Chove chuva...

The classic first day of school picture!
I'm off to my first Portuguese class. :)

Gui and the double rainbow in Miami.

Miami sunset, the day before we set out for home.

I woke up this morning to a pounding rain so powerful it was too distracting to go back to sleep! Lucky for me, today is the anniversary of São Bernardo do Campo (our city) and it's a holiday here so I don't have to teach classes this morning! Might even get a nap in sometime this afternoon. :)

Makes me think of a Brazilian song about rain.

Today is an exciting day marking the first time that Gui and I will have friends meeting in our house to start a church out where we live. I know what you're thinking, “Wait, woah-woah-woah, Maggie, YOU are going to start a church?!” We say this and get funny reactions from people. Maybe the reason it seems so strange is because starting a church sounds like some kind of huge undertaking, but I think that's due to cultural baggage we have after centuries of establishing traditions and institutionalizing church practices. The simple answer is yes, we will have a church gather on Saturdays at our house. Friends and people searching for God who live nearby and don't have a church family will be able to create one with us! What is especially exciting is that people who wouldn't otherwise go in a church building will hopefully feel more comfortable coming to sit in our living room and encounter God's word and His people in a more easy, friendly setting.

Soon I'll post pictures of our meetings. I wouldn't be being honest with you if I didn't say that I'm a bit nervous about starting. I know it could be awkward at times and we may have only a handful of people- which we're so quick to label a failure- but we feel led to take this step of faith with God and to be the light in the place He has put us. For 2 years now, we've attended a wonderful house church of about 20 people in São Paulo. Our church, Zoe, is a young group of believers spanning from high-schoolers to young professionals. Gui and I have come to be some of the leaders there being so old and mature as we are (that was a joke, you can laugh now), and we decided along with the other leaders' support and encouragement to start something out here in São Bernardo. Already at Zoe we have 4 or 5 regular attenders who all journey across to the city (averaging about 4 hours round trip!) just to participate in Christian community. When you put it that way, it just seems silly. After all, shouldn't we try to build community in a place near where we live and work and go to the grocery store? I put it to my Mom like this- “Wouldn't it be silly if you were traveling to Atlanta every week and trying to participate in church and maintain relationships with people in your congregation so far away?” That's pretty much what we've been doing the whole time I've been in Brazil. For these two years we've learned a lot together and seen God moving among us, but it's always been sad when I wanted to invite a friend from home to something our church is doing or I didn't have time to meet with friends on the weekend. I've had to pass up opportunities to build closer relationships with co-workers and friends in our neighborhood. Hopefully now I can be available to be used by God here in the area where we live. :)

Zoe will be sending people to help out periodically on Saturdays and once a month we'll all meet at Ibirapuera Park (like the Central Park of SP) for a picnic and gathering of all the members. Together both churches will be going through the book of Acts which is quite fitting as a book all about the early efforts of small, young, passionate churches. It's going to be a wild ride this semester, and we're ready to get started!

So we ask friends to please be praying for us that God would give us wisdom and guidance to make disciples, teach us more about Himself, transform us more and more into His likeness, and glorify His Name!

Ah, and now the rain has stopped! Things are shaping up to be a nice day! Now to get crackin' on cleaning house and making cookies for this evening!

Where Wisdom Is Found

Panning for Gold...

The semester is drawing to an end and well, I'm starting to run out of things to do at school! This means both freedom and a lot of extra time that I don't know how to use. I'm doing my best to get some final details worked out on our fast-approaching trip to the US. We leave July 2nd! Just a week and a half away!

The thing I keep reminding myself though is that the trip I'm so looking forward to will be over before I know it. My goal is to enjoy the simple moments I have with friends and family giving thanks for the pleasure of their company because when you get right down to it, simple pleasures are all we've got.

I remember once or twice as a kid we went to the North Carolina mountains to old gold rush towns. In the streams there are still little flecks of gold waiting to be found. We'd take Dad's wide black-bottomed gold pan and sit on the banks taking turns washing and swishing and swirling handfuls of sand and dirt trying to catch a glints of gold that would easily flash out of sight. At the end of the day, we proudly bottled a few precious grains of golden sand. How proud we were of our little treasures which to the outside observer would seem so insignificant.

Maybe like the fine golden dust hidden in the silt bottom of a stream we have to diligently sift out and treasure the simple, beautiful moments in life. If we don't work at capturing them, they'll easily get overlooked and washed back into the muck .

I wrote a bit of poetry (if you can call it that) when I was first sitting down to write this post and feeling unsure of what I wanted to express. It all kind of tied together nicely with this notion of treasure and searching and knowing what is truly precious and worthwhile.

I wished to write something profound,

for nothing else seemed worth the effort,
But wisdom doesn't come cheap,
And I had nothing with which to produce it,
Just sitting in a pool of my own thoughts.

For what is the stuff of wisdom?
And who are the wise?
And where do they learn?
Who teaches them?

I want to be counted as wise too, but why?
To impress people?
To feel more secure?

With what motives can we begin to attain wisdom?

The cool thing is that after writing this and feeling still very perplexed I decided to search for the word wisdom in the Bible. Reading through many verses I came across this very enlightening passage from Job. I'm so funny being surprised by the fact that God would reveal this too me when I look for it...

Matthew 7:7-8
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Silly, Maggie can't you remember? God WANTS you to know more, to seek, to ask questions of Him that He may answer!

So here is the excerpt from Job. Check it out! I have been pondering about the nature of wisdom and the last line 28 sums it all up so well!

Job 28

Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found

¹ There is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
² Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
³ Mortals put an end to the darkness;
they search out the farthest recesses
for ore in the blackest darkness.
⁴ Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft,
in places untouched by human feet;
far from other people they dangle and sway.
⁵ The earth, from which food comes,
is transformed below as by fire;
⁶ lapis lazuli comes from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
⁷ No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
no falcon’s eye has seen it.
⁸ Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
and no lion prowls there.
⁹ People assault the flinty rock with their hands
and lay bare the roots of the mountains.
¹⁰ They tunnel through the rock;
their eyes see all its treasures.
¹¹ They search the sources of the rivers
and bring hidden things to light.

¹² But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?
¹³ No mortal comprehends its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The deep says, “It is not in me”;
the sea says, “It is not with me.”
¹⁵ It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
¹⁶ It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
¹⁷ Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
¹⁸ Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
¹⁹ The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.

²⁰ Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds in the sky.
²² Destruction and Death say,
“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
²³ God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
²⁴ for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
²⁷ then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.
²⁸ And he said to the human race,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.”

A good Good Friday :)

Free Hugs at the Virada Cultural (downtown Sao Paulo)

Enjoying a nighttime tea treat at l'Abri


Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais
January Vacations





Friends from Zoe

Lunch at the Sao Paulo Municipal Market

It's Good Friday, and I have the day off, but I got up at 6! I just could't seem to sleep anymore. Might have something to do with having gone to bed at 8...Yeah, maybe so, huh?

But why did we go to bed so early? Am I getting super lame and old? Well, that could be part of it, I mean, I am nearly 24, people! But it was also because we had a massive cleaning day! We really needed it too. We just work so non-stop that there hadn't been a good cleaning time for a while. We woke up around 8, had breakfast and Bible time (we're like 2 weeks behind on reading the Bible in a year, but hey, we keep plugging along) and then we were already washing clothes and using the water to wash the tiled garage, then dusting and cleaning the floors which were totally covered in black dog hair. Thank you, Grafite. Then more clothes washing, bathroom cleaning, kitchen scrubbing, file sorting, and by about 3:30, we couldn't take anymore and we were starving! The whole day we'd been planning to go out for a little date and try out this new seafood restaurant Gui's student recommended, so we dragged our weary selves down to the bus stop and caught a bus just in time. This guy pushing a cart full of pirated CDs and blasting bad Brazilian country music had just pulled up, so we were thankful to escape.

The restaurant was really good! We had crab cakes, fried potato and cod croquettes, and a really tasty seafood risotto full of fresh octopus, squid, muscles, and shrimp! Mmmm, and there are leftovers! Since we really never go out during the week, and weekends we're busy with our church, Zoe, and class planning, we decided to go to the mall and try to find some Easter chocolate for Gui's mom. Brazilians are all about chocolate at Easter! Not bunnies though, and no peeps, they just have dozens and dozens and different brands of giant, hollow eggs. Every candy bar makes a giant egg version. The grocery stores all construct these covered walkways inside the store with the eggs hanging down right at face-level screaming, "Buy me!!" It's a bit much. And, they cost like $30 reais!! And it's the same amount of chocolate as the $3 reais candy bar. Congratulations, candy industry, you've outsmarted us again. Well, almost all of us. We were going to just buy some normal chocolate bars for Ana but the line was insane! Oh, Easter...

After our unsuccessful attempt to buy chocolate, we gave up on the mall. Never liked malls that much anyway. Plus we were feeling incredibly tired! More tired than before, in fact. Maybe a strange combination of working all morning in 90 degree weather and lots of heavy seafood. Fortunately, the return bus was there in 5 minutes, and we were bumping and rattling our way back home. Normally I don't even notice the rickety Brazilian buses, but I was so tired I couldn't keep my head straight and it just bounced along with the bus.

So that was yesterday, but to give everyone an update on things in general (since I so diligently neglect writing blog entries), 2011 has started off well! We spent the January holidays mostly at home, but then traveled for 2 weeks around some historic cities in a beautiful state called Minas Gerais (General Mines). It's the state where a lot of Brazil's gold and jewels were excavated and shipped off to Europe. There we also spent a week in the Brazilian l'Abri. What a cool experience! A whole week of meeting people from all over, studying, attending lectures, and talking through ideas with some really wise people.

Then it was back from vacations and back to work! This time both of us are working at the language school. Gui's teaching night classes and some classes that meet Friday and Saturday. He's enjoying it, and we thought it'd be smart for him to try his hand at teaching if he's setting himself on a career path to be a philosophy professor. The skills should be pretty transferable. It's just a lot of work for him between teaching and doing his own academic work.

Meanwhile, I have two groups of middle schoolers and a bunch of private students. I'm doing about double the private classes, which is great because I really prefer them anyway. I have some very cool and supportive bosses which helps a lot. Still, middle schoolers are a real challenge. My best luck has been to incorporate tons of games into lessons and try to act silly to keep their attention. Trust me, waaaay harder than it sounds.

Beyond teaching, (though that's pretty much what I do right now :P ) on weekends we're always really busy with Zoe. Gui's one of the teachers so every other Saturday he's leads a talk/discussion. It's a really small church (only around 20-25) so we have a more informal style of "worship service." It's the community God has provided for the time we're in Brazil. Most all of our close friends are there. They're the people we celebrate with, they help us out, and we spend the most time with them.

Last weekend instead of doing a service, we just got together to make sandwiches and then went to Sao Paulo's huge all night festival called the Virada Cultural. There we did free hugs, met a ton of people, gave out sandwiches to people who needed them, and played some music in the middle of the crowd. At one point our little handful of guitarists and bongo-ers were totally surrounded by people joining in to sing. Bob Marley and classic Brazilian rock were big crowd pleasers. :)

Next weekend on May 1st, a big group (a lot of Zoe people, but others too) will be going to the Sao Paulo Zoo with me to celebrate my birthday! It's going to be a lot of fun! Zoo and picnic- two things I love! And the weather's been really mild lately so let's hope it stays that way for a little longer'; we're almost in winter! So you know, it could get down to 55 or something! So cold! haha Still, I think living in Brazil has made me a pansy. I always prided myself on enjoying cold temperatures but now even 60 feels like bundle-up weather.

But our biggest exciting news for the moment is this: we're coming to the States for the summer...I mean, winter, no, wait, I'm confused, ok, but we're coming in July! So get ready for me to come by and visit! I'll do my best to see everybody! Gui got into a very prestigious summer philosophy course given by the University of Colorado which should really boost his chances at applying to American Master's and Ph.D. programs for next year!

Hope to see everyone in the States while we're passing through!

Thanksgiving, Success!

This year marks the first time in my life that I was fully in charge of preparing Thanksgiving; talk about intimidation! We couldn't celebrate on Thursday since there was no holiday, and we and all our friends were working so I planned for Sunday. I spent the week leading up making thorough lists of menus, recipes and a master shopping list.

Poor Gui, he got back from three weeks of solid travelling to a week of Thanksgiving preparations and trips to the Policia Federal to try to finally finish my residency card paperwork submission. He's tough though. Oh, and on the residency card- after some 12 hours waiting in lines in the span of two days, not to mention travel to and from the headquarters which is 2 and half hours away, BOTH WAYS, I have submitted everything I need and will be getting my card sometime next year. And oh yeah, they won't tell me when it's ready, so I just have to check everyday until then. Oh, Brazil, Brazil. But enough on that, this blog is not for dwelling on the crappy moments in life, and I would like to add that I was very thankful to have Gui there to wait with me rather than go it all alone. He makes life happy. His return was my response to the classic Thanksgiving question: "What are you thankful for?"

So let's move back to happy not crappy!

As Sunday drew near, we got all the ingredients together- including our imported and very essential Cambell's cream of mushroom, Stover's Stuffing, and a can of cranberry sauce. Then Saturday we loaded a mountain of vegetables, butter, milk, canned goods, dry goods, and 2 chickens (cuz hey, Turkey is expensive!) into two backpacks, a large suitcase, and a heavy duty, rice sack grocery bag to make the journey to our friends' house across town. It reminded me of all those times I had to stock supplies before venturing out onto the Oregon Trail. Luckily, no one got Cholera or Typhoid, and the wagon didn't flood when we forged the river, so we made it to their place in just 2 bus trips and a car ride graciously given for the last leg of the journey by our friend, Junior, who picked us up near the bus stop at Mickie D's.

They live in such a chic area we could never have bought all that we did on the same budget. I think we spent like $100 Brazilian Reais on everything! According to Google, that's currently $58 bucks! To feed some 15 people! You do the math, that's awesome!

We went already on Saturday because we'd be doing the meal at Zoe, our house church. It was a good set up because I always wake up way too early when I sleep in a strange place, so when I was up at 7 (with only 5 hours of sleep under my belt) I sprang into action. With girlfriends still sprawled out in the living room adjacent the kitchen, I started banging around to get casserole dishes and pot and pans fired up! By 8:30 there was a massive sweet potato casserole and 2 mac and cheeses all just awaiting the finishing touches. Still, on the girls slept, but some other friends began to appear. Throughout the morning, I spent my time cooking, running to the computer to confirm recipes, and ordering people around! I felt like the master chef, overseeing on all the sous chefs in their work, diping my finger in things, "No, no, more pepper!", giving instructions, "No, a teaspoon is like a little spoon, you know, like a coffee spoon!" (Leave it to Brazil to have measures in coffee spoons instead of tea! :P) What fun! Don't worry, I was a nice boss, and I had some great friends to volunteer to help. They knew the result would be worth it!

In the end, thanks to the help of 7 people, and the meticulous hour-by-hour schedule set forward in my "Thanksgiving Battle Plan," we had just about everything done but the gravy (which comes last anyway) by about 1! There was even time to fit in some Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Then we headed over to another house, the one where we would be eating and loaded some food in a car, the rest being carried on foot to the house a few minutes away. I would have liked to carry it all in a kind of Thanksgiving Dinner parade just to weird out the posh, Brazilian (and many American) neighbors. :P

It was a very successful feast!

Good food - we had the works, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, we did it all! And we did it right! And we used a kilo and half of butter! (Hence I had only one meal that day.)

Good friends - Zoe friends, art and design friends from the nearby university of SENAC, all together talking and laughing and playing games afterwards- not frisbee, but pingpong and basketball.

Somewhere in the midst of it all, I was perched on a stool talking to some friends, and I paused to look out on the scene- a large welcoming living room filled with the people I love best here playing guitars and singing and chatting, and the late afternoon sun flooding in behind from the open door, and it struck me how much I take for granted the blessings I have. And in that brief out-of-body moment, I was able to take a step back and look and be amazed at where I am right now, of how I got here, who I now know, what I have learned.

At the end of the day, we were exhausted, but we were so content. The bus ride back felt like a walk in the park now 50 pounds lighter - though some of that poundage we now carried in our stomachs! And getting home, we were greeted by the little "dumb head," as we have affectionately dubbed our silly pup. We took him out for a bit, and then crashed hard until morning.

What do you desire?

This song is awesome, I'm addicted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56HR7RhzZE4&feature=related Pay close attention to the lyrics.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately, ok, well, maybe that’s nothing new. I’ve always thought a lot.

Gui and I have come to the conclusion that he’s not ready to apply for a Masters program in the States yet. Instead we’ll be starting the Masters at his current university- USP. Not a bad alternative as it’s one of the best schools in the country, not to mention tuition is free. And still, we have feelings of reservation about this decision. We both already had this idea that we would be moving soon, we could already begin to visualize a different life on the horizon, it felt close. Now we have to realize that in fact, we will be staying. Perhaps only through next year, perhaps longer.

I was sad about it when I first began to let it sink in. I’ll be honest, I had my heart set on moving, starting new adventures. I’ve always moved. Moving is the only real constant in my life. I’ve gotten older, learned more, but always moved. The idea of remaining is foreign, and seems like the opposite of progress. I know that’s not true, but that’s how it feels.

There’s that , and the fact that I was and am anxious to leave behind what my Brazilian friends call “realidade brasileira” the Brazilian reality of injustice, crime, insecurity, pollution, poverty, chaos, inconvenience, lack of structure, the general unpleasantness that begets anyone who would choose to live here outside of the vaulted gates of the rich, and even they never fully escape the realidade.

I could pretend that living with the troubles of Brazilian life is just fine, but I would be lying to you and to myself. Rather, as someone who came from a very different country, I naturally have a lot higher expectations for my standards of comfort, security and convenience. But more and more I think that living here is good for me for the very reason that I have been stripped of so many preconceived notions of what I’m entitled to. Do I complain about the way things are? Yes. Do I often wish I could leave? Yes. But maybe for this very reason, I must stay.

If we could leave now, we would be running away. Things are bad in Brazil, but they are even worse in so much of the world. I grew up in the richest country on earth in one of its most peaceful moments. So many people did not have that, but because I did, I can’t help comparing. Brazilians also compare, even if they have never traveled outside of Brazil, so many are bitter and complain of the problems here and how much better life is elsewhere. Many leave and never return. And you would think- who can blame them?

This I had to get off my chest, regrets about staying. But as I alluded to earlier, maybe I need to stay.

So let me begin again, this time from a different angle.

What do you desire out of life? Really desire?

I was reading a poem with my classes this week as part of a lesson with the movie The Dead Poets Society. It’s a poem by Thoreau.

I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately,

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life,

To put to rout all that was not life,

And not, when I came to die,

Discover that I had not lived.

I agree with him that life is not to be wasted, but fully lived, and I have often longed to escape to some secluded place to life it out. I’ve dreamed of having a little farm somewhere, maybe in New Zealand, where nature still seems more pure. I’ve thought of how nice it would be to hole off in some secret corner of the world, just me and the people I loved most working to provide for our own needs without the hassle of being part of the greater problems of mankind. But escape is not the answer. Hiding yourself away, no matter how much you disapprove of things the way they are is not what we have been called to.

How many times have you been to a funeral, and everyone consoles each another with that worn out phrase, “He’s in a better place now”? That’s such a comfort to think that the person is somewhere better, somewhere happier, more comfortable. But was that the point? To arrive somewhere nice? My problem is this- where does God factor in to such a conception of life and death. Is God reduced to a mere caretaker of souls? Heaven just an eternal retirement home? For some, that’s all they really wanted.

I was listening to part of a sermon by John Piper in which he asks a very poignant question-“ Would you be satisfied to arrive in heaven, have everything you dislike about yourself fixed, have all your family there and have infinite resources?” Hmm, sounds a bit like my New Zealand farm. :P Then he goes on to the kicker, “Would you be satisfied, if God were not there?” Think about it, is your desire for the good things God has made greater than your desire for God himself?

I was reading this morning in Psalm 16, it says in verse 2, “I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” Man, I don’t think I have arrived here yet. But I think of how frustrated I have been with living in Brazil, and how my frustrations are rooted in my desire for good things. Do I love those good things so much that I forget the Lord? Do I love them more than Him? I have to fall out of love with the world. Maybe, staying in Brazil, and learning not to overvalue gifts and blessings is one way that I do that.

Here I have a closeness with God I had not experienced when things were as comfortable. I have strong friendships, and a great job. These are wonderful blessings. I must praise God for them, and not be so caught up in seeking other blessings I have known. He knows what we need much better than we do. We have to put Him first. We have to stop chasing after our life here. After all, Jesus said that whoever wants to save his life will lose it. I can’t chase after my earthly life. In one of my favorite verses, he also says that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. Where is your treasure?

Back to my example of the funeral. Something has been dawning on me as I begin to take up the discipline of studying God’s word. Many people find comfort in the fact that their loved one has gone to a happy place. This is telling about what they desire for themselves. When I was a kid, I remember asking my parents if heaven would be boring. My conception of heaven was a comfortable place in the clouds forever playing a harp and flying around. “That’s gonna get old pretty fast!,” I thought. But Jesus taught something different. Heaven is perhaps as best we can conceive of it, not a place, but a state of being. For Jesus said that eternity is to know God! So even as we get to know Him now, eternity can begin today. We can start this relationship now, start to treasure Him above all things now.

As John Piper concluded, “Heaven will be filled with people who LOVE GOD!” Not with those who love comfort, or love happiness, or even love their family. For these are good things, but they are nothing in comparison with the one who has made them all.

So let me be dissatisfied with the trifles I endure here. Let me slowly cease to desire what does not fully satisfy. I hope that more and more this verse is true for you and me.

Psalm 73:25-26

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

We're a buncha slaves!

School is in full swing, and I have some great students this semester! Even better, my regular classes have a lot fewer people in them, which makes them sooooo much more manageable! My throat doesn't hurt after work anymore! :P I've also got a bunch of private students, the same that I had last semester with several new additions. Pretty soon though, I'm gonna have to start turning the offers down. I'm pretty sure I have a life, and I'm trying to protect it.

Do you ever find yourself in that position? Trying to defend yourself against the onslaught of activities competing for your time? This week, I read my students a story called the Big Rocks of Life - http://www.appleseeds.org/Big-Rocks_Covey.htm The main idea is to question what are the things that are truly important and that you must insure are a part of your life. If you don't make time for the big rocks, the gravel, sand, and water will come fill in the cracks leaving no room for what really matters.

So I tell my class this story, and then I was trying to get them to talk about their big rocks. Ok, they're just 13 and 14 so I'm not expecting any serious self-analysis; I was glad just to get them to say family is very important. What did make me sad though was that right up there with family were things like TV, cell phone, and internet. I tried to give them a second chance-

"Really, guys? Isn't internet more of a little rock? Something that you use to fill your time?"
But They responded quite fervently, "No, Teacher! Internet is a Big Rock!!"

Wow, in my head, I just thought, "Well this is sad." Sure, they're young, so they don't think so much for themselves, but they're getting taught these values somewhere, they could be taught differently.

I was talking to Gui about that class over a candlelit dinner Wednesday. How romantic! Well, also the power was out when we got home. That's pretty standard here. :P We were talking about how Satan in really smart, you gotta give him that. He uses entertainment to distract us from life, to make us numb to the pain all around us, the injustice, the sin, the destruction, ultimately our need for Jesus. All these devices that people are letting their lives revolve around, are leading them to a slow, meaningless death. Worse, as Gui pointed out, it's a whole cycle. The kids want the X Box, to newest cell, the trip to Disney (here that's a HUGE deal to go to Disney), and then their parents have to work their tails off spending next to no time together as a family to be able to keep their kids, and their own cravings for entertainment satisfied. We are enslaved to our own desires!

Reminds me of a passage I read in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, describing how slaveholders would craftily reward their slaves with freedom at the end of the year and encourage the abuse of that freedom so as to convince slaves that freedom was in fact a bad thing, and they were better off being slaves.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (Ch. 10)

The days between Christmas and New Year's day are allowed as holidays; and, accordingly, we were not required to perform any labor, more than to feed and take care of the stock. This time we regarded as our own, by the grace of our masters; and we therefore used or abused it nearly as we pleased. Those of us who had families at a distance, were generally allowed to spend the whole six days in their society. This time, however, was spent in various ways. The staid, sober, thinking and industrious ones of our number would employ themselves in making corn-brooms, mats, horse-collars, and baskets; and another class of us would spend the time in hunting opossums, hares, and coons. But by far the larger part engaged in such sports and merriments as playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whisky; and this latter mode of spending the time was by far the most agreeable to the feelings of our masters. A slave who would work during the holidays was considered by our masters as scarcely deserving them. He was regarded as one who rejected the favor of his master. It was deemed a disgrace not to get drunk at Christmas; and he was regarded as lazy indeed, who had not provided himself with the necessary means, during the year, to get whisky enough to last him through Christmas.

From what I know of the effect of these holidays upon the slave, I believe them to be among the most effective means in the hands of the slaveholder in keeping down the spirit of insurrection. Were the slaveholders at once to abandon this practice, I have not the slightest doubt it would lead to an immediate insurrection among the slaves. These holidays serve as conductors, or safety-valves, to carry off the rebellious spirit of enslaved humanity. But for these, the slave would be forced up to the wildest desperation; and woe betide the slaveholder, the day he ventures to remove or hinder the operation of those conductors! I warn him that, in such an event, a spirit will go forth in their midst, more to be dreaded than the most appalling earthquake.

The holidays are part and parcel of the gross fraud, wrong, and inhumanity of slavery. They are professedly a custom established by the benevolence of the slaveholders; but I undertake to say, it is the result of selfishness, and one of the grossest frauds committed upon the down-trodden slave. They do not give the slaves this time because they would not like to have their work during its continuance, but because they know it would be unsafe to deprive them of it. This will be seen by the fact, that the slaveholders like to have their slaves spend those days just in such a manner as to make them as glad of their ending as of their beginning. Their object seems to be, to disgust their slaves with freedom, by plunging them into the lowest depths of dissipation. For instance, the slaveholders not only like to see the slave drink of his own accord, but will adopt various plans to make him drunk. One plan is, to make bets on their slaves, as to who can drink the most whiskey without getting drunk; and in this way they succeed in getting whole multitudes to drink to excess. Thus, when the slave asks for virtuous freedom, the cunning slaveholder, knowing his ignorance, cheats him with a dose of vicious dissipation, artfully labeled with the name of liberty. The most of us used to drink it down, and the result was just what might be supposed; many of us were led to think that there was little to choose between liberty and slavery. We felt, and very properly too, that we had almost as well be slaves to man as to rum. So, when the holidays ended, we staggered up from the filth of our wallowing, took a long breath, and marched to the field,--feeling, upon the whole, rather glad to go, from what our master had deceived us into a belief was freedom, back to the arms of slavery.

I have said that this mode of treatment is a part of the whole system of fraud and inhumanity of slavery. It is so. The mode here adopted to disgust the slave with freedom, by allowing him to see only the abuse of it, is carried out in other things.

Entertainment, as this story shows, can be a form of control. I'm not just attacking technological devices, but anything that is used to distract us from the truth- TV, alcohol, partying, self-absorption in all it's forms, etc. The thing is, we don't have to remain slaves. But we need help; we can't break free on our own, as I find out more and more how weak I really am, how little self-control I can muster.

Galatians 4:8-9 (New International Version)

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. ⁹But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

Something I like in this passage is how it corrects itself, "Now that you know God, -or rather are known by Him." We're so self-orientated, self-aware, self-you-name-it. The other day I was talking to Mom about how after a year, I really feel that I'm a part of the community because I know the neighbors across the street, and the lady who gives me bread at the bakery, and all my friends at school. Without hesitation, in a wisdom gained with time, she observed, "You mean, they finally know you. " I guess, in my perception of things, just as with God, I'm always thinking it's my job, and I have to do all the work to get to know Him. But I have to realize that He already knows me so much better than I know myself.

Who am I kidding? I gotta confess that I really haven't been seeking God. I had been getting really bummed about my lack of discipline, when I stopped being hard on myself long enough to let an important idea seep in- God has been seeking me the whole time. He's the one who's been pushing for a relationship long before I ever wanted one. And there are still so many days, I can come up with a list of good excuses not to give Him any attention at all. It's about time I really started being modest and humble enough to realize that really, really, really, it is not be anything I do that I am saved. I am saved by grace, and by His grace alone can I come to know Him.

So those are some thoughts for you on a sleepy Friday afternoon. Time to go feed the puppy- little, skinny thing.

World Cup, What's that??

World Cup decorations line every street!
Saw this today in the nearby favela! How happy!

Do you ever have one of those mornings where you wake up and stay lying in bed letting thoughts drift around your head? I love lazy mornings like that. It's as though your brain has been left in sleep mode and wisps of dreams and random thoughts are free to mix and mingle.

I had this dream again that I'm overjoyed to be home, and no, it's not because I miss my country all that much or because I'm visiting family (I miss them, of course), but in these dreams, I always find myself at the grocery store blissfully running through the cereal aisle or smiling as I notice all the variety of flavors of Doritos. This morning I was wandering happily around Trader Joe's considering cheap wines. I guess deep down I miss the American grocery store experience? :P Not in a real lamented way, I just think my subconscious is telling me something, and I know what's one of the first things I'll do next time we come home to visit. Straight off the plane, "Take me to Publix!"

So the World Cup is upon us. Now, I had only barely been aware that there was such a thing most of my life, but suddenly I find myself plop down in a country that literally lives for this time every 4 years! What enthusiasm! What excitement! What a surprising show of patriotism! I was starting to think Brazilians never really thought much of being Brazilian, but I just hadn't been around for an international soccer game! Soccer seems to be the uniting force for this country, the thing that really brings them together whereas they remain pretty apathetic when it comes to military service or pride in their government (and who could blame them with raging corruption and a history of brutal dictatorships).



But Brazilian pride is on open display! I need to take some pictures to show you! Every house, butcher shop, bakery, nail salon, and car repair shop is strung with green and yellow streamers and big, happy, green, blue, and yellow flags! Our neighbors even painted a giant flag the width of the street! My immediate thought- This would not fly in my old neighborhood in Georgia! The Rivershyre neighborhood committee would have a cow! They would be calling the cops and shutting thing down before they even got started! In Brazil, there are no such committees, nor would the police do anything if there were, and you might try bribing them to look the other way. It's much more the attitude of do what you want, until someone stops you. Bearing this in mind, I wonder if everyone would be cool with me painting a big Hello Kitty on the street in front of my house so friends can find my house more easily...

Here's the neighborhood flag!

Speaking of the flag, I think it is really lovely. The colors aren't so symbolic of battle as reds and whites. Looking at it you think of nature, lush green palm trees and brilliant blue skies. But I always have to puzzle at the slogan in the center - Ordem e Progresso - "Order and Progress"?? I'm not saying these aren't legitimate goals, but they hardly seem so high on the Brazilian agenda in light of everything I'm witnessing. I propose an obvious change. How 'bout getting rid of the lofty government slogan, and putting something that really explains the heart, the core of Brazilian love of country, the same flag with one simple all-encompassing idea at it's center: "Futebol!"

At school all my students' have ceased to think about anything else. Thursday they were begging me to let them out early for the opening ceremony, but I played the American who doesn't care about soccer and told them they would stay to the end. I'm no sadist, but hey, they're just some middle schoolers looking for any excuse to leave early, and besides, their class next week is already canceled to watch the first Brazil match! I feel no guilt. It's fun though explaining to my students that America simply doesn't care about soccer. "But Teacher, what then do you do??" By the responses I get, they both pity us and our lack of taste and think we have serious mental problems. "Who doesn't love soccer??"

Everyone is telling me that it's going to be really incredible. Everyone stops what they're doing! Brazil stops! Banks close! The post office shuts down! The highways are empty! At work (if you haven't been sent home early) they just set up a big TV and everyone watches together! Nothing could be more important, and whenever Brazil scores, the country erupts with cheering, and neighbors run to the streets kissing and hugging and celebrating together! I'm excited!



I feel I should fill everyone in a bit more since it's been so long since I last wrote. I'll share a few more thoughts and stories. :)

Yesterday was Brazilian Valentine's Day, it's really more for people who are dating. I had to work, but when I got home I made special lunch. I had gone to the farmers' market and got some pretty leeks and shrimp. I cooked them together in a cream sauce with pasta. Something I learned in my time in France. :) I love how fresh the food is here. Mangos, avocados, and coconuts all year round! And everything is relatively preservative-free. Meal preparation takes a lot more work because you working all with raw ingredients, but the result is awesome, wholesome food!

Classes continue to go well, and my first semester will be over the end of this month! I'm really enjoying it, but I've asked to have two less classes for the coming semester. I was feeling a little over-worked at about 50 hours a week. I want some more free time, especially as Gui and I are starting to do more projects in our neighborhood trying to start a Bible study, maybe even a house church. I really think that's a more worth-while use of time. We recently got to attend a week long conference with a really amazing Australian author, Michael Frost. You should check him out, he has some really radical - radical in the true sense of getting back to the roots- ideas about what the church should look like, what it should be seeking. It's got us thinking and praying hard about the way we live! It's so exciting to be learning and growing together!

Gui's studies are going well, and God has really been blessing us as we draw close to Gui's graduation in December and the next step into the unknown. He has put some caring and helpful people in our path. With Gui's new free time, he's able to study, read, research, and he's been building up valuable relationships with professors. Right now he's attending a special two-month long seminar with a really great professor from the University of Miami. This guy graduated from Gui's school and is giving Gui a lot of helpful advice and encouragement about the process for Brazilians to enter into foreign universities. What a blessing to be able to get advice from someone who's already been through this process!

No idea where we're headed come next year. It really depends on where and if Gui gets into a Masters Program. We could still be in Brazil, maybe in the US, maybe in the UK, who knows?? The great thing is I have a lot of peace about where we are right now. And looking into the future, I can't help thinking of this verse- "A man's heart plans the way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9