…and we certainly hope it won’t be the last! This Monday saw us begin our ReaViva Olympics with the girls. It has been a fun week so far, filled with activity and sunshine.
Let the Games Begin:

Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon saw us take some of the girls to the beach to begin scoring for our Olympic Games! The girls really enjoyed being out of the house, even if some of the physical activity was a bit much! Andy has stressed that he would like to encourage the girls to do more sports and exercise – we hope that this gave them a taster that it can be fun! We started with some high jump and long jump into the sand, moved on to a tug of war (the rope broke they were that strong!), did some relay races, played volleyball, throwing and even got out the colourful parachute which the girls enjoyed playing games on. Some of the girls needed a bit of encouragement to play but we found that they watched each other and decided to get involved. It has been nice to see some of them growing in confidence in this area and learning from each other. The heat meant that we needed to take frequent water breaks and have breaks to cool our feet off in the ocean to soothe us from the burning sand! Doing the games has especially shown us each of the girls characters – I am pretty sure that there could be some athletes in the house if they keep at it!

Paint everywhere:

On Monday afternoon we began painting on the outside of the house – the green garage doors needed a repaint and we also started on repainting the outside of the house yellow! It is hot and sweaty work but we happily got on with some tunes to sing along to. Rosy even braved the heights to stand on the ledge of the upper floor, much to my horror but she did a great job. We were also helped out by Gordo who also enjoys a sing-along whilst scaling the walls! There is still lots of painting to do so we will be continuing this throughout the week.

Devotional time:

Monday evening saw us lead a devotional with the girls – this time looking at the biblical story of Ruth and Boaz. We asked the girls to get involved with acting this out – much hilarity was had by all but we think they connected with the point of it and the different ways Boaz reflects God’s love and protection.

Frog Antics:

Monday evening also saw us with a visitor to our toilet – a nice little frog who came to say hello. Rosy nicely flushed him back to where he came from. Sadly on my way into the shower I found another little friend who was watching me on the shower curtain. Well this nearly finished me off and it was left to Rosy who disposed of him in one of our drinking cups – much to the horror of the Brazilian staff. We did our best to disinfect the cup. Finally we had another visitor on his way up to our room a bit more formally via the steps. This time he was flicked off with a broom whilst I hid inside the main house. From now on the toilet lid is staying firmly closed… 🐸👍🏻

Frog removal!

Testing the Tapioca:

Yesterday evening we took a little trip up to old Olinda town – cobbled streets and terracotta roofs. We treated ourselves each to  a sweet and a savoury tapioca wrap, and of course a Guarana! It was delicious street food – ate in the company of Gilda who was very efficiently running the street food stall. She could only be described as the Peggy Mitchell of the tapioca world. The taste is hard to describe – it looks like a prawn cracker, has the texture of Yorkshire pudding, but is also very salty! It tasted good!

During this trip we also got to see a stunning night time view of old Olinda, the sea and over to Recife. It was a welcome trip out!

Today:

This morning also saw us making smoothies with the girls. This went down a storm with the girls and the staff! Iracy (Rose and Rosely’s mum, the cook and mum for everyone else here too), was in heaven! Gordo especially enjoyed this and sat down to enjoy his in the sun! We will be doing this again this afternoon with the remaining girls in between the painting.

Iracy and Gordo enjoy their smoothies!

Tonight will also hopefully see us hitting the streets of Olinda in the combi to help the homeless. A few of the girls have even been found and brought the the house this way. I hope that this will be a real experience for us to learn and show the people we meet a small taster of God’s love for them. Hopefully this will take place as plans often change!

Anna’s story:

Anna first came to Revive over a year ago. Both her parents had died and she had technically been living with her granmother but spent her days going from one person’s house to another between going to various parties where she would take a lot of drugs. It had been a struggle for her to adapt to the change in her life when she came and unfortunately she ran away. She then became pregnant but sadly lost the baby at 5 months. After the loss of her baby she was then taken to a governmental home again where she specifically requested to be taken back to Revive as she believed that only there could she make a difference to her life. Anna is one of the eldest girls and has a funny, sensitive and bubbly personality.  Anna is clearly still grieving for her baby and will be for the rest of her life, she still has some of her baby’s clothes in her room. Our prayer for her is that she can rest in God’s peace and love as he heals her from this ordeal.

For those who pray:

• Thank God for having a fun time doing the various activities with the girls.
• Thank God for providing us with rest and time to ourselves at the weekend.
• Thank god for each and every one of the girls and staff here and their differing personalities.
• Please pray on for productivity in painting the house – that we will be able to get lots done in the next few days.
• Please pray for the girls and what they learn in the devotionals – that they would take it away with them and think on it further.
• Please pray for the staff to come to know God on a deeper level.
• Please pray for Anna and her situation – that God would comfort and heal her in her grief and that she would know his love further.

Thank you! Nos amos Brasil! 🇧🇷❤️