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Fortaleza: first impressions and reflections.


It’s so quiet. Outside the sounds of birds and different insects are heard, but yet it is a quiet sound. The sky is blue and the sun is shining, and as I look out the kitchen window I look at palm trees swaying gently in the wind. The taste of fresh papaya with coconut yoghurt and coffee with hot nescau in it confirms that I am really here- back in Fortaleza for a 2 week visit.

I am being reminded of a few of the many things I love here. I love that families with small children have priority in queues. I love the heat that hits you as you step out of an air conditioned airport. I love the culture which is all about people and hospitality. I love eating mousse de maracujá and drinking guaraná.

And of course, most of all I love the people. I love seeing old friends again and catching up and being reminded of good years of living here, which in a strange way feels like normality in a life of changing places so often.

The past months have been so hectic in Amsterdam. So many things to think about and get done, and yet at the same time seeing breakthrough in lives. Meeting with women as they come over for dinner and Bible study and getting to explain things about the Bible to them and being challenged to know why I believe what I believe. So good and so stretching.

And talking on the phone in broken Spanish to one of our girls as I am packing to go to Fortaleza, because she too is leaving Amsterdam for good, and we won’s see each other again. The joy of seeing lives transformed and yet the tension of seeing someone who now lives in your heart leave the place you’ve been praying they would leave.

And so I sit here. It’s still early (jetlag is a great way to shift from a night to a morning schedule) and I still have some time before sharing on the DTS. There is a peace that is filling my heart and soul. A peace of just being. And an expectation that God is going to do something here in my heart and the hearts of others.

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