Brazil 2015: Day 7 ~ Final day!

First off, today is a holiday in Brazil--the Day of the Evangelist--and I hear their karaoke blasting all the way from the city. Brazilians like their loud music. :P

What an exciting day in house #10 on the Wycliffe missions base! We are ALL packed up, and I am sad to say that this is my last night in Brazil. :'(

The morning started very cool and gray, which was nice for working around the house. Megan finished getting her last things together, and she and Paul left at 11:30am. I stayed here with Karis and Ethan. It is so fun watching them interact as siblings. :) They played happily together, ate lunch, and then I read to them before nap time. They behaved super, and Ethan slept a full two hours. Afterwards I did miscellaneous things with Karis, playing with her, then made a milkshake for snack and got them in their swimsuits for playing in the little kiddie pool. They were sooo cute, with their little matchbox cars and splashing. :)

Paul came back eventually, and I did some laundry and things around the house while he prepared the kiddie pool for storage and washed the truck. Once the kids were done helping daddy they came panting to the door yelling, "I'm done! I'm done!" Their faces were beaming with satisfaction and joy, and they were the cutest, sopping wet toddles ever, dripping water everywhere and getting little footprints all over the floor. Those giant smiles more than make up for all the effort of cleaning them up. :)

We had dinner at a friend's house, and it was a lovely time of food and fellowship. Karis and Ethan were able to have good playtime with the other kids as well. It was fun for me to see another house; one of the rooms was completely open with just netting, and hammocks hung everywhere. So cool!

Constantly hearing the hum, buzz, click and chatter of the insects is soothing and therapeutic. The birds also have a calming effect on your nerves. Strangely enough, you do not hear the typical frog sound; neither are monkeys common, contrary to what you might envision. When walking outside at night, shine your flashlight on the ground and you will see a hundred plus pairs of beady eyes staring back at you... those are the spiders. Hundreds of them, everywhere, hiding in the grass. If you see a flicker of light in the air, that's a firefly. I saw them for the first time in my life tonight.
The stars are incredible, especially in the villages. It finally dawned upon me that the reason the stars appear to flicker so much is due to the immense amount of air bending and changing wave lengths between us and them. There are millions of miles between the stars and earth, and light travels on many different paths. This gives the illusion of the flickering.

I have not been to the river yet, and there is MUCH of Brazil yet to be explored. However, what I have been privileged enough to see has been amazing, and I can't wait to explore more in the coming years.

The night ended with Paul and I packing away. We were sneaky and got the kids' toys out while they were sleeping. I wrapped picture frames in bubblewrap and tape, and squeezed Duplos in every crack of the suitcase. :)

It's been fun. It's been memorable. And I can't wait to come again. :)

Tchau for now!