Sunday 30 June 2013

Formatura

Last night (Saturday) was the "Formatura" - the Graduation for the current students at OM Brazil, who have completed their missions training.

Carlos - Director of Training
Vitor - Director of, er, everything

This term was especially significant as the first with our new Director of Training, Carlos, who opened  proceedings, and our new Field Leader, Vitor, who led worship. 

A very smart graduate
Most of the students will be returning  in August for the English Short Course, before joining their fields overseas. Some of the countries chosen include India, Bosnia, Israel and Egypt.


Another very smart graduate
The training base will seem very empty for the next month, but this will give us a chance to continue with some renovations and improvements to our facilities. Some of the staff will be taking some holiday, as all schools and colleges take a 4-week break.

We pray the the students will have an excellent time of rest back home with their families and churches, and that they will return refreshed and ready to conquer the English language!

Sunday 16 June 2013

Winter Warmer

Well, the official start of winter here in Brazil (21st June) is just a few days away. So far it hasn't been too cold, but we've already started eating some of the traditional winter foods. (With temperatures plummeting into the low teens at night we need to warm our tummies)

Not-so-little broths - take your pick
At OM Brazil, we generally get the whole team together once a month for a "confraternização" to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries, and of course to eat and talk. If there aren't any birthdays or anniversaries we think of some other excuse. Last Friday we had a wonderful selection of "Caldinho", which literally means "little broth". Caldinho can be any flavour you like, but some of the typical ingredients include beans (feijão), and cassava (mandioca). 

For this month's get-together we had some caldinho-first-timers - visitors from OM Ecuador and from Finland, who like everyone else sampled a little of each one. My favourite was "Canjiquinha" which is a brazilian type of corn grits. We are very grateful to the kitchen team who worked hard to get all five caldinhos ready on time.