There isn’t too much to say about this day. There wasn’t a lot that happened, but it was kind of a significant day anyway. Okay, well, it’s not really that significant, but it was a sad day for many of us.
Today was the day that Stephen, Sarah, and Olivia left. I just met Olivia last week, and it’s obvious why Stephen really likes her. She’s such a great person, and it was really enjoyable to get to know her and play in the orchestra together with her. She also has a good sense of humor and loved to laugh along with us when we were having fun.
I’ve known Sarah for eight years because back in 2005 she was a full-time lifeguard at IRBC. That was when I really got to know her, and ever since then we’ve seen each other off-and-on, and it was fun to spend another week with her, this time in her childhood home of Brazil.
As for Stephen, well, we had so much fun together. I’ve been acquainted with Stephen for a long time because we played in orchestra together for two years at Faith, and last year he taught my Music Theory IV class in the stead of Mr. LaFleur. But spending almost the whole day with him for two weeks was an amazing experience.
Playing in orchestra again with him, playing in a quartet with him, climbing mountains and braving cliffs with him…those were some fun times. But what was really great was sharing a room with him and joking with him at meal times and laughing so much whenever we were together.
It always seemed like we were thinking along the same lines. We’d hear something and immediately make some smart comment, and we would just feed off each other. There was no end of puns and inside jokes.
When I first heard that Stephen might possibly stay with me during those couple weeks, I thought it would be fun, but it turned out to be way better than I even thought, and I’m sad that we only got to be roommates for such a short time.
But praise the Lord for that short time! The Lounsbrough family has become a dear family to me after working with Stephen’s and Sarah’s parents with SMF for three years and now after spending some good times with them here in Brazil. Oh, it was so sad to see them go today!
For breakfast we ate Aunt Julie’s tasty tapioca wraps with meat and cheese, and she also made me one with cheese and guava jam. For dessert…papaya, of course!
I continued to work on fixing my blog and I did my devotions while Stephen packed up his stuff and moved it all outside. Sniff, sniff! He gave me a memory card and I gave him all the pictures from the past 1 1/2 weeks, and before he left we looked at the pictures from our adventures the last two days. Oh, so many great memories made so quickly!
At 11:55 we ate a lunch of beef stroganoff, caja juice, and frozen pineapple cream for dessert. Stephen, Sarah, and Olivia were taking a bus to Fortaleza, and it was scheduled to leave at 12:30, so they shoveled down their food. The Wilson’s showed up with their car, and at 12:20 we all loaded up quickly and took the three to the bus stations.
There we said our almost tearful goodbyes (some of us couldn’t cry), and a few minutes later they were gone…sadness.
Rest of the afternoon was dedicated to getting things ready for upcoming events. Those of us who remained (the Leonard’s, Danae, and I) went to Juazeiro. Uncle Jim had a short business meeting, and the rest of us went to various stores downtown to buy some things and get some information about who is coming to the Hope Encounter.
Our last stop was back at the shopping center. Jennifer and I sat on a couch and read books while the other girls went around looking for earrings. Neither Jennifer nor I are the most avid shoppers, so we did what we thought was more profitable while we waited for the others.
We went back home and ate for supper we ate fried spam, macaroni ‘n cheese, broccoli, and Aunt Julie’s squash and sausage pie. Afterward we played five-handed Rook, my first experience with that version of Rook. It was actually quite fun as I learned a whole new strategy, and fortunately I came out the winner at the end.
Jennifer asked to play my violin for a few minutes while we waited for Uncle Jim to get some things done before we had a planning meeting. We then reviewed details for the adolescent campout and assigned last-minute tasks. We made a plan of attack for cleaning up the houses and a list of things for Uncle Jim to buy in the morning.
So that was the story of today…soon after that meeting we were in bed, resting up for a very busy weekend…
The plan was to meet some people from the church and hike up into the mountains with them. Well, we got there and they weren’t there yet, so we just stood there and waited. Meanwhile Stephen climbed over the fence and into the churchyard, looking really sketchy as a car drove by.
We walked up the side of a wide, two-lane road, trying to stay in the shade as much as possible. This was technically easier than walking up a steep mountain trail like the day before, but the road was still fairly steep and long, so I got more of a workout then I had the day before.
We walked along through woods for about half an hour and eventually came upon a trail that descended to the edge of a cliff- the moment which we had all anticipated.
After several minutes of photos we walked partway back on the trail and ate our snacks in a clearing. I had a small packet of peanuts, a couple crackers, and a couple cookies, and that was enough for me!
Back at the house, we spent the evening getting things ready for the rest of the week. At one point Danae asked me to go get a frog out of her bathroom, so I went over there and caught it and also got some good pictures of it. I’ve never caught a frog before, so now I can say that I have!