Where are the taxis?

Another quiet evening in Salvador.

Marcy, Randy, Kelton, and I were eating the chicken parmigiana that Randy had made for us as our last homemade meal in their house. This is a big deal because he has not been feeling well and I know it wasn't easy for him to put this meal together today. It tasted so good, especially for this reason. Just as Kelton was finishing to go play with a friend, Jen came out of her room to join us. This is also a big deal because Jen just had a cyst removed from the back of her leg yesterday. She's still on pain meds and isn't back to herself yet, but it was nice to have her at the table with us for a while. Little Sammy was missing for this meal as the Maberys took him under their care for the afternoon. Though it was quieter without him, there was a sad void that couldn't go unnoticed.

As we finished up our meal, a knock came at the door. It was Geraldo, sweetest, gentlest old man you'll ever meet in your life. He was 30 minutes early for our prayer meeting tonight. We invited him to the table and filled a plate for him. I'm never sure how often he is able to eat. Fortunately he was able to eat this meal even with diabetes. I saw him check his blood pressure after dinner, I know he tries to be careful.

Jen retired for the night and Randy went to get ready for the prayer night. Marcy and I went to sit at the right and left side of Geraldo to listen to him as we waited for others to arrive. He spoke of his hope to travel to America one day. He says his brother is going to help him go there next year. We gave him our address and phone number in case he is ever in the neighborhood. He also told us that he wants to see us off at the airport on Friday. I hope he comes.

Geraldo isn't that fast of a speaker. You easily forget about the world around you as you have to be a captive audience to the man as he constructs his sentences. The thing about Geraldo, though, is that you never mind listening. He talks about things that make your heart happy and you find yourself just so comforted by the fact that there is someone in this world who never tires of how his life is different because of Christ, and how he is so happy now. He tells us every time..and his eyes water every time because he means it every time.

His eyes also filled with tears when he told us he is sad we have to go.

Randy came in as Geraldo was telling us more about his brother. They are a year apart and never fight. Geraldo loves his brother. Randy pointed out that he didn't think anyone else was coming to the prayer night so we could start if we wanted. The thing about the church events throughout the week here in Salvador is that sometimes not many people can come purely because it is expensive. I hope I always remember what a privilege it is to travel around a city as I please.

We spent our night in prayer and afterward I looked at Geraldo and he still had his eyes closed and head bowed. His eyes had tears in them, and his chin was all wobbly like chins do when people cry. When he brought up his head, Randy talked for a while in Portuguese. I'm pretty sure he was comforting Geraldo. He said that we don't know what will happen tomorrow, maybe we'll see each other again here or in America..but he said we are promised one thing for sure: if we follow Christ, we will spend eternity together in the presence of the Lord.

I will see Geraldo again in heaven. His eyes will be even more beautiful then as he tells me just how overwhelmingly complete his joy is.

I love "Not Quite"

So Marcy and I have 6 days left including today. It is strange to be at the end of our time here.

I have had many good moments in the past week, and I know there are more to come. One of my favorites was yesterday. Our language teacher, Jaci, decided she wanted to cook lunch for Marcy and I. We went over to her house yesterday and when we walked in she has flowers on the table and it was set up all nice and neat and Ray Charles was playing in the background! So sweet. Her son and granddaughter also ate with us and it was really special to see them all so happy and dancing. Jaci told us that she misses us already.

Another favorite of this week was last night. Jen and Randy have let me help them with a couple's Bible study that they are teaching. There are married couples and engaged couples that come, and it is fun to spend my Friday nights with them. Tiago, one of the men last night, also talked to me a lot about how people are people anywhere you go. He said that sometimes people have a bad picture of Americans in their head, but he said that he has never met an American that he doesn't like. That was nice to hear :)

Another big one for me is Marcelo, one of my English students, has finally been able to pronounce the word "these" correctly. We've worked hard on that one. He has improved so much on his English.

I could tell you lots of little stories of special memories that I'll take home with me, but basically these last two weeks have been dedicated to last minute sight-seeing on my days off, and planning last get-togethers with the church members here when we aren't in the office or at Bible studies. Russ prayed over Marcy and I the other day, and he praised God that all our lives are different now because of our time together. I couldn't agree more.

Still, No.

The women's conference this weekend was held at a resort called Agua Vida. If I were being honest..it seemed more like camping to those of us from the states. No hot water, power outages, "beds" that were maybe as soft as the floor, bed bugs, spiders, mosquitoes, beans and rice and more beans and rice, at times no toilet paper or sheets...you get the picture. I loved hearing Jen, the missionary with us, speak of her want to get over herself as she remembered how nice a place like this was for many Brazilians whose living conditions are always far less than comfortable.

I gained a lot of respect for these Brazilian women this weekend for many reasons. One was for their appreciation of their surroundings. The second, their patience. As Jen says, the entire country as a whole really has grasped the virtue of patience. It's true. Brazilian lines are never fast and never short. This held true on our trip this weekend. Any meal took about 2 hours and then some by the time every woman stood in line and got her food. Anytime they gathered together to listen to speakers (yes plural) the gathering lasted close to 3 hours..maybe more. And don't get me started on announcements. But all the women just sit and smile and cheer and laugh and listen. So patient. I don't think it's because I don't speak the language that I didn't hear complaining this weekend.

The third reason is their friendliness toward strangers. In fact, I don't know if I should word it that way because I'm not sure a Brazilian knows a stranger. Multiple women would come and hug Jen and just rant and rave with big smiles and greet the three of us interns...after they would leave we'd ask Jen if she knew them. "No," she'd answer. Of course not. They don't have to know each other. We also had many many women ask to take pictures with us and kiss our cheeks and the whole bit..one woman even gave us a huge bag of Ruffles chips.

Here's probably my favorite example of the weekend..
So..being that we, the interns, don't speak Portuguese and all, you can imagine the kind of walls we ran into with 300 people we would only be around for 3 days. Most conversations were short and ended with "Nao se" (I don't know); "Nao entende" (I didn't understand); "Nao falo portugues" (I don't speak Portuguese); or a simple thumbs up. But fortunately, we were still able to find moments to connect with these Brazilian women who saw us as fellow sisters.
One afternoon, I decided to go for a run. There was a short road right by our room, and I mean short. Fortunately it was a steep road which made the run worth it. As I was running back and forth, one of the women was walking the road as well. I thought she was just looking at the grounds of the resort because she kept pointing to things and speaking sentences that I obviously didn't understand. One time she called me over to look at a puppy. I went over and we both oo-ed and aw-ed over the puppy and then she told me to keep running. Next time around she started speaking again and then gestured to see if she could join me in my run. We ran and she decided we should run the length twice and then walk it twice, and so forth. We were able to have simple conversation. I told her my age, where I was from, why I was here and who I was staying with, etc., and she told me about the same. The we continued on in comfortable silence because even though we'd reached the end of possible conversation, it was okay because we were still running together. She didn't need to know anything else about me because to a Brazilian, strangers already know each other. I was grateful for the low pressure and easy acceptance. Those women love the Lord and love each other.


Also another thing I enjoyed about the weekend: Simply the drive there and back. The landscape was beyond beautiful. Huge rolling hills of thick tropical green for miles and miles, plenty of palm trees to sprinkle the scene. Oh! And these are the animals that were wandering around this weekend on (yes, on) the property of the resort: dogs, horses, mules, roosters, geese, crabs, monkeys, HUGE toads (one we named Hubert), and a peacock. When you leave the city in Brazil, you LEAVE the city. We were definitely in the country.

What is.."HaveFun" ?

So last week was a big week. It was Campaign Week. We had two families fly in from the States to help us, Mike and Debbie Quirey and Greg and Cynthia Powell. The week was full but probably one of the best weeks we've had yet.

What my week entailed:
A Red, White, and Blue potluck
Plastering a room of one of the church members' homes
Prayer walk through the neighborhood
More plastering
Night of prayer
A trip to the beach and Pelourinho for our campaigners
English Bible Study for those wanting to improve their English
Morning Devo on the beach
Spreading information around town about our Saturday
A trip to an Autism School here in Salvador to bring toys and visit the families of the students
Staff Bible Study
Painting the room we plastered
Setting up for our Saturday
Super Sabado (Super Saturday- or in other words.. VBS)
And to end, of course, another potluck :)


So obviously, lots of activities. Amazingly enough, it wasn't stressful. If anything, the people and activities were refreshing. Okay, maybe there were some moments during the game time at VBS that were pure chaos and maybe I got a little sick one day this week most likely from a tasty coconut popsicle I bought from a street vendor. A week like that doesn't go without any hiccups. But hiccups and all, I'd love to do it all over again. Absolutely worth it.

In other news, yesterday Trish, Marcy and I went to a beautiful park named Campo Grande in the middle of the old down town. Russ calls it the heartbeat of the city. We basically got off a bus with no real destination but to wander around and it was so nice. I have pictures from the park and from VBS last Saturday.

Today around 2 I leave for four days to go to a women's conference out of the city. I am definitely excited to see another side of the country. There are 11 women from the church going and I also look forward to spending more time with all of them. Updates and pictures to come :)

Suburbia

Today during the kid's Sunday class time, I held in my lap a little girl whose future is being contemplated as of late. With her mom in jail, and two more sisters to accompany her, her grandmother doesn't know how much more she can take by herself. She thinks maybe it would be best if she were to give the girls over to the state. They have a large family who will hopefully protest this. Hopefully.

She sat next to me in Trish's lap during service. She pined for my arm and I watched as her little fingers slowly but then firmly interlocked with mine. My eyes met hers and she revealed the whitest bright smile I'd seen all summer. As we held hands I prayed that God would make warm moments like these last forever in her heart.

--

Last night Geraldo, a sweet, sweet 70 year old man spoke to me and Marcy about his diabetes. He showed us his medical equipment that helps him check his blood pressure and told us a little about how he watches what he eats. He's good at communicating in English, even if it's not always correct. He has to speak very slowly. Through broken sentences and long pauses he told us that working used to be his top priority. Since his diabetes, he can't work as much. He's found the Lord since, and his eyes watered when he told us how much joy Christ brings to his life. Through his smile he said that his life is much more rich than it ever was when he was working, even with diabetes and all. This is not the first time this man has made my tears surface in a simple conversation.

Bang Braid

I am at my halfway mark today.

Looking back, I'm flooded with memories. New situations, breakthroughs, encouraging stories, warm people, a city full of life, calming beaches. Life here, from what I've seen alongside the missionaries, is beautiful.

But there has been a side of that beauty that has been a bit hard to swallow. It is the part of beauty that comes with pain. And though I wish I could write to you that things are only wonderful, there is something much more honest and true in my exposure of the difficult.

I had a hard conversation with one of the missionaries this week. For sake of discretion I won't define gender. I pretty much asked what feelings living in Salvador bring him/her. He/she answered: Loneliness. I don't remember exactly the wording that came next, but I can remember the message. It isn't the kind of loneliness that leaves. It is the kind of loneliness that makes you question your every decision. You don't have family here, whatever you considered as family back in the States. Actual family, neighbors, college roommates, nothing. They're not here. You remember your friend's birthday and you call, but no one answers because they're out celebrating with the people you're never with anymore. You have to buy a one-way plane ticket, and you do not know when you're coming home. It's not easy to cope with. And if you don't know deep with-in yourself why you're here, if you don't feel this IS what God wants for your life- you'll cave. You'll leave. And you'll be defeated.

Okay. I know that sounds super heavy. And I know you might be thinking, it's not like that every time. And you're probably right, it probably doesn't happen like that every single time. But I can't lie and say I haven't seen this kind of suffering in the team here, and I can't say I haven't felt a dose of the same thing even in my short time.

Another one of the missionaries put it this way. When you come from the States to another country, you're like the color blue (stay with me here). Everyone from the States is blue. The people from the country you're moving to are yellow. The longer you stay, you don't lose your blue, but you don't become yellow. You find you just turn green. And suddenly you're a mixture of both that can't fully relate with either culture anymore.

I'm not saying at ALL that if God calls you to missions that you shouldn't go. And I'm not saying at all that He can't fill that lonely void. I just feel it's fair to communicate that moving to another country, learning another language, experiencing a new culture, and becoming a stranger not only to a strange land but to a land you once knew as home..even though it's exciting and risky and adventurous..does not come without sacrifice. There are feelings and occurrences that are less-than-glamorous to say the least.

Most of all, it's important to know that my point in writing all this out is NOT to say that mission work isn't worth it. The missionaries here think it's worth it. Back to the first conversation with the missionary who described the loneliness he/she struggles with. My favorite part of that conversation was when I asked how he/she knew this is where he/she is supposed to be. First words of the answer: Because my life is better because of it.

I left out a lot of the other stuff that he/she struggled with since living here. I was speechless when I heard the answer was that life was better here. Maybe it's simply because suffering for the sake of following God's calling makes life more full than living a life of ease without purpose. The missionary said that if he/she still lived in the states, his/her faith and marriage would be lost by now. After hearing his/her other struggles, I know that statement is all too true. Somehow never feeling a sense of connection brought him/her to a true place of belonging.

Everyone's story will be different. Obviously not everyone's life would be better in Salvador, Brazil. Sometimes God calls us to remain in a place rather than travel far. Sometimes the more challenging thing to do is stay where we are rather than running away to another distant somewhere. I guess it's just a matter of being. Learning to exist in God wherever He places us with open minds, open eyes, and open hearts. I just thought I'd show a little honesty that with that openness comes vulnerability to suffering.



In other news :)

Happy Bahian Independence Day!
Of course, also, not so happy day either. It's been raining pretty hard tonight, harder than I remember noticing since we've been here. Coincidence? I think not. World Cup, it's been fun..

Next week will be an exciting week. It is a campaign week, which basically means we have a couple families coming in from the States to help us in our cause here. We will be doing a lot of service projects, Bible studies, worship, etc., and will end with a VBS Saturday! I am looking forward to it. More to come.

A Little Bit of Chinapple Punks

It's so hard to pick what I want to write on here, there is so much :)

It's definitely the holiday season here. Last Thursday was the holiday "Sao Joao" and this coming Friday is Bahia's Independence Day.

Sao Joao, or St. John, is a celebration of the harvest. I obviously don't understand a lot about it, but I do know that around town last week I saw a lot of big fires and all month I've been seeing corn. Lots and lots of corn. And peanuts. The fires have to do with a myth about Elizabeth and Mary, the mothers of John and Jesus. Since they were cousins, Brazilians believe that their houses were on two hilltops close enough to see each other. When Elizabeth found out she was pregnant, she set a huge fire so that Mary could see. The corn and peanuts are for the harvest.

The day before Sao Joao, after a morning with the women missionaries, the Quireys, Trish, Marcy, and I all headed out to the Pelourinho. This is basically the part of town that has all the scenes you will see when you type in "Salvador" on Google. It's known as the old town. There are so many beautiful historical buildings like The Lacerda Elevador and different churches. I think my favorite part is the way the buildings that line the streets are painted bright colors like pink and yellow and blue and green. Awesome. Pictures provided :)

After the Pelourinho, Paula, one of the church members, invited us over to her mother's house. Her mother made us a meal in which everything we ate was made with corn. Except for the boiled peanuts. I never knew corn could be used in SO many ways. Picture also provided. :) After dinner we all went outside to do fireworks; it was great to enjoy part of the holiday festivities with a true Brazilian family.

In other news, God has used the great game of "Colheres" to connect people once again..also known as "Spoons." If you haven't fallen in love with this game, give it a shot and you will. We played Friday night with Cintia and Cibele, who are sisters, and their fiances. We started off with Clue, English style then Portuguese style. They really are advanced in their English, and we still struggle with out Portuguese, but I don't mind letting them know I need the help from them. To end the night, there was Spoons; much less language mess, much more laughing. To those of you reading this who have been a part of Writing Utensils, I know this will bring you much joy.

Spoons made another appearance Saturday with two of the young teens. I hadn't met either one up until that point, but they've come around to all the events since then so I'm thinking we might need to revisit this game soon. Clear Lakers- you'll also be happy to know we played Ninja.



I asked Val the other day if she thought it really mattered to the Brazilian church members that we had come to spend some time in Salvador with them. She gave an enthused yes and explained how big of a deal signs of kindness do for people here. She reminded us we don't just come as Americans, but Christians. Not all Christian churches here are always as loving as we would hope for. I remembered Randy explaining that probably the most common "love language" here is time; just letting people know they're worth your time. It's humbling how easily something as simple as the kindness and love of Christ can communicate.

"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone." Titus 3:3-8