Old Friends/New Friends

João and I had a safe and wonderful trip into the "interior" of the country, as we traveled about 820 quilometres, one way, to preach a revival. We left on Thursday morning, and I was especially anxious to get to São Paulo to see my dear friend Marilene, since we planned to spend the night with her and her family. Our visit was way too short, but it was just great to be in her home - finally!
We got away at a decent hour in the morning and had a longer drive than the previous day, but still it wasn't tiring. This time it was João who was excited to see old friends, as we would be staying with a couple who had been his friends in Iraq (where he ministered from 1981-83). He baptized the father and the son in the Euphrates River in Iraq. To the right is the couple as they were in Iraq and to the left is the couple today. In addition I have added the photo of João baptizing Domingos in the river. There are certainly fruits that remain in our ministry and this is a wonderful example, as Domingos is a deacon and vice-moderator of his church. He is the one who invited us to come and preach. So it was very meaningful to me as well to get to know these very special people in João's life. João preached from Friday through Sunday at First Baptist Church of Passos, in the state of Minas Gerais. What fun on Saturday night when another family that João had baptized in Iraq drove over from a neighboring town to be present at the worship service!
After two years of serving at First Baptist of Rio, we (or maybe just me) had forgotten that our church is not exactly the norm. It is a "capital city" church and a large one at that. This visit took us both back to our real roots in church life and we loved it. We had forgotten about the constant buzz of people moving around, a standing room only crowd, children crying, etc. It was kind of challenging at first, especially when you are used to the solemnity of our church. But it was great to see so many visitors and many decisions. My children's message was something new for them and it started off small, but it definitely grew larger. I had a lot more kids than I have at our church! I think you can see on João's face, his joy at sharing with these wonderful people.
The three days in Passos flew by ever so quickly and Monday morning we needed to hit the road early, but it was hard to tear ourselves away. I think, in my heart of hearts, I am really just a kid from the country and city living is not exactly all it is cracked up to be.
We didn't leave as early as we should have, and also chose to take the route recommended to us by the "natives", sort of off the beaten path, but some 200 quilometres closer. It was a beautiful drive, but it didn't take too long before we had regretted our decision. Less miles, but not such great roads. In fact, some just plain horrible. We had detours and we changed roads dozens of time, so we had to drive with the map in my lap and constantly be alert. Then there were the trucks driving 15 kph up the mountain and no place to pass. Monday definitely dragged on and on, as we sang "This is the trip that never ends". I took this shot on one of the straightest and best stretches along the highway. I am glad I didn't have motion sickness on the hairpin turns, as many years ago I traveled this highway and I did get sick. By the time we got into Rio, it was dark and the traffic was horrendous and my poor husband had to tangle with bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour after driving over 10 hours. We were two tired kiddies. I still haven't unpacked, as I was too tired. Today I had to teach my seminary class. I didn't even feel like eating, much less fixing lunch, so we ate on the delicious cheese we bought along the highway. (Minas Gerais is famous for its milk and cheese products). So our grand adventure is over and we are back to our routine. I am washing clothes and getting ready to teach tomorrow. João is at a meeting at church. The interlude was wonderful, but it is always good to be back home again.

I am alive!

Really I am alive. After my April Fool's joke, I figured I'd better give everyone a cooling down period. Seriously, I became so involved in the classes I was teaching (actually still am teaching) that just about everything else went by the wayside. I just about quit cooking (thank goodness for being able to call for take-out) and cleaning (really missed that), doing e-mails and definitely forgot about my blog.
My class, a 30 hour module, is about Storytelling and Oral Cultures. To sum it up, it was a class about transmitting the content of the Bible to people who either have no written Bible or who cannot read. The class is for our "radical" missionaries of the World Mission Board (Brazilian Baptists). These are young people (in their 20's or early 30's) who will go and live in cultures, living as the people live. They will be going mostly to unreached people groups. So they will plant rice, build their homes, fetch water from the well, etc. Through incarnational missions, they will share the good news. And now, hopefully, they know how to take the Word of God and tell it has a story that the people can repeat and tell as well. It's an exciting concept. I am no expert or even amateur on this subject, so it took a lot out of me to prepare and teach, especially since they were three hour session. I had to model the method, so I allowed no books or notetaking in my class. Everyone had to listen and remember! They actually need a lot more work to be effective, but hopefully I have given them the tools to go one and work on their storytelling skills.
Of course there have been other things happening in my life. Some good, some not so good. I have continued my drawing lessons and feel I am making some actual progress. My hand drawing is from yesterday's class. It's a slow process. I mean, it took me over three hours to draw my hand. But it does look like a hand. Rome wasn't built in a day and after six lessons, I don't expect miracles either! But at least I am producing something that looks like something! Last's week chair was a struggle and you won't be seeing any photos of it.
Recently Sissy was quite ill and kind of scared us. But after two hospital visits and tons of blood work, they think she might have had dengue fever. Dengue fever is still raging as an epidemic with over 100,000 cases in the city. If you consider that only 10% of the people with the illness present symptoms, that means that probably almost a million people actually have had the disease. At any rate, Sissy seems on the road to recovery and no longer seems in danger of bleeding out on us!
Tomorrow João and I are taking off for "parts unknown". Well at least to me. João is preaching a revival (protracted meetings) in the southwest part of the country. We figure it's about 11-12 hours away. So tomorrow we will drive as far as Marilene's house and spend the night. She moved to São Paulo in June of last year and I have yet to visit her house! I am so excited. Then Friday we will drive 7 hours (or less I hope) to Passos in Minas Gerais. We will return on Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday I teach my last two classes for the "Radicals"(Missionaries Without Frontiers). Hopefully things should calm down some in our lives as we prepare for .... VACATION at the end of the month. I have already packed on suitcase for vacation, but who says I am excited???? We are going to the mountains where it is cold. Yes, cold. Sometimes it even gets down to 5 or 6 degrees (Fahrenheit), so I mean cold even my North American standards. Actually it will probably only be around 40 degrees most of the time. But since I don't even have any long sleeved clothes and house will not be heated, I think this will be a challenge!!!!
The night has arrived and I have much yet to do before we travel tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know I really am still alive. And well. And happy.

Oh no!

Today as I was checking messages and photos and other information on the social network we use the most here in Brazil, Orkut. I began to panic. In the upper left hand corner the regular logomark of Orkut was there (see design to left), but with the word Yogurt instead of Orkut (see screen photo of my actual page on the right). People often confuse those two words, but still I knew something had to be wrong. I checked João's computer and Yogurt didn't appear. I knew what that meant. I had been cloned. That meant my e-mail, my password, everything was GONE. All would have to be canceled. And sure enough as I checked things out, all my identities had been stolen. My computer had been invaded by a hacker. Not only passwords, credit card numbers, banking information, files, everything was stolen. What do you do? Where do you start with a problem of this kind of dimension? Let me tell you it is a panicky feeling. So, let me give you a word of advice if you face this situation: Check the calendar and make sure it's not April 1. Gotcha! Orkut played a joke on all of us and changed the logomark to Yogurt for a day. And I played a joke on all of you. I wasn't cloned at all. My computer wasn't hacked, although you may want to hack me to pieces! Happy April Fool's Day.