A few thoughts from Dave:

Brrrr....it's cold. 30 degrees C colder than Brazil at this time of year.

It's amazing what you get used to living in a slum....isn't England beautiful? And wow, what a LOT of nice things people have here. More than enough to go round.

It's strange to be back at the moment (having been here only 24 hours now)...

Tomorrow we fly to England (via Amsterdam) for a 2 month "break". We have been tidying, cleaning and packing and all of us feel a bit apprehensive. We have spent nearly 2 years living in an international community in a slum in Belo horizonte, Brazil and that will have affected us, so how we will see England now is an unknown thing.

Anyway.....last weekend I (Dave) climbed up the local mountain for the last time to guide a bunch of volunteers and see some of the local nature, and we came across this snake:
It was quite thin but very long. I have not done any research on it so do not know if it is poisonous but it looked beautiful and just slithered away when we saw it.

We have been for a walk around this community with a camera. Not the wisest of things to do but to show people back in England what it is really like here is difficult, even with photos, because they only appeal to our visual sense, and the noise and smell is difficult to portray. When I greet someone with a handshake and feel their rough skin against the soft palm of my own hand I have wondered how to describe how that actually feels.....I can´t!
When taking the photos of people we said that we would print them off to give to people in the community so they can have a photo of themselves to cherish. Not many people here have a photo of themselves so this is quite sort-after. You may think that a huge gallery of photos should follow these quick comments but I do not intend to "blog" many of these pictures, rather reveal them in a church presentation or 2 in the UK.
Taking photos here is dangerous and there are many places which we would not photograph but here´s one quick photo of the community where we live:

This unassuming character had his foot run over by a car as he lay drunk beside the road. Someone took him to hospital 2 weeks ago, when it happened, and in this picture it does not look too bad. He is one of the guys we regularly talk to on one of the squares in this favela. He is always there, drunk most of the time but likes to talk alot about the type of work he does (construction) and about his life in another part of Brazil.
Yesterday, we took him to 3 health posts followed by a hospital because his foot had gone bad. He had been walking on it, was dirty, infected and looked really nasty.
The first 2 health posts did not want to help him - he has no documents (technically does not exist according to Brazilian law) and lives in a house with others, so does not have his own place. They did not want to assume responsibility for him but did say that if his foot does not get treated soon it will have to be removed from his leg. The last health post we tried were very helpful, even to the extent where they told us how we can "get round" the law to enable him to have medical care. But more than this, one of the nurses came in the car with us, showed us where the hospital is that would accept him and then went to the front of the line to get him admitted. One moment it looked like this lovely man would die from an infected foot because no-one wanted to take responsibility for him, the next moment, God enabled someone to have compassion for him and got him to the front of the line. Isaiah 25v4 says this: "You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress..." We get to see God, the Defender of The Poor, in action when we work with people like this. It is exciting and every bit worth it, even if it takes many hours. Personally, I could not see that man lose his foot or even die when I could do something about it myself. Sometimes if we are aware of a problem we need to pray but a lot of the time we need to be the answer even if it means using our own time and money.

9 days to go...... I´m trying to keep focused, and make sure that I communicate all that I want to with my group. Dave is also busy visiting people in the community, explaining that he will be away for a while, giving out some photos (of the people he has met, hardly anyone in the favela has a photo of themselves), and saying he will keep praying for them. Josiah wants to finish school now, and Gideon is a bit sad about how few days of school he has left.
It´s quite a strange feeling.....

Here are some photos from our parents day


This is a photo from the beginning, when we were worshiping together, it´s great to see it so full.


These cute kids are from my group, dancing. Some loved it, others were a bit embarrassed, but danced anyway, I was very proud.


Many parents (and children) filled up their bags with fruit from the trees.


We hoped that the parents would want to play football with their children, but they seemed to really enjoy watching and chatting together.


The pool was very popular, with a big queue waiting for the group to change and for it to be their turn.

All in all, I loved this afternoon, it was really worth all of the hard work that went into it.

Today, we have had an afternoon for the parents, we wanted to have a fun time with the families to share with them some of the many blessings we have here. The program began with presentations from the children´s groups and a word of encouragement for the parents. Then we had a fun free time session, the children and their parents could use the pool, the sports court and the play area. We finished with a nice snack, "feijão tropeiro", a typical dish from this area of Brazil. I was responsible for the food, thankfully everything went really well, we didn´t really know how many would come, so we guessed to make enough for up to 250 people.
The morning was spent preparing the food, chopping many kg of bacon, smoked sausage and pork. In the end about 130 people came (maybe more, it´s hard to tell). When we have some photos we´ll put them on the blog. Here is a photo (from the internet) of feijão tropeiro

Often, one of the complicated things in staying here can be the visa process. Well, today we went to the federal police to begin the second phase of the process (the first phase involves parting with a lot of money and asking a lawyer to put together the correct papers for us) and it was....EASY!!! Praise the Lord. We now have a piece of paper granting us a further 180 days to stay here while the visa is centrally processed in Brasilia. We have requested a further 2 year extension, which is the maximum time we can request. Please pray for this.

Hey!!!! I received a book today...... it looks really interesting, but I´m not sure who it is from. It´s always exciting receiving a parcel, this one is a bit mysterious too. So, if it was you who sent it "THANKYOU!!!!"

It´s November....and I´m getting excited. Josiah and Gideon have begun a day countdown, only 23 to go. Dave and I are still a little nervous, about how different it will be, but I´m really looking forward to some time in England with family and friends. Every time I see the date my heart gives a little skip and I think "woo hoo....not long now"