Every day we have here is a blessing from God...

Yeehaw! Today was amazing. Each day we have here is a blessing from God. Today we got up and had our morning team meeting in which we normally discuss the plans for the day, experiences from days past, sing, and pray. Preparing for the day as a team is very important in operating as a unit here in Brazil. These meetings allow us to connect, share, and prepare as a team for serving God, the community, and each other.

After every meeting we have breakfast together and further connect and have fellowship with our family here. Every meal here is absolutely amazing, and not only because of the extremely high quality of food, but also the wonderful people we have to share it with. God has been so good to us.

After breakfast we went over to the church and resumed our project of sorting, cleaning, repacking, and resorting the Project Christmas Child shoe boxes. So far, after working from breakfast to lunch and lunch to dinner, we have completed eighty-one large boxes containing approximately thirteen or more shoe boxes each, which in total amounts to around nine hundred or more shoe boxes. A task such as this requires willing, able, friendly, and patient people, plenty of whom we have here in Brazil. We started working and people just showed up to help and they always teach us Portuguese when they work with us.

After working most of the day, we went back to Phil and Rita's house and we went our separate ways for alone time with God, showers, nap time, and journaling. I spent time journaling and reading God's word. After all that we got ready and went to Dr. Fatima's birthday party. We had snacks, cake, and a great time in fellowship with a bunch of amazing people. God is certainly at work here, these people have a zeal for God that is inspiring and igniting. God has blessed us in so many ways and for that we are thankful.

Phil, Rita, Malu, Hilary, and Marina all took off after lunch to go visit with Phil and Rita's son before Hilary and Marina had to leave on their flight back to the United States. They really love it here and they were sad to leave, but God has a plan and patience, faith, and perseverance are things they are using to follow God's will. They are Good people. So, they were gone the whole day; and that party we went to, we went to without Phil or Rita, but Betty is a good translator so if we needed help we just yelled for her to come translate, I am half kidding of course. We had a bunch of fun.

After the party we went back home, ate another amazing dinner, and split in seven different directions, so here I am on their computer while everyone else is asleep.

Please enjoy the pictures and the video, I certainly enjoyed taking the video and seeing Jim's professional camera techniques on display when he was taking the pictures.

Faithful Follower of Christ,
Joseph B. Keleher

Here we are at play. ;-)

This is a picture of the room that holds the Samaritan's Purse shoe boxes.

This was taken after we did eighty-one of them.

All of us with Dr. Fatima

Ron having fun with a bunch of happy kids