Happy Early Valentine's Day!! :-D

Yes Valentine's Day is upon us again... my favorite holiday! :-D (which i know some people think is strange b/c i never have a date hahaha but it is my favorite holiday, if ya were wondering :) it's always fun to see the many different expressions of love) anyway here in Brasil, they have the same holiday but it's called "Dia do Namurado" which roughly means day of the boyfriend/girlfriend... it's also on June 14th, not in february... sad sad day for nikki who will not get to celebrate it :( haha i'll miss it in america AND in brasil... ah well, there's always next year :) i will be spending this valentine's day playing volleyball with a lot of yth/college kids here and then spending the nite with one of the girls. good times - we're planning to use igoogle to attempt to translate each other since neither of us speak the others' language very well haha oh and today i found out the difference between the words "caminhar" & "passear" - see in my dictionary (which i have already given up b/c it is no where NEAR accurate - one of the guys here alisson lent me his english/portuguese dictionary which i'm so happy about by the way haha and also b/c he is one of the only people left who knows quite a bit of english) but in my dictionary, both of these words said "to walk" so i've been trying to get the pastors to go walking with me cuz i'm not good enough with the language to go wandering amuck in the country by myself haha but she never would for some reason... until today *dun dun duuuuun* haha today she asked if i wanted to go for a "caminha" & i was like "yes!"... apparentally "passear" means to stroll, like maybe go for a stroll in the mall or something like that which they had tried to explain to me earlier but i didn't get it... but "caminhar" means a brisk 3 mile walk all over the country, a lot of it uphill haha i felt like my legs were going to fall off but it felt good :) i'm glad i know the difference now though haha anyway i wish i could put up pics, which several people have asked about, but i'm currently using pastor elza's computer b/c we don't get wifi til next week... and her comp just cannot hold the photo content or much of anything else really :/ so until then, no pics but hopefully we'll get it soon & then be able to load up recent pics. this week, elza has been working on finishing making shirts (yes she makes, as in buys the fabric & sews together on a machine, tshirts for the kids here for the retreat we have next week during Carnival. that's like some 200 shirts plus the adults?! crazy... so i've been helping her run errands & such and then next week will be the rest of getting everything together & much practice!! (the college guys want me to sing a song in english so we're supposed to practice some hillsong music next week - i sing, they play... can you imagine me doing this on my own back home?! ha! ;) but it gets easier the more i sing in front of people, especially acapella... maybe one day i'll actually be used to it haha) and there's also... my birthday!!! :-D all i want is emails or messages from everyone so i can read them & not feel so homesick! ;) anyway i'm getting tired - i hope everyone has a great & romantic valentine's day! and for all of you single people out there, well i am as well :) and ya know? it's not that bad, not that bad at all... especially when you know how much God really longs and waits for you :) more than any guy will ever chase after you and more than any girl can fill your heart with - His love has no bounds and is pure love :) so just remember, whether married, dating or single, there is ALWAYS a God above that longs for you, waiting passionately for the day you'll let him rescue you :) that's the kind of love i'm looking for (and have) :)