Living and loving in Natal, Brazil

This morning I broke my first glass since living in my apartment. As irritated as I was, I see it as kind of an official inauguration of my humble abode. I did it in style, too, as I had just made myself a full glass of chocolate milk (the milk here is undrinkable without some kind of flavoring.) I had chocolate milk splattered all across the floor, up the walls, up and down the refrigerator, and all over myself. In true Cris fashion, however, I still stopped to eat my breakfast before cleaning up. I'm a woman of priorities.

The Carnaval retreat was a blast. It was my favorite activity thus far that I've spent with the church. The house we usually go to in Genipabu was recently rented out, so we had to move the location of the retreat to Sarah's dad's house/little farm. There was nothing to do there (in relation to the fact that in Genipabu there is a pool, volleyball court, soccer field, and the beach close by) and so we spent all day and all night together, talking, laughing, studying, watching movies, lounging in hammocks, and putting on shows with the karaoke system. This fact alone was why I loved it so much. We had 4 extremely peaceful days of straight communion, and it was wonderful. I grew in my relationships with every single person that was there, and fighting off the flying cockroaches each night brought us all closer together. The theme for the retreat was "Sanctity" or "Holiness," and I really loved listening (and understanding!) all of the lessons and reflecting on what it means for my life in Natal. The lesson that stuck out to me most was when my friend Robson talked about all of the ways in which he personally struggles with the call to holiness, but then referred us to this verse: "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." -Matthew 5:48. I haven't been able to get that one out of my head since. :)

The time I have been waiting for since December 1st has officially arrived: the end of vacation season! Starting Monday I will go back to my normal work schedule, and I could not be more excited. Vacations are nice, but staying busy and productive is nicer. I have been thankful to have this time over the last couple of months to spend a lot of time with my friends and sleep in a bit, but I miss my days of actually eating breakfast at breakfast time and going to the church at 9 am and not getting home until 8 pm. Seriously, who does that? ME! Tiresome days and early bedtimes, here I come!