Wow, August has been a busy month (and July in fact), but it's been great. We've seen 2 teams come and go, both very different and both contributing to the work that's going on here. I have particularly enjoyed chatting with them about their impressions of this place and the way that God has been revealing himself to them. It has also been a pleasure to have fellow tea-drinkers here (both teams from England), and being able to enjoy 'tea fellowship'.Then, after the busyness we had a family holiday, our first real opportunity to travel (for more than 3 days) and see some of the beauty of Brazil.We went to Ilha Grande, not far from the coast of Rio.

We really were very blessed to be able to go to this tropical island (it has to be one of the perks of living in a foreign country). It was a perfect opportunity to rest, spend quality time together as a family, switch off from 'work' and enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

So, time has flown by, we've been very busy and we've had a great time. The first team (from our home church) has actually been and gone, and as I type, we are waiting for the second team (also from England). At the lighthouse, we had 2 weeks of slightly different activities, hopefully giving a flavour of the community and the vision of this place to the team. We opened up to a schools holiday program, visited families, climbed and prayed on mountains, ran a crazy "olympics" week (for the children from the groups here), among other things. The team also helped us to embark on 2 major painting projects, both finished after much hard work (and paint in hair).
Here is a photo of the finished mural, just before the entrance gate. It's visible from far away in the slum, because of all of the bright colours.