This place is hopping. especially compared with all of last week. Steve Turner (who is the Brasilian representative in the US, been here more times than he can count, and is super neat–I have known him since middle school camp where I found out the inside info that he is the inventor of the McMuffin. We owe alot to this man:)), Chuck Taylor (who is a doctor with lots of kids–lets here it for big families!), and Kathy (a nurse) arrived yesterday, and a bunch of people from Sao Paulo arrived this morning (they will be the staff at the English camp). David, Katia, and Ricardo are now sorting all these pills into little bags. and I am clueless as to what exactly is going to happen at the medical clinic. So, I am thinking that I will probably be hanging out here and doing odds and ends for them. works for me!
On Friday I hit sucess…at least for my cooking. I boldly marched into the kitchen (when I was sure no one was there) and began cooking. I was missing a few ingredients, but everyone agreed the end result was “brilliante.” I heated up the rice, made beans (even though I had NO IDEA they took two hours to cook! MY WORD. Katia said she would show me the pressure cooker so it only takes 30 minutes), CORRECTLY made goose-goo (and no, it is not the small round noodle stuff from Morocco that sounds similar–this is a traditional North-east Brasil thing), and TA-DA! made “Galinia Guisada” (sp? it means chicken something). Everything looked, smelled, and tasted good and I was exhausted. I think my cooking zeal has now been laid to rest for awhile.
Did you miss me and my novels over the weekend? I went to Nazare Da Mata to the Moraes’ house. Praise the Lord that Tele’s mom was able to go home Saturday night. I ate lunch at Roberto’s (a good friend from last year–and I still cannot pronounce his name right!) house and his mother made me bolo de rolo (literally, cake of roll–it is a guava jelly roll and OH SO GOOD). It was so nice to be back in Nazare, because that is where I was most of my last trip. We walked to the Obelisk (one of my favorite thinking spots ever) and visited David’s friend Luana. I bought a coconut for $.60R (about a quarter) and the guy cut the top off with a machete and I stuck a straw in and drank it apprehensively. Agua de coco (coconut water) is sorta an acquired taste…and I found that I have acquired it and really enjoyed it. Last trip it was too sweet for me at first–especially when I thought it was regular water and took a big gulp before I realized my mistake. I thought I would look totally Brasilian by sipping my coconut on the front steps, but was quickly brought back to reality by Karine, who said Brasilians never sit on the front steps sipping a coconut. so I did it anyway and looked completely American.
We went to VBS in Tracunhaem (say that three times fast: tra-coon–eye-yem) and it is like everywhere I go I am reviving friendships. That is something so wonderful about the community churches here. They are so close, so when I met everyone, now I know people in many different cities and run into them everywhere…it is immensely fun, and makes me feel less…foreign. We did not have a class to go to, so ended up being part of a skit of…the short guy and Jesus (I can’t spell his name). it was all add lib, and alot of fun. Since I do not understand everything that is going on around me, I have found that I am drawn to people’s expressions more. Isana (I have kept in contact with her and her sisters since 99) was so fun to watch as she led all the kids in singing. Some people shine through themselves, and she is one of them. So is Raquel (translated Rachel in English) who I got to see at church last night in Timbauba.
Timbauba was the other place I lived last year. It is one of the newer church plants, and is Tele’s hometown. Last year it was just beginning, with mostly Tele’s family supporting it. It was incredible to come back this year and see how it has grown. I feel like I am watching a beautiful flower growing. There was one girl that was really on my heart that I met there last year–Monica. Monica is younger than me…18 or 19 now, and she and her boyfriend were just miraculously saved when I met her. While I was gone they were married, and are still growing more. awesome. Tele’s brother-in-law (who was in a horrible motorcycle accident last year) sang “Love me tender” to me…he still has a thing in his throat and gets around slow, but considering at first they never thought he would leave the bed, it is a miracle. His kids, Raquel (I went to school with her last year) and Daniel (he is determined to get me with a water balloon this year at English camp–ending our year-long war) are both doing great. I feel alittle weird giving you these short little intros to people, when they should be fully explained and appreciated…but time and space compel me to stop there. I will send more pictures later.
I loved the drive from Nazare to Timbauba. Not only is the sky bluer here (okay, before I continue, remember that I am thoroughly enjoying my Brasilian bias here), but the sky is deeper…with more stars than I have ever seen before. So deep and clear that I can see the faint haze of the distant galaxies so far beyond my grasp. the clouds roll in like the scene from “Lion King” where Mofasa appears. The stars are so near that I feel them close in on me, yet so far that they mock me saying, “you will never reach me, you will never attain to me.” The clouds leave as quickly as they come and make me wonder what I have done this day to make it valid…to make it worthwhile. and now I leave my wanderings and come back to earth with a stiff neck from gazing upward.
Get this: 2 Chronicles 12:14 “And he (Rehoboam–Solomon’s son) did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.” so often I simply sin because I did not stop and prepare my heart.
Rachel
