Listen and repeat

In preparation for Brazil (in less than THREE MONTHS!) I have been trying to re-learn a little Portuguese so that I won't be completely lost when I get there. Although Portuguese was my first language, I lost most of it when my family came back to the States when I was 6. It just simply wasn't cool to be bilingual in Kindergarten, you know? Kids can be brutal, and I was self-conscious. I could go into how much I wish my 6 year-old self had had a little insight into the future and retained her Portuguese fluency...but I feel as though maybe my expectations can't be too high. Anyway, lately I have been listening to the Pimsleur language learning system in order to build my grammar and learn basic phrasing. I have it on my iPod and have decided that I will listen to one lesson per day, usually as I am laying in bed at night. So far...here is what Mr. Pimsleur has taught me.

Excuse me ma'am, do you speak Portuguese?
Excuse me sir, are you American?
Excuse me ma'am, do you have Reais (Brazilian currency) or dollars?
Excuse me sir, do you understand English?
Excuse me ma'am, do you know where the Flamingo Restaurant is located?
Excuse me sir, do you know where the Columbus Hotel is located?
The Columbus Hotel is located over there.
The Flamingo Restaurant located here.

These lessons have actually been good refreshers for me, as I generally have a basic knowledge of how to say all this stuff. I'm sure as I get farther I will be learning a lot that I didn't already know. My one question is this: what is the Columbus Hotel? Because I know where it's located. Over there.

I received good news earlier this week. I am only about $550 away from completing my fundraising for my first year in Natal! I can't tell you how HUGE of a blessing that is, and how humbled I am by everyone's generosity. With my departure less than three months away, it's comforting to know that I am so close. I also have been keeping up with the blogs and Facebook photo albums of the LST team in Natal right now, and it looks like they are having as great of a project as we had last year, if not better because they have twice as many people! I am so thankful that God continues to bless the church in Natal with great workers. I am so excited to join them and hope that I will be able to continue the great work that the missionaries and LST teams from the past have begun. Please keep them (and me!) in your prayers.