CHILDREN.

(Victoria speaking)

I got to play with children today!! I have missed those smiles and laughs. Don't get me wrong, I have loved being able to serve the college here this past week in the library, but as many of you know, I LOVE KIDS. Charlie would say I have a problem. It has gotten to the point where I kind of just stare at them out the window as we drive through the neighborhoods. However, today that changed :)

As we have already said, the language barrier has been difficult for us. Not today though! With kids, language doesn't matter. I played Dominoes, and UNO (sadly not spicy UNO), and puzzles without knowing half the stuff they were saying. We laughed a bunch and I tried my hardest to tell them things about myself and ask them questions. Eventually I just started asking things in Spanish and they understood! Lucky for me. I had little ones hugging me and hanging on me as I walked around the gym. There were about 50 kids there that are a part of a Kids Camp type thing that a ministry puts on. It has been wonderful hearing stories of how God has been changing lives with those kids and within the local community.

TOMORROW. We leave for the Amazon tomorrow! 6 hours from now actually. Charlie, Kenzy Parker, and I will be joining a team of students and staff from the school here and will be going to the Amazon to work with their partner ministry. They are running camps with the river communities and we will be helping out wherever they need it. Charlie and I were asked to share our testimony...that's always scary. So over thought and prayer we wrote them out so that Kenzy could prepare to translate for us. I don't know about C, but I know I am pretty scared for this trip. I know these areas are poorer that what we have seen so that is going to be hard, but other than that I don't know what to expect. Please pray for peace for Charlie, the team and I, as we go into these communities to share God's word with people who might not ever get another chance to hear it.

We get back the 3rd so expect a post after that!! Love and miss you all.

Love bunches, 

Victoria Starr

P.S. And what Charlie said about the pizza...it really is hard to eat it with a fork and knife. We are learning SO many things about the culture here! 

 Charlie helping out with jump rope!

 

Just too cute.

 The kids hearing a bible story from the teens in the group!

My new friend Julia

I can't handle it....

They eat their pizza with utensils. It's just too much. I can handle the beans and rice with EVERY meal (I kid you not they served spaghetti with meatballs and rice), I can handle the cultural differences, and the language barrier isn't so bad once you get used to it, but I draw the line at grabbing a fork a knife for a nice slice of Italian tomato cake. Granted this all happens in a cafeteria full of college students so I'm sure they wouldn't mind but what am I to do at a restaurant? I guess next time I'll just sneak a slice into the bathroom and eat with my hands like the pizza eating heathen I am.

Oh, and We Took Some Pictures Too

 Tory getting her Yellow Fever shot. It was't too bad.

 A local church were Gary was invited to preach. It was an hour long and in Portugese, yet somehow still interesting. Also, the lights went out halfway through due to a storm, but he preached on.

 Where we are staying- The Parker's house!

Amazon Valley Academy and soccer field. (where Kenzie Parker goes to school. Oh, and to the Coleman kids that lived here: a lady that works there remembers you guys! I will ask for her name.)

 Above: Walking around the Word of Life compound

Below: An Olympic sized pool (but only like 4 feet deep) which is next to a full size gym

Now it's my turn!

      (Charles speaking)   

        Hello all! What a crazy/exciting/awesome/frustrating/amazing week this has been for the both of us (I'm sure for my parents too). Our host family (The Parkers) are SUPER nice and we already feel at home here. The first weekend was fairly laid back as we got settled in and learned all about Palabra da Vida (Word of Life) and what they are all about. Along with that, some sort of crazy festival is going on not too far from where we are staying so needless to say sleeping tends to happen more during the day (I kid you not, they set off fireworks allll night).

            On monday I went to help out with a new house they are building on campus while Tory helped sort books in the library. Today we set out to get our Yellow Fever vacines at the local clinic and then soon got back to work. 

           So far the biggest speedbump for me has been the language barrier, seeing as I dont know a lick of Portugese. While on the construction site I met a cool guy but we couldn't communicate at all seeing as we both knew minimal amounts of each other's language. At one point I wasn't sure if he was inviting me over for a game of basketball or telling me that I was painting the wrong wall. But other than that, the trip has been (refer to begining adjectives). Thank you for reading my rant!

-Charles Starr

We love mail.

Since Charlie and I will be down here for so long, we really would LOVE to get letters from home! 

The street address here is:

 Av. Joaquim Pereira de Queiroz 450

Benevides, Para, Brazil 68795-000

Or the P.O. Box is:

Pelavra da Vida

Caixa Postal 29

68795 Benevides, Para

Brasil

Either one works although no packages should be send to the P.O. Box. We will let you know as soon as we receive something in the mail! If you send us something we will send you something!

Love you guys :)

Victoria and Charles Starr

Oh the humidity!

I feel like the outside is just a giant sauna. Maybe that's dramatic. Nope, it's not. Neither of us have ever really experienced humidity before so we are trying our hardest to make the best of it!

And besides, "Girls don't sweat, they GLOW." 

Does this mean we made it to our destination? IT DOES! After about 28 hours of travel we have made it to the wonderful country of Brazil. It started yesterday (6/13) around 5 AM when we left for the airport for our first flight to Miami! There was a young boy in my row and you know me....I was so excited at first! He was about 6 years old and super cute...until he became "that kid." I woke up at one point thinking there was bad turbulence but no, it was just the boy jumping on his chair with a parent unwilling to do anything! My inner babysitter was dying. So we made it through the 5 hour flight with about 40 minutes to spare for our connection to Manaus, Brazil. We made it on time but then saw someone with a Dunkin Donuts bag and just HAD to get some....which may or may not have led us to almost miss our flight. No big deal. So that flight was about 5 hours and we both got lots of room, plenty of sleeping time, and even some satisfying airplane food! Then came the boring part.....

We had an almost 6 hour layover in the airport of Manaus....not many things to do there! Charlie road his longboard around...I tried (unsuccessfully) to order 2 ice cream cones...and we people watched! Again, almost missed our flight. No big deal. Then came the last stretch! A 4 hour flight from Manaus to Belem which was where we met Gary and his daughter Kenzie! We are staying in their home for this summer. (How do we know them? Well my mom lived in Belem when she was a wee child and her family became friends with Gary's family the Parkers and so it came to be..)

The compound here is beautiful!! I haven't taken pictures of it yet but we will soon! We settled in, had lunch in the cafeteria (delicious!), I had some Brazilian coffee, Kenzie took us on a tour through the jungle, we tried some cool Acai dessert, and are now just relaxing and trying to get over this jet lag.

 Tomorrow is a big day but we don't really start working until Monday. 

We will post as soon as we can!

Please pray for our jet lag to go away soon so we can give our 100% and glorify our God! Miss you guys!

-Charles and Victoria Starr

Brazil 2013

We look so cool carrying around these matching suitcases!

Our first flight out of Phoenix!

Charlie doin' this thing.

The Amazon River!!

Video Update #1: The Day Before

Excuse our awkwardness. UPDATE! 

https://vimeo.com/68199993

9DAYS.

Sooooo as the title may reveal, we leave in 9 DAYS. It is becoming so real the closer and closer we get to leaving. We have FINALLY started the process of packing and getting ready to go! We've got our 4 suitcases, some clothes (anyone know what they wear in Brazil? We are a tad bit unclear...), and we are getting everything in order.

We ask for prayer that God prepares our hearts for the experiences we will have in while in Brazil. Prayers for safe travel on our flights down there. Prayers for the people down there that they will have open hearts to what God will be doing in them. Prayers that God uses Charlie and I in BIG ways.

- Victoria