Next Stop Jericho...

A t about 7:00 on Friday morning, I stumbled through the living room on my way to the piece of pottery in which the sacred bottle of Advil is hidden. Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori were already at the breakfast table, which was a surprise seeing I had not seen either of them before 8:00 in two and a half weeks, excluding Sundays of course. Uncle Mark was already showered and dressed for the day. Inacia had expressed to them moments before how the refrigerator she had received was the best gift she had ever gotten. She kept thanking them, and Aunt Lori told her that she shouldn't thank them...she should thank God. She had cried out to God with a need and he had heard and met her need.

My head was pounding with the worst headache I had experienced since my arrival. I sat at the table with a blank expression on my face and did something I rarely ever did. I reached for the coffee pot and poured myself a half a mug. My face twisted into a distorted shape as I struggled to choke down the piping hot brown liquid that I had been told time and time again can soothe the most savage beast of a headache. William was up at this point and trying to find something he liked for breakfast. Uncle Mark asked him if he wanted to go to the hall to start the work on it, and William jumped at the opportunity of getting out of the house without Caroline. They left and I went about my morning business, minus the blog since I couldn't muster a creative thought to save my life, as I waited for the Advil/Coffee to kick in.

An hour or so later, I installed the new pool ladder stairs that had been purchased the night before and thoroughly enjoyed the comfortable heat radiating from the star closest to our planet. After a delicious lunch of steak, beans, rice and juice (have I mentioned how much I like the food here) Aunt Lori, Caroline and I went to the hall with Uncle Mark and William, who had returned for lunch. They had spent the morning chipping the cement off the wall that surrounds the hall. All the houses and small buildings have a wall built around them, even in the poorer neighborhoods. The cement used to coat the cheap brick material wall was easy to flake because they mixed the dirt from the street in with the cement to cut costs. This had resulted in the concrete chipping off and looking horrible over a short period of time.

Uncle Mark had met with Concrete King Luciano on Tuesday and had got the recipe for a good wall concrete mixture that would stay strong and look nice. Luciano, William, Uncle Mark and a young man from the hall named Assis had already chipped about half of the cement off of one of the walls before I arrived. I grabbed a hammer and a chisel and got to work. Luciano was a machine! Dressed with his head wrapped in a towel that made him look like a Middle Eastern sheik, he hammered away at the wall with progress greater than the other four of us made with a combined effort.

We worked the afternoon away chipping at the material. Some was easy to take off and other bits were more difficult. Caroline and Aunt Lori were working in the cooperative and William had now become sick of the concrete dust getting in his eye. Luciano gave him the task of trying to level the dirt driveway with some of the concrete dust that had accumulated throughout the day. Neighborhood kids began to gather as they usually do in the Planalto, and William went into the street to join them. Uncle Mark returned from the hardware store with Luciano and told me that I had to take a look at William.

I made my way into the dusty street, where I saw a crowed of kids gathered around William and a lost young donkey that he had managed to lasso with a piece of rope he had found earlier that morning. They donkey was more than happy to pose for pictures and I even convinced the poor shaking animal that he could hold my massive bulk on its back. Herbson was quite worried about the donkey's safety and told me in Portuguese to get off it. I obliged the 13 year old boy and went back to my work. After bumping the power line with my pickax, the co-op lost power and Luciano, being the jack of all trades that he is, quickly went to work to repair the problem. The electrical system that operates the hall is one that someone in their first week of electrical school would be able to wire in their sleep.

At about 5:30 the sun was gone, everyone else was packing up to leave and I had the makings of a killer blister on my right hand. All of us piled in the car to leave and made the 30 minute drive back to the house on Lobster Road. We had planned a dune buggy ride up to Maracujau to snorkel the next morning. Usually the buggy's left at 9:00, but seeing we were going further north than usual and had to take the tides into consideration, it was picking us up at 7:00. This meant an early morning for an already tired Alex. Mark, Lori and the kids went to bed before 8:30, but I couldn't take part in that luxury. I still had a blog to write and I had told my dad I would try to talk to him that night. Because Friday night is softball in Saugus, a fact I had forgotten, and there is a one hour time difference he didn't get home till 11:00 my time. Our talk was cut short when my battery died, so I packed up the outside office and headed to bed.

It was the second day of the Saint Peter festival, and at exactly 12 midnight a party or concert of some type started in the soccer stadium behind our house. The chuva (rain) that we had experienced earlier in the evening had put an end to the loud and annoying fireworks that had become a normal routine rather than a special occasion. I prayed for good weather for the next day, and despite the ruckus of the nearby party I was able to fall asleep. Falling asleep hadn't been the issue. My problem was staying asleep...

William Working on the Wall Early in the Morning

Luciano, Uncle Mark and Assis Chipping Away

William Leveling the Driveway with Crushed Stone

I am Trying to Save Time By Taking a Pick-Ax to the Concrete

Uncle Mark and Luciano "The Sheik of Concrete"

William Has Lassoed a Young Donkey in the Planalto

William, You Can Lead a Donkey to Water, But You Can't Make Him Drink

Herbson Goes for A Ride

That's Either One Small Horse or One Big Jockey

The Old Navy Shirt that This Planalto Baby is Wearing Was One Distributed Earlier in the Year

Fruit of the Spirit...

Two hours of sleep following an extremely physically exhausting and mentally draining day is a recipe for disaster. There was no crazy horse or snoring uncle to blame this time, just a plain ol' stare out the window at a concrete wall for several hours night of nothingness. Waking up after a period of time that a diagnosed insomniac wouldn't even consider a nap, I knew that I wasn't going to be in the finest of moods this day. Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori had a busy day planned, so I just thought I would stay home with whichever children decided to remain.

I spent most of the morning cleaning the pool, which I had found to be extremely relaxing. The brilliant scholars of the weather system in Natal had once again blown the forecast after calling for mostly sunny skies. It didn't rain, but the sky was only mostly sunny for about 5 minutes of the morning. I cleaned the pool and got it to a water level that was my liking and then settled in for a delicious lunch of fish, beans and rice. I really love the food down here!

After lunch Mark and Lori headed off to the Planalto to make an appearance at the 12 Hour Prayer Vigil at the hall. This blessed 12 hours of prayer was an open house of sorts, where people would stop in and pray for gospel works in the Planalto, Natal, Brazil, South America and the World. Caroline went with them and went to the co-op to work on a new project, while William stayed home with me. I \attempted to take a nap, which was of no use! I gave up and went outside again for the second skimming of the pool.

Uncle Mark went to work passing out tracts in the Planalto, until they left later that afternoon to run some errands. They purchased a refrigerator for Inacia, the woman who is helping around the house. When they had dropped her off at her house the night before she had invited them in, and they had seen first hand the conditions she was living in. She had been using a small cooler to keep a few items cold for the day. After mentally noting that a fridge would be purchased the next day they then learned of the horrible conditions of her neighbor across the street. Her children owned no clothing and were naked constantly. They went over to talk to these people, and this was the first time that Uncle Mark had seen a family so poverty stricken. He gave the mother whatever she needed in order to clothe her children.

They purchased the fridge for Inacia, who had no idea it was going to be delivered, and then went to the farmers market that is held in the Planalto every Thursday. The place was jam packed full of people. Hundreds of people were just milling around fruit stands purchasing whatever fresh products they could afford. Tomatoes, which I have mentioned are the best I have ever tasted, that would probably sell for two dollars a pound in the US were selling for 25 cents US a kilogram. You could purchase five pineapples for a dollar and many other delicious produce varieties at a bargain price. In the United States, you would pay 10 times as much for a far inferior product. Caroline and Uncle Mark spent the time that Aunt Lori was shopping for produce handing out tracts to everybody there. Just as I had experienced in days before, everyone accepted them willingly and thankfully.

Their next stop was the pool store to purchase some new steps for our ladder. Our other steps had snapped in half when I was climbing out of the pool, yet another problem with our house of horrors. They employed the service of a pool boy named Junior to clean the pool twice a week for $35 a month. He came by that night to check out the filter system, which he immediately found fault with and set up an appointment with a filter specialist for the next morning. My mood had not improved much and I made it a point to get to bed early. I fell asleep almost immediately which was surprising considering it was the first day of the two day long Saint Peter Festival. Another festival means more roadside bonfires and fireworks. Remind me never to visit Natal when they celebrate a festival for Saint Paul...


William Picking Our Finally Ripe Banana's Off the Tree in Our Yard First Thing in the Morning

Pool Problems at the House of Horrors

Loads of People at the Farmer's Produce Market in the Planalto

Aunt Lori and Caroline Shop for Some Fresh Produce

The Chiquinho Glory...

For the second strait day in a row I woke up at exactly 7:08 in the morning without anybody waking me or any alarm going off. I had managed to get a few hours of sleep between the screeching horse and the snoring uncle. I went through my normal morning routine of blogging, checking my E-mail and checking the weather. The sun was once again shining, and Chiquinho had called to see if I still planned on going to the beach. I had planned on going to the beach in the morning and then heading to the Planalto in the afternoon.

He got to the house a little before 9:00, and then William, Chiquinho and I waked the mile to the beach. Once we got there he led us down to where you can sit on beach chairs for free rather than paying for them. After leaving our belongings under the safe watchful eye of a coconut water vendor we went into the water and walked waist deep about a half mile down the beach in the direction in which we had just came. Once we reached some waves that were sizable enough for our liking, we spent an hour or so body surfing and jumping the waves. Some of them got to be around 6-8 foot swells that William rode like a pro. After swallowing enough salt water to kill our taste buds for life, we got out and headed down to where our stuff had been resting.

After giving the coconut vendor a generous tip of 1 Raies or .50 cents US, which he could have multiplied by 50 plus a digital camera had he chosen to move his cart to a new location, we collected our items and began the long walk home. The water level in the pool was now down to about two feet, and I decided that I was going to take it upon myself to find and fix the problem since our winner of a landlord was nowhere to be found. I tested and retested the settings on the filter system until I found out why the water was slowly leaking, and then began the process of refilling it.

Uncle Mark had spent the morning working on the drawings for the work he was planning on doing for the hall, and after lunch he needed to go make some copies to show to Luis and the other people at the hall. Chiquinho also said he knew of where to get baseball equipment and Caroline needed to get some supplies for the English class that she would be teaching to some of the girls in the meeting her age. Chiquinho, Mark, Caroline, William and I piled into our boat of a car, a VW Gol, and headed to the shopping center. After we tried two sports stores, we learned that there is no Baseball equipment in all of Natal, and the copy center at that one mall would not enlarge a drawing. We tried another place for copies with no luck. Our third try was able to make the copies, but they ran out of paper. After all this we had no equipment and only half of the copies were the correct size.

Caroline had purchased her supplies, but by this point it was almost 4:30. Chiquinho said he wanted to come back to our house, so we brought him back where we swam and then played some games. I was exhausted at this point. A day of sun and walking around on less than 2 hours of sleep has a tendency of doing that to a person. I thought Shikinjo would have went with Uncle Mark back to the Planalto when he went to drop off Inacia, a woman from the hall who was serving as our housekeeper, but he stayed. It was very clear that he didn't want to go home, seeing as there is nothing to do in the Planalto at night. Luis and Lillia came over for their Bible reading with Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori, and Chiquinho was planning on going home with them.

Three hours went by. My mind was fried and I had a killer headache. I could only imagine that Chiquinho had a headache as well from having to listen to me speak an English-Portuguese mix all day. I was exhausted, and I was still planning on talking to my dad that night after everyone left. At about 10:45 Lillia, Luis and Chiquinho left for the night and I managed to contact my family for the first time in almost a week. This had been probably the longest and hardest day for me since I had arrived. Entertaining someone who doesn't speak your language for 15 hours is enough to drive one to a mental state where a migraine would be considered a vacation.

William had fallen asleep on my bed, and I decided it would be worth the effort of waking him up to not have to sleep on the wooden plank that he calls a bed. I spent almost 10 minutes trying to wake him up, but once we were situated in our own spaces it was not long before I was asleep. It was pouring outside, and the only good thing about torrential rains in Natal is that they keep the crazy horses away from our house...

Monkey in the Coconut Tree First Thing in the Morning

When You See a Rainbow, Remember God Loves You...

Back Seat Photography

William and Caroline After Shopping

Los Loco Americanos

Sleepless in Natal...

The only reason I can come up with for the fact that the weathermen are wrong 80% of the time in Natal is the fact that there is a constant steady breeze that must blow any possible rain cloud toward a different area. While Tuesday was supposed to be steady rain, it was nothing but steady sun. Hot sun! Uncle Mark and I took off early in the morning to pick up some supplies for the day and make some copies of the baseball instructions in Portuguese. Aunt Lori and the kids cleaned the pool that had collected leaves from the palm trees that overhang.

We ate an early lunch and went over to the Planalto, but that was not before stopping at the bank for a quick currency exchange. One of the teller windows had two "spider web" shaped indents in the glass from where a bandido (bandit) had shot two bullets into the glass. Thankfully the 10 inch thick bulletproof glass had done its job and deflected the bullets, leaving just gunpowder residue on the glass around the indents.

Several of the guys were awaiting our return when we arrived at the Planalto, but Lillia, who was supposed to translate for me, was nowhere to be found. She had needed to take a trip to the train station, leaving only Aunt Lori to do the translation. I began explaining the basics of baseball, while the six or seven people sitting there eagerly listened and asked questions. I kept to the basics of balls and strikes, the field, the positions, the players, outs and how to score. When I went over the material ahead of time, it wasn't too much. But with the questions and translations, the lesson took almost two hours to complete.

After we finished Uncle Mark met with a concrete expert, who is also a missionary, named Luciano about making an actual driveway to the hall. He was not happy to learn that the concrete he had already bought was not the right type, and upset at the construction store salesman who had sold them the materials. Luis, Aunt Lori, Uncle Mark, and Luciano talked about other concepts and ideas concerning the hall renovation.

Caroline conversed with some friends she had made, Gleisse and Selma, while I took 9 or 10 others down the road to the dirt soccer field we had used on Sunday. I wanted them to practice pitching in the strike zone and finding a comfortable batting stance. They formed a line, and I had Paulo pitch while I caught and called the balls and strikes. It wasn't too long before they were starting to get the hang of it. Another young guy, Eriberto, got out of work and was riding home on his bicycle and saw us playing and decided he wanted to play too.

He had never pitched a baseball before in his life, but he was extremely athletic and was the coordinator for Project: Soccer School. He asked Paulo if he could pitch and Paulo handed him the baseball. He threw about 20 pitches or so. All of them so fast that they hurt to catch and all of them extremely accurate. Once he figured out what the strike zone was, he was able to adapt to each individual batter, despite their age or height, and throw them a perfect fastball strike. Out of all the pitches he threw, only one was outside the strike zone which I found extremely impressive. After an hour and a half of playing it was getting dark, which is not a time that you want to be out in the open in the Planalto. There is a lot of crime and it is an area of Natal that the police will not venture into on patrol. Most of the people that live in this area are too poor to have a phone, which means that most of the time they fend for themselves.

We headed for home shortly thereafter where I spent most of the night reading. Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori went to bed extremely early while I stayed up with the kids. At about 10:00, I grew weary of waiting for my father to come online for a web chat and I went to bed too. William then informed me that he felt dizzy, and after trying to get over this sudden spell he decided that he wanted to sleep with his mom. This displaced an already sleeping Uncle Mark, who is fighting a sore throat. He then moved to the couch and continued his sleep. At about 2:00 in the morning I was awakened by that loudmouth horse that was trotting back and forth in the road in front of our house. He was screeching over and over and over again the most painful noise I had heard him make yet.

After about 20 minutes of this I was ready to call the nearest glue factory to inform them where they could find a key ingredient free of charge. Uncle Mark had moved into William's bed at this point, and it was not too long before he was snoring on the same decibel level as my father. This kept me awake, and after about an hour of trying to sleep I went outside and lay on the ground to look at the stars for a while. It was a gorgeous night, a little chilly, but perfectly clear. When I was weary I went back in and fell asleep soon thereafter. I had coordinated with a couple guys from the meeting to go to the beach with them the next morning even though the weather report called for rain. By this point it should be quite evident that I am not holding any stock in the good folks at weather.com...

Class is Now in Session

Aunt Lori Translating for Me in My Feeble Attempt to Teach the Game of Baseball

The Co-Op at Work on Tuesday

The Mothman Prophesies...

Each bedroom having its own bathroom is convenient in every possible way, except when you share a room with William, who needs to use it every morning at 6:30 like clockwork. Once I am woken up it is difficult to fall back asleep, so I went outside to the nice table on the patio which we have deemed "the office" to check my morning E-mails. I checked the weather for the day, which I had also done the night before. Apparently I am not the only one lacking skills in meteorology, seeing as the good people at weather.com also don't seem to have a clue what the weather will be down here. The night before I had thought that it would be rainy for the larger portion of the day, but now the screen in front of me was projecting "mostly sunny and 87 degrees". I certainly wasn't going to complain, except it makes it difficult to plan anything if you don't know the weather conditions.

Everyone went about their morning business while I began working on my project of finding rules, positions, field terms, common phrases and equipment of baseball in Portuguese to develop the instructional booklet for the many that are interested in learning how to play. After a delicious lunch of fish, pasta and beans, Mark, Lori, and Caroline went off to the Planalto while I agreed to watch William while finishing my booklet, which I had to say was coming along much better than originally planned. Translations are not easy and one can not really trust what you find on babblefish or any other online translator.

With a game like baseball that is not common in Brazil, especially in the poorer areas, many terms like "home run" and "fly ball" just use the English terms, which makes things a little bit easier. In my third or fourth hour of working on the booklet, I could tell William was getting restless. I could hear the monkeys somewhere close by, so I told him to go get the Papaya out of the fridge. One monkey was standing century for the others, and he immediately saw it when Will put the fruit on the wall. He waited till he thought it was clear and then in a "chirp chirp" form of communication, which sounded strangely familiar, called his other friends over for a snack. They were about six or seven feet away from us and William went to work snapping some photos.

Meanwhile in the Planalto, Mark had met with Salomão to look at the hall and to take measurements and determine what was needed for supplies. The two of them headed off to some "hardware" and "construction" locations that Salomão knew to price things and see what type of deals he could get. Salomão is a barterer second only perhaps to the great Maria Procopio, whose haggling techniques are known throughout three separate continents, and he was able to find some custom made windows and a new front door for the hall for a very good price. They ordered other supplies that were needed, and he lent Mark his pressure washer to take the dirt, mud, and chipped paint off the outside of the hall.

Caroline worked in the cooperative again and finished her second project, while Aunt Lori went throughout the neighborhood and distributed all the tracts that she had with her at the time, almost 600. Mark was late coming back with Salomão from the stores, and when he finally returned they needed to go to the supermarket to get more juice, seeing as the cartons we had purchased on Saturday were all made with soy. They didn't get home until almost 8:30.

I finished my project at about 6:00 and put it on my pen drive to bring to a copy center the next day. William and I were getting hungry at about 7:00, so I made him a smoothie with the maracuja (passion fruit) ice cream, some acerola pulp for a little bite and some water. The reluctant lad was presently surprised with the taste, and disappointed I had only made enough for him to have one glass. It would have been better if some fruit juice had been added, but I wasn't about to risk ruining my concoction by adding a soy product to the mix. I sat on the couch to read, which I did until William brought a disturbing fact to my attention. It sounded as if someone was upstairs.

There was a light banging on the door, and I went up to see what it was. It wasn't a someone, but two “some things” doing a little dance. Two giant moths, one equip with an apparent needle or stinger were flying around. After seeing the stinger on one of them I decided it would be best to leave well enough alone and wait until later. When Uncle Mark arrived home, he attempted to kill the other one with a towel, but managed to only knock it out of the air. The either dead or unconscious body of the insect was never discovered, even though William and I spent a good 20 minutes looking for it before we went to bed. The second month which I shall call Robert Redford, after the role that he played in the movie "The Sting", also had disappeared, and his whereabouts continues to remain unknown. I feel as if I should give Robert Stack of Unsolved Mysteries a call to see if this Brazilian moth can be located "If you or anyone you know, knows the ware bouts of this dangerous fugitive call the Unsolved Mysteries hot line at 1-800-Solve-It".

After everyone had a late dinner of pasta soup, which Uncle Mark decided was missing the very important ingredient of "taste" it was time for bed. Weather.com had predicated an 80% chance of rain the next day. I guess I forgot to incorporate the fact that an 80% chance that it would rain also meant a 20% chance that it would not. With the accuracy of those weathermen, I decided to take a chance and put my bet on the "long shot"...

Monkey's Eating Papaya on the Wall...They Look Familiar Don't They?

Some of the Materials that the Co-Op has Compleated

The Ghost of Barbaro...

Sleep was not easy to come by on Saturday night seeing as every time I began to dose off, a loud "BOOM" would bring me back into a state of consciousness. The fireworks celebrating Saint John's Day were no match for the sleeping power of William though, who managed to fall asleep mid sentence just as he had in nights before. I fell asleep soon after the fireworks ceased, and managed to stay asleep for the duration of the night, a feat I had not been able to accomplish since arriving. I woke at 6:00 and put some water on the stove to boil. No, I still have not established a liking for coffee, this water was so I could shave.

The process of having to boil water when I wanted to rid myself of a weeks worth of facial hair was tedious, which is the main reason why I only do it once a week down here. Everyone got up and prepared for meeting, and we were out of the house by 8:00. Uncle Mark had learned the route to the Planalto by now, so there was no need to meet up with Luis to play "follow the leader". We got to the hall just as meeting was starting. During the worship meeting I could immediately tell that I had picked up on a lot more of the language since I had last been there. I was able to understand almost all of each prayer, and most of the songs that they sang were to tunes that I already knew.

Instead of staying in the auditorium for adult Sunday school, I went into a class with a handful of other people my age. A few of them spoke a few words in English, so while I didn't understand the full dialogue, they would make sure to give me the bullet points of the lesson which was about receiving others. Meeting ended for the morning and we exited the cool shade of the hall and stepped into the blazing hot sun. Paulo expressed to Lori the interest that the young people had in playing baseball, and since we were going to Luis's right near the edge of the Planalto for lunch, we agreed to meet them at a field that afternoon to play for a little while.

We ate a delicious lunch of pasta salad, rice and a dish made with chicken and cheese with a coconut and chocolate pudding type desert. Mark, Lori, Lillia and Luis talked about further plans of what was going on that summer, and developed a plan of action to put into effect until the final permit for the school was obtained. Mark had given Luis a rough drawing of a way to easily expand the hall's meeting area, and better utilize the area for the Sunday school. All of them had agreed that the hall had a good amount of space, but the space that they had was not being used to the degree that it could be. Ideas were shot back and forth, and Luis was going to talk to the appropriate parties this week to get everything in working order.

At this point my headache, which had begun in Sunday school, was a full blown ocular migraine that seemed to be pulsating in my left eye with every heart beat. I lied down for a little bit and then went to help Uncle Mark teach a new group of kids how to hit and catch a baseball. After a little while we went back to the house to shower before Gospel meeting. Meeting was longer than my rear end on a wooden bench could withstand. Outside the hall, people were celebrating the second day of the Saint John Festival with chanting around a bonfire that sounded like the repetitious chant of an Amazonian tribe, not that I have ever heard one. The smell of whatever they were burning in the fire permeated the air and made things difficult for the poor Eriberto, who was preaching.

We had a snack after meeting again and all the young people were anxious to learn the actual game of baseball. I told them that my personal project for this week would be to learn all the English/Portuguese baseball terms and with Lillia's help translating, give them a lesson on the basic terms and rules on Tuesday afternoon. We were all talking so long that Luis wound up kicking us out of the hall at about 9:30. I was exhausted by the time I reached home, and so happy that I had blogged for Saturday the night before. I was in bed before 11.

I had just fallen asleep, when I heard the most ghostly noise I have ever heard in my life. It was so odd that I thought I was dreaming. I opened my eyes and waited, and just as I convinced myself it was a dream, I heard it again. This time I heard Caroline's footsteps upstairs, and then someone coming downstairs. A few seconds later I heard it again and this time it sounded as if it was at the front door. After hearing it a fourth time, I went upstairs to see if anyone knew what it was. The fifth ear drum shattering shriek was clearer to me. It was a horse loudly expressing its feelings though the vocal talent that God gave it.

By now Uncle Mark, Aunt Lori and Caroline were all laughing at this strange midnight cry from a horse that apparently lived next door. I went back downstairs, where William had continued sleeping through the commotion, and heard the noise again. The acoustics of my room had distorted the sound to make it seem much more ghostly and eerie than it actually was. After the horse had either calmed down or had been put out of its misery, I managed to doze off quite fast. I guess that’s what happens when I don't get my accustomed Sunday afternoon nap...

The Hall in the Planalto

Everyone Outside the Hall After Meeting on Sunday

Aunt Lori and I Waiting For Uncle Mark to Unlock the Car So We Could Get Some AC

Lillia and Luis After Gospel Meeting on Sunday Night

Trying My Best to Translate for Caroline

Lost in Translation...

The sound of water being emptied from a bucket snapped my out of my dazed and confused state early this morning. I got out of bed and made my way to the kitchen, where I saw the water valve under our sink spewing water all over the floor. Uncle Mark and I spent a good hour looking for a solution to our problem. The emergency shut off valve was nowhere in sight, so I did my best ER impression and asked for a turn-a-kit for the broken hose. The leak slowed and Uncle Mark got on the phone with Salomão. We could now add this problem to the ever growing list of things wrong with the house on Lobster Road.

Finally our "phantom" landlord made an appearance at the back door and he and Aunt Lori began a rapid fire Portuguese dialogue that made me wonder whether or not they were fighting. He told her that he would fix all the problems, and much to my surprise a repair man named Paulo, you have a 70% chance of any mans name being Paulo in Brazil, appeared almost immediately to repair the broken valve. The landlord personally cleaned our pool, because his imaginary pool man had yet to make an appearance in the 8 days we had been here. He shock chlorinated the pool, which meant that we couldn't use it for 24 hours. This created a problem due to the fact that it was 85 degrees and sunny outside.

After cleaning the kitchen, Aunt Lori answered her long list of unanswered E-mails from people looking for an update and I took the opportunity to get some sun. The weather was beautiful, and I developed a contraption with the hose to make sure I kept cool. After lunch the other repair men arrived at the house, one to fix the leaks in the roof and another to fix the fan in my room. I couldn't believe that they came so fast seeing it was last minute on a Saturday. Apparently, Saturday service means you need to clean up after yourself though, because when I returned later that evening glass, plaster and wire had my bedroom floor booby trapped like a Saigon minefield.

We split up for the day. Uncle Mark, Caroline, William and I went to go to the sports camp activity that the hall sponsors, while Aunt Lori decided to take the path previously braved by myself and William to the nearby village. Seeing it was a Saturday, there were hundreds of people milling about in the streets all afternoon. She distributed 400 tracks and was able to converse much better than Will and I ever had.

Meanwhile, we were headed back to the Planalto. Soon after leaving the house I realized that there was nobody in our car that spoke Portuguese and English. Lori was back in our neighborhood, and Lillia was home with a sick Pietro. We ran into Luis who led us to the school where this camp was taking place. I talked with Luis a little about it the best I could, and learned that the program was called "Project: Soccer School" and it had been meeting weekly for the past year. The kids are split into two separate age groups 8-12 and 13-14. We watched the 8-12 year old game for a little while, and I have to say that those kids are very talented. Even at their young age they were better than any of the kids who I had seen play soccer in High School and College. They don't have very much to do around the Planalto, and soccer is a very inexpensive sport to play. All you need are a group of kids, which there are plenty, and a soccer ball.

I could see that Caroline and William were bored, and the expression on Uncle Mark's face looked rather disappointed. I have to admit that I thought that it would be different than it was. I thought that this camp was a group of kids that just got together, picked teams and played soccer for an afternoon. This was a school...drills, sprints, suicides, dribbles and a scrimmage. Uncle Mark and William got some baseball equipment out of the car and went into the dirt field behind the soccer area and began just playing catch. Caroline soon joined them. Sitting in the stands at the soccer stadium I saw the attention of the older group of kids waiting to play soccer turn from the soccer game to the three Procopio's playing catch.

A girl on a bike soon joined the trio, and it seemed that every time I turned around another kid would show up. Soon a bat was brought out, and Paulo, from the hall not the plumber, joined the group and pitched to some of the kids. I made my way over to the ever growing crowed. Mark batted first, and the minute he handed the bat over to one of the spectating kids a giant group of teenagers appeared. They just kept coming. I guess James Earl Jones says it best in Field of Dreams "if you build it they will come". We spent the next hour or so playing catch and having batting practice with this group of 23 individuals. As the sun began to set, Caroline handed each of them a tract which they thanked us for. Each of them was very grateful that we allowed them to play baseball with us.

Using the best Portuguese I possibly could I told them that we would be back next Saturday if the weather was good. None of the kids had ever put on a baseball glove, held a bat or caught a fly ball before. It was a new experience for them as much as teaching was for us. We went back home and made a make shift meal of whatever we could find in the refrigerator. It is a beautiful night right now and there are onslaughts of fireworks going off as I write this. Seeing as tomorrow is Sunday and the schedule begins early and lasts long I thought it would be best to actually inform about my today...TODAY...

Some of the Kids in Project: Soccer School Playing a Game

The Group of Kids Continues to Grow

The Closest Thing to an Actual Line to Bat that We Got

A Pitch to Paulo

The Planalto Sandlot...

The wise council mandated early Friday morning, that both Aunt Lori's laptop, which had yet to be connected, and my recently unresponsive computer would be connected to the internet by the end of the day. Due to bad weather in the morning, any outdoor activity was postponed and I spent most of them time trying to install, uninstall, reinstall, configure, unplug, reset and connect multiple electronic devices. By lunchtime I had given myself such a headache (big surprise there) that I couldn't stand without feeling as if I were about to faint.

Before heading to the Planalto after lunch, we attempted one last time at connecting Aunt Loris computer wirelessly, and this time it actually worked. After she relayed a crucial message we were on the way to the neighborhood by the hall. It had been almost a week since I had been there last, but this time I had a chance to take a walk around the area and see some of the conditions that these people were living in first hand. Many of the houses were made of brick not even mortared together. The material had just been placed over each other to form four rough walls. Some homes didn't have a floor, and roofs were constructed of the most basic construction materials.

Caroline had immediately gone to work on her paper towel holder at the cooperative and Uncle Mark was playing catch with a boy who had been anxiously awaiting his arrival. His name was Herbson, and Mark had given him an old dirty baseball from the collection that he had brought down in his luggage. The boy asked if he could clean it, and Uncle Mark had told him that he could do whatever he wanted with it because it was now his. As our car had pulled up, and I caught a view of Herbson sitting on the edge of the dirt road. I noticed how sparkling white the ball now was. If the water in his house is anything in comparison to the water at the hall, it probably took him eons to get that old baseball to look new again.

I walked a few blocks down the dirt road, wishing that I had had the common sense to not wear sandals to this neighborhood. I snapped a few pictures of the school that they will hopefully be completing this summer, God willing. I was about to head back in the direction of the hall, when I saw Uncle Mark and William coming down the street with a group of children following them. They were holding baseballs, gloves and a bat to play in the square area near the school. Dodging slum traffic consisting of bicycles, donkeys, horses, cars, trucks and people, the kids practiced swinging a bad for the first time in their lives. Uncle Mark and I tried our best, using gestures mostly, to teach them the strike zone, how to pitch, the correct catching posture and how to hold a bat.

The kids took turns switching positions, while I snapped a few pictures of them playing. The taught me some of the baseball terms in Portuguese, while I showed a few of them the basics of how to work a digital camera. I put my camera in the possession of one boy while I went to pitch for a little bit. It was the first time he had ever used a camera in his life and he loved every minute that he spent taking pictures and videos of his friends playing their new sport. As it got darker (the sun set here around 5:15) the rain began to intensify so we made our way back to the hall where the co-op was just wrapping up.

After dropping Luis's mother off at home, we went to the Hypermart to get some groceries for the following week. Because Brazilians eat their food fresh, most of them shop every other day if not more! You don't see the canned goods or the boxed items that you would see in an American or Canadian supermarket. The fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and cheese is all fresh. This was my first time in a market and I was in awe of all the types of odd looking fruits that are native to the region. One fruit looked like a weapon of choice of an indigenous indian tribe found in the Amazon and one type of mango looked as though it were breathing.

After the market and buying a new wireless card for my laptop, we headed back home where I spent the majority of the night installing software and updating my now medieval blog. I was pleased to find out that Saturdays weather was not going to be rainy as originally thought, but mostly sunny. I was looking forward to the sun, and the opportunity to play soccer for the first time in who knows how many years, but that’s another story for another day...

I thought I would share with you something I read in Proverbs right before bed, that many of you probably also read yesterday. It was a simple two lined verse that I have read countless times before stating a fact I have always known, but have never really thought in any significant depth. Growing up in a country where being "poor" is rare, it is not something that is spoken on or thought of very much. Now that I am in a country where over 90% of the people would be classified as poor by our standards, it is something that they can take great comfort in knowing and should force each of us that are more fortunate in terms of earthy possessions to think of things in a clearer light. Proverbs 22 and verse 2 in the New Living Translation reads "The rich and the poor have this in common; the Lord made them both". Your prayers for the effort down here remain coveted. Till tomorrow...

Caroline at Work Painting at the Cooperative

The Wall Structure of the School Being Built

Uncle Mark and His Rag-Tag Group of Baseball "Students"

Junior Swings the Bat While Herbson Uses the Correct Catching Posture

Alex Was a Natural Born Slugger...Good Picture Taken by Junior

The Village People Take Center Stage...

It had been predetermined with Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori that I had a desire to go back into the village on Thursday with more tracks. The only problem was that we were all out. After breakfast, they took Caroline and Lillia and went to the Christian book store to purchase more tracks. I stayed home with William again, and it was the nicest day weather wise that we had experienced since we had arrived. I used the opportunity to get some sun until they returned home a few hours later.

We had another big lunch and then I raided the plastic bags to view the multiple varieties of tracks that they had purchased. Aunt Lori had also ordered a shipment of Portuguese bibles to pass out in the Planalto, the area near the hall, as her and Uncle Mark went door to door. Caroline was just aching to go back to the cooperative to paint, so they took some all the Bibles that the store had in stock and tracks and left for an afternoon in the Planalto. William and I hit the streets with over 300 tracks in hand. I thought it would have taken the remainder of the afternoon to pass them all out, and didn't think we would even get that far since I was dragging an 8 year old along with me.

An hour and a half later, we had distributed over 300 tracks. Just as before, each had been handed personally to somebody who was more than willing to take it. However out of everyone we had tried to hand a piece of literature to only one person said no, which I thought was pretty amazing. God blessed our timing by directing us past a school just as the high school and junior high school students were getting out. Around another cobblestone corner, we met a boy who begged me to take his picture, and then proceeded to follow us around town for 20 or 30 minutes. He brought us to some houses of people he knew, knocked on the door for us and told his "friends" to take the paper that we were giving out.

We went into a poorer section of the city that had dirt roads and houses that were barley standing. It reminded me a little of the favela (slum) area of the Planalto. It was different from the Planalto and other favelas in the way that these people weren’t homeless yet. They actually had clothes to wear, as limited as this clothing was. We found people in this area even more willing to accept what we had to offer. The children all had smiles on their faces, and I realized that even though they had next to nothing they were happy. They weren’t that much worse off than the people in the nearby village and they had known nothing else in their life than what they had right now. They didn't know they were poor. It was part of their everyday life and it was all they knew. It was an eye openingexperience to say the least.

We got back to the house and waited for the others to get home from their day. Lori had gone door to door in the neighborhood around the hall and had really gotten to know several families quite well during those few hours. Uncle Mark had met some kids in the street in front of the hall and was trying to teach them the concept of baseball, using his very limited Portuguese vocabulary. Caroline had finished her first project at the co-op, and had begun a second. It had been a productive day for all...

Thursday night is the normal prayer meeting evening at the Planalto Hall. I had a headache again by this point and the thought of straining my mind to understand the Portuguese language made my cranium pound even more. I stayed home with the kids while Mark and Lori went back to the Planalto. It was at this point that I realized the wireless card in my laptop wasn’t working (hence the missing post yesterday). I thought it may have something to do with the weird weather we then experiencing, but the schedule for the first half of the next day would prove I don't have expertise in either meteorology or computer science.

After Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori came home, she gave me a quick rundown of how their prayer meeting operates. Other than singing, most of the time spent in prayer is for the work in the Gospel, both locally and abroad. Last night they had focused on specific missionary works going on throughout the world. I thought the concept was really cool, and I hope that these headaches subside so I will be up for a trip to the Planalto next Thursday night. I didn't know what was scheduled for the next morning, although I was planning on going with them to the hall the next afternoon...

The Young Boy That Followed Us Around for a Holding His Gospel Track

These Donkeys Lead a Hard Life of Pulling Carts to Pick Up Road Side Trash

A Land Where Lemons are Limes...

I had made plans with Eliza the night before to go to the beach the next morning. She picked me up at 9 and we met her friend down on the beach. The tide was high, and the shoreline was crowded with visitors and vendors even at the early morning hour. The best sun for getting color occurs between 9:00 and 12:00 in the morning, while the afternoon sun is farther away and seems much cooler. We walked along the beach toward a famous dune called “Bald Mans Head”.

After the walk, we got a smoothie drink of sorts made of guarana, a Brazilian fruit that they use for lots of cooking and in several of their sodas. It supposedly gives you energy, but I had mine mixed with maracuja (Passion Fruit), which works as a calmative. Any energy that I would have received was soon stricken from the record. They both got theirs with lime, which is known as a lemon down here. They don’t have actual lemons down here and they have always thought that the “yellow fruits” were limes. I don’t know if we are right or if they are, but maybe the reason is that Brazil is south of the equator. Much like summer at home is winter down here, perhaps a lemon in North America is a lime in South America.

I borrowed a bike from Salomão, which provided me a little bit of freedom to go off by myself, and rode the mile from his house to mine. All in all, between 9AM and 12PM I had walked about 6 miles and rode a bike for 1. The day was still young, but I was exhausted from the sun and from doing the first real exercise in about a week. We ate a big lunch, the general custom in Brazil, and then Mark, Lori and Caroline went over to the co-op to meet the man that was delivering the raw wooden tables and chairs to be painted.

Caroline got started on a project of her own at the cooperative, while Uncle Mark sanded a chair down to test and see if painting would work. All tests passed, and the women welcomed their new project. They spent the day at the co-op, while William and I went down our road toward a little village. We did not have many tracts left, only about 70 in all, and it only took us about 20 to 30 minutes to personally hand each one out. Once again I was encouraged by how happy people were to take the literature that we were giving them.

Luis and his family once again came over for dinner. It was a very late and informal meal, but it was still absolutely delicious. Luis grilled meat, cheese, bread and pineapple and all of it was mouth watering. I couldn’t quite realize why there had not been much rare meat on the plate, until I noticed that Luis had hoarded it all for himself. We also experienced Brazilian tomatoes, which we unanimously agreed were the best tomatoes we had ever had. Everyone left and all of us did a web call with my father and my grandmother, then it was time for bed! With all the sun and walking I had done I was ready for it...

Some of the Vendors at Puenta Negra Beach

The Famous Dune "The Bald Headed Man"

Some of the Assembly Women working in the Co-Op on Wednesday

Kids Begging William for Tracks

A Cyclist Takes a Track While Peddling By

People Willing to Receive...

Waking up to the sound of rain drops on a roof for a third straight morning is enough to make you want to go crazy. I spent the majority of the rainy morning sitting around the living room reading, and then I heard a proclamation from the dining room that made me rush to the nearest window to see for myself. William had announced that the sky was blue. Mr. Sun himself had decided to break through, and with the strong sea breeze that forever resides in Natal, it would be no time at all before the majority of the clouds were gone. Aunt Lori and Uncle Mark had already planned to meet with Lillia to look at some used wooden furniture for the co-op so our options were to go and sit in the car for the majority of the day or make our way down to the beach.

I decided that it would be a good idea to take the kids and walk the mile or so down to the beach, passing through what could be considered a middle class Brazilian neighborhood, even though it would be seen as poor by our standards. From what I had seen of these neighborhoods in the past, there were always people milling about in the streets, especially at lunch time, which was quickly approaching. I scrounged up every Portuguese tract we had in the house, and packed my backpack with water and some other things we would need for the day. William, Caroline and I made our way down the roads, stopping and handing out tracts to everyone we would see. Almost everybody would graciously accept the literature, look down, read the title and say Obrigado (thank you) with a smile on their face. It was encouraging to say the least. Here were people who had nothing, yet they were still happy with things that would cause each of us who have so much utter misery. There was no crumpling the paper up and throwing it on the already trash covered cobble stone street. No scowls from someone saying "you have interrupted my busy day". All we experienced was thankfulness’ for even this small little piece of paper that someone had taken time to give them.

We made it to the beach which was crowded with many tourists. Vendors walked the beach with their carts of food and trays of art products trying to make a little money to buy themselves a meal. As sad as it was, it can get rather old quite fast when they disrupt you over and over again. The waves were big and Will and I went in for a bit, but it was obvious that Caroline did not want to be there. She refused to sit down, stating that she "hated the sand" and it was rather uncomfortable to watch her stand in the same place for an extended period of time. After about an hour at the beach, we headed home, distributing more tracts along the way. Fewer people were in the streets at this time of day, and it was only a short matter of time before we arrived back home.

The kids swam for the majority of the afternoon, and then we went to get Pizza once their parents returned. It wasn't the traditional style pizza that I was used to, but if you tried telling yourself it was something different than Pizza it was actually quite good. They are big on cheese, meat, shrimp, beans, rice and yucca root a potato-like thing that they use as a substitute for starch products down here. I was exhausted, so I hit the mattress soon after arriving back home...

William and Caroline with Daniel, A Street Vendor Selling Bracelets in the Natal Village

William Poses With a Starving Horse Who is Picking Through Garbage Looking for Food

The Works in Progress...

When Luis, Lillia, Pietro and Luiz's mother came to dinner last night, the primary purpose of the meal, other than introduce them to authentic gourmet Italian cooking, was to discuss a schedule for beginning and continuing certain works here in Natal. While most of the conversation was spoken in Portuguese, and went completely over mine and Uncle Mark's heads, a few things were put into play that would dictate how much of the summer would unfold for Mark, Lori, Caroline and William.

Each of these works is unique and each is a way to bring the Gospel to different neighborhood communities, age groups and personality types. Most are just the beginnings of a long term work that we will not be able to see the full effect of on this side of Eternity.

The Building of the School: This project is still on hold due to one final permit that needs to be passed. They are anticipating that this will be done within the next few weeks, and then the crews can get to work on the roof immediately. After the roof is completed, the floors will need to be poured, walls completed, and designated areas set up. This school is a project that was started years ago, and was stalled due to lack of funding. They had been praying for years that someone would come along to get their project back off the ground and head toward completion. It is not necessarily a school entirely, but more of what we would consider a community center. Members of the lower class community there in the Planalto have many needs that are not able to be met, whether it is learning a simple trade or just a safe place where they can hang out. This is what they are praying the school will become.

The Co-Op: Many lower class Brazilians find themselves in abusive employment positions, especially the women. Often times they would work 90 hour weeks for an equivalent of $25 US dollars. The idea of this co-op was to develop a place where women could work a few hours a day for a small salary, which was still more than they had been making previously. During their hours at the co-op the workers would learn valuable skills to help them become licensed artisans and be able to produce a product to sell on their own. Right now the co-op is made up of women in the Plantalto Assembly, but each of these women has recently become licensed artisans. In a matter of time they will be set free and be able to produce the same products they have been working on for themselves. When this occurs a new group of women will bring in to continue on a different project. It is the goal of those who are supporting the co-op that this cycle will continue and be a way to bring Christian values and the Gospel into the community.

English Lessons: This work will continue for as long as Lori, or someone of equal ability who is willing is around the area. These lessons will not be limited to people in the assembly, but also to anyone in the community or city of Natal who would be interested in learning English for free. Obviously, the purpose of inviting others to these lessons would be to introduce them to members of the assembly and bring the Gospel to their lives.

The Music School: This school has been going on for some time and meets Monday through Friday for children seven years and older. Assembly children and community members alike are welcome to participate in the free music lessons, again with the hope of spreading the Gospel to these children and to their families and helping the Sunday school grow.

Sports Lessons: Every Friday afternoon, teenagers are welcome to participate in a sports club of sorts. These activities take place at a nearby school that allows the hall to hold the activity there on the premise that the students of the school can participate! After the new school center is built, the sports activities will be moved to the recreation yard there.

Bible Study: Uncle Mark and Luiz will be conducting a weekly Bible study on Wednesday nights on Biblical Truths that Make Up a New Testament Assembly.

Bible and Track Distribution: As with most missionary works, there is the door to door distribution of Bibles and literature to areas of the city of Natal. There are many slums and poor neighborhoods that have loads of people willing to accept even the smallest piece of paper as a tremendous gift. They will take it and with a great smile say "thank you" for giving it to them. What a difference this is from what we are accustomed to in the United States and Canada.

Other Works: These are just some of the things that are currently in place or will be starting within the next few weeks. Uncle Mark will hopefully also be teaching men in the assembly how to develop wood into raw materials for the co-op, rather than having to buy the unfinished product to complete. The Sunday school is also a work that has been successful in the area around the hall, and will continue to press forward.

Now that some of the groundwork of a schedule has been completed, hopefully I will have some daily updates of what Mark, Lori, Luis, Lillia or I have done for each of the works listed above. May each of them bring glory to God and be used as a springboard to bring the Gospel to people who literally have nothing, and are desperately searching for something. Your prayers are coveted and we hope that this information has helped you understand a little more about what is being done here in Natal.


“…behold I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.”
- John 4:35 KJV

House of Horrors...

As we entered our second full day of torrential rains, the house was springing leaks in new places with every passing hour. The plaster coating on several parts of the ceiling was beginning to bubble. I had been hit with a falling piece of plaster from the ceiling at the top of the stairs the night before. Now the dining room was leaking like a sieve, and it seemed that we had our own personal rain forest inside our house. Jokingly we changed the words of the old country music song "Is it Raining at Your House" to "Is it Raining IN Your House". We prayed that the sun would peek out as we prepared for our day out on the road.

Aunt Lori and I worked futilely at connecting her laptop to the internet for about 45 minutes and then we took a drive up the coast toward downtown Natal. The beaches were beautiful. The water looked clean and blue despite the overcast skies. We found the "Centro de Turismo", which was an old prison that had been transformed into an artisan shopping center. Each old "cell" had been turned into a separate shop for an artisan looking to sell their product. Aunt Lori spent about two hours in one of the shops that sold hammocks, blankets, pillows and table cloths. She found a product that was made of a certain material that she thought would sell wonderfully in the United State. She was interested in finding out who made the hammock so she could find out where they got their material. She thought that this would be a good "second project" for the co-op that was being run in thr building adjacent to the hall.

SIDE NOTE: This co-op is a group of women from the hall that meet between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM and who take raw materials (right now just wooden products such as bird houses, coffee filter holders, napkin dispensers, picture frames etc...) and paint them to turn them into beautiful looking finished products. I have personally seen these products and I will say that they are the type of thing that would sell at Pier One or The Pottery Barn for $25, $30 maybe even $50 US dollars. Down here they go for a mere R$15, R$20, or R$40 (between $7 and $20 US dollars).

They are funded for the time being, but after several months the funding will cease and they will be expected to support themselves. It is beginning to break even now, only two months into the project, and each of the women has just become licensed artisans by the government within the past week. Now they are able to sell products on their own in a shop or on the road. After these women are "cut free" from the program and go on their own, a second group of women will be brought in and a new co-op will begin. This second group will likely be women from the neighboring community of the hall, who will get the same training in becoming an artisan as the first batch received. Aunt Lori is hoping to purchase some raw materials or cheep chairs that could sell for more than R$40, which would produce more income than the smaller objects. Uncle Mark is also planning on possibly teaching the men how to create the wooden products on their own, rather than purchasing them, which would cut the overhead material cost considerably. :END SIDE BAR

William, Uncle Mark and I spent about 15 minutes total in all of the shops and sat out the remaining time on an old wooden bench in the courtyard. All I could think of was the Brad Paisley song "Waiting on a Woman" as we waited for Aunt Lori and Caroline to finish what they were doing in the one shop. We had some entertainment though, as one "locksmith" had been attempting to get into an ATM machine for about 4 hours now. Two armed security guards had been standing behind him with their hands on their guns. We sarcastically named this locksmith "The Genius", due to his apparent lack of skill in his own profession. Once the girls finished, and William purchased his hand crafted native blow gun, we got in the car and drove back to the house.

We had dinner with Luis, Lillia, Pietro and Luiz's mother (more on that during my next post). I got another headache and lied down in bed. After everyone had gone home, the rest of the family prepared for bed. Caroline had lost her tooth and put it under her pillow, hoping for a visit from the "tooth fairy". However the events that unfolded next probably kept the tooth fairy as far away from our house as possible.

William had just gotten into bed and I was starting to doze off when I heard a "FIZZZZZZZ POPPPP" noise. I opened my eyes in time to see the ceiling fan above our heads spewing sparks across the room. All of a sudden the fan burst into a blaze of flame as I stared in shock as the orange glow threw more small ambers into the air. I jumped up and quickly turned off the fan. The blades slowed and the fire died off. This small electrical fire had been caused by the motor of the fan blowing due to Pietro's rapid flipping of the switch earlier that evening. William had slept through this entire event, and I was scared that he would wake up the next morning and turn the fan on not knowing of the events of the night previous. I informed the rest of the family not to turn on the fan under any circumstances and then went to bed. In just 5 days here in Natal we had experienced major leakage, falling plaster, a dysfunctional alarm system and a flaming fan. What future surprises will this house at 1254 Rua De Lagosta (Lobster Road) have in store for us? Time would only tell...

Down That Red Dirt Road...

Since landing on Thursday I had primarily remained in one section of Natal. Our house, Salomão's house and all the restaurants we dined at were all located in Ponta Negra, which is considered the "high class" part of the city. Ponta Negra has the nice beaches, the shopping centers, the Hypermart, clubs, restaurants and parks. While styles and personalities were different than the United States or Canada, life went on in a typical "city" fashion. T

his is all I had seen up until the point we turned off a main street and unto a cobblestone road on our way to the hall. Immediately I saw a difference in how things were constructed. The homes were smaller, the roads were dirtier and the people were dressed significantly different. I will not say that this was unexpected to me. Before I left home I was expecting all of Natal to be like this, if not worse, but the previous two and a half days had given me a false impression of what the city was like, and I had forgotten my original thoughts of what it would be. After taking many sharp turns unto narrow streets, a difficult task in a car without power steering, we turned unto a red dirt road.

This dirt road was nothing like the Brooks and Dunn song, although it is a place where many have probably drank their first beer. There was no sign of "Mary picking her blackberries" or any of the positive attributes of the popular country music duo's hit song. There were people wearing little clothing wandering the streets at 8:00. Some people at a corner bar drinking, even though the day had just begun. Trash piled on the side of the streets waiting to be collected by carts pulled by donkeys. It was a whole new world. This was the road the hall was on. We turned into the hall driveway, which was large enough to fit maybe three cars at max. This was not a problem though considering fewer than three people who went to the meeting actually owned cars.

Most lived nearby and would walk, rain or shine, no matter how far across this section of town they lived. We took our seats and said "bon dia" to everyone who was there already. Meeting started, and even though I couldn't understand much of what they were saying, I enjoyed the worship service. Many of the same words were repeated, Jesus Christo (Jesus Christ), cruz (cross), luz (light), Deus (God), Pai (Father), Obrigado (Thank You), Fhilo (Son) and other words you would hear in any breaking of bread service, no matter what country lived in or language you spoke.

After the breaking of bread, they sang with the Sunday school kids and then Sunday school began. The kids separated from the adults, and children and adults alike got a lesson from the word of God. Sunday school was an hour long, which seemed like a taste of eternity when you don't understand much of what they are saying. I tried focusing too hard on the language and wound up giving myself a headache. After Sunday school we left for home and conducted the usually Sunday ritual of eating dinner and taking a nap. It was around this point that I realized it was Fathers Day....Whoops!

Gospel meeting began at 6:30, and was preceded by a hymn sing of sorts. The entire congregation sang for about 30 or 40 minutes before Luis spoke. Like at home for most of us, Gospel meeting was an hour long, but unlike at home it was taken by one speaker for the entire duration. Once again, an hour is a long time to listen to a single person when you don't comprehend 95% of what they are saying. After meeting ended, my head was pounding again. Salomão's daughter Eliza showed me this neat trick to help headaches. Apparently, by squeezing a space between your thumb and index finger a certain way you hit a pressure point that relieves the pressure in the brain. It hurt to push on the point, and at first I was sure that all this was doing was taking my mind off the pain of my head by focusing my attention to the new throbbing pain in my hand. However, I need to give the girl credit, because it did work.

We had a quick snack at the hall and then left for home. The rain had letup, and the sky was actually visible for the first time that day. Even though I knew the weather for the following day looked grim, I prayed that we would see some sun. I did a quick web chat with my dad to wish him a happy Fathers Day, and then went to bed where I managed to get a good night sleep for the first time in a long time...

Down Came the Rain in Torrents...

Saturday was a fairly uneventful day, other than learning that five small monkeys live in our backyard. These cute and fearless creatures enjoy many of the multiple fruits that grow in Brazil. Dona Lucia, the housekeeper of our landlord/neighbor, feeds them bananas, tomatoes and mangos to coax them over to her home. They spend much of the time on the roof of the bathhouse that separates our yard from the landlords. I tried to feed them a tomato out of my hand and one got pretty close. It is something that I will have to work on, but I know now how John McCain's arms feel after holding a tomato outstretched for over 15 minutes. Last night

Salomão and his wife Cintia took us to a restaurant for dinner to get shrimp later that evening. establishment was aptly named Camarão's (the Portuguese word for shrimp). While considered expensive in many Brazilian circles, it was still relatively cheep when compared to American dining. What made it even more economical was the fact that the portions were large enough for between two and four people. We all split different shrimp dishes, which all tasted delicious, although William and Caroline both had hairs across their behind and would make it known several times over that they did not like the restaurant.

We returned home after dinner, and a brief stop at Salomão's house where the wise man spent some time attempting to teach Uncle Mark how to play a game called Dutch Blitz. It looked like an intriguing game, but my head was pounding, as it had been for the past 30 hours or so, and I just wanted to get home. I went to bed soon after returning home, but a deluge of rain woke me up at about 1:00 AM. I walked through the house only to find that the tile roof over the dining room and kitchen was leaking. The floors were soaked, and the water level in the pool had risen about 4 or 5 inches. Rain was blowing sideways and coming in the "winter garden" that sits parallel to the dining room. A winter garden, as if any Northern Brazilian has any clue what winter really is, is an indoor garden that almost every home has, no matter how rich or how poor. There is typically no roof over the garden, allowing the trees, vines and bushes to get water during rainstorms. With the rain blowing the way it was, water was strewn thought the living room and dining room.

The rain did not let up over the night, and we hoped that the hall had not suffered the same fate as our humble abode had the night before. We got ready for meeting, and made our way to an underpass where Luis met us so we could follow him to the hall. After a few minutes of driving it seemed to me as if we were entering into a completely different world...

How Can You Say "Bon Dia" at 6:00 in the Morning...

WHAPPP!!! The feeling of cloth smacking against my face confused me at first. "WHAPPP" Again!!! I struggled to get my eyes open. When I adjusted to the light in the room I saw William sitting on his bed holding his blanket, which was quite obviously the cloth object that had been used to awaken me. I glared at him from my mattress and then glanced at my watch. It was only 6:00. I feebly attempted for about 10 or 15 minutes to return to sleep, but gave up and went into the living room. There was evidence strewn about that William had been up for quite a bit. The packaging from the previously unopened Boggle box littered the tile floor, while several used plastic cups were distributed throughout the dining room and the kitchen. I later learned that he had attempted to awaken Caroline as well, but she had sent him packing, and unfortunately for me it was not to Guam.

My day had begun way too early. I spent much of the morning picking up Williams mess and unpacking the remainder of my things. We ate breakfast, which in Brazil consists of ham or turkey and cheese sandwiches and fresh fruit. The fruit was great, very very fresh and very very clean. The pineapple had to be the best I had ever eaten. Aunt Lori worked on a list of what she needed and soon thereafter Salomão arrived. While everyone else prepared to leave, William and I, who were already ready to go, sat with Salomão for a lesson in Portuguese. I decided it would be better for me to just go to his house so I could catch up on some blogging work while the other five piled into a car to hit Hypermart, the Brazilian version of Walmart or Target.

I spent the day writing blogs, E-mailing and talking with Salomão’s daughter Julia who spoke English quite fluently. She started the conversation by telling me some good restaurants and places to visit and we just started talking about the difference in cultures. She had lived in Connecticut for a year as an au pair nanny an exchange program, which is how she gained her knowledge of the American culture and the English language. Several hours had gone by since I had been dropped off and with each passing moment I grew even more and more thankful I had made the decision to not go shopping. There is nothing I hate more than waiting around in a store while a woman does the majority of the shopping.

Finally I was brought home and we got ready for dinner. We met Luis and Lillia at a Brazilian BBQ and began eating. A meal that typically costs $30-$40 back at home was ours for less than $10. Meat after meat was brought to us on giant skewers and we chose what we wanted or didn't want on our plate. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the meal as much as I should have because of the rather large canker sores that had invaded my mouth like the Germans invaded Poland in WWII. Many of the meats were very salty, so I merely tasted them and then moved on to the next sampling. I was especially a fan of the Queijo Cualio (literally just cheese grilled) and the grilled pineapple with cinnamon. After our meal we stopped by the mall, but a power failure limited our visit to about 5 minutes. The wait to exit the parking garage exceeded an hour, so we were trapped behind a slew of other cars with no radio.

We arrived back home and went to bed almost immediately. I informed William that if he ever wanted to live to see another 6:00 in the morning again, he would not wake me up unless it was a life and death circumstance. I think he had gotten the message...

Uncle Mark, Aunt Lori and I Discuss the Events of the Day

Salomão Gives our Portuguese Two Thumbs Up

Aunt Lori, Caroline and William Surrounded by Recently Purchased Items

Salomão Securing the New Mattress on the Roof of His Car