Quanto Tempo! (It's been a long time!)

Wow, it's been a while since the last post...almost a week. I love my new position at SBT. I was a little nervous going into it, because I thought that perhaps the contestants on Idolos would have large egos--they are, after all, quite talented. After moving into the house, I was a little suprised to find them to be exactly like all the other Brazilians I've met--extremely friendly. I don't know what it is about Brazil, but everyone here seems to genuinely love other people.

In America, if a foreigner became an intern at my place of work without being able to carry on even a simple conversation in English, I am pretty sure that I would not recieve him with joy. I'm sure I would be wondering what in the world this new person thought they were doing--coming to work in America without taking the time to learn my language first. I thought that the employees at SBT might have at least some of this attitude towards me, but I have found the opposite to be true. Everyone is enthusiastic about teaching me Portuguese, and no one seems to feel like I am in their way. I am quite impressed with the way I've been received.

Living in the Idolos House has been great...like I said, the Idolos contestants are all very friendly. There are also three employees, other than myself, that live in the house. I'm suprised with how well everyone gets along--in a way, it reminds me of a retreat, because everyone is removed for their reality and secluded from the outside world. It is, of course, a little different from the retreats I'm used to.

I'm the only one in the house that spends a little bit of time every day reading the Bible, and I've already recieved some attention for my habit. Everyone seems to respect it very much, but I'd love to be able to share with them more about why reading the Bible is important to me. (Only one person in the house speaks English, by the way.) I would count it a great priviledge to to be able to share my belief in Christ with these people, and I pray that God will help break down the language barrier so that I have that opportunity. I bought a Bible yesterday that has one column of English and one colomn of Portuguese on every page, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Below are the remaining contestants from Idolos...well, actually, the girl in the red had to go home this week because she was voted off the show, but all the others are still there.



On a side note, I think the worst thing about my new position is that it's basically 24 hours a day. It's not that I don't like being there all the time--I actually enjoy almost every minute that I'm around my new friends and co-workers. The bad thing is that now there is not very much time for me to go out into the city, because I'm always at SBT. This means that I don't really have a lot of free time to help the lower class in Brazil. I haven't forgotten about the favelas, but for now there is not a whole lot I can do. I can (and do) pray, but I want to do something more active as well. I think I will have most weekends off, so maybe I'll have an opportunity then.

As far as a long term impact is concerned, I'm starting to realize that education is probably the best way to effect a change in the economy. I'm sure you've heard something to the effect of, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Feeding a family for a day would be nice, but it would be great to do something to help improve the Brazilian schools one day. Public education in Brazil is not anywhere near the quality of public education in America, and there is a huge difference in the education of students that can afford private school and those who cannot.

I had a chance yesterday to go to Escola do Futuro--the private school that my friends at Liberty graduated from. The school held an open-house type activity, and I had an opportunity to stand up and talk to the parents (with a translator, of course). I shared about how impressed I was with the alumni I had met from the school, and told them the graduates that the school produced were the reason I first became interested in coming to Brazil. I hope that I encouraged the parents and helped to reassure them that the money they are paying for tuition is worth it.

I hope to be able to post a little more frequently, but it's very difficult to find time during the week to post. Until next time...I'll appreciate your prayers very much.