Everyone was crying when we left. Really. It was quite quite sad. I had a six year old crying on my shoulder. She's what I would call... my adopted child. In fact, when I went back to the OM house and was talking with Paulina and Júlio, Paulina said that she had an second mother who called to make sure she was okay. I commented quickly that I seem to have adopted a child. The look on Júlio's face was nothing short of shocked. But yes, I seem to have adopted a young six year old girl by the name of Isis. I can't describe her. Wiry, strong, pert, stubborn, brown haired, brown eyed, perfect brows, crooked teeth, a laugh that could move mountains, attitudes, and eminently lovable. I'll definitely miss her, but I have to say that I'm proud that I did not cry.

The same could not be said, however, of some of the young men in the church. The teenage guys were crying. It was... wow. When you see a teenaged guy crying... uhh... it's slightly uncomfortable.

Anyhow, the last night we went out for food, the whole youth group, plus three young men with whom I had an acquaintance, all brothers, Marcos, Márceo, and Marcello. (You can tell their mother had a streak for Ms.) In any case, I was seated with these three young men, plus my roommate for 9 days, Cleyde, just shooting the breeze, eating, etc. One of our teammates, Frances, came by and said, "Did you miss me?" My response.. "No, I had the company of three gorgeous young men." Of course, all in English. The ensuing conversation was quite amusing.

Monday morning, we left for São José dos Campos, near São Paulo, and stayed the night there in the empty OM house with Jenny and Paulina. We three, with the guys, watched Snake Eyes and turned in. That night was particularly interesting because on the way back from the video store, Walter and I managed to pick up an adolescent stray Siamese. This Siamese dogged us for a whole day. And like most Siamese, it was very loud, climbing up everything, including doors, windows, and getting into the house however it could. The other interesting thing that happened was that I cooked for the five of us with what we had in the fridge. Woohoo. Mom's recipe for fried rice - everything in and a little salt - worked like a dream.

So Tuesday afternoon, Jenny and I went to CENA in the city by bus. Almost immediately, we were thrown into the business of serving food for some one hundred odd people from the streets. Afterwards, we were instructed to clean up, I with some laundry (and some real nit-picking, literally), Jenny with the dishes, and then later me with the bathrooms. (Yes, you learn very quickly to breathe shallowly and not to smell anything.) That night, we were split into two different houses - rehabilitation houses of some kind, where people who have been living clean can live in a family environment so as to be reintroduced to a new, more healthy model of family life.

The next day, I went with Anna, a full time missionary with CENA, to a house of prostitution to give out tracts and talk with the women there. Ten floors of prostitution, more than a hundred women, some of them less dressed than others, some of them pregnant, some of them old, some of them new to prostitution, some looking lost, and some looking as if they were really doing their work. I got an opportunity to peek into the apartments and see the rooms - partitioned areas, really - where the work was done, and also to see the beginnings of some transactions and stuff. But it was overall a good day - we got to talk and pray with a number of women. Praise God for his protection, because Anna said that it could have been much, much worse. I'd have to say that the work was really quite heavy in some ways, to see the women there, painted up, most without hope, some fleeing bad home situations, some with children, some supporting their children, one woman whose husband had left her and given her no other choice.

Anna said that many of these women work for about R$10 per trick, half of which goes to their pimp, which in this case are women who run the joint. So really, it's about R$5 per trick, which comes down to less than $2 US. It was definitely a time where I felt that my innocence and my virginity were something truly precious and something that I had the blessing to still retain. Anna said that something that God created so precious can go at such a low price. But God was there in that house that day when we were there. The women were ashamed, the women allowed me to pray for them, and the women there - I saw them the way that God sees them, with great movement of heart and the knowledge that He, only He, can save.

Today, Jenny and I went with Sílvia to go look for street kids to talk to. But today's weather has been really quite cold, and so many of the street kids weren't in the streets but instead were hiding away in warmer locales. So really, we didn't do quite a whole lot, but after yesterday, I feel that my eyes have been opened.