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...