A Full Report on Paraná

I am feeling much better today and starting to get caught up in my life, so I decided to take some time to reflect and write about this past weekend. My writing for the blog is as much about me, as it is you, the readers. It helps me process events!

I had a great plane trip down to Foz on last Friday morning, although I arrived hungry and tired. Even though it was almost a 4 hour trip, we got the famous cookie and coke routine on the plane. When we landed, I was surprised by the intensely blue sky and HOT, HOT sunshine. Arriving at the hotel, our rooms weren’t ready, so we walked around town, grabbing some lunch and once again, surprised by the heat. You figure going south it will be cooler. WRONG! I can’t describe the heat, except to say it felt like the rays of the sun were a weight on your head. It was different, that’s all I know to say.

The congress got started that evening and I spoke Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning. I did three messages based on the life of Esther. The first was about the purification/sanctification based on her one year of preparation to become the queen. The second was about being a fragile flower, used by a mighty God (because her name meant “Myrtle”) and the third message was about Purim Party, or her spiritual legacy of celebration. It took a while to get the folks warmed up to my style, but gradually we made contact and soon we were all old friends.

One of the rewards of the weekend was travelling and rooming with my friend Elza. She and I worked together before I went to Canada, and I have always held her in the highest regard. I admire her and respect her, as much for her talent as her integrity and very pure heart. She spoke as well and on Saturday night she did one of her famous chalk drawings. I love to watch her as she draws while the music plays, telling the story without speaking. At the end, as you see by the photo on the left, she turns on a black light and having used fluorescent chalk, the whole picture lights up. But it was not just her message that was special to me, as we had lots of time to share and talk and that was so meaningful. We worked together for 6 years, but I don’t believe we ever had so much time to really share. She is a blessing!

Although we were given free time on Saturday afternoon, I felt I needed to use that time to prepare myself to preach that night, so I chose not to sightsee, although that was a painful decision. I figured I had Sunday afternoon, but suddenly on Saturday night, they asked me to preach in a local church on Sunday night AND I needed to “new” sermon. I panicked, until I realized Elza had brought along the magazine she edits and I had written a Bible study that I could use as a basis for the message.

Consequently I took a risk and she and I went to the Falls on Sunday aft. I could hardly bear to be so close to one of the world’s natural wonders and not go to see it. I had been there twice before, but you never get enough of seeing God’s beautiful world. Since we were at a downtown hotel, it was a long trip out to the falls, but I still didn’t want to pay the $80 for a taxi. We set out on the adventure of discovering the local busses and took one for $2. It was HOT (not air) and we had to stand (it was FULL), but we were happy to save all that money and the bus only took about 40 minutes. When we got to the park, we rode a another bus for about 20 minutes out to the Falls. Lo and behold, on that park bus were many of the women from the congress. So it was a riot having them with us. We even had an impromptu worship service and choir when we actually got to the Falls themselves. Typically, the Japanese tourist filmed it all.

Although the walk along the path of the falls was only 1.2 kilometers, it was up and down steps and it was very hot. My clothes looked like I had been in the shower because I sweat so much. Surprisingly I didn’t get sunburned. Maybe because there was shade a lot of the way. You have seen the videos and pictures and know that the falls are magnificent, even though they are in a semi-drought and there was very little water. I was so glad we made the effort to go. It was a close call to make the two bus rides home and get back in time to shower, grab a bite to eat and finish preparing to preach (all this in about 45 minutes), but we managed.

I had planned, on Monday morning, to do some more sightseeing, but I was just washed out and ended up sleeping later than I planned and needed to pack and all, so I just gave in to tiredness and didn’t do it. I did manage to get out and buy some of João’s green tea (chimarrão) that is locally produced. He was ecstatic about that. We left the hotel around noon and had a very uneventful trip home. Our husbands met us at the airport and we even managed to get home quickly without tangling in the rush hour traffic.

Now you have a semi-full report on my weekend. It was great to see the women, get to share, make new friends and enjoy God’s beautiful world. I am glad, however, I don’t do this on a regular basis like I used to. Yesterday, I was just so tired all day and had so much to do to get caught up. As Mom always says, the old grey mare just ain’t what she used to be.

Time for Ice Packs

I really do know you have better things to do than watch my homemade videos of my trip to the Falls. So you can skip it, especially if it loads really slowly. But for those who are interested and have fast internet, I thought you might enjoy another video. By the way, I did survive my dental surgery, but I feel pretty crummy right now. So off to bed with an ice pack on the face! It hurts a lot and the worse part is she only did 1/4 of the gums. I have 3 more sessions. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Video of the Falls

Today has been a rush of unpacking, cooking, doing laundry and in a bit dental surgery (bad gums) and an art class. So still no time to write about my Paraná trip. I put up photos yesterday and today I thought I'd let you look at one video I made of the falls. Hope you enjoy that! Oh and by the way, look at the poll on the left. I put it there a week or so ago and not many people responded! I gave you a couple of more days to respond, since it expired today!

Hot off the Computer

I had a great trip over the weekend to the Iguaçu Falls. The congress was just a great experience and I made a lot of new friends. I found a couple of hours to visit the waterfalls and thought I'd post a few photos. I just got in tonight and I am pretty tired, so I will share some of my thoughts on the experience, some more photos and also some videos of the waterfalls later this week. I thought, however, you might enjoy some of my photos.

Weirdness abounds around

Today my husband was declared an immortal. (I told you weirdness abounds). Let’s see if I can explain. He was inducted into the Brazilian Evangelical Academy of “Letters”, which is basically an honor for published writers. In this case, Christian writers. I have no idea if there is an equivalent in North America. The members are referred to as “immortals”, again I suppose since they are writers their words live on. But Sissy and I have been teasing him asking if we, by extension are also a little bit immortal. The certificate is too big for my scanner, but you get the idea.

I also finished a strange art project from my book on color theory. I thought I would enjoy the project, but turned out to kind of be a drudge and not all that pleased with the results, although I have to admit, I learned a lot. I know color is important and learning to match, blend and change hue and intensity is all important. So here is the weird project.  I bought a napkin and scanned it so it would be 8x10. then I painted it in 5 different sessions. I glued a strip of the original colors at the bottom right corner. Than I tried to match the colors. In the next section I painted the complimentary colors (according to a color wheel). That made me go a little bonkers, as I looked at the original and saw light violet and I painted it yellow green, light green and I painted it pinkish. Next I had to paint it in the opposite value, that it to say I painted the light blue, in navy blue, etc. Then I had to change the intensity. The light green became an olive green and lilac became a sickly purple. Finally I returned to the original colors. I suffered because I don’t have a tiny brush to use in the curves and leaves and so things got all goofy by the end. I have found a beautiful picture of a tulip in a vase and am thinking of doing a series of studies of it – graphite black and white, then with pastels and finally with acrylics and maybe watercolors. Hopefully they will all turn out nicely and I can do my wall in the dining room. I have class tomorrow and will make a consult with my teacher as to the sizes I should use as well as types of media. It is amazing how much there is to learn – even the kinds of materials you use make such a difference.

I actually won’t have too much time to paint as I am getting ready to preach at a women’s congress this weekend down on the border of Argentina and Paraguay, at the Iguaçu Falls. I have wrapped up two of the three messages, but have the challenge of the third ahead of me. I have outlined and put in my stories and Bible references. Now it is just drawing it all together, since I know where I am heading. I hope to have time to do some tourism and take some great photos while I am there. I think it is absolutely magnificent and you will enjoy the views if I get to take any photos.

Move Over Dewey

I suppose you have heard of the book “Dewey” that is a bestseller, about a library cat in Kansas. I haven’t read it, although I’ve given it as a gift. She (or is it he?) holds nothing over Mia. Ever since the severe heat wave of the month of February hit, she has gone into hibernation mode. She huddles behind the books. These are our “overflow” bookshelves of books not too frequently used. They are in the storage area of the apt. (what should be the maid’s miniscule bedroom). Her food and toys are kept in the room and she sleeps there at night. When it’s really hot, she sleeps behind the books on the shelves where no one can see her. When it cools down a little (today it’s 90 and we are thinking of breaking out hot chocolate), she functions as a very nice bookend. She will only come out if I take her in my arms and forcibly insist that she be sociable. She will sit with me and also play a while, but soon she stretches out as much as possible on the hardwood floors in the darkest, coolest place in the apt. She is definitely a “British” cat who suffers with the heat. She is also definitely our bibliophile. What else would you expect in a household with so many books. And we just keep buying books. Oh dear. Soon they will take over our lives.

Enjoying the Family

I haven’t written for a few days, because I have been busy entertaining João’s parents. Having “guests”, albeit family, in your home changes your whole schedule. It really makes a difference in your daily routine. We very much enjoyed having them here, but I didn’t find time to write on my blog or do any artwork.

Sunday we especially enjoyed family time as we all went out for lunch at Outback. It was a fun and delicious experience. It was nice to have this time all together, for usually Sundays are so hectic we hardly get any time to talk.

This morning they got away safely after their longest visit ever with us. Usually they are anxious to get away after about 2 days and this time they stayed a whole week. It has been stiflingly hot (a real challenge to my no complaining attempt), and I think they were happy to be in the air conditioning most of the time. Me too!

After they left, I got us moved back into our bedroom and bathroom, scrubbed down the bathrooms, did 4 loads of laundry and vacuumed the house. I am now sitting down in the air conditioned study and let the perspiration dry off a little before thinking of making lunch. Today it may not be rice and beans, etc. It may just be cold salad. We’ll enjoy it, whatever it is. Have a good week!