Okay, so I'm thinking back on this past week... let's put this all into perspective, Elaine. You've just spent a week on the beach with people from 14-40, in a hotel that was mediocre (since it's so humid, it's easy for things to grow molds) but served great food (nummy desserts), everything in Portuguese, watched the sunrise four days out of five, slept too little, laughed a lot, went into town twice (had frozen yogurt both times), learned a lot, and came out with a handful of friends that I'll keep in touch with for a long, long time. I can say that my time here so far has been quite well spent.

So, after the last blog, it's been nothing but adventures! I'm quite serious. Jenny, Carlos Vicente, Rogéerio, John Ramey, and I went into town so that I could write an Email to my parents and to some other people. John split off at the beginning to get something on his own, so the other four of us were walking around town. Jenny almost forgot her address book but the guy at the Internet cafe caught us before we left the mall. (Whoo! What a disaster averted.) So Jenny said that she felt like an ice cream, so we went looking for a sorbeteria, which is an ice cream store. On our way there, we passed videogames... Pump It Up! So we got in and played... Jenny and I. Apparently the owner got four or five people to come watch us play. Poor Jenny... I at least had about nine months of DDR practice, but she was just kind of lost.

Anyhow, we finally found a sorbeteria close to the car and was waiting for John. We finally got going, and there was something wrong with the car, and we ended up stopping practically in the middle of an intersection (four way stop, thankfully). We all got out... Jenny's comment was, "This always happens in OM. Something always breaks down..." So after about half an hour we got someone to come pick us up, and we got about thirty seconds away before John exclaimed, "Oh, no, I left my underwear in the car!"

All right, think about this from my perspective. That came out of nowhere. He stopped to think about it, and then started laughing about how ridiculous (and bad) that sounded... it turned out the reason he didn't hang with us was that he had to go buy some underwear... and he'd left the bag in the van.

The next day, I wore my American flag jeans and went to the beach. Friday was our last day, and we were preparing for that. A lot of people went to the beach after the evening program, but I was beat - I needed about 8 hours of sleep and I hadn't gotten any yet. Friday morning, I woke up really late, just in time for breakfast. But oh my goodness, those 8.5 hours of sleep were excellent.

Friday night was an experience of a completely different manner. I don't know whose idea it was, but someone invited me to go see off Flavia (from OM, not my roommate) to Rio de Janeiro. So I ditched my missions team really quickly and went into town... we all piled into the OM van (Carlos V., Rogério [ho-ZHEH-ree-oh], Flávia, Gildélia [zhil-DEH-lee-ah], Júlio [ZHU-lyo] of the amazing eyes, and Gutemburghe [goo-teng-BUR-ghee], who was also going to Rio). Since we were late, Carlos was driving at a maniacal pace. In that minivan, it wasn't fun. Holy cows, talk about life flashing before my eyes. I think I must've squealed a couple of times... after dropping them off, we went into town and someone got up the idea for going for an ice cream. But no one had money on them. So I happily offered to treat, and we went walking through downtown Sao Sebastiao, looking for a sorbeteria along the boardwalk. We walked along for about twenty minutes before we figured out that no one was really telling us where to go, and then walked around and found a place.

It was actually quite a lot of fun - we walked around for about an hour and change, then headed back to the hotel. By this time, I knew that I wasn't going to be working with street kids like I originally thought... but more about that later. I commenced landing pattern for bed, after making plans to see the sunrise the day before we left.

The same crew, plus Paulina and Flávia, watched the sun rise through the clouds, sitting together at the beach, sand firmly between the toes, singing praise songs in both English (me) and Portuguese (them), reading Scriptures, watching the waves. I think we stayed there for a solid hour and a quarter. How peaceful it was! How quiet! A bunch of us ate breakfast together and we made one last trip to the lagoon.

Okay. So here's where the next adventure starts. Flávia and Cristiane (kris-chee-AH-nee) had to get to the bus station, and everyone thought someone else was taking them. So finally Rogério gets them all together, and I got into the car with the three of them and Rosemary (HO-zee-mah-REE), and so commences the second hard rush to the bus station... except this time I was able to see. I think I said, "I'm going to die," at least twice. Imagine someone having a conversation and tailgating and shifting like no one else's business... and the car filled with oil fumes. Holy cows... you know it's bad when someone jokingly says, "Are you sure of your salvation?" So I saw Flávia off...

After lunch, we went to our next destination, also in Sao Sebastiao. I'm working with a Baptist church with an existing ministry to both kids and on the street with the normal people. We'll see what happens! I'm supposed to share tomorrow with the congregation a little about why I'm there...

Praise God that He's worked in my life so far this week. I think that I've really been told off in some of my attitudes, and a lot of what was said really pierced into how I've been living these past six months. I guess it also showed me how cool Christian brothers can be. I guess I can have hope that a single Christian guy that I'm attracted to and enjoy being with exists out there somewhere. Pray for this week's ministry with kids and teens.

Until next time...

The temperature has switched from one extreme to the other - I'm not saying that it was perfect here, but it was pretty darned close. So far, it's been a great time here in Brazil. We're now staying in a small coastal town near Sao Sebastiao (think: San Sebastian), having pretty much a five day retreat about missions. I chose to be with the youth group, and it's been pretty good so far. I have two roommates at the moment. One, Flavia, is from Minas Gerais and is probably one of the neatest girls I've met so far. She's fun, she's bubbly, and... get this (Takako, Peach) - she looks just like Maia Biaje. (In joke.) My other roommate is a Swede who speaks perfect American English... and no Portuguese. This is great for me but at the same time is starting to become a little bit of a burden. Please pray for me, that I not lose my patience with her, because in some cases (especially in the room) I've basically been put in the place of being a translator.

But hey, I can't complain too much - my Portuguese has improved greatly and there are a number of people here who speak good, if not perfect, English. There are some girls here that spent some time in England, so they speak with the cutest British accents.

So now I'm here at an Internet station in a mall in Sao Sebastiao, just chilling here on a fast machine and listening to Jenny laugh at her Email. Yay!

We've been going running at 6:30am every morning (all two mornings so far), and it's been such a great blessing. This morning I walked instead of ran - my muscles are a little sore, and I'm thinking I should take a day of rest. This morning, we woke up during that predawn hour and took off down the beach. When I turned back, I saw the most beautiful sight - the craggy almost-mountains of Sao Sebastiao as gray upon bluish gray upon more gray on a sky of light blue. Suddenly, the sun shot up from behind these hills, like liquid metal, hot and furious, and pushed up into the sky in a matter of minutes. Each moment sent a different color and a streak of light across the Atlantic shores, almost like a path of light straight to the sun. In ten minutes it was over, but it was one of those moments where I thought... "God, this is beautiful. Really. You've outdone yourself this time."

I found out that I will be going on two weeks of what they call "a práctica," which is the two week missions part that I've been looking forward to. The first week will be working with street kids, and the second week will be working at CENA, which is a ministry to prostitutes and other marginalized people (including more street kids, I think). In any case, it should be pretty interesting going forward, though I had to make a special trip to come out here to use the Internet. Here I thought I'd be able to walk somewhere or take a bus, and it turns out I had to go and ask someone to take me.

I've also had the privilege of getting to know a number of different people, including some OM career missionaries who speak very little Portuguese. John Ramey and Frank Dietz are a) both from California, b) both from northern California, and both from the town of Sacramento. Woohoo! They've been real blessings and I will be sorry to see them go after the week long missions conference ends. Other than that, there are a lot of godly men and women around, from young couples to older missionaries, and especially the people from OM Brazil. One of the translators, Júlio, turns out to be half Japanese and has these bright, bright, striking bright green eyes. Sidney and Karen, it looks like Nathan has a chance of growing up with those gorgeous slate blue eyes of his. :D

I probably won't have a time to update until the weekend, if that, so please pray and I'll talk to you later.

Current Impression of Brazil Weather: Perfect. What can I say? When it's 75'F out, sunny, with a slight breeze... the scent of roasting meat outside as our hosts prepare a barbecue (barbacoa). Drooling yet? I am, having eaten nothing today beside a small croissant.

So, walk through my past 24 hours with me. Saturday morning, wake up at 9am. Finish packing. (I realized about half way to the airport that I'd forgotten a towel. Time to go shopping!) Start out at about 10:10, and then to SFO. Make it there at 10:45 at the international terminal, a place that I happen to be very well acquainted with, given the hoopla of WUTC a few weeks ago. Find out that I'm actually connecting through Miami, and I had to walk to Domestic.

Check in (early), hang out (talked on the phone with Chris), board plane to Miami, read. Eat dinner at Miami International Airport. (It's purple there. I can't explain it, but if you've been to Miami International, you'll know what I mean.) Find out when I get back to the gate that the flight is delayed - no longer am I flying out at 11:45, I'm now flying out at 1:30. Panicked call to OM USA to let them know to let OM Brasil know that I was delayed in Miami.

Flight to Sao Paulo. Slept for about seven hours, waking up parched in the middle and going for water... also waking up at the announcement that Brazil won the World Cup. At this point, I'm expecting pandemonium on the streets in Sao Paulo. Flew through customs, was met at the airport, and what do you know...

My first impressions of Brazil is that of an incredibly lush countryside. Flying close to Sao Paulo, one sees rolling hills covered with tall, dark green trees, vaguely in the shape of large eucalyptus. Then rows and rows of white houses with red tile roofs, some peaked and some that have an odd >-< shape. Then, interspersed, the tin roofs of the favelas. Driving through the city and the into the suburbs, one can see the same trees, tall green grasses and the occasional glimpse of red-orange dirt. The sky is cloudless today, the sun shining as we pass through four toll gates on the highway.

I'm staying tonight in the OM house, which is a small house of about 5 rooms, which looks to house about twelve people or so. Everything, from the tile and brick floor, reminds me so much of Taiwan. Even the scents are familiar; walking in the first moment, I had the same scent of "clean" that was in my grandparents bathroom growing up. Oddly familiar, even if everyone is speaking Portuguese.

Met another fellow missionary by the name of Jenny, who grew up in the Middle East but is Swedish. She speaks perfect English and broken Spanish, and has a laugh that could tickle a brook. Also met a few others here in the house... can't wait to get to the beach tomorrow! I'm glad I brought sunblock.

Praise God for the safe trip out - pray that my language skills are up to par. I still have no idea what I'm getting myself into...