As a missionary at the YWAM Belo Horizonte base, I work with two different children's groups at the Light House Community Center, which is located in one of the many slums of Brazil.
I work with a girls group in the mornings and another girls group in the afternoons. My co-leader or "teaching partner" (so to speak) is a Brazilian named Rosangela! She is a great friend and team member. She is from Rio de Janiero!
Here we are preparing snacks before the field trip. We made many sandwiches!
Me and Marta on the bus getting ready to head out to the ZOO!
We actually went to the Belo Horizonte zoo two different times. Once with our afternoon girls group and the other time with the morning girls group. Many of the girls had never been to the zoo before so this outing was a treat for them! We had lots of fun!
The morning girls group!
Look closely in the photo below! At the top you can see a free roaming monkey. The zoo is like an open park and many monkeys roam around freely in the treetops.
Here in this photo, one of my girls is reaching towards the monkey in the tree!
Beautiful Raiane enjoying the animals!
ALL SMILES!!!
One BIG attraction at the zoo are the elephants! This one elephant was SO FRIENDLY and he came SO CLOSE! The girls LOVED him!
Check out the video below with our friend the elephant, and listen to us talking in Portuguese!
SNACK TIME!
The afternoon girls group enjoying the sandwiches and resting a bit!
It was a tiring trip with MUCH walking involved! Some girls were so extremely tired by the end of our time at the zoo. Lizia was trying SO HARD to hang in there, but the outing really made her sleepy. Rosangela had to carry her at the end and she also fell fast asleep on the bus ride back home.
Sleeping Beauties!
These girls fell asleep on the bus ride back to the Light House. After MUCH walking they couldn't resist a good nap.
Overall, our outing to the ZOO was a BIG SUCCESS with our girls!
