Just to Clarify

I was thinking last night about how most of my blog posts are about life in Natal, and not necessarily about my day to day, 8-5 job (or 10-8, actually) that I'm here to do. Every few posts I'll mention the reading sessions, or readers in particular, but that's not because I'm not enjoying them or don't find them important enough to write about. On the short-term LST projects, LST trains its workers how to blog appropriately, talking mostly about the reading sessions and minimally about what they do on their days off. I think this is extremely important, as you do spend 5 days of your week working all day and only 2 days resting/sight-seeing. Sometimes on the short-term projects you even end up with more pictures of the sight-seeing than your reading sessions, even though most of your time and energy was spent on reading. That's just the way it goes, especially when you're in a beautiful city like Natal!

However, my internship is much more than a 6 week project. When I moved to Natal, I moved to Natal. My life here consists of waking up every morning and "going to work," but it also consists of making friends, hanging out on the weekends, going grocery shopping, learning how to clean my apartment, finding weird Brasilian game shows on TV, spending time with the missionaries, going to church activities, learning the hang of public transportation, and yes, even going to the beach sometimes. I hope that you don't get the wrong impression when the pictures I post are of sunsets and friends. I work a 40 hour week just like you do, I promise! (FYI, my 40 hour work week consists of individual reading sessions, group reading sessions, preparation time, talking with my LST supervisor, writing correspondence to my supporters, studying Portuguese, other areas of ministry with the church, spending time with readers outside of sessions, etc. Yes, it adds up to at least 40 hours, but now you understand why I put "going to work" in quotations. It rarely feels like "work"!)

I wanted to maintain this blog for my friends, family, and supporters to know what was going on with me here in Natal. Therefore, the things I take the time to write about are "what's going on with me." I hope you have been enjoying it, and I hope you know that you are a part of furthering God's Kingdom in Natal. Thank you for your prayers, and thank you for your encouragement!