Thursday, 2, 23:59 hours

As the six o’clock sun beat down on hundreds making their way home from a long day of work (shopping or sightseeing), in their midst, almost overlooked, stood four pre-teen boys. They too seemed to be in their own world, oblivious of the masses passing just feet from their half naked bodies. One boy, his dark skin covered from collar to shin with white, lathered soap, stood poised on the center island of a public fountain. The other three, dark and sunburned, stood waste deep in surrounding water. I, too, walked pasted them, as many thoughts emerged in my head – what about their welfare, why have their lives had such a different course than mine, will they will ever know a healthier life?

I am careful not say a happier life, for one thing I cannot ever forget from my time in Brazil is that possessions do not make your life happy. Some of the happiest people I’ve met in life are those who have little to no material goods, but they have faith in something better and hope for the future.

To be honest, it’s times like this that I am very proud of being an Employment Service volunteer. I take our responsibility seriously because I know that the things we are teaching don’t only impact the adults that come in looking for help and work, but many of them have families as well.

Next Friday and Saturday Dave and I will be traveling up the coast to the city of Joinville to teach the course at the church there. And then starting next week we have the following two weeks marked with cities to teach, and we’re still trying to arrange courses for each week until the beginning of April.

About 1 this afternoon Dave and I called Salt Lake City and spoke with Stephanie and Mimi, those who provided our training in Salt Lake at the start of this adventure. They just wanted to know how things were going and if we needed anything. :o) They’re so awesome. Training was really a fun week ‘cause we really got to know them on a personal level.

Other than studying for a few hours, we also took the bus on to the island (Florianópolis) and walked through their city fair and went to the Historic Museum of Santa Catarina. Very cool stuff! Floripa is an amazing city – safe, beautiful, well organized. According to this picture I took, it looks like the Carnival preparations are on their way:


We got home about 6:20 and rested for a bit before we headed to the church for Thursday-night soccer. For those who don’t know, most soccer played in the cities of Brazil are played on little courts called a “salão”. The court is like a basketball court (so it’s pretty small) and it’s a lot like indoor soccer, except there are out of bounds (so you can’t kick off the wall) and the ball is a little smaller, and heavier so it doesn’t bounce as much. The teams are small – 4 or 5 on each team, and a goalie. Tonight we had enough players for 3 teams, and we rotated through, ‘king of the court’ style. It was a great time! I haven’t played real soccer in a LONG time. Most people were tired after about an hour, but I stayed and played with Aldo and his 12-year-old son Tiago until about quarter to 10. Good times.

To finish the night I bought myself one of those killer hotdogs w/ grilled chicken breast! Is there a better way to end a day?

On a side note, when I came home and took off my shoes, I noticed a quarter sized blister on the ball of my left foot that had popped and ripped itself almost completely off. The smallest bit of skin was holding it. Since then, it dried and then fell off. I was going to take a picture and post it… but then I decided against it.