From Matt, Day 2 in Brazil

It was a great day. It was raining really hard and didn't think we'd be able to spend any time with the kids. but then at about 2, which was the time they were supposed to come, it stopped raining. It was a smaller group, but it was fun getting to know them. It is always tough when you can't communicate, but some have learned some English words, and wanted to learn. This area is probably as poor as Benevides, but they don't have the health issues b/c they're not living on a dump. Drugs and alcohol are bad, and several of the kids fathers are drug dealers. The pastor here is really cool. He's a great guy. Then all the volunteers are really nice too. They made an amazingly delicious lunch. When we were shopping for food today Mike told them that we'd be fine with pasta. One of the ladies said that if she told her mom they were making pasta she'd leave because she'd be too embarrassed to serve it...too plain. Then we went out to eat and some folks from the church bought us dinner. Really great folks here.