São Dade Anne Gabrielle!!!! ;)

Oh so much to say, so much to say... I went to the Indian reservation here which is called Dourados. I wish i could upload pics from my computer but alas i'm on someone else's computer :/ The Indians are very... uh not so advanced in their thinking... would be the best way to say it i guess... We brought food to the family of the Indian pastor for casa do oleiro and a bag of lollipops for the kids. There was no hint of air conditioning, and their house was smaller than my old apartment with no doors, only openings. 2 rooms and a kitchen/living room. Although they had no A/C and no lights, they had a nice television. Ask me how that works out?? i have no idea... When we gave the kids their lollipops they immediately opened the bag & started eating some. No surprise there. Then they would throw their trash on the ground and eat another one. Ok worried about a sugar rush now but they never get candy so whatev. ;) Then they throw it the trash on the ground and still keep eating. I asked Anne why they were doing that, if they never get candy, then wouldn't they logically want to ration it, to make it last longer?? She said no, that they didn't want to share with the other kids in the reservation so they were going to eat it all right then. I was like "what?!" She said that when the other kids get something special, then they immediately consume it so that no one else can ask or attempt to receive some of their treasure. So if no one else shares, then why should these kids? But I said, "since they're a pastor family now, wouldn't they want to share, just to show more love to the people?" and she said no, that they didn't understand that concept at all. Aghast, I wondered, how can they truly understand what kind of a gift Christ gave us if they can't even share lollipops? Anne said they have to preach Christ like they would to children because the concepts involved are too complicated for them. I can't even imagine a life like that... After we left the reservation (which is 3 hours away from Campo Grande), we got home just in time to hear that Pastor Geraldo (Pastor Elza's husband) had been in an accident and so we rushed to the hospital. Now all day, for some strange reason, I had been plagued by thoughts of death. Not sure why, maybe b/c I've been thinking about Aarin a lot. Who knows? So when I was praying for Pastor Geraldo, although i was praying for health, i kept imagining worsecase scenarios and then i just stopped and told myself NO! If God is the God I believe in, if he is all powerful and full of mercy and grace and that anything i ask, can and will be answered, then i BELIEVE IN FAITH that Pastor Geraldo would be healed, only scrapes and bruises, nothing serious. And I claimed that in Jesus name, completely serious. I was like, there is no "if" here, there is only healing. So we got to the hospital and had to wait around for awhile and finally found out that he was ok! Only scrapes and bruises!! Praise Jesus! :) What happened is that he was coming home on his motorbike (apparentally half the population in Brasil drive motorbikes) and a car ran into him on his side (it was raining pretty badly) and he ricocheted up onto a curb and ended up plowing into a giant pile of dirt and brick that was by the house. Although the bike was worse for wear, he was ok. :) Whew! Close call! Things never go as planned here haha Anne even said they have a word for it - imprevicivo (probably spelled horribly) which pretty much means things change constantly. Later on that week, I got to play volleyball with some of the youth and college kids here. We played 2 on 2 & then 3 on 3. My teams won about half of them. :) I felt good about it haha there was no real competition which was nice - everyone just laughing and joking. They think it's strange that I only drink water but it's hard to explain the whole reason why i don't like carbonated drinks haha. We spent the whole day there at Pastor Baptista's and I got to hang out w/some of the college guys before we had night service. (Did i mention there's a service practically every night somewhere?? To these people, church is more of a lifestyle then a service... it's crazy how interconnected they are & the pastors and church families all go to these different mini services i guess) :) Anyway I was talking (and Anne translating) :) to the guys about the differences between things in America and in Brasil and we got on the subject of dating and here it seems like guys get into relationships that turn serious quickly cuz everyone has like a promise ring after a few months or one month and that's like a pre-engagement ring here. But a lot of them aren't that serious even though they give the rings and act like it, etc. And so i was just curious and opening my mouth like always haha and was asking why they jumped into things, especially when they know it wasn't meant to be serious? Like one guy said he dated a girl for i think 18 months just to date and i was like... "why...???" or people that dated just for passion and nothing else. i pretty much said passion doesn't make a marriage - love does. but anyway that was just nikki being nikki, always interested to know diff people's opinions, etc, didn't think anything of it. Pastor Maricela came over a few days later & wanted to tell me that the guys had thought a lot about what I said and had really changed their mentality towards dating. One guy (her son) even broke up with his girlfriend the next day, b/c he pondered what i said & prayed about it & knew the relationship wasn't fruitful (much to his mom's delight haha) How crazy is that?? People listening to me... huh... haha ;) Pastor Maricela actually told me that I may think I'm here to minister to kids, but that God is also using me in the youth/college. I'm here thinking i'm just talking but the people here really listen to what you have to say. They're so open and loving. But there's the yucky side as well. When we were outside Dourados (the Indian reservation) we had stopped at a store for something and I was waiting in the car with Anne and this awful looking lady was outside the door, pretty much propositioning herself... awkward... then she spied our car and started walking toward us. anne told me to lock my door which i did but i was like "why?" i found out 3 seconds later when she came to my door and tried to open it. it was the weirdest thing - i looked at her through the window, thinking maybe she would say something, like what she wanted. but no... never said a word... standing there in tattered clothes, not much teeth and crazy eyed, she just kept pulling on the handle and then banging on the door and side of the car. when i guess she realized she wasn't getting in, she just started walking off in the opposite direction. later we saw her in the middle of a busy street, just wandering aimlessly in front of huge trucks that almost ran her down (praise God they stopped in time)... it was just... creepy... and obviously some men are not so nice and continue to stare and make gestures toward you - sometimes i'm thankful i don't understand portuguese haha... in other news, my Anne Gabrielle left me yesterday :*( she and pastor antonio finally went off to their other destinations (i'm praying she'll be back in april like she thinks she will be) :) but it was a very sad day indeed... although yes it was a blessing to have her translate for me, it was more of a blessing to have a good friend here... Now i am back to square one haha like i said though, the people here for the most part are very friendly and loving. they all want to learn english and i'm like "but i have to learn portuguese!!!" haha they don't seem to understand that for me to translate something to them in english, i first have to know what it means in portuguese hahaha but cés la vie! I've done more puppet shows and one of the college kids here wants me to sing a song with him and his band in english for the retreat coming up. Carnival is the last week of February and the schools are out... ya know, so all the kids can partake in the debauchery... no seriously... it's like mardi gras times 10 so i've heard... lots of drunk and (half)naked people... so they've rented a campground for us and we are having a youth/college retreat. :) They really like hillsong, so the guys are going to learn "Lead Me To The Cross" and i'm going to sing it... Yes you heard... I'm going to sing in front of an audience... go me! haha ;) the kids here adore me for some strange reason haha and are always trying to talk to me or get me to sing for them. I actually understand them best, b/c they understand you have to speak portuguese SLOWLY for me to catch all the words haha. um let's see... not sure what else... hope you found some sense in my jumbled thoughts and stories :) remember, feel free to email me at korean4christ@gmail.com - i love news from home! ;) and mom if you're reading this - EMAIL ME BACK!!! i miss you :)