We love
our friend Paulo. I talked about him back in November when we put in a
nomination for him to be the “Local employee of the month” at the embassy,
which he received. He is still one of our favorite drivers, with whom we
never experience car sickness. :) Paulo came to church
with us on Sunday with his three adorable boys. Seriously these Angolan
children are beautiful. And they’re so cute when they talk! Paulo actually has four boys, but his youngest lives with his ex-wife so we didn’t
get to meet him. Paulo is a man of faith. Every time he drives us
somewhere he’s listening to his gospel music and he’s always ready to express
his love for God and the Savior. A few weeks ago we were pleasantly surprised to find out that Paulo was our driver to pick us up from church. On our drive home, he expressed frustration with the priest of his
church. The priest did something that made Paulo feel that he cared more
about the money he was making than about the people in his congregation.
I told him that he’s welcome to come to church with us anytime and if he had
work off on Sunday some time soon, that we’d love to have him. Briant
went on to explain that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn’t
have paid clergy. Everyone serves. We are all volunteers that are
called to serve in different capacities of the church. Paulo liked the
sound of that and said that he wanted to come with us the next week. So
he did, and he brought his boys with him. They are Bennie (nine), Claudio Divino (seven), and Hamilton (four) years old.
We had
wonderful meetings at church and then took everyone home with us for lunch.
The kids were bouncing around the house as I made lunch and Paulo visited
with Briant.
The kids
took a break from running around and watched a Bible cartoon while lunch
was
being made.
With our consumables arriving last week, we decided to have our
kids’ favorite—taco soup with corn bread. We also had my favorite gluten free brownies for dessert. It's difficult to know what to feed the locals because we have different tastes, but I thought that the soup was a safe bet. Everyone loved it luckily and the kids bounced around with even more energy after that!
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I
love his large eyes and bald head!
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This was our first time having local Angolan children in our home. We had a
few tears from our kids because they thought that Paulo’s boys were being too
rough with their toys and were afraid something would break. I think we may have had more toys than they were used to. :) I was a
witness to the disaster created in the two bedrooms and the gusto with which it
was done, so I spent more time in the rooms with the kids to make sure we
avoided any major issues. All is well. We still can’t
find some of Thomas’ lego men that he needs for a school project, but I’m sure
they’ll show up soon. The only thing that “broke” was a Despicable
Me bouncy ball Thomas got for Christmas that the nine year old put in his mouth and chewed in half. :)
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Cleaning
up the "aftermath." This picture was taken of Savvy's room
after 5 minutes of Briant & I helping to clean. We made it to Thomas
and Rhea's room before that. I reminded my children that they aren't the
epitome of cleanliness either. :)
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We just
loved having our friend Paulo in our home and seeing him in his fatherly role
with his boys. He told us about his upbringing and what we would call a
“hard childhood.” It amazed us both that even with the challenges in his
life, and what would appear to be a lack of God’s hand in it, his faith is
still there. Or even more shocking, that it exists at all! He is a
wonderful example to me and I appreciate the reminder that even amidst the
challenges and trials in our lives, we can find God and evidence of His love
for us.
Paulo appreciated the invitation to attend church and he said that he will come again
next Sunday because he is not scheduled to work. We look forward to
seeing him again, and his boys. :)
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