator with Wycliffe who helped bring the Word of God to the Guajajara Indians. The Center is being run by MEIB -- The Evangelical Mission to Indians of Brazil -- a Brazilian mission organization to the indigenous people groups of Brasil.We cleaned out an enormous building that will be the chapel. After everything was swept, including all the corners to rid them of spiders, the inside of the building was given two coats of white paint.
Another building that will be used as classrooms and cafeteria was primed and painted.
Lots of primer and paint found surfaces that weren't necessarily going to stay at the Center.
Lillian helps her mom get into the "Indian" spirit by "painting" her face for her.
On Thursday they introduced us to a third building that needed cleaning out, sweeping, and priming before it could be painted. This building will be the dormitory for the students.
Some of the kids taking a well deserved break from painting and cleaning.~~~
We didn't get the job finished, but the MEIB mission will have far less to do now in preparation before they open the Center for their first students.
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One of the cool things that we discovered was that a young man from the village we went to will be attending the Training Center when it opens. It was neat for us to think about helping to prepare the Center for someone we had just come to know.
~~~
Friday was our day to play. We began the day with a trip to town to do some shopping. We decided Barra needs to improve their shopping. Most of us came away with little to show for our shopping efforts. That afternoon we took a ride some distance from where we were staying and then floated back on the river, with the help of some truck inner tubes.
It would have been an awesome adventure if it wouldn't have rained (cold rain) and if there hadn't been these little fish in the river that seemed to have fangs when they bit you. It was like getting electrical shocks whenever they grabbed on. Yikes!! Thankfully not everyone was attacked by these little critters, but those of us who were so fortunate were glad to see the end of the tubing trip.
~~~
The trip back to Belem was uneventful.
The kids slept for a good chunk of the trip and the rest was filled with card games, practical jokes (you have to be careful if you fall asleep on a bus full of HSers), songs, silliness, and memories. We arrived, safe and sound, back in Belem at 10:30pm on May 10th.
It was a wonderful trip!
One of the cool things that we discovered was that a young man from the village we went to will be attending the Training Center when it opens. It was neat for us to think about helping to prepare the Center for someone we had just come to know.
~~~
Friday was our day to play. We began the day with a trip to town to do some shopping. We decided Barra needs to improve their shopping. Most of us came away with little to show for our shopping efforts. That afternoon we took a ride some distance from where we were staying and then floated back on the river, with the help of some truck inner tubes.
It would have been an awesome adventure if it wouldn't have rained (cold rain) and if there hadn't been these little fish in the river that seemed to have fangs when they bit you. It was like getting electrical shocks whenever they grabbed on. Yikes!! Thankfully not everyone was attacked by these little critters, but those of us who were so fortunate were glad to see the end of the tubing trip.~~~
The trip back to Belem was uneventful.
The kids slept for a good chunk of the trip and the rest was filled with card games, practical jokes (you have to be careful if you fall asleep on a bus full of HSers), songs, silliness, and memories. We arrived, safe and sound, back in Belem at 10:30pm on May 10th.It was a wonderful trip!
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