A Birthday with NO CAKE

So, today is my birthday, and--to be clear--the title of this post is not out of sorrow. I legitimately am not wanting cake. Seriously. I have pudim de leite condensado (aka flan) instead, by choice.

You see, with the various events that occurred in July (Pictures below), I personally made and frosted (all from scratch) over 380 cupcakes and additional regular cakes. I'm done. No more cake.

We received a group from the companion diocese of Indianapolis, there was the anual diocesan fundraiser to support the newest Anglican Social Center (ASC) in Filadelfia (I work at the one in Pedregal), and the whole church (pretty much) celebrated the 15th birthday of one of the girls I work with (BIG deal, see pictures). Then, after all that, I went to Rio for the Olympics. Even if I didn't have a condition that caused fatigue, I have plenty of other reasons to be justifiably tired.

But there are still some exciting things ahead for me. I am hopeful that my personal knowledge of this diocese and the Anglican Social Center project will allow me to be a much more effective advocate once back in the states. I also expect that my technological skills will allow me to implement new opportunities for partnership and service with the ASC and the Diocese of Brasilia.

I am so very much in awe of all the ministries and programs that are active within this diocese, because it appears so very small in terms of congregations and numbers.  This diocese manages, and I don't always understand how it manages to always work, to serve a much larger number of people than they have as members, AND serves those members when there is need. After all I have seen this year, I still find it implausible that it all continues to not only continue but expand.  I put together this video that showcases the communities and programs of this one diocese. If you turn on the CC, there are English translations.  If you are an email subscriber, you can find the link here.

I am honored to have been even a tiny part of the amazing work God is doing through the church here.  I'd love for you to watch, and even more if you feel called to share, because I have found this community to be a powerful example of service by faith.



And here are the rest of those pictures I'm sure you're excited to see:

 These are from the visit to the ASC by the clergy and Bishop of the Diocese of Indianapolis, which is a companion diocese of Brasilia.

They also visited some families of various students...and met some nice chickens.

 And then it was time for us to start decorations and setup for the fundraising event for the bishop's annual appeal.  All funds raised from these nights benefit the new Anglican Social Center, like Pedregal, that offers school reinforcement for the half day students aren't at public school, at no cost to the lowest income families of the area. The ASC also partner with other groups and parishes to do additional education about music, safety, health and hygiene, and domestic violence reporting and prevention.

This was where they sold my 2 kinds of cupcakes: carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon chips,
and Chocolate-coffee (with Brazilian café) with dulce de leite frosting.

 

Some panoramas from a day picnicking at the lake in Brasilia

 To the left is as we drove across the most iconic bridge in Brasilia.

After all that, it was time to start making more cupcakes for Julia's 15th Birthday!

 
This time, cupcakes were (Left to right):
Banana cupcakes with Nutella frosting, Angelfood with strawberry frosting, and a repeat of the Chocolate-coffee + Dulce de Leite.

 Also referred to as (roughly translated) a debutante ball, a girl's 15th birthday in brazilian culture is a HUGE deal.  There were so many ceremonial parts, and everyone I have ever met in this area (and a few dozen I haven't) were all in attendance and dressed to the nines. It was easily 5 hours, and I went home early! (1. cupcake making is exhausting, and 2. you go when your ride goes)

This will be something I'll remember forever.

And then it was time to head off to the 2016 Olympics in Rio!

My sister kept messaging me saying "I'm watching the event you're at on my tv right now! Where are you?!?! Get on camera!"
Well, Becky, I tried.  Usually, though, we missionaries can only afford the cheap seats!

 But now back to the actual order (ish) that we did things.

   


  So we went to one of the Olympic Parks in the city where they showed the opening ceremony. I think it was about the same feed as what was shown in the states, except ours was live, no comercials, and in portuguese. So basically identical.
We hung out along the beaches, walking from Copacabana to Leblon.  We saw USA house (which is closed to everyone except athletes and by private invitation...snobs. jk, but I did look it up and the minimum donation necessary to get on the list is like $25,000....so it's kinda true)

Other countries have houses open to the public scattered through the different areas of the games and city. So for the first night, we went to Casa Alemã (Germany House) which was literally on the beach in Leblon.

Each house and it's hosting country is designed to educate, promote business and tourism, and give visitors a glimpse of that area.  We only went to 3, but I think we picked some good ones! There were many more to see, but I had a limited amount of time and funds (some are free, some have small entrance fees, and some have limited number private events that are a bit more pricey)

  

    

The next morning (and our only set of tickets before noon) saw us making our way to the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center to watch 3 matches of men's water polo, including Team USA. 

It got pretty warm as we lost our shaded seats around noon.

The next day, with no events, we for the night to visit the Casa Holanda and learn more about Holland House, which has been, rather famously, voted to be the best time/party house every olympics since 1992.  

Side bonus: Holland is known for being
the tallest average population on earth,
I LOVED NOT BEING THE ONLY ONE!!!

  

In a strange coincidence, the next day we went to watch some women's volleyball, where Team USA faced the Netherlands. After that match was Serbia v Puerto Rico.  Then dinner!

 

The next day was reserved for men's rugby.  While we did get to see USA, they were by far NOT the best part of this group of rugby 7s. I was excited for these tickets because they included the rugby teams from Great Britain, Australia (who we sadly missed by being a bit late due to having to run/walk a 5k to get through all the routing and security), South Africa, New Zealand, and Fiji (and in case you're a rugby noob, those are all world famous teams for this sport).
It. Was. Awesome.

 

The next (and last) day was packed full of fun.  We started with some swimming, including a few names you might have heard of: Simone Manuel, Missy Franklin, and...oh...yeah, Phelps!

The Merman himself in lane 4!

After swimming, it was time to head over to Baixo Suiça, the Swiss hospitality house, for our wine tasting.  We saw and learned a bit about the Swiss vineyards and wine specialties (totally putting a trip on my bucket list) and enjoyed a couple samples.  Then headed back to the beach as the rains started to grab dinner before our last event of the trip.

  

In between the restaurant and stadium, we stopped in a store really quickly to grab some long rain coats, and they happened to have a sale on fleece blankets too. (Bryan wasn't so sure about the blanket, but the raincoats were his suggestion).  Then we hiked up to our seats for beach volleyball in the next-to-last row at the very top of the stadium. Oh, and once again, the house we had just visited was the team USA was up against.
  

        

There were 3 more matches after the USA match, but there was a bit of an issue...

    
So, with the bitter wind, and the late hour (about 1am), and with a flight to catch the next day, we called it quits before the final men's match.

And, in case those photos were not quite enough for you...THERE'S MORE. IN VIDEO!!!