Asas Graduation '07

After we went to the orphanage that day, we ran home, showered, left the kids with a babysitter, and headed off to the Asas de Socorro graduation. There were four graduates...Cesar, Heber, Felipe, and Rodrigo. All of them have been here at least 4 years, some 5.

People starting to gather in the hangar for the ceremony.
Rocindes is the president of Asas...an incredible man. Josemil is over the school and is also an incredible man...he and his family go to our church. These 2 both had a great career in the Brazilian Air Force before they joined Asas.
Rodrigo and Lailah. Rodrigo is one of the 3 biological children of that couple I posted about a couple of posts ago who adopted over 30 children.
Heber (left his practice as a dentist to join Asas) and Felipe (his parents are also missionaries...they have a boat that takes trips on the Amazon for all kinds of outreaches; in fact, some of our friends from Teen Mania are planning to come for a trip this spring to work with them).
Felipe and Rodrigo.
Heber's wife, Suzilani, and Cesar's wife, Kathrim.
Joel ran all the power point for the night. Here are some of the "head honchos" talking about the order of the night...Milton, Rocindes, Edna (Rocindes' wife), and Josemil.
Josemil and Milton...both in leadership at Asas.
Kathrim has a beautiful voice...love to hear her sing. They had a few worship songs and special music. The guy in the back with the trumpet is Emerson, also a student. And Suzilani is playing the keyboards (she actually studied music in Europe and is a classical pianist).
This is a pastor here in town who spoke that night. He has actually spent some time in the states too, pastoring a church. His daughter goes to Harvard and is in medical school there.
The main leadership of Asas de Socorro...Steve is the flight instructor. Josemil is the coordinator of the school. Rocindes, the president. Milton is the head guy over maintenance. The next guy (I forgot his name) is a doctor here in town who is on the Board of Directors. Side note: He is also married to a lady whose family (Mom's side) is all from Mississippi. :-) She was born and raised here though. Then the last man at the table is the pastor who was the guest speaker.
All the graduates...Felipe, Heber, Rodrigo, and Cesar.
The husbands were surprising the wives with something. I think they were a little scared about what they were getting. :-) The girl second from the left had just gotten engaged to Felipe that day (she looks young, but is actually almost done with medical school). Poor thing...every time they called for "the wives" to come forward, she didn't know what to do. They were telling her to go and I could see it all over her face...SUCH a new title for her (and one that didn't quite fit yet technically). It was funny.
The wives all got roses from the husbands. Felipe forgot to get Talita roses (he had a lot on his mind I'm sure)...so he stole one out of Rodrigo's bunch as they were walking up the aisle. It was very funny.

Be praying for these 4 and their families. Although this phase of their training is done, there is still more to do.
Rodrigo - Will actually be sticking around for another year working as a flight instructor. Then the plan is for them to head to Boa Vista. They have family in that area (Lailah's parents...also missionaries), so that will work out great.
Felipe - Will be going to Manaus for some time to do some more specialized training. After that, he will probably be getting married (Talita will be done with medical school) and then they hope to move to the base in Santarem (where his parents are also based).
Heber - Will be sticking around here for 6 months, concentrating most of his work in the maintenance area of Asas.
Cesar - He and Kathrim left in December to go back home to the south of Brasil to raise support. They hope to be on the field in Manaus by this summer.