Wed pm

We had music night tonight - at least I think that was the idea. There was definitely loads of music! There were about 20 Brazilian students at the McMs house and a few guitars, drums and a .... karoke machine. Very very funny. The kids had a great time just hanging out, singing karoke and just being together. Lots of fun.

Tomorrow morning has the girls and one of the boys visiting local high schools with friends of the McMs. Only one of the guys can go because of school permission issues with the administration, which is a little too bad. I would have liked to have gone, I would have been very early, but fun. And of course, most kids think I´m a high schooler anyway.

You readers can continue to pray for open hearts among the Brazilian students. There were probably 8-10 of them that showed up tonight that had never been to the McMs house before, which was really neat. That is one of the goals - to catalyze some new relationships for them, which will eventually be used as momentum for relationships at the university level. Our team is totally healthy, all the food here in the city is safe. And delicious. Continue to pray that our team continues to work as a team, that we encourage one another, that we care for one another continually.

SS, TS and me are staying at J´s house, probably the nicest apartment building in the whole city. Which brings up an interesting point that JAB asked me about tonight - what about the idea of comfort zone and taking kids out of theirs? Definitely a valid question. However, a few things come to mind. First and foremost, I believe (at this point) that I am willing to sacrifice the comfort zone issue in order that our students develop a serious affinity to serving families from GCC already overseas. Given the choice of developing a student outside of their comfort zone versus having a student understand long term partnership with a GCC family, I think we should be opting for the latter. Secondly, they can always choose to go outside their comfort zone in the future, college, post-college, etc. And their idea of moving out of their comfort zone may not be totally feasible in their high school days, while under the close care of their parents. I´m not convinced we should be reaching for the most inhospitable places on earth to travel to with high schoolers. College aged people are a different story (and out of my realm.) If a student gets a burning desire to be overseas from a high school team working with a GCC family, I´m sure they will find loads of places in the world that will expand their comfort zone. In the meantime, even though it´s plush, I can tell you - without any doubt - the McMs are so hugely encouraged by us being here.
I know I said it before, and I say it with so much more direct experience now, sending a team to a GCC family is about the best goal we can have.