brasil!

Wow. I got back from Brasil on Monday. This is going to either be a really long blog with lots of detail or a short and sweet one because there is so much stuff that happened in the past ten days. I still can't fathom how amazing Brasil is. :) It was definatley completely different from last year. We stayed in Roberto and Rachel's house, which is pretty legit. When we pulled up I was like are you kidding me? This house is amazing! I think my favorite was the bar outside. I sat out there and ate breakfast and any other meal I could out there every day. We also got to meet some pretty cool kids from that neighborhood. It all started out with a soccer game with just Americans, and then all of these Brazillian kids kept joining. We got to hang out and talk to them for a few days. They happened to love to hear me sing Kesha....don't ask me why. But they were all so sweet. We worked at the trade school all this week, which I absolutely love! I painted all day, every day. Well, besides hanging out with the kids there too. :) I met some pretty amazing kids there that came and took English class. I also got to hang out with my old buddies (Rafael, Mauro, and Wisley). I love them so much. I also don't know who taught them horse pets...but I'd like to thank you because on top of being tickled all week I also got horse petted 24/7. We went to the church on Sunday and then the next Saturday for church services. I got to see my besties (Lucas, Felipe, Luizinho, and Bruno.) But only for about twenty minutes. I am still terribly sad I didn't get to see them that much. Last year we hung out all the time and I talk to them all the time online and I was so excited to get to see them. I didn't get to see Gustavo at all which makes me super sad. But, I will be back to Brasil soon enough and I will hopefully see them all for a long time! We also went to the slums for two days to deliver food. Going there always hits me hard because it is just so sad to me. The poverty there is nothing like the poverty here. It's like the kind of stuff you see on TV on those commercials...you see it and all but it really does hit you when you realize it's really reality. I just wanted to help every single person in there. I also really love these trips because I become a lot closer with my friends, and they also make me start new friendships. :) We went to the orphanage our last day there, and only for about an hour. This made me really sad because I absolutely adore all those kids. But, I was grateful to at least be with them a little bit. Not a lot of them speak English, so there's always that language barrier. Somehow we make it work and there's always a lot of love. :) I know I missed a ton about this trip, but it would literally take pages and pages to write everything about this trip. Going to Brasil makes me truly grateful for everything I do have. I am so humbled by my experience there. I really do love Brasil, and I can't wait to go back.