We are now back in Belo Horizonte. We have travelled on 5 buses and for a total of 32hrs. It's great to be back!!!!!! I really liked seeing the view of the big city (even though I don't like big cities) and this morning it was great to look up at the mountainside covered in the favela. We experienced some good things in Amambai, and really learnt a lot about different projects. I think there is still more to learn (by reflecting on the last 6 weeks) about who we are and how we can work in Brazil. We had a team de-briefing today, and it was interesting to hear how the rest of the team viewed our time, feelings were very mixed. Dave and I tended to remember some of the difficulties, so we need to spend a bit more time focussing on the way our eyes have been opened and how we need to respond to the challenges of what we've seen.
The boys were both sad to leave some special friends (Debora and Kelly), but were also looking forward to living back at the lighthouse. We were greeted by a room that had ransacked, as our house had been broken into, probably by a child from the favela. It is very sad that he only wanted the children's toys and Daves phone. Most of our stuff was with us, but the boys have lost some things they really liked. At first they cried and Gideon was particularly upset and didn't want to go to bed, it was very hard for me to tell them to forgive, and that it was only 'stuff', when it wasn't my 'stuff'. We decided not to preach to them, but to pray and let God change their hearts. God is so good! This morning, Gideon prayed that he wouldn't feel angry when he next saw the child, and the way they have been speaking has been so much better. I think they are also more appreciative of everything they have now.