Our First Weekend

Yesterday began with a late morning. I was able to do some homework...fun fun. Heather and I went to a small group meeting at Mat and Mary's house. There are 3 girls that are regulars, Lorena, Larisa, and Daniele. Daniele and Larisa are doctors and Lorena is a lawyer studying to be a judge. They are all in their mid 20's. It was a great discussion. It was all in Portuguese so I only caught a few words but it was intense. At one point I spoke up in English and Heather translated for me. Afterwards we discovered that they all speak English. Oh well. With that knowledge I will speak up more. Last night (Saturday) we went to a baby shower/churrasco aka BBQ at the house of Antonia who is the Porter's house keeper/ friend. Now do not think of a Texas BBQ. Think of it more of a party and a cook out in a small town in Mexico. There was a lot of food, a lot of people, music, laughter, kids running around, and a lot of sitting around and talking. It felt like I was in Mexico again. I tried some home made apple wine. It was good but defiantly different. We were there for about 4 hours and when we left some people still had not gotten food. Two older men cooked on a small about 12 x 12 grill and there was a good 20 pounds of meat. The food was good...what I ate. The view was so cool. It was a classic, lower class community. From the window there were hills covered in roof tops. The glow of TVs and small house lights made the multicolored houses look like a scene from a movie. We left around 9 in order to get Kelton home and in bed for church in the morning.
This morning (Sunday) was the first time that we really got to see it rain. The clouds would come in, rain, and then clear up as fast as it started. Before church Heather and I hit the small market about a block from the building. We decided that Heather would cook dinner on Sunday nights and I would cook on Thursday night. When we got the groceries it was raining a little so one of the men that worked there gave us an umbrella took all our groceries down the block to the church. Heather and I were given the task of pouring the juice into the communion cups. Let's just say my cup runeth over. We made a mess to clean. The church service was great. I followed the songs, the children’s time for the most part and the prayers. I got a tad lost in the sermon. After church everyone hung around and talked. I played with some of the kids…I was in a dress so they had even more of an advantage. They are teaching me so cool soccer tricks. Daniele (one of the girls from the small group) took Heather and me to meet everyone for lunch. I got to talk to someone in English! Lunch was good. I was told that I had to try a chicken heart. It really was not that bad. Thanks to Tokyo I have had worse. After lunch I caught a Taxi with some of the LST team and headed back to the church to sit in on a beginner English class. I also helped Heather get some stuff ready for VBS on Tuesday. Two guys from the church helped us as well. We had to cut out stuff and bend hangers. One of the guys, Francisco, spoke some English. He and I talked while we cut out fabric. He is learning English and German. He loves to sing and he sang songs in German, Hebrew, English and Portuguese. He entertained all of us as we worked. The other guy asked Heather want the hangers were called. She thought that he asks what she was called so she said Heather. Later on he asked her name and she said Heather. He told her no this is a Heather and held up the hanger. I was really funny. While we were working a puppy was running around the church building. He decided that it would be a good idea to do his business in the middle of the floor. Val, one of the missionaries, cleaned it up and walked over to us with a hand full of brown tissues. “Oh the glamorous life of a missionary.” Around 4:30 Heather and I left church and walked down the block to get ice cream. We walked back toward the taxi stopping area via the sidewalk that over looked the beach. It was beautiful. The sky was pink and blue and the waves were white capping. We stopped to take a picture but a beach store worker advised us that our camera may get stolen. That understandable because it was getting dark. We walked on, caught a cab and headed home. The man watched us as we walked on. He was protecting us. At the Porter’s we all watched Law and Order, Heather and I cooked a wonderful dinner of roasted corn and chicken salad and then Randy and I played guitar hero. It felt good to win at GH. :o) The people I normally play against are freaking awesome! Writing this blog took a few days due to high Internet traffic and busy days….Well I am finishing it on Monday morning. Heather is taking her language class and we are heading to the beach at 12:00 to meet the LST team. I hope of you are having a great week so far. I will do my best to keep you posted. Keep praying that God will totally lead this trip. I have already seen Him at work in little things and in me. I pray for His peace and guidance.