Women's Conference #2

Last weekend I went out with Wanne, Jenni, and April to attend a women's conference out of town. We left Friday at lunch and drove for about 3.5 hours into a rural area.

Homes in this village

Enjoying hanging out after we arrived
(Wanne, Jenni, and me)

Let me show you around.....

Our tents behind the church

The "facilities"......bathhouse on the left....toilets on the right... 

the toilet

The bathhouse :)

Starting Saturday off with coffee and breakfast

Teaching Saturday morning

Me giving my testimony

For those of you who would love to hear me talk in Portuguese.....here you go....

during a break we learned (or tried to learn) how to tie head-scarfs

That afternoon we took a walk to see their village.

Wanne looking for a cell signal.....no success...

Their clinic/hospital.....it is all they have

These ladies asked me if I would take their picture

Wanne getting the coffee started on Sunday morning....Brazilian style

Some of the many people gathered for this special Sunday morning 

Warming up the drums

More of the ladies read for the service

Our kitchen staff for the weekend

Some of the sweet children in this village that came to see 

what all the fuss was about at the Baptist Church.

I learned something about bananas this weekend...
Banana trees only product one stalk,
"cacha" in Portuguese,
in their lifetime.

After the service we loaded the back of John truck with all of our stuff.
I was the last person to walk away from the truck.
A lady approached the truck to give us some sugarcane.
I walked back to the truck, put the sugarcane in, and began to shut the door.
Then it happened.....AGAIN....I was hit on the head!!!!
The door came off as I was closing it and fell on my head.
You cannot imagine how heavy this door is! It is steel!

I felt as bad as I look!
I had a big gash on my head and it hurt like crazy.
(My precious friend Jenni is comforting me!)

John had to strap the door on it get home.

After a very bumpy 3 hour drive, I had a doctor check it in Quelimane.
She said no stitches were needed.
Sheldon is checking it out, too.

Pretty bad

My poor head has had quite a bit of trauma in the last 6 months.

Tracy

Building a Church....One Handful at a Time

Building a village church is a process. One that everyone in the church takes a part in. Most Saturdays for many months, different people have come to the church to work on the building. This particular Saturday morning our family's schedule was open and we went to help out.

When we arrived the pastor's WIFE was down in this hole getting out dirt for the walls.

This is one strong women!

These little guys joined in the fun by hauling dirt into the church.

The pile grew and grew

The process goes like this...
They build walls out of sticks then begin to cover the stick walls with handfuls of mud.
The idea is to cover all of the walls with thick layers of mud.

This is the outside of the church....still a work in progress....

More little guys helping out.

Our great friend Pizano dancing in the mud to get it mixed

Sheldon and I working hard....throwing mud...

Sheldon getting really dirty

Sweet mom and her girls working hard...well, one is napping...

Meghan working, too!

Meanwhile outside the girls were entertaining the younger children by painting their nails.

Taking a break....showing the nationals that we really can ride a bike, too.

Pizano had just bought this hot-pink bike the day before and was very proud that we rode it.

Emma working with the little ones.

This is the girl who 6 months ago could not stand to be touch by the children here.

Cute!

These are her hairdressers :)

This is a little girl whose mother attends our church.
She LOVES Emma!
When Emma is at church....this girl is there, too.
She is always Emma's shadow!

This is her brother. He has a strong fondness for Lilly.
Most Tuesdays and Sundays she holds him and he goes to sleep in her arms.

Check out the ball of mud. He is copying the adults inside the church

Throwing mud too!

Washing feet before we leave

Stopping on the way home for a Coke and snack

We pulled up to this little snack shop and they brought our drinks to the car.
Just like Sonic!!
(Lilly said, "They need roller skates!")

Tracy