Sleep has been hard to get this last week. I had my first major Portuguese exam on Thursday, and I wanted to do well. Missing almost two weeks of class earlier this month wreaked havoc on my retention. Therefore, I stayed up late studying and got up early to study as well. My original plan was to study during the afternoon while Jonah is napping, but so far, life has gotten in the way of this plan requiring my attention elsewhere during business hours. My test was two parts, oral and written. I thought I did pretty well on the written section, but the look on my teacher's face when she glanced through it wasn't good. Hopefully I will get the results next week, and I can let you know how it went. 

Me in class with my teacher, Sara

Brian and I have been making up for lost time it seems. We don't have many chances to meet and talk about the work right now. We do regularly get together three times a week, but those times are structured not allowing time for other things. Our team meets on Sunday for worship and on Wednesday night for team night. Brian and I also meet at 6:30 on Wednesday morning for a spiritual accountability meeting giving us a venue for confession of sin, prayer, and "gauge checking." This Saturday we decided to spend the morning together. It was a great time. We drove around town brainstorming possible locations for our outreach facility that we hope to open next year. Our conversations ranged from family to work and it was good to reconnect with him for a while. 

This has also been a week of connecting with our neighbors. Amy spent most of Monday evening visiting with Silvana while Jonah played with the neighborhood kids and I installed the modem and router. We kept Josiah on Tuesday night while Brian and Melissa went on their date. Friday night, Raiane came over to watch Disney's Up in Portuguese. We did turn on the English subtitles, though. Saturday night we went to Jamille's birthday party. She lives next door. Parties here in Brazil are much more elaborate than in the United States. Everyone dresses to a T and the decorations are beyond your comprehension. It is a lot of fun and everyone comes. 

As for the pests this week, a giant rat came out of a hole made in the concrete above the sewer in front of our house. A tiny little insect with wings drew blood from Amy when she smashed it with her hand. Geckos have appeared somewhere in our house every day this week. And the grand finale, a six inch long cockroach flew through our stairwell and landed on the windowsill tonight. I went outside to get a better look at it, but could not get a picture because it was two stories up. Even from that distance I could make it out clearly. It was the grossest, scariest roach I have ever seen, and we have seen some big ones. I'm pretty sure this one could wear my shoes and carry things out of my house if he wanted to. 

Well, that's a wrap on my week. Be sure to check out Amy's blog at www.fowlersinthefield.blogspot.com for more regular blog posts.