Fotos 2

"cucumber on the eyes, erica. really?"



palm sunday and a banjo playing nun!

te te is learning the art of using "creme"

palm sunday

the flowers we made and one of the beautiful girls!

we needed to fix the road a bit before all of our guests arrived for easter. hard hard work

i love this because the two brazilians are wearing skirts to do work

yes, this is a hideous picture, but i just needed proof that i was working

a lunch break

irma and joao

joao and the chicken

Gabriel and Bea ready to watch Jesus of Nazareth for Holy Week

i love this child. wearing a winter hat because its only 85 degrees... burrr

theyre monkeys

making bread for the last supper

loved Bea´s hair this day

washing of the feet. padre arno washed 12 feet like the twelve disciples

sedar dinner

ohhhh as you can tell, joao lucas loves food. mmmm, lamb

Tete´s sister, Pamela

The Way of the Cross

Dying Easter eggs

a puppy and a chicken. maybe the fazenda is becoming an actual farm?

jonathan, adriano, joao, diego, and diego

guillarmina arrived a few weeks ago, me, and luzinede who lives in the passagm

argentineans mauricio, guillarmina, and adriano

after mass we had a festa! Nina, Pamela, me, and Tete

Lucia (Uba) and Bea

tete and padre cristiano

crazy girls

me and anita

jaiani, gabriel's sister, and bel

easter egg hunt early sunday morning!!!

rapido rapido!

even jose found some!

mass. i just LOVED the vestments

children listening attentively?

a family photo

BRUNO

a little girl at the bus stop befriended irma very quickly. she wanted her to have some chocolate. it was so cute. she gave her the candy. then took it back. i thought she was being an indian giver, but really she was just unwrapping it for her. she gave it to her and looked at her lovingly. it was truly beautiful.

Erica Bedilia

Do you remember those children's chapter books Amelia Bedilia? I think I am her. The other day Irma Josette told me she would help me cook the chicken for dinner. But then she didnt have time so she explained to me how. Put the spices on the chicken and let it sit. Then before mass add a little bit of water and I thought she said put it on the stove. I double checked that she meant only a little bit of water and she said yes. So I did exactly that and thought it strange that I could leave a chicken for an hour on the stove without it being entirely submursed in water. And not only did I leave it, I left it on HIGH. So we returned to a VERY crisp chicken. I had misunderstood as she said put it in the oven (fogo and forno are very close words). The worst part was that I had invited someone to eat with us. We didnt end up eating until 9:30 as we had to quickly prepare something else. I really should learn to trust my own instinct when it comes to these things. Like the time Irma told me to soak my towel in bleach to remove the bad smell. I told her it would stain it white and she said no. So I trusted her. It stained it white.

I went to the doctor the other day and I have gained FIFTEEN POUNDS. I almost fell off the scale. No more bread for me!

Saturday Im going for a day of rest so I'll be uploading pictures and I think I will also be on skype!!! my skype name is ericatighe if you didnt know :)

love
ér (this nickname doesnt actually work in portuguese)

PS I had my first experience of paying to receive a package. 80 dollars. Im unsure why. probably because it was full of linens. i received three huge ones the day before without paying. the mystery of brazil!!!

Semana Santa

A very special time here in the Fazenda as we prepare for the death and resurrection of our Lord. We are preparing to have every bed here filled and will have talks every day. We have a sedar dinner and a (oh my I forget how to say it in english) walk with the cross. Last night we practiced the songs and they told me I was very good! What a surprise. I will write more AFTER it all to share pictures!

I had my girls retreat last weekend. We didnt have electricty because someone robbed all of our wires!! So I had to change my plans a little bit, but I couldnt have asked for a better weekend. I taught them to make flowers for their hair, we made face masks out of food. And surprisingly it was the first time they had ever put cucumbers over their eyes. AND Anita, the woman in my house even did this with us. I cant explain how incredible this is. She was as happy as could be sitting in the hammock.

We made collages (and if you know me, it is my favorite thing to do). I had planned to watch a movie, but without electricity we couldnt do that. We talked and we made lunch and dinner. I had six girls come, which is incredible for the first time. I hope to have a weekend every six weeks. My favorite part is that only half the girls are Catholic and at the end of the weekend all of them asked if they could come back AND invite friends. I hope that this is something I can continue for my entire mission.

Also, Ive received even MORE books. They are flooding in. I have many inner experiences to share, but will save it for when I have more time.

Love you all and know that I am carrying you with me in my heart during this Holy Week and Easter Season.
Erica

Praise the Lord for He is Good

On Tuesday I received a car full of things for the school. Brand new desks for my little school. IN THE COLOR THAT I HAD WANTED TO PAINT OUR OLD ONES. I havent gotten to share my plans yet, and already things are arriving. Plus, I got a box of beautiful children's books! My prayers are being answered before I have even spoken of all I would like to do.

I will be honest that I had some doubts that God could "magically" provide to our fazenda (in the middle of nowhere) what I wanted. And yet, it's all coming. A school closed and called US to see if we wanted these things. I am not writing this well because Jose (1 year old) is with me right now. And I had a long day cooking and I'm a bit distracted.

Still praying, especially as we enter into this final stage of lent and enter into the beautiful mystery of Easter.

Love,
Er

My lunch

I was just treated to the most delicious lunch at the house of Marie Helena. And tonight! A birthday festa!!!

pictures of my plans! what do you think?

this blog is so out of order and i cant seem to fix it. sorry sorry i hope you forgive me!! this is my idea for the school house. this will be the library. a wall of books. i want to make a tent to be able to read inside of. with pillows and christmas lights. i also want a bookshelf of instruments. this culture loves music and the kids are no exception. but now they dont have things to play with. i hope to give them this. so we had a plant on our altar, the ants decided they needed it. we arrived one night and they had taken so much of it and made a line 7 yards long carrying our plant.

eating a new fruit for the first time, (my first time, not theirs)

i made this flower arrangement for our alter. this pink flower on the top is what i will have at my wedding one day.

luis antonio with the avocado

the biggest avocado i have ever seen

the dog with her puppies

this is what i want to paint our walls. mustard and white stripes. then i will make gray curtains (with the help of Marie Ines!! and our new sewing machine)

annie, this is what I was sitting next to when I read your letter! I just had to share.

this is the art area. i want to make a big box to put in recycable items. we have a lot of things we could reuse, but then end up in the trash. (sustainable, munoz...) I want a location that the kids can go and look through and dream of things to make. then I will have two wires to display the artowrk they make. and the little box is for big paper, which we dont have a box for.

the other side i will make a tiny table for them to do their crafts. an area to hang aprons (so their clothes dont get dirty). and then I want to make little boxes to put supplies. so they can sit at the table and think "I need a marker, oh I will grab it from the box on the wall" I want their imaginations to soar.

sorry that i can't rotate the picture. new computers always and i cant figure it out!

i will repaint the bookshelf, and make boxes from wood to put on the bookshelf to hold supplies. the kids tend to take what is sitting open in plain sight so its good to guard it a bit!

the snail family by our bucket of food to compost.

mish mash of photos today!!!! i am so happy to be on a day of rest. i am going to a birthday party tonight with the family I am with. I am so excited and feel so special that they are so happy to have me.

Feliz Aniversario a minha mae

happy birthday to my mama. i love you

er

Anyone know a solution for bats?

Much time has passed it seems since I have written of my life at the Fazenda. Each day I feel more and more like this is my home. These people are my family and I look forward to the new days--even though they're tiring. When I lay in bed at night, it seems like I have just woken up. I remember so many days working and watching the clock, so many days in school watching the clock--minutes passing like hours. Here, minutes pass like seconds. Never enough time to complete all that I want to.

Things changed in me while I was at the other Hearts Home--things I cant quite pinpoint. But the changes have made my life here more fulfilling. I am more relaxed and easy going.

I have made my plans for the school, which I couldnt be more excited about. For a month and a half I was cradling the ideas in my head and it was such a relief to put them to paper. Saturday I will upload photos! I wait for Irma Leticia to return from Argentina to discuss them and then I begin working! I am going to learn to build with wood. I hope I dont cut my hand off--it really does come in handy. (This weekend I was gluing something with childrens white glue. A little got on my arm. I didnt think anything of it until it started itching. The next day I woke up with gigant blisters on it--like a burn. Quite painful. And today one of our children, Apardecida, whom I have never spoken of didnt like that I was telling her to stop stirring the juice because it was making a mess. She grabbed my arm for half a second. She is so strong that it dug deep into my arm and I have very very painful marks from her. To describe how strong she is... she broke the door off of the bathroom last week. I will write another day of her story-- a beautiful girl of 15 who can barely talk due to atism (sp))

Since I arrived, I have been praying for things to fill the school. Materials and books, etc. 2 days ago we received piles and piles of brand new books for teachers in every grade and every subject. A school closed down and we received their things. We got piles of brand new paper and we will eventually get new chairs!!! One prayer answered. I was just so in awe.

Then I was shown a room we have that I didnt know about. It is filled with two giant bookshelves of books. At first I was excited. And then I smelt it--filled with bat poop. The books are so dirty. Many dont have covers and the ones that are for school work are filled with writing. The books to read are not inviting and I dont know any child who would want to read them. I will try to salvage what I can. Unfortunately I will have to throw out most of it.

Here is the big question. Does ANYONE know a solution to bats. They are in my school house too and they poop and pee EVERY DAY. I thought in the beginning it was bird poop for a year. No one days worth. We cant kill them because its against the law. There is a sound system that makes a sound that they dont like, but its much too expensive for us to buy. I keep the light on at night, but it doesnt help. So if anyone has any ideas for us to try.. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

I am praying (and need your prayers too) that new books will arrive. There are way too many beautiful books in the world to not have a few for the kids here. Luckily, something deep in me knows they will arrive here shortly. Then I can create my lovely little library for them. And thank you to ALL of you who have sent things to us. We are thrilled and use them every day.

I am also working on a retreat for the teenage girls in the Passagm. I want to create a friendship wtih them and eventually have this once a month. To talk of life and rest from their lives-- a hard, hard life where most 14 year olds have their first babies. So I ask for many prayers for this as well.

In other news, we are having a cow problems. Lots of cows are coming in and they are not ours. It is quite funny except at night when we cant sleep due to the mooo-ing. And our dog had 7 puppies yesterday!!

I am praying for all of you. Daily. Please send your prayer requests. I am finding that prayers are answered here in an incredible way. Our love is strong here and God is very present.

Love,
Erica