Hello everyone,

Orientation finished yesterday: it went really well; my team is really nice, and we all kind of bonded straight away (which I guess is necessary when there are 12 of you in a 8 people tent).  We had all kinds of sessions, including a language one where they separated the people who spoke some portuguese (only 3 of us) and asked us to give our testimonies in portuguese: it was extremely difficult for me as I didn't even know how to say christian in portuguese (at least now I know!)
We also did what they call "the excursion", where they send us off on "Crash Airlines" (otherwise known as a trailer filled with hay) to a random country in South America, where we have to face scary customs officers (who threaten to hit you with a mallet if you don't give them money), then we had to drive to the 'local town' (or the barn), in an overcrowded minibus and a very bad driver ( who brakes suddenly and can't drive straight, and who lets random drunk people (or rather people pretending to be drunk) on) and then had to negociate to buy a souvenir.
As you can guess we all had a good time.

So I guess the next piece of news that I should give is that I will be music co-ordinator and children's work co-ordinator (both roles are shared with another person). However it seems that I'm the only guitarist in the team, so please pray that it will improve dramatically before I leave!
Other subjects for prayer would be for the journey on Wednesday (ONLY 2 DAYS!!!!!) to go well, and for us to be able to communicate when we arrive despite our level of portuguese. Of course, prayers for us to be really a blessing to the people over there would also be wonderful!

Look out for the next update, coming soon ( I hope)