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Love for the city and feeling like I’m whirling in the wind.

Tuesday 25 September 2011

I love the city. I was born in a city (well, technically a town, but still a place with lots of people and easy access everywhere). I have lived most of my life in cities (Manchester, Sandnes (my town), Leeds, Plymouth, Fortaleza, Kansas City (didn’t feel like a city but is a city), Amsterdam (for a short stint). My heart comes alive when I’m in cities.

I love the smells and the sounds. I love the different people on their way to or from somewhere. I love the life I see in the city.

And so it was really fun to spend some time with my friends Andrew and Claudia who live in the city. I stayed in their lovely flat (with dark wooden floors) and we had such a good time together. As I went for a stroll I was reminded once again of the city that I lived in for so many years, and still carry in my heart. My mind and heart was impacted by the contrasts between the poor and the right, yet for both, they are living the life they have mostly always known. I didn’t go down the trail of feeling the heaviness of injustice and poverty. I just “lived” I guess. I just joined in with the life as I walked along, becoming one of the many populating the street at that very moment. On my way to something, like everyone else.

As I was walking back I bought coconut water. The lady offered me a plastic chair on the pavement if I wanted to sit down, but I wanted to keep walking. So I carefully balanced my green coconut full of coconut water in my hands, and walked along carefully as I drank the refreshing water from the two straws coming out of the coconut. It was a tad heavy and I was glad when I’d drunk it and could throw it away. But it was a moment of “living”. And in that moment I felt so content with life.

Saturday I came back to the farm, but not before going first to a fundraiser for “Vida Nova” a project that works with pregnant girls. It was lovely. Mostly because it was so impacting to hear the vision and heart of the project, but also because it was just nice to spend time with lovely people eating (a little too much) of lovely snacks like cake, salgadinhos, fruit salad, juice, coffee, little biscuits, and coffee.

Secondly I went to the birthday party of my friend Cleide’s daughter. She turned 5 and had 150-ish people at her party. It was perfect. Tons of food, sweets, children, adults, a beautiful cake, presents, fun; a party well worthy of a little 5 year old. My friend was so happy. She’d been preparing for it for months, and I think as much as it was for little Ana Julia, it was just as much a time to be able to receive friends and family. It was a great time which I really enjoyed!

Then, after the party, we drove back to the farm. Tired, very full, but I felt so refreshed from a few days of doing something different.

And soon I’m off again. Tomorrow night I get on a plane to spend a week in Belo Horizonte in the south of Brazil. Going to go to a conference about Human Trafficking arranged by YWAM and Not for Sale. I know it’s going to be good and I am really excited about it. Still, looking at my agenda (planning in another opportunity to share) I realize that time is going very quickly and that once I’m back from BH I have a little less than a month left. It’s going to be gone in no-time, so I want to make the most of the now.

Speaking of the now, I should end this post and head over to the palhoça (the meeting place here on the farm) where we are going to have our weekly service in a bit. I’ve already covered my legs and arms with mosquito repellent and I’m ready to go.

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