Saturday, December 26, 2015

Christmas

Blog.
Today we went to the waterfalls, a very good hike, Mike with little Lila showed us the way.
We got offered rides and people were surprised that we preferred walking.
It is so nice to cool off in the pools after a hike. We see lots of tattoos on young people, some very elaborate. Met 3 girls from Brasilia with interesting tattoos and thy let me take a picture.
We had a nice picnic and then headed down the mountain as the clouds kept coming closer.
We were offered a ride again but refused, only to be sorry a few minutes later as the few drops tuned in to a tropical rainstorm with thunder and lightning and no shelter. In minutes we were soaked to the bone. 3 km. before the town we found a house under construction, so we took shelter there until the worst of the rain stopped. Lucky Norbert and I had extra clothing and towels to  keep Lila warm. Arrived at the convent like drowned kittens. We were thankful for the hot shower.
The next day at 4pm. the Convent got a call that there was a donation of furniture, toys, washer, kitchen machines and clothing waiting in Brasilia which is 150 km. west of here.
It needed to be picked up today, there is a truck waiting to be loaded there.
So Norbert, Sister Maria and two other nuns hopped in the car and drove to Brasilia.
Thy arrived there at 6pm. and had to wait two hours for the truck to arrive.
The truck was a 1980 Mercedes 911, almost no breaks, no high beams and a very loose steering box. It took them 2 hours to load and off thy went, Norbert, 3 nuns and an overloaded 
Truck that had a max. speed of 80 km on the flat, never mind up hills. Got to the convent at 1:30 am and had to leave at 4 am to bring the truck back and pick up the car. Thankfully in the morning the truck would not start, so the owner of the truck drove down with Sister Maria's car and picked up his truck. What excitement over the donated goods.
That afternoon the children put on a Christmas play and thy received gifts.
The next day the fire truck arrived all decorated and sirens sounding, with food donations, we brought the grandmas down to meet them, thy were so happy to hug the fireman. All day long people kept coming  to donate food and cleaning supplies and also new clothing for the Grandmas.  
We prepared a big Christmas dinner with 3 turkeys, I was in charge of the turkey's as thy are not very common here. (Thy turned out well thanks to Mary who thought me how to cook them)
After dinner we went to church were we distributed toys to the children. The convent has an ambulance and  the siren was the signal that Santa had been there and to pick up the presents. Afterwards the presents for the nuns were given and even we received presents.
Then we sang Christmas carols in Portuguese, German and English. The nuns had to laugh when we sang the Drummer Boy. 
Christmas Day we drove to a little village to attend church and distribute more toys.
This was truly an extraordinarily Christmas which we will always remember. Especially the happiness of the nuns when needed supplies are donated.
Norbert is very busy, thy keep finding things for him to fix, when thy discovered that he can weld, 
thy asked him to fix the railing in the courtyard as the fire department has been after them for a long time to get it fixed. So with the little tools he has, he got the job done, in the process teaching sister Anyshirley how to weld. While Norbert was cutting back some bushes he disturbed a wasp nest and got stung 5 times,so now he has a swollen face, arm and shoulder.
Today I prepared the Blue Wonder for travel with a good cleaning as it was not so hot today.
Christmas Day was 45 degrees here, really too hot to move.
Our intended stay of one day turned out to be 10 and one of the best experiences of our travels.
We will miss all the friends we made here and bless them for the work thy do.
Hugs to all
Norbert and Greti















2 comments:

  1. Wat even bijzondere Kerst. Mooi of te lezen. Wij hebben het rustig gehad, Stella in Oostenrijk, Erika in Brasilia, we waren wel koffiedrinken in de skihal met een sleetje rijdende fam. Jansen. Dinsdag gaat we naar Maastricht waar we de Schinnerls opvangen. Die komen oud en nieuw vieren bij Erika en Howard. Wordt ook weer gezellig. En dan gezond naar 2016. We wensen jullie ook alle goeds en een mooie voortzetting van jullie reis. Liefs, Walter en Tiny

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  2. You guys are truly blessed and are a blessing to the nuns :)
    Like you described it in your blog this is a once in a lifetime experience.
    Love your blogs, keep them coming. Cheers Lianne

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