April "happenin's"

Wow. April really flew by! Hard to believe I went an entire month without posting anything here. Truthfully, I haven't felt "inspired" about anything lately, lol, but that doesn't mean things weren't happening. So here goes: a quick overview of last month.

On Easter Sunday our tiny church group in Samora joined forces with the church group in Cartaxo. Some members from Arruda came as well. So we had a record Sunday - almost 40 people! It was such a great feeling to have a large group. Tell you what, it's a lot more fun to play congregational songs for 40 than it is for 10. :-) Someday, Lord willing, the church here will get off the ground and that will be a normal Sunday. Easter was also special for me because I got to "visit" home that day. My mom and I connected on Skype and she walked me around to see some of the children whom I have taught through the years. They were thrilled to show me their Easter outfits and sing for me! In between classrooms we bumped into several of my church family as well. It was a really nice Easter gift.

At Lisbon Training Center I have finished organizing both the elementary library and the high school library. Now I'm working on the GDL library (pastor resources in Portugese). It has been organized and entered into the computer 2 or 3 times before, but each time something has happened and the information has been lost. So my main goal is to get everything re-entered, and I'm taking extra precautions to make sure it stays that way! It's slow going though since most of the books and all of the categories are in Portugese. Plus, I keep getting distracted by other fun things to help out with. For example, the students recently took the yearly achievement tests. The majority of the testing for 1 and 2 grade has to be dictated, so I lent a hand to Laurie and took one grade while she took the other. Talk about confusing if she had to do both at the same time!

The English Club at Miriam's house is going well. There are 6 boys who are faithful every week, and 3 who come when they can. They're full of energy and excitement, so even though we can't fully understand each other we have a fun time together. We've made cookies, painted a gift for Mother's Day, and made a Mother's Day card. Sounds like girl stuff, doesn't it? These boys have had a blast! And they're learning new words in the process. Ana Carolina doesn't come very regularly anymore; she's beyond this level. However, she came this week and the two of us spent an hour working on her conversational English. She wants to converse better, and I want to build a relationship with her. So it's a win-win!

Noah and I are getting along "swimmingly". :-) He's always happy to see me, and I him. When he first arrives we go into the kitchen so I can do the dishes and he plays with measuring cups/spoons and tupperware. Who needs toys when you have a kitchen? We play or read happily for a little while until he gets tired and then I turn on his favorite music and rock him to sleep. The great thing is...he no longer wakes up screaming! He wakes up slowly and talking, and if I get to him quickly enough he stays happy and we cuddle some more. It's been so fun to watch him grow and have a tiny part in training him. Poor guy had surgery this week to remove a cyst on his head, but he's doing well. Quite the little trooper!

April was a month of traveling for me. Spring break was the first week of the month, so we (Tammy, Laurie, Laurie's brother Johnny, Craig, Craig's friend Dan, and I) did a lot of sightseeing. We all had a good time hanging out together all over Portugal. Then last weekend I flew to Switzerland with Miriam (the lady who I help with English club) for a few days. We made her cousin's house in Tramelan our base of operations and took day trips from there. The train system makes travel really easy! It's a wonderful country - quaint houses, picturesque countryside, friendly people (even though I couldn't understand them), excellent food, and more. Best of all, the Swiss Alps!

So I think that's April in a nutshell. Also happened in April: 1. The ladies finished our Beth Moore book study and I'm thankful for the many blessings I received from it. 2. The GLCA high school banquet to honor the seniors. We (the singles) helped out in the kitchen and got to enjoy the festivities as well! 3. The GLCA Spring Program. The 1-2 and 3-5 classes each learned a large portion of Scripture and recited them, complete with hand motions. They also sang some songs and played one with recorders and boom-whackers. Very cute! The 11-12 class performed a short play called Mountaintop about Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Good script, good performance; I was impressed and moved.

As always, thank for your prayers! I'm looking forward to seeing what God will do in my last month here.