Churrasco

A Shared Meal

     Salt. Garlic. Fire. These are the basics. But add in multiple families and friends with their salads, sides, and desserts and you are at a churrasco in Brazil. On its surface it looks like a barbecue. All the components appear similar: meat, fire, drink, and people in free flowing groups that change over the course of the meal. But there is more.

     A churrasco is a coming together for community. We eat when everything is ready, when everyone has taken their part, and when the time seems right. Its a chance to invoke what commune means to me: friends gathered together to share a meal and touch each others’ spirits. There is a spiritual and emotional aspect to this common experience. Through the conversations, quiet or otherwise, one can find sparkles of knowledge and wisdom. Advice flows, sometimes accepted. Relationships deepen and souls tended to.

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     Friends arrive first, before the striking of the first match, even before the tables and chairs have been wiped off. A horn sounds or the front gate rattles, and a teasing voice calls out “We’re here!” Of course the kids are the first ones to the gate, my five year old climbing the bars and announcing to everyone he can climb to the top. Kisses and hugs all around, and another car arrives. Kitchen counters begin filling with bags: produce and fruit, fresh rolls from a bakery, hunks of meat. and strings of sausages from a butcher. Even more meat is still in the refrigerator.

     Everyone finds their places as more people arrive. At the brick churrascqueira the men gather. The older grey-haired men claim seats at the table, the better to rest their elbows and drinks. Younger men pull stacked chairs down into a loose circle. The almost men, teens and college aged, haunt the outskirts under the covered grilling area. Jokes lead into more jokes, the awkwardness men feel at the beginning of social gatherings gently falls away.

     As host, I rip open bags of charcoal, pouring their contents into the churrascqueira. Everyone offers their own advice on the best way to start the coals. Every person has his own method, each viewed as superior to any other. Inside their bravado there is wisdom, often passed through families and generations.

     “You don’t use a stale roll soaked in rubbing alcohol? Get a roll and pile charcoal over it.”

     “No, kindling tented across balled up newspaper is the best. It what my dad did. Son, go get a newspaper.”

     “No, no, no. Pile the charcoal on the bag it came in, drizzle old cooking oil across the
charcoal and set the bag on fire.”

     Our friend Marcos, when he was working as an agronomist, used a termite mound removing flame thrower to light his charcoal. My mound of kindling flares into flame and with care I slip hunks of charcoal among the burning twigs, building my fire higher and hotter.

     The women find their way into the kitchen, calling for their husbands or sons to bring more bags of produce and other things from the car. Here is where the real work gets done, my wife would say. Onions are diced, potatoes are peeled and chopped, and mounds of lettuce get cleaned and left to soak. Desserts need to be made, and someone’s husband is heckled into running back to the store for a “few things.”

     Grandmothers and great aunts sit at the counters, peeling garlic cloves by hand and picking through green beans. Someone is rinsing rice while another group of women exchange dessert recipes. A bag of fresh pao de quijo appears and every child who wanders through the kitchen holds out their hands for one. The young women and teens are all subjected to the same inquisition about school, boyfriends, and clothes. Judgments are rendered with a smile and a raised eyebrow. When needed, the atmosphere can be serious, helping cope with illness, divorce or a wandering young adult.

     Outside, as the coals take their time changing from jet black to vivid red, one of the young men is sent to the kitchen to get the meat. None of the husbands want this chore lest their wife be reminded of a slight or a joke at his expense. By this time, everyone knows the kitchen has been declared off limits to the men. Thus. a sacrificial lamb is required.

     “Meu filho¹, go get the meat. Tell your mother it’s going to fall on the grill soon².”

     On a large table the men arrange what they will need. A small bag of Brazilian rock salt is opened, garlic cloves mashed and other seasonings are poked, prodded, and tasted. The old men nod their approval. The two or three knives are picked up and sharpened again. Fleeing the laughter from the kitchen, the lamb returns shaking his head. If the love of his life was in the kitchen, his face is still red from embarrassment at what he heard. Pieces of chicken, sausages, slabs of beef, and a side of bacon are unwrapped and placed on cutting boards. Gristle is trimmed off and chunks of chicken are wrapped in bacon secured with toothpicks. Everything is rubbed with garlic and sprinkled with salt. Skewered on long churrasco forks the meat is placed at various heights over the glowing coals. Garlic bread wrapped in foil is placed high on the grill to slowly warm. With a pop and a hiss, ice cold cans of soft drinks and beers are opened and passed around. Fat begins to drip onto the coals and with the scent of cooking meat in the air, suddenly you are hungry.

     “Can I put the rice on?” From the kitchen one of the women has arrived. Finding her husband, she takes a drink from his can of beer and lectures with her hands on her hips. “Don’t burn the meat.”

     Things settle down after a while. Smoke from the dripping fat wafts from the grill and young women appear from the kitchen with bowls of various salads they leave on the table. Everyone offers their opinion on the news of the day, who’s soccer team is in trouble and if it is a World Cup year, evaluates the chances of the Brazilian team to win a sixth cup. Politics and religion are not off limits, but there are better things to discuss. Another salad appears. Issues at work, or home repairs that need to be done are bantered around. Promises for help are made and hands are shaken to seal the deal. As host I tend the meat, adjusting cooking heights and adding more charcoal to the fire. It is a dance to have everything come done at the same time, nothing over cooked.

     Soon a spit of sausage is pulled from the grill and a few sausages slid onto a cutting board. It is utterly vital to make sure the meat is cooking correctly, and tasting along the way is the best method. The rounds of sausage are stabbed with toothpicks and lifted to lips. It is also time for the second offering of the day. A few more links are placed on the board, cut into rounds and sent into the kitchen. Little children appear as if by magic and with grubby hands grab any sausage still on the table. Someone is always left without and wanders into the kitchen looking for a taste. A few minutes later the youngest college aged woman returns the empty cutting board.

     “Tia Florinda said to send beef next. Don’t send chicken, ok?”

     “We’ll send what is ready--wait, don’t tell her I said that. We’ll send beef.”

     Potato salads and cooked vegetables appear in bowls and the men’s conversations have turned to vacations. Mountains? Beach? Rio? São Paulo? Orlando and Disney? Who is going when? Plans are made for future trips together and then someone mentions fishing. The conversation turns loud. Everyone has a story and everyone is a liar. Everyone laughs.

     A procession appears out of the kitchen: stacks of plates, cylinders of utensils, pitchers of juice and mounds of napkins are brought out to the table. Bringing up the end of the parade, the biggest pot in the house appears--the rice. The men make room and the women join them. More drinks are served and the meat comes closer to being done. Slivers of beef and more pieces of sausage are offered for tasting. Still the conversation flows. It only pauses for a second when a friend who died is mentioned in passing. Someone raises their beer in a silent toast.

     All of a sudden all the meat is done and a whirl of action begins. The meat is best hot, right off the coals. Slabs of beef go from the grill to the cutting boards where they are cut into slightly bigger than bite sized chunks. The bacon wrapped chicken is piled on a platter, next to the halved sausages. Some of the meat is re-salted and placed back on the grill to stay warm for when the trays are empty. I nervously check a slab of ribs I have carefully been keeping an eye on all evening.

 

     “Querida³? Is it ready?” I look over to my wife who smiles back. “Let’s pray.”

     The meal stretches through dusk into the night, people eat slowly. The high school boys nervously move closer to the teen girls, who roll their eyes but still smile. Younger children pause for just a second with mouths wide open, interrupting their games as they run past their mothers who spoon in rice and a slice of chicken. Late arrivals are teased and hot meat is sliced right from the grill and placed on their plates. With a grin I walk around offering cuts of rib to everyone, saving the best of the night for the end.

     But the evening is not over even as the day begins to fade into night. Someone produces a guitar and the soft sounds of samba or bossa nova fill the lulls in conversation. A soft voice sings Sampa by Caetano Veloso. Asleep on his mother’s lap a toddler sucks her thumb. Dirty dishes are gathered and taken to the kitchen where some of the men put on aprons and wash everything up. The desserts appear--cakes, puddings and because we were Americans, chocolate chip cookies. Coffee, the thick sweet Brazilian espresso called cafezinho, is served in little cups. One last slice of beef, smokey, salty and garlicky, is poached from the grill.

     As the moon climbs in the sky, families begin to depart. Backs are patted, cheeks are kissed and promises are made about next weekend. Its a Brazilian tradition is to take food home for someone who could not come that day, a daughter who had to work, or a son who went to the movies with a friend. Plastic plates of rice topped with slices of meat and any leftover sausage are collected and covered with a napkin.

     “Soon, we’ll do it again soon.”

     “It was nice to meet you, I’m glad you came.”

     “Definitely, we can gather at our chácara⁴ in two weeks. Everyone bring something. Call us and we’ll work it out.”

     A silence descends, my wife takes her time wiping down the table one last time. Watching the last of the coals smolder, I grab her by the waist and we slow dance to a samba we hum together. Our sleepy five year-old watches from a lawn chair.

     “Is there any more meat?” he asks rubbing his eyes.

     “Yes zinho⁵, there is more meat. Did you have fun?”

     “Can we do it again tomorrow?”

     “Not tomorrow meu bem⁶, next week. Next week we’ll do it again.”

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1. “Meu filho” = my son, but it expresses more. It connotates pride and love. "Meu filho" can also be used by anyone to a male younger than they are. 

2. “fall on the grill” is an expression that sounds better in Portuguese--“o carne vai cair daqui a pouco.” It means the grill is almost ready.

3. Querida is a term of affection. Literally translates to “wanted one.”

4. A cháraca is typically a piece of land outside of town where a family has often built a place to stay for the day on weekends. There is often a simple kitchen and storage for cooking gear, hammocks and assorted mattresses and pillows for the afternoon naps. If its by a river, you will never not have guests.

5. “zinho” is the diminutive in Portuguese, here used to say “little one.”

6. “Meu bem” is another term of affection, literally translating to “my good” it can be used to mean my sweetheart or my darling.

Two Big Praises

Dear friends and family,

Greetings from Spokane, Washington! We have arrived! On April 29th we drove our car filled with everything we owned and deemed "move worthy'" onto the I-90 interstate ramp near Bill's parents house and headed west. During the 5 day trip (with a one day break to explore Custer State Park) we said over and over to each other, "This is really happening!"  Sunday afternoon we drove up to the AirBnb where we are staying while serving as JAARS reps at the Moody Aviation Missions Conference.We arrived tired, but rejoicing for a safe journey. Thank you for all those who prayed us through this trip. 

We entitled this newsletter Two BIG Praises and we want to share with you how God answered the prayers we specifically mentioned in our last newsletter.

The first praise was the opportunity to watch our son Cullen join in marriage to Katie Ito at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis on April 18. The ceremony was Christ centered and a true celebration of bringing two lives together. Our family, that came from Chicago and Omaha representing both the Carrera and Rast families, along with Katie's family from Indianapolis, and many additional friends joined the happy couple for this occasion. It was exciting to witness Cullen and Katie vow before God and guests their commitment to Him and to each other. 

The second praise is that God raised up supporters and churches to supply the amount needed to begin our work here in Spokane. Only days before our trip, we received  an email from Wycliffe saying we have met our 80% goal which allows us to begin our next assignment here at Moody Aviation. We saw His hand at work as slowly but steadily new partners joined out team and others recommitted at higher amounts. By the end of April it was all in place. For those who indicated that they will begin a new monthly gift with us, the easiest way is to give through our Wycliffe link. We have also seen God's hand directing the move and now have answers to the question "where will you live?" Moody Bible Institute is building apartments for the new students and have requested us to be Missionaries in Residence in that apartment building for our first year here. The apartments are nearing completion, and until they are finished, we will be renting a basement apartment at another Moody staff's home nearby. 

These two big items were specific answers to your prayers! Please continue to pray for us during the next season. Here are things we are asking God for in this next season. (And can't wait to give you a report in our next letter.)

1. Pray for us this first week as we meet students and staff during the annual Moody Mission's conference. We are excited to be here encouraging young people to follow God's call on their lives. Joy will be flying with a few students and providing them with feedback during their flight training.
2. Pray for us as we have initial talks with our immediate supervisors regarding start date and expectations. There is still some paperwork and logistics to work out before we can start learning our new jobs. Speaking of "learning" please be in prayer for Joy as she studies the FAA regulations again and prepares for renewing her Certified Flight Instructor license this summer. 
3. Lastly pray for us as we search for a local church, get to know the town of Spokane, change our address, find doctors and all the many tasks of moving to a new area.

We are so grateful for each and everyone who has reached out to us in the past few weeks, joined our support team, and encouraged us through this move. 

In Christ,
Bill and Joy Carrera

Travels in March 2026

Dear friends and family, 

 Our goal with this letter is to give you a quick glimpse at our schedule and update you on current prayer requests. We are writing from Atlanta as we prepare to leave our friends and supporters here. Tomorrow we head further North and East, planning on being in Bluff City, Tennessee this weekend. From there we will be swinging in a circle through North Carolina and then up to Maryland. Along the way we will see friends from many parts of our life. We are grateful our trip has gone well so far. 

We had a great weekend at First Baptist Atlanta, renewing friendships and speaking in Sunday School and at their Adventures in Missions Luncheon. This road trip will bring us back to Chicago in March, but it won't be the end all our trips. Joy has plans to attend a women in ministry conference in Capernwray England, and Bill is hoping to visit family in Minnesota. April is wedding time! Our son Cullen will be marrying a wonderful young Christian woman April 18. With family gathering alongside friends, we anticipate a wonderful time of laughter and fun during this celebration. 

 Here is a peek at our upcoming schedule: 

Feb 20 Leave Atlanta and head toward Tennessee 

Feb 21-23 Bluff City, Tennessee 

Feb 24-26 JAARS, Waxhaw, NC 

Feb 27-March 8 Forcey Bible Church, Silver Springs, MD 

March 14-15 Uniontown Bible Church, Unionbridge, MD 

How can you be praying for us? We praise the Lord that even this week we had two people reach out to us with the intention of coming alongside and supporting our ministry financially. But we are still looking for partners to join our team, both in prayer and financially. Moody Aviation has the goal of training missionary pilots. Part of this goal is to make the training affordable so they are not saddled with college debt leading to a delay or inability to get to the mission field. One way they do this is by asking their training staff to stay on support from their sending mission organizations. In order for us to BEGIN our ministry in Spokane, WA we must raise our support up to 80% of our monthly quota. The difference between the cost of living in Peru and the USA is significant and thus we lack committed partners to give either monthly or yearly. If you feel led to join us we have included the link to our Wycliffe page that has a button to join in supporting the ministry God has called us to. 

Our absolute favorite part of furlough is spending time with so many of our friends and family, plus the opportunity to eat good food :) Check out our slideshow abovefor some fun pictures from the past two weeks. We look forward to seeing some of you soon. 

Serving together, Bill and Joy

A New Year!!!

Dear friends and family,

Greetings this New Year, 2023, from rainy season Peru. We pray that God will direct your path and make them straight in this coming year. As we start this New Year, we look back at some of the highlights of 2022. This past year saw our completion of 25 years serving with Wycliffe Bible translators, the aviation program seeing a full year of operation with the the new aircraft N9691Z, and the first high school ministry trip since COVID. As a family we celebrated Camilla's 15th birthday (a big deal in Latin American culture), the wedding of Joy's brother and our 28th wedding anniversary. This last celebration took place in Paris, a trip we postponed twice due to COVID. We also faced a few challenges this past year, including Joy's multiple trips to the US for medical scans, roadblocks in getting her flight medical approved and political and social upheaval here in Peru. Our biggest praise is that God granted us another year of clean scans for Joy. 

Our Christmas was spent in the country of Colombia with old friends and our boys were able to join us during their Christmas break. We'll post some pictures below.

Our roles and ministries here in Peru are back into the swing of things after the start of the new year. School is back in session and the aviation program is busy. Bill and Camilla have one more week left in the first semester and then will have a new schedule for the rest of the year. Joy's role in aviation will change slightly as she gives back the job of program manager now that her boss has returned from furlough. She will continue working as the flight coordinator, finance (flight billing and receipting), and safety manager. In 3 months, Mission Safety International will come for an external audit so she will be focused on making sure that the aviation team is ready.

Our biggest and best news is that we are coming on a short home assignment starting in the beginning of May. William graduates from Wheaton the first weekend, and we want to take advantage by planning our trip at that time. We plan on being in Chicago for the month of May. June will see our big circle trip, swinging through Atlanta-Tennessee-Maryland-Pennsylvania. In July we will base out of Chicago again before heading back to Peru for the beginning of the school year in August. It will be a whirlwind three and a half month trip. As plans begin to firm up, we will provide updates and information about where we will be. Our goal this furlough is to make a concerted effort to spend as much time as possible with all our friends, family and churches this furlough. We can't wait to see you all.

Continue praying for us as we have  full schedule ahead of us and as we make plans for this upcoming summer.

In Christ,

Bill and Joy Carrera

For the first time in several furloughs we will also be looking to increase our monthly support to cover the additional expenses of Joy's travel to the US every 3 months and reaching our annual insurance out of pocket costs for Joy's ongoing cancer treatment and monitoring. We would ask you to join us in praying for additional partners to our team to cover this increased need at this stage in our lives.

Below is our latest family picture, a slide show of some of our time in Colombia, and the student body at SAM Academy.

A Busy Summer (but not all work) June 2023

 Dear friends and family,

Greetings from Pucallpa, Peru where the weather has been sunny but not blazing hot for the past few weeks. We have had a few "frios" where a cold front has moved through the area and we run for our long-sleeved clothes because it's in the low 70s.


Last letter we asked for prayer for William as he was setting up an internship and needed housing. In answer to these prayers, William was able to find housing that met his needs. He is learning about commutes and has two new roommates. Fellow missionaries in North Carolina are gifting William a car that was used by their daughter while she was in college. As a family they want to bless another missionary kid with a college car! Cullen is hard at work filming and producing videos at Lake Geneva Youth Camp. His latest production can be viewed here.

Joy's scans in May came back clean, and she continues to be able to take the medications without severe side effects. We praise God for his continued blessing on Joy and her health. Continue praying for healing of her neuropathy and for the consistent muscle cramps she experiences. Her next set of scans will be in the first week of August.

To that effect, we are traveling as a family to Chicago for those scans. Most importantly, we will finally celebrate our 25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! We are setting aside ten days to travel while Camilla attends teen camp before Joy's scans. When we return, the boys will be done working, and we can have a few days of everyone together again.

Since the beginning of June, Joy has once again added the interim program manager of SAMAIR to her list of responsibilities. This includes a supervisory role of the team, managing team dynamics, extra zoom meetings with both SAM Peru leaders and JAARS aviation program managers from around the world, as well as making decisions regarding operations and spending. She also continues scheduling the flights, billing and receiving of flight income and maintains her position as safety manager for the team. After her next scans in August, she will once again look into submitting paperwork to the FAA to regain her flight medical. Pray for this process as it will involve extra costs and the willingness of her doctors and the FAA to efficiently process this information.


Bill is working this summer on class prep as well as light maintenance at the school. If anyone knows how to replace floorboards they can give him a call. Lots of painting, replacing mosquito screens, and moving around whiteboards and bulletin boards are in his future. Praise God, the school looks to be set for teachers in the fall and we should have about the same number of students. The school recently had a promotional video produced. It is available for viewing here.

Please be in prayer with us for these things:
(1) Safety and God's protection for both of our sons as they work this summer.
(2) That we are able to arrange to pick up the car and figure out all the paperwork involved.
(3) Clean scans for Joy at the beginning of August.

Last but not least, we wanted to highlight some of the ministry opportunities our daughter Camilla has been involved with in the past months. In May, her high school went by river to a small Shipibo community where they painted the school building and ran a day program for the kids. A few weeks later, she participated in an evangelistic event in a local neighborhood where 74 kids made decisions for Christ. She also helped out at a local Peruvian school during "English" week leading worship and interacting with students while they practiced their English with a native speaker. Take a look at some of the photos below.

As always, thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry as we bring God's truth of love and redemption to the people groups here in the jungles of Peru.

In Christ,

Joy
Here are a few photos showing what Camilla has been doing the past few months.

Spring News 2022

 

Christ has risen!

 

Spring is always a favorite time of year as we celebrate the reason we are serving our Lord in Peru: the hope of eternal salvation that springs from the truth of Christ's death for all, knowing that because of His resurrection, we have new life in Him. I Cor 15

As we are reminded why we are here, we count it a privilege to serve in our respective fields. Aviation has continued with a tight flight schedule this spring, but we are looking forward to increasing the number of people we can serve and fly in the upcoming months. The spring months for teachers are always busy as they come through the "home stretch." Bill continues to look for ways to keep his students engaged while knowing that their minds are already focused on all of the end of the school social events. Next year SAM Academy already knows that it is losing three of its long-term teachers: elementary, high school Bible/history, and Spanish teachers. Pray for us during the recruiting process as we try and fill these positions for next semester: 

Besides our normal weekday ministries, we are also involved in other ministries to encourage both Peruvian nationals and the missionary community. One of these events was an evening of worship that Bill, playing the keyboard, and Camilla, playing the guitar, participated in. They practiced for many hours and in the end, the service was a meaningful time of praise and adoration.  We were also encouraged during a week-long South America Mission and TEAM Peru missionary conference, which focused on unity. This is the first time in almost three years we were able to gather from all the different ministry locations around the country to celebrate what God is doing and to spur each other to live in a community. (see photos below)

We also wanted to give you an update on our church's second construction phase. Our local church, Mil Palmeras, has been asked to move off the SAM property where it has been renting for many years. We are trusting God for funds to put in bathrooms, an office, and storage facilities so that we can meet more regularly at our new property site. Please watch this video for an update on that project. 

Lastly, we need to brag on our youngest daughter Camilla. Next week we will be celebrating a big 15-year-old party, Latin American style with a modified "quinceañera". We are proud of her kind and cheerful spirit, her desire to minister to children through helping in the church's nursery and the Peruvian outreach "Granito de Amor" that is restarting its ministry to kids, and her gifts and talents in music. She is not only a diligent student but her writing has recently been recognized as she won honorable mention in a young writer contest for the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Here is another example of a story she wrote a while back about our non-traditional Easter hunt celebration. Cascarones 

In two weeks, Joy returns to Chicago for another PET scan. We continue to thank God that the medication seems to be effective in keeping her cancer in remission at this time. Some of the side effects of nausea have subsided. Continue to pray that the neuropathy in her feet (caused by the first immunotherapy treatment in 2019) would completely heal and that the muscle cramps she currently experiences would subside.

We have some SPECIFIC PRAYER requests and NEEDS for this summer: 
1. William has an internship lined up in downtown Wheaton but is in need of housing in that area since at this point he does not have a car to commute from his grandparents in Chicago.
2. Regardless of the housing, we are looking to purchase a small used car for William to serve as his first car. We are aware that this is extremely challenging for almost everyone purchasing a used car in the US at this time and is complicated by us living overseas. Fortunately, we believe in a God of the impossible.
3. Pray for Cullen as he volunteers at Lake Geneva Youth Camp this summer as their videographer for the many weeks of camp. He also knows that he is in need of a vehicle for his last few years of college at Taylor University.
4. Pray for Joy's upcoming scans at the beginning of May and her visit with our sons and family in Chicago.
5. Pray for new teachers for SAM Academy for next year; both for the logistics of the ones we are hoping to recruit as well as for those we don't know about yet.

As always we appreciate your prayers and support. We simply could not be here without them.

In Christ,

Bill and Joy Carrera

Bill and Camilla taking part in the missionary worship service.

The 2022 SAM-TEAM Conference saw missionaries from all over Peru gather to worship, study Romans 12, and encourage each other.

Cascarones

“No-no-no! Iz-”

Too late. Her hand came down. The shell broke. Confetti rained everywhere. Paper 

bits ran down my shirt and arms, sticking to my sweaty hair. Izzy had won. She laughed and ran away, not bothering to help me up. 

Most Easter egg hunts are normal. Parents hide the eggs, the kids go find them, eat the candy, and you go home. Hooray! But that is not how I grew up doing it.

Unless you're the Brewsters, my family starts to save eggs a month before Easter. (If you are a Brewster, you collect months and months worth of eggs.) When you use an egg, instead of cracking it normally, you get a knife and crack a hole in the top.  The raw egg comes out and you save the shell. Once you have enough, you dye them.

After the eggs have dried they are stuffed with confetti. Finally, with tissue paper and glue you cover the hole. “Guys, I need you to dye and color the eggs today, okay?” Aunt Megan asked us the day before the Easter egg hunt. Only my girlfriends helped. The boys weren’t helping… as usual. The eggs were brown so they didn’t dye. Instead, our fingertips were the ones getting all the color.

“Hey, look!” I exclaimed. I examined my fingers and showed my friends. “If you leave your hands in the water it dyes your fingers.” Soon everyone had their hands deep in the bowels.

“That's awesome!” Ella said, taking her deep blue hands out of the dye. “It looks like I have frostbite!” 

I said with a laugh, “You're turning into a smurf.” By the end of the day, everyone had different colored fingers. 

I race down the side porch, the plastic bag slapped against my arm. My eyes scanned the grass looking for the eggs.

Early that day, all the dads at the event had hidden the eggs. Knowing this, I didn’t have to look very hard. The first egg I saw was a yellow one hidden in the lemon trees. That was easy. I ran across the grassy field looking and searching. In the tall grass is where I found the jackpot.

“We were so tired of hiding them,” Uncle Joe explained to me later. “So we just took all the extras and put them into a pile.” And that’s exactly what I found. Being nice, I make sure to leave some for the next person to find.

No one exactly shouts “it’s time to fight.” It just kinda starts. Once the first egg is smashed you know it's time for fun. Grabbing an egg, I quickly ran and smashed it on someone's head. They shout something. But I wasn't paying attention. I have a new target.

Everyone is free game, no one is out. The one rule is you have to crush the egg in your hands and sprinkle the confetti on their head… but even that rule is broken. My chance to get Uncle Joe had arrived. He had his back turned. I quietly sprint towards him. I leap. Yelling, I smashed the egg on his head. I only had time for a small victory. Soon he was after me. I ran forward, dodging around people and trees. But he was gaining on me. Almost on me. I saw a hand reach out. I screamed. I took a sharp turn. Leaving him behind.

“Oh, man! I missed,” He shouts. He fell as his feet slipped in the wet grass.

“Ha-ha!” I turned around to laugh at him. 

I can’t explain what happened, but before I knew it I was on the ground. The trees 

blocked the sun out of my eyes, I knew I was finished. Down, I lost. My breath was hot and I pant wildly. The wet grass filled my nose, along with the smell of sweat and dirt. I scrunch my nose. Soon a man comes into my view. Uncle Joe is standing over me with a smug grin. My head falls on the grass. I groaned, but a smile crept up on my lips. Laughing, he grabs an egg out of his plastic bag, taking time to enjoy his moment of victory. He smashed the egg on my head, rubbing the colored paper bits into my sweaty hair. He walked away, almost skipping in his slow swagger. I lay there defeated. But a full smile comes, reaching the corners of my eyes. Laughing and panting widely, I got up, brushed the itchy wet grass off my back, and I went off to hunt the next person.