Wednesday, February 22, 2006

It was about 10:30 last night and David was wrapping up the CASP course; I quickly stepped out of the room to converse with Aldo’s 12-year-old son. Aldo and his wife are two of our 11 participants, and their son has been participating in the Young Men’s pizza making/selling fund-raiser this week at the church as well. (Aldo and his son are also the two people with whom I played soccer at the church a few weeks ago; we’ve become good friends.)

As we laughed and joked, I shared how I hadn’t eaten anything all day (the buffet pizza we ate the night before had filled me up); the boy replied, “me neither.” I then said I’d only drunken some juice; the boy replied, “I haven’t drunken anything.” Naively, I smiled and asked, well why not? His head bowed in shame, and I immediately new – it was very likely he didn’t have any food at home; I quickly changed the subject, not giving him time to answer, or giving the silence more time to get awkward.

It’s easy to forget the daily troubles many Brazilians face; on the mission I was reminded of these struggles daily, but during our internship we have been living a more sheltered lifestyle.

Other than the hard downpour at 6:50, causing more than half of out class to arrive more than 20 minutes late, the course went great!

This group seems more timid than most; we practiced entering and leaving an interview and most of them struggled. Practice is a good idea, I suppose.

I was especially proud of Senhora Lourdes who shared with the class who after the first day of CASP she went to the post office (where she wants to work) and asked to speak with the manager. Most everyone succeeded in making at least two contacts after the first day of class!

After class, Aldo asked me to type up some fliers for his painting and remodeling business; I was more than happy to accept.

Earilier in the day I was glued to the TV watching the Barcelona v. Chelsea soccer match on ESPN. Wow, UEFA soccer is intensely fast! What an exciting game, and win for Barcelona. One of the main reasons the game was showing on Brazilian TV is that the main star for Barcelona, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is Brazilian.

Keeping up w/ my reading for my BYU courses always keeps me plenty busy as well.