When I arrived in Santo Antonio do Ica my first and greatest difficulty was communication. I couldn’t speak a lick of Portuguese beyond Oi (hi) and besides the Peace family no one spoke any English.
This was especially vexing to me because I love to talk to people. On my flight down to Brazil I made multiple new friends by striking up conversations with strangers. Now my main method of communication was rendered useless. I was lost and had no idea how to connect with the people around me. Of course, this was just where God wanted me. Not knowing how to begin I just stuck with what I knew.
I stayed close to the Peace kids and tried to do some fun things with them. It wasn’t long before the girls found that I could do hair and soon after the news spread round the neighborhood.
Now I have an average of 6-7 girls per Sunday that come to have their hair done for the evening service. It was quite difficult in the beginning trying to figure out how they wanted their hair done so I ended up drawing pictures of as many hair styles as I could come up with. Now they just come into the living room, plop down in the seat I have ready for them, grab my sketchbook and pick the picture they want.
Who would have thought that knowing how to do hair would come in handy in the Amazon. This has been a wonderful way to get to know the girls and as far as I can tell has drawn them together too. When I’m done with their hair they go back home, get all dressed up and then walk to church together. It’s a precious sight to see.
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