On a journey...

Monday 22 August 2011 Yesterday really early I went with a friend of mine to climb the sand dunes that are a little bit beyond the Iguape beach (about 10 minute drive from here). When my friend suggested we climb the dunes I imagined some dunes that weren’t too high and easily climbable. However, there are some massive dunes with lots of vegetation in between. So it was literally “no walk in the park”. We climbed the sand, walked through vegetation, pushing our way through branches and it didn’t take long before I had no idea where we were going. I tried to keep track of which trail we followed, but soon realized that the bushes and cacti looked pretty much the same, and the sand didn’t keep our tracks very well. We were headed for a higher peak on the dunes so we could see the view of the coast. My friend effortlessly walked along and I think she’s in better shape then I am. I was slogging away, trying to keep up, while images from films I’ve seen passed through my mind. Films where...

Friday 19 August 2011 Wednesday was really good. It was so great to spend time adoring God and praying in the project which is right in the middle of a community which is filled with so much darkness and hopelessness. After making some lunch (I was quite impressed with the fact that I managed to make rice the Brazilian way without burning it) we headed out to do some visits to families. My heart get so burdened with their situations. One family has 6 children and the father was sat talking badly about them in front of us. One of the boys went outside and sat crying. It’s hard to know how to deal with it. But it makes me so angry when parents do that, and it really makes me ask how it is possible to see a restoration both of the parents and the children. Most of the parents treat their children the way they were treated and when you add survival to it, it really isn’t easy... On our wanderings around the community, mostly listening to the families talk, but also praying, I bum...

Sunday 14 August 2011 Yesterday late afternoon I went into the city for the first time since arriving here. My heart was so happy! I have such a heart for the city of Fortaleza! I went with the team to the community they work in which is called Moura Brasil, but a lot of people call it “Oitāo Preto”, which means either an 8 caliber gun or a dark corner where you throw things you don’t need- both negative things. It was strange, good, weird, surreal, sad... to enter there again. Things have changed, yet haven’t. When we had parked the kombi (van) and were walking to the ministry house I saw Marcia, a girl I met 10 years ago in that very community. When I first met her she’d just been released from hospital from a motorcycle accident which had mangled her leg. Now, 10 years later, her leg is still healing, but she is in such a bad shape. Skinny and looks so rough and I imagine is using a lot of drugs. She was so happy to see me and gave me a huge hug. My heart broke for her. She...

Saturday 13 August 2011 A new day. Not everything always goes smoothly, and at the moment I am not managing to connect to the internet. I choose not to stress about it, no point really. It just means that what when I bring an update, it’ll be a longer one then doing it more frequently. Still, I keep writing and eventually it should work... I really hope so . Sat here in the prayer room again. It’s quite warm so I have the door and window open to allow the breeze to flow through. There’s a big black bug flying around which I have kept an eye on, and it just left which is nice. A lizard just crawled down the wall opposite me and it’s all a reminder that I’m in a prayer room in Brazil in the countryside and not in a nicely air-conditioned building. Although there is air here...it’s just natural air. Anyway, today I get the morning here and this afternoon I’m going into one of the slums in the city centre where a team is going to do an evangelistic outreach. I used to work a lo...

It is way overdue to write here in my blog. I can’t believe I’ve left it the whole summer to write. It’s been on my mind, but time just flies. It’s been a really good, activity filled summer. Being present with family, yet my thoughts often wandering off to Fortaleza, Brazil and my soon journey back there for a few months. In two days I leave. Two days! How did it come some quickly? When I decided on making this trip it seemed so far off, but now it’s suddenly here. But even with my travels only a few days out, I feel very relaxed and peaceful. My heart and soul are at peace, and I feel pretty much in control of packing. At least I have a mental list of what I need to bring. But back to the summer. I know I’m not the only one who reads this (and to be honest, once I’ve written I rarely go back to re-read it, which means that I am not really a reader of my blog, just a writer of it), but as always I write mostly for myself. So that the things that happen in my life that I want...