_life_as_a_Snider: Final Brazil Post {Hopefully}

Phew. Okay. This has been a really long process between having a lot of things I want to share and having a TON of other things on my plate between December and now. Hopefully I will be able to fit everything I want to in this post....and if not, well, then there will be yet another Brazil post soon. But, I'm really excited to be able to start blogging about something different {you know, like Brazil this year hahaha}.

Anyway, here we go:

We went into two different favelas for Christmas parties, but there was also a day we got to go into another favela {the favelas are broken up into sort of neighborhoods, although to a non-local the boundaries are difficult to find}. During this trip, we did not put on a Christmas party {though we had one for the kids of the neighborhood later on in the week that we held at the church}. Instead we got to walk around, soaking in the environment, and we got to go into a few houses to talk to some families that are involved with the ministry {not those who work for the ministry, but those who have been reached by the ministry}.

These home visits were a highlight of my trip. It was really powerful to hear some of their stories. We cried {or, at least, I cried hahah} when they shared their struggles and hardships, and we were amazed at the hope many of them had found in God and through the ministry. Some of these people talked about how blessed they were. It was a great source of perspective and helped give a better view of "blessings".

One of our ministry leaders joined in a fun street game with a few of the children.

Walking around the neighborhood.

Inside one of the nicer houses. The woman who lived in this house {I unfortunately don't have a picture of her} was so excited to see us. She invited us to take pictures of her house, and told us how blessed she had been by the people in the ministry.