Well, we finished our first week of language school. I think we are going to enjoy it! Our teachers are great, patient and super nice. So far, we haven’t had any homework. In fact, when we asked if we should go home and practice our words and sounds, our teacher Monica said very emphatically, “NO!!”. It is very important that we learn these sounds correctly, the wrong sound can totally change the meaning of the word. There are several sounds that are not typical in the english language, so it gets a little frustrating at times when our teachers say a sound, we repeat it, then they repeat it again because we didn’t get it right, then we repeat it, but its still not right, but we can’t tell it wasn’t right….AAHHHH!!! But, despite the frustrations, we are looking forward to really getting into school. In fact, I think I can even say that we are looking foward to having some homework!! (I say that now, but I’m sure it will change later.)

We are DYING to communicate better with our neighbors. You can tell they are used to Americans living in this house, they are really patient with our lack of portuguese! On Thursday night, Julia and I were sitting out front watching the kids play, and several of the neighbor kids came over to talk to us. There names were Julia, Bianca, Bruno, and Jon Victor (there were a couple more, but I can’t remember their names). We sat out there for about 1/2 hour talking bad portuguese and a little english getting to know each other. I think we successfully communicated why we are here, that we are not just visiting, and that we are studying portuguese (all with the help of Bruno who speaks pretty good english). After I went back in the house, Julia sat outside with them for another hour and a half! They are very intrigued by our family and they love our kids, so there is a great potential for ministry, starting now! I also met several moms this week, which was great. There is Luciana-her son is Lucas, our boys play their Nintendo DS’s together. 2 doors down is Miriam and Jiro-their son is also Lucas who is 8, they were friends with the missionaries who lived here before us have been awaiting our arrival. I met Sandra-she also has a son Lucas, he is 4. I am looking forward to getting to know these ladies better as our kids interact!

Today, Lucas is running a 5k somewhere around here, I’m not even sure where he is! As far as the rest of our day, we’re hanging out here-the no car thing again. :-) Lord willing we will get a car this week and next weekend we can start exploring this beautiful city!