Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As I sit and write this, Aylis and I are sitting at our favorite coffee/ice cream shop back in Canton, Georgia. We left Rio Sunday night at about 11 PM and arrived in Atlanta at 7.50 AM Monday morning. The flight was good and uneventful (a sleep aid works wonders–though Audra and the kids didn’t take any). We wanted to add more to the blog while we were there, but the internet access was very limited. We started our time there with three computers linked through a cell phone. After a few days it went down to two…then one…then off and on with that one.

Last Friday, we left all the kids at the retreat center and journeyed to Rio to visit two favellas (slums) of the area. It is hard to put into words what we saw there (and becuase of the dangers of going into the slums, we were asked not to bring cameras). In Brazil, the higher a person’s home is on the side of a hill, the poorer that person is (the rich, for some reason, prefer living in the valleys). Homes of the poor cling to mountain side, many accessibly only through a series of concrete steps and narrow alleys. Dodging thrown out garbage and dog droppings, we wound our way upward, past a mammoth boulder to a small chapel at the top. This chapel, we were told, played a role in the people’s crumbling trust of the government. The army learned of weapons being collected in the favella and sent in troops to seize them. Not finding any in the homes, they finally reached the chapel, threw open the doors and pulled the altar away from the wall. There they found the guns. In return for their labor and in retaliation for non-cooperation from the residents, they proceeded to shoot holes in all the water storage takes above each of the homes. The army then left, leaving the community to fend for themselves. The drug dealers living there came to the rescue of the community and met their needs. For this reason, the community has a drug problem, but they deal with it. The drug dealers where there when they needed help. The government was not. This, of course, is the story from only one side. Every story, as we know, has two sides (at least), and so we don’t yet know the whole truth about what happened.

Drugs are an issue, though. We saw the evidence of drug and gang warfare in the bullet holes on the walls and through the signs. Poverty is hugh, but the people are not hopeless. Government programs and assistance are allowing people to better themselves through education and experience. Some homes have internet access. Others have satelite television. Some of the homes are brick and concrete. Others are scrap lumber, tacked together against the weather. It’s a different world. People do different things.

Saturday, brought us back at the retreat center. More classes. More learning. More connecting with others from around the world. The evening ended watching a Brazilian movie that was up for an Oscar a few years ago: “Brazil Central Station” is the title, I think. We were supposed to watch “City of God” about one of the favellas we visited, but could not find it. “Brazil Central Station” was a better choice and it brought the strings we wove over the past two weeks, togther.

Sunday morning brought us to our final worship time. What an emotional event it was! Starting by washing one another’s feet, continuing with brief times of testimony interspersed with praise and worship music (in Portuguese), and concluding with Holy Communion. I had the opportunity to co-lead communion with Andres, a Brazillian pastor from Salvador.

But now we are home again. It is different now. We are staying for the moment with a friend in Ball Ground, but as I walk through town, I think, “Gee, I’m not a pastor here anymore.” No, I’m not. I am now a full time cross cultural witness for Jesus Christ. It’s time to shift my thinking and start working. We have about 85% of our funding to raise over the next few months. It’s not going to be easy, but with God, all things are possible.

To God be the glory.

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What a beautiful day it is to be alive and in this world. We’ve lost track of days and have to stop and think “Is today Wednesday?” I think it is. We continue to learn about the people of Brazil and about cross cultural minsitry. This morning’s worship service was led by a group of people from the northeast of Brazil (from what I understand, it is a bit like Texas) who sang and led music that is traditional to that region. Exciting music about casting our nets to reach the world. One man who had been struggling with exactly where God was calling he and is wife accepted what he believes is God’s call to go to the northeast to be in ministry. Cool!

Yesterday, we took another trip into Teresopolis to visit a Favella (poverty area). It was called Corte Vente (something like “cut the wind” which makes it hard to translate with a straight face). The interesting thing here is that the higher the house on the hillside, the poorer the person living there (the rich folk live in the valley). The veiws were tremendous, and the work to be done tremendous. Again, we had a group of community residents spontaneously join our group. Three girls wanted to talk to Aylis (they were the same age). They were excited that she was in dance and said in two years they would be allowed to be in the dance group at their church.

The Methodist church here in Brazil is amazing. In their zeal for the gospel and their energy, they are very similar to the pentecostal churches in the states. Their worship is filled with emotion (though sometimes not completely authentic emotion–just like in the states). My heart has been moved to tears more than once. For those who have been on the Walk to Emmaus, this experience has been like a two week long walk. Gloria a deus!

Audra is doing well making is through this with the pregnancy. Her feet have not yet gone down from swelling since the plane ride here, but they do get better.

We’ve learned our names are not easy for Latin Americans to pronounce, and often we have to be happy with a close approximation. Two things that are interesting: When people hear Todd’s name (and after they call him Charlie), they say, “Ohhh, like the chocolate milk here.” (There is a brand called Todgy). When we were at a school the other day, the kids laughed when they heard my name. “Asha” is what they say when they lose something and then find it again.

Class has started again, so I need to get back. Praise God for who you are and what you are doing for the kingdom of God.

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sunday we traveled back to Rio for a day of sightseeing and worship. After a long journey we made it and visited a traditional Sunday market (which Kia called the most horriblest place she has been — it was dirty, smelly, and loud. We left before noon and a number of the people were already drunk and acting it…), the copacabanna beach (you go, Barry Manilow), a ferry ride across the bay and watching sunset over the water. Not a bad day, but not really any of our favorites. We wanted to interact with the people, not the tourists.

Before the worship service at one of the local Methodist Churches, the church family fed us a traditional meal from the northeast of Brazil. It was a pork stew served over porridge. Before you get too excited, the part of pork was the stuff we don’t normally eat (like the brain, intestine, stomach, heart, liver, and so on). We got it down and it wasn’t bad. Once, however, I think is enough…

The worship service was high energy and emotional. Not at all like most United Methodist Church services in the states. The theme was missions and during the service the children of the church did a presentation, walking down the aisle holding the name of a country in their hands. Before the service, Todd had been invited to join in the Children’s Club. He went…and then surprised us all, by leading the children’s processional down the aisle. Not bad for a kid who 1) says he cannot made friends because he does not speak the langauge and 2) does not speak Portuguese. Before we left, a lot of the boys wanted to hug him goodbye. God does great and wonderful things.

There is a line now for the computer, so I need to close now. I’ll do my best to write again soon. Until then…be blessed.

June 22, 2007

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Bom Dia! This afternoon we took an excursion to a bairo in the city of Teresópolis. A bairo (I am not certain of the spelling) is a high poverty neighborhood in a city. It’s not as bad as it could be, but not nearly as good as it could be either. The entire group of about sixty or so of us was broken into five groups, given an interpreter and sent in busses to the various areas of the city. Our task was not to be pastors and missionaries. Instead we were to be anthropologists. We were to observe and interact and ask questions in order to discover where God is already at work.

Our group went to a Methodist church down a very narrow road. From there we wound our way on foot through the streets and alleys to a public school (yet another concrete building). As we debriefed after the experience in the evening, our translator (a very dynamic young pastor and missionary named Gustavo) explained it something like this: “On the outside it gave every impression of being an abandoned building, but inside the administrator and teachers had filled the place with love for the students.” It made a difference and the children were looking for hope in what looked like a hopeless situation. Drugs (primarily cocaine and marijuana) are a major problem. So is alcoholism. This community is known as “the bad part of town.” I asked the school’s administrator who the students’ heroes were. She said, “It varies. Some want to be policemen so they can kill and arrest the drug dealers. Others want to be the drug dealers because they have money and power and the respect that comes with the money and power.”

“What is the life expectancy of those kids who want to be drug dealers?” I asked.

“They start dying at about age 14 and most are dead by the time they are 18,” she said shaking her head. She loves the children and wants to give them hope and a chance to dream. The kids have big dreams, but, when asked if the dreams are realistic, she said the kids are poor and they come from a poor community. Feeling that was enough of an answer, she said no more. She does not give up, however. In the harsh environment where these kids live, we walked into a classroom of five and six year olds watching a Woody Woodpecker video. It was a part of the curriculum. The kids saw so much violence and pain in their lives, they watched these wholesome videos to teach them how to dream dreams and to fanaticize about the possibilities. What a beautiful thought.

The pastor of the church where we began the excursion has a son who is Todd’s age. The two of them very quickly became friends and together led us toward the school. In the school yard they played tag. On the journey home, we passed near the boy’s house, and he and Todd ran around the corner to go inside to fetch a soccer ball. Kicking the ball back and forth through the streets, they laughed and played. It was neat to see. As we debriefed later, our translator told about the two boys, and said the Brazilian boy came to him and asked him to teach him how to say only one thing in English: “You are my friend.” As the bus pulled out for us to come back to the IMFORM center, the boys waved at one another with Todd yelling in Portuguese, “Chao,” and the boy yelling in English, “Good-bye.”

God is doing wonderful things here in Brazil. Connections are being made, and lives are being transformed.

All the kids are having a great time. Right now it is late, but all the MKs (Missionary Kids) are downstairs playing cards (I think they’re playing poker, but I guess it’s okay, because they are playing with cards shaped like Gingerbread Men) and getting to known one another even better. Kia, Aylis’ and Todd are learning it’s okay and excited to be a part of another culture and to learn another language (Aylis even told Audra she’s excited to learn Spanish now. There in the group are kids going to Peru (two of us families), Senegal, Malaysia, Brazil, and Kentucky. They range in age from 1 to 19. Kia is excited to be included among the youth and teenagers.

I need to go and get the kids. They aren’t yet in their rooms, it’s late, and tomorrow comes awfully early. I’ll do my best to write some more tomorrow. Until then, be blessed.

June 21, 2007

Bom Dia! A few months ago, I was talking with someone about our work with missions and told them we were heading to Brazil for some training. He looked at me and said, “Uh, oh.”

“What?” I asked. “Is there something wrong with Brazil?”

“Oh, no,” he said. “It’s just that once you’ve been to Brazil, you will not want to go anywhere else!”

I think I’m beginning to understand what he meant. The people and the places here in Brazil (and yes, I’ve only had very limited experience in the past 24 hours) are absolutely fantastic. Walking to lunch today I was joking with Kia and Todd and I asked them if we should lose our tickets and miss our flight back home. They both said, “Yes!” (Earlier Todd had said to me, “You know, dad, this feels just like home in Ball Ground.”)

Don’t get too worried now. We are still going to Peru. We still believe that is where God is calling us to go and serve. We still love the people and places of Peru. We have learned, however, the love of Christ in the body of Christ here in Brazil as well. I’m thrilled we are going to be neighbors (although thousands of miles apart).

Portuguese is not as easy to understand as I was first led to believe. It is a beautiful language and I want to learn to speak it someday. Listening to it spoken it sounds at times like Spanish, then like French, then like Italian, and then (believe it or not) like Russian. The people are very expressive and are very diverse in so many ways. We have started to break down some of the walls between us (language being the biggest barrier). This morning for devotions we sang the praise song “Come, now is the time to worship.” Half of us sang in Portuguese and half of us sang in English. Wow! Talk about the kingdom of God breaking through into this earth! Even though we were singing the same notes, the differences in our languages made it sound like two, three, four part harmony. I try to put it in words, but I cannot.

Into other matters…we don’t have to worry about food. The cafeteria here at the Mission center serves excellent traditional Brazilian food. Breakfast was fresh rolls with cold cuts and cheese. (They did scramble some eggs for us Americans and cook some sausages, but I was happy with the bread!) Lunch is the big meal of the day, but both lunch and dinner have the same type of food. We have salad and meat (duck yesterday and beef kabobs today), yucca, potatoes fixed a variety of ways and beans and rice. For the top of the beans and rice there is a gritty, ground yucca root that is delicious. For desert there are fresh mango, papaya, bananas, apples, kaki (or gaki or something like that — it looks like a tomato, but is a sweet fruit), flan (pudim in Portuguese) and Romeo and Juliet (a jellied guava thing eaten with a soft cheese). To drink there is a variety of fruit juices and it’s always fun to try and guess what is what. Coffee is extremely strong with no milk or cream.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your prayers. God is doing some great things here in and among us Americans and Brazilians. To God be the glory.

June 20, 2007

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Bom dia! Greetings from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We are here for the next two weeks as part of our cross-cultural training with the Mission Society with a major focus on spiritual warfare. Yesterday afternoon we didn’t know if we were going to actually make it to the airport on time. A friend from church drove us there (while others stayed at our house continuing to clean and get the place more ready to be bought), and we left plenty early so she wouldn’t have to mess with traffic. About ten miles short of the airport, we ran into a snag…two tractor-trailers had a fender bender spilling untold amounts of noxious chemicals onto the interstate. All four southbound lanes were closed. It took us three hours to drive two miles to reach the first exit. It was not fun… In the end we made it (obviously). They checked us in, we went through security, and went as fast as we could to the very last gate (E36), making it as the final passengers were loading.

The flight itself was uneventful. The Delta stewards did an excellent job, and ten or so hours later, we touched down in Brazil. As I type this blog, we are wending our way through the mountains and a forest (not the Amazon Jungle…that’s north of us). To give you an idea of where we are, we are about as far south of the equator as Cuba is north of the equator.

Looking out the windows of the bus, it is tempting to compare this place with Peru, but that’s about as fair as comparing Georgia with California. Even through both nations share a common border, they are on opposite coasts (Peru is on the Pacific while Brazil is on the Atlantic). There is still a lot of poverty here along with tons and tons of concrete used for buildings and just about everything else (the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the bay in Rio is even made out of concrete).

We have not yet had much of an opportunity to talk with any indigenous Brazilians. There are a few riding the bus with us and will be a part of our conference, but we are all tired from our various flights (Brazil is a huge country), and so none of us is very talkative. That will change, I am certain in the coming days.

Communication will be difficult, but not impossible. Brazilians speak Portuguese and I’m discovering my limited Spanish is helpful in fudging through spoken conversation. When we try to read it, though, it still doesn’t quite make sense.

Our final destination after the bus ride today is a retreat center in Teresópolis (named after the wife of Brazil’s second emperor) and is at an elevation of about 3000 feet. The place is called IMFORM and was designed as a Methodist mission training center. Surrounding the buildings are various agricultural projects with vegetables and fruit for our meals grown right on site. Walking down the road, Kia and I discovered what bananas look like while still on a tree. There is another tree with fruit, but we cannot decide if it is papaya or mango. It is winter here so there are a lot of things not now in season.

I will do my best to write more tomorrow… Chiao for the moment.

I tried to attach pictures, but didn’t have any luck. I’ll try again next time.