I am back (along with Gene and Amanda, of course) and finally healed of my three-day headache.  A couple of people have asked me if I would go back.  I tell them that I can’t make a decision like that just now, because I have so much to process from this trip.  This mission trip was as much about helping and healing those of us on the trip as it was about helping the poor of the area and the mission itself.  My return is only a continuation of what was started in Brazil.  It feels like I was brought back to the path I needed to be on to be closer to God and now I must pick my way carefully and be very aware to avoid getting so far off the right path again.  So those of you who know me can help with my accountability in a loving Christian way (and even I think that’s a hard thing to do!)  :-)  More later….

It’s so hard to believe that our time here is over and we leave tonight.  We had a powerful closing this morning, with foot washing, blessings and communion.  Now we are cleaning the mission and closing it up for the next couple of months.  It is bittersweet for me to leave this cocoon of non-judgmental love and acceptance to come back to what has not changed, but now I must trust the Holy Spirit to keep us covered.  We hope to stay in touch with each other, so we can hold each other up and help each other to stay in the Spirit.  Some of us went down the street to pick up some last minute things, like coffee and things we can’t get outside of Brazil.  We will have supper tonight and then leave for the airport at 6 pm.

I hope that some of you who have read this blog are interested in coming to Brazil to help these people.  They are so nice and they need so much help!  Gene, Amanda and I would be happy to share our experiences and talk with you at any time.  Many blessings and see you soon!

Yesterday I learned how to sand and varnish.  Natalyn’s husband Lane and I sanded and varnished the baptistry cover and the railing above it.  It’s been providential that I have learned this and caulking, which are the two things I most need to do at my house right now.  We had Bible study last night and I feel like I’m falling behind in understanding Hebrews, but it will come eventually.

This morning we went to a beautiful Baptist church in Rio.  It’s the church that Rick’s brother Daniel attends.  Daniel was the initial doctor on Natalyn’s case, and recognized the miracle of her healing.  It has renewed him spiritually and he gave a beautiful testimony about it during the service.  Natalyn was in tears of joy.  She and Lane are leaving tonight to go back to Atlanta.  We wish they could stay one more day, but logistically, it doesn’t work out.  Tonight we go to a church far away (about 1 1/2 hours) for a service, our last one.  I’m thinking about starting to pack and what I want to leave here in the way of clothes, etc.

Also, this morning, I tried Betty’s morning walk up to the cell towers with five other people.  I fell behind once we started uphill, but I just stopped to catch my breath and kept going.  When they came back down, they were surprised at how far I had gotten.  The stairs between upstairs and downstairs are not quite so daunting now!  :-)  More later….

Natalyn is back from the hospital and recovering well.  She still has followup to do back in the states, and it’s truly a miracle that she is alive right now.  She was in ICU part of the time because of brain swelling and high blood pressure. The source of her illness is still not pinned down, but the doctors were able to find medication to help her for now.  Her husband was able to fly down, so he is here with us now as well.

We had Bible study out on “the rock” today.  It’s about a 40 minute drive out to the coast to this huge granite rock.  It was overcast and a little windy but otherwise very calming to hear and watch the ocean waves as Rick talked.  He is working his way through Hebrews while we have been here.  Some of it is very easy to understand, and I hope the rest of my understanding comes with time.

After lunch, we walked down the street, which I managed to trip and fall on and injure my knee (no blood drawn though!)  I’m becoming a danger to myself! :-)  Only two more days and we head home.  This afternoon is our last work day at the mission.  More later….

The last couple of days have been a) freaky and b) busy.

On Wednesday at breakfast, I had a freak accident with the freshly boiled tea water and burned my right hand.  I was pretty much useless the whole day because of the pain and couldn’t go on the walk into the hills to see the poorest of the poor, the ones who were housed at the mission during the mudslides.  It was REALLY HOT that day!!  Gene barely made it through the trek because it was so straight up a very high hill.

Yesterday we “toured” Rio, which consisted of seeing the Christ the Redeemer statue and taking the ferry back to Niteroi to shop at the mall again.  We had planned to go to Copacabana Beach, but we ran out of time.  It was a tiring day, but the statue was quite amazing.   We have pictures of the poor and the statue (and a bunch of other stuff!) to share when we get back!

Drawbacks to saving water:  Although the shower concept sounds really good on the surface, if the electricity suddenly goes out while you are in the shower, you go from a nice warm shower to seriously COLD water in an instant, as Amanda found out the other night when the power suddenly went out in their room!!

Natalyn got suddenly sicker last night and went to the hospital.  They have done a cat scan and found a brain lesion, which we are all praying is the source of these sickening migraines she gets every three weeks.  There is a conference of neurologists meeting in Rio this week, so she is getting excellent treatment.  They believe they can heal her with medication.  Please continue to keep her in prayer for complete healing.

Today I will learn how to caulk properly as we continue to work at the mission.  We are painting one more bedroom upstairs and another group will start varnishing the church window frames.  They are not in good shape, but the rotten wood on some of them will not be replaced on this trip.   I hope that the varnish will protect them for awhile.

We had a great church service last night is a very small, new church.  It has a lot of young people in it that are very enthusiastic.  Gene preached about being like a child again (from the passage on “suffer the little children to come to me…”)  and it had a great effect on the people there.  There was a lot of singing and dancing, laying on of hands and souls being saved.  It was a marvelous and exhausting night, but joy abounded!  We are going to another church tonight.

Interesting mission fact:  When people talk about upstairs and downstairs at the mission, they aren’t talking about the first floor and the second floor, like I thought they were before we got here.  Upstairs is where we do a lot of our studies, eat meals and all the guys, Rick, Gene and Amanda and a couple of the women stay.  Downstairs means all the way down the stairs from one building to a completely separate building where four of us women are staying!  In other words, I am getting a lot of stairway exercise here.  Unfortunately, I’m afraid I won’t meet my goal of going all the way up the stairs without getting winded before I leave.  Believe me, I have been working very hard at it!!  More later….

Yesterday and today, we worked at the mission in the afternoon.  A lot of rooms have been painted for the first time in 10 years.  We also sorted the suitcases that were brought from Atlanta.  They contained clothes and school supplies.  Amanda and I made a list of things they still need, which we hope the church will help us gather when we get back, so we can box it up to send here.  We have churches to go to for the next three nights, but they are much closer (not “to the ends of the earth!”)  One of our group has been very sick with a migraine for over two days now.  Please pray for healing for Natalyn.  Also, Gene managed to get a blood blister this afternoon.  We wrapped it in a lot of ice and the swelling is going down, but it will be a while before it is completely gone.

Another interesting fact about Brazil:  The showers are not connected to water heaters here.  Each shower head has a heating coil in it, so you have to turn it on just a little bit to get hot water.  There isn’t much water pressure and the more you turn them on the colder the water gets.  It’s an ingenious way to save on water!  :-)  More later….

Last night we went back to the church we were near the night before to hold the church service.  Here in Brazil they have Sunday School in the morning and a 90 minute church service in the evening.  We sang some songs and one of our group gave a very stirring testimony.  Gene preached the sermon while our interpreter translated to Portuguese.  It was right on the mark for this church.  We laid hands on a lot of people and in the process of doing so I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which was totally unexpected, since I felt I was really on the fence about it, but I guess not!  They provided food for us afterwards, but I’m currently in a three-day liquid fast that ends tonight (thankfully!)  This is another first for me and I’m not sure I could do this back home.  I’m doing it with another girl to give her moral support as she had never fasted before either.  It apparently is having effects on me I didn’t expect.  The Bible passages we have been studying have been very meaningful to me as well and are helping me to change my mindset.  More later….

Last night we went to a Festa do Amor (Feast of Love) in an arena over an hour away from the mission.  I am on a three-day fast with another girl (a first for both of us) and going up those switchbacks to get up the mountain made me glad I hadn’t eaten!  We had no idea what to expect but there was lots of music and dancing and talking in Portuguese.  We are going back there tonight for the Sunday service.  Here, the churches have Sunday School in the morning and church for at least 1 1/2 hours at night.  More later….

Shopping in Brazil is like a scavenger hunt.  Most of the time you can’t find what you are looking for, or you have to go to several stores before you find it or sometimes you just don’t find it!  We are having a birthday party tomorrow for Rick’s mom, who turned 93 this week.  She lives in the house next door to us.  Amanda and Gene found the presents for her at the first store.  We went to 2-3 stores to find food and other things, but some we never found (like a replacement for the mirror light in my bathroom.)  It was a long afternoon, but mostly successful.  Since we don’t have a church to go to tonight, we will do more Bible Study.  More later….