a predicament.

I am stuck in the airport here in Sao Paulo. I got here around 7:10 and stood around looking for my bags, but they had already been checked in. I did not know that. So I finally realized they had been checked in already and went to the Delta check in counter. They were closed. There was no way for me to get a boarding pass for Atlanta. The only way to get out of here is to wait until tomorrow at 8:35 PM. Therefore, I am here for the
night in a foreign land. I have held my own. I have been  waiting for Gol airlines to get me a hotel without charging me for anything. They, apparently, have been trying for about 3 or so hours. They say all the hotels
are full already. I find it really hard to believe that, knowing that Sao Paulo is in the top five biggest cities in the world. Its all about money for them. It does not cost them a thing for me to stay here in the airport. The only thing they have given me is a meal worth 20 reias and false hope. At least that is what it feels like right now. They did, however, try to get me into the VIP Lounge, where I would stay until 1 AM while they try to call a hotel. But its closed, of course.

Now this... is South America.

BUT. I had two really wonderful conversations with two different people. They were both wonderful for totally different reasons. The first happened when I was waiting for my bags. A homosexual (I could tell for some reason) walked up to me and started staring. Then he started the whole airport talk. Where are you from? Where are you going? Where did you come from, etc. etc. I told him I had been living in Altamira for 6 months with a missionary family. When I said this it raised some interest in his eyebrows. He asked me what church. He didn't know it but was still interested. He then asked me why Altamira? Why do that? I told him, without hesitation, which is something I personally struggle with when speaking of Jesus things, "to spread Gods love." His eyebrows raised again. I found out he is a jew who lived in Isreal for a year and a half where he probably drank and partied with a bunch of American tourists. He even in a round about way told me to come over to his house tonight because he thought I needed a place to stay. (Kinda funny now that I do need one.) Anyway, I planted a seed in this guys mind. I do not know if it was a good planted one, but one none the less. I definitely need more practice with spreading the good news. Specially in another language.

The other conversation happened with a dude from Mozambique named Abel who speaks Portugues, English, and French. He is coming to Brazil to receive his Masters in Economics. Awesome conversation that I desperately needed at the time. I was really stressed out and it felt really good to just sit down and drink some expresso with a friendly stranger. We did not talk about Spiritual things but I think I demonstrated to him that not all people from America are mouth-shut to black Africans or any other foreigners for that matter. Maybe even he could see my Spiritual light shine through during our fruitful conversation in Portugues with a touch of English. It was a blessing.

I have learned I can survive on my own in a foreign land. But I also prayed a lot. Gods wisdom and peace filled me while I made decisions on what to do next to improve my predicament. Oh, and God provided for me. I have a hotel room waiting for me in the morning at 9:30 so I can get into a fresh change of clothes, shower, privacy, silence and a little time for relaxation in peace. Thanks God.

*So I wrote this as sorta a journal entry in NotePad because it was really fresh. Currently I am able to have internet connection in the VIP Lounge. It is 6 AM and I have bug eyes. I managed to sleep a couple hours in an office filled with Gol Airlines employees. I had a three seat couch that allowed me to spread out my legs, which was nice. I kept my ear phones with music going the whole time to drown out the sound of walkie-talkies and people speaking Portuguese.
I don't know if the hotel room is certain yet or not. The guy who was really helping me out last night a lot might have just told me that to get it off his chest. Either way, everything is good. I will be fine without a shower...
I have felt your prayers! Its awesome to be able to say that :)

Family--See you Friday morning if I can manage to catch the rest of my flights! ;) Love you guys.

whats a laxative?... it laxes your tive.

Story time.

It all starts last night before I went to bed. Each night I need to take a laxative because of my unresponsive bowels lately. Currently I have three different kinds of laxatives but I usually only take one each night. Last night however, I took all three. One kind is just the regular fiber laxative, another is a morning and night regulator, and one is a Brazilian specialty called "lacto purga." So yeah.

Fast forward to approximately one thirty in the morning. I woke up with the worst stomach ache ever. I am a deep sleeper so for me to wake up from a hard sleep from a stomach ache is a little unusual. I went to the bathroom to relieve this pain but nothing happened. So I went back to bed and found a comfortable position to fall back asleep in.


Now its a little before six in the morning. Bud comes in to my room to wake me up for a jog. My stomach was alright but gurgling a lot. I didn't think much of it. As soon as we started running though, let me tell you. It felt like a Guatemalan landslide inside me. And it was just sliding on down... (my colon) while I was running. So I thought about different options in my head. Either I would have to turn around and go back home, or I would drop a bomb in my shorts, or I would have to squat in the street somewhere. All of these options seemed uncomfortable. But I just kept running so I knew the first option was just out of reach. It finally started inching out and I couldn't run normal anymore so I told Bud I had to go really really bad. I think he could tell something was wrong because my hand was desperately trying to block the inevitable. So he told me to go behind a broken wall over on the other side of the street and I scurried over there with my knees practically crossed.

I will not give details of what came out but lets just keep the analogy of the landslide. Then Bud threw some leaves as long as my index finger and wide as a box of raisins and I used them. (Thanks Bud, they actually worked better than having nothing!) After that the explosive pain in my stomach ceased and we finished our run. I was laughing because if I would have seen myself running the way I was before... I would have grabbed a camera...

I spent some time in the shower when I got back.

The upside is that my bowels are indeed working! Woo! And what a great story for the kids!

bowels.

For about four months now I have suffered from ill bowels. In other more plain words... I am clogged up pretty bad. It has not been a fun experience because it is a touchy subject. Personal, embarrassing, and annoying. But I have given up trying to cover it up as much as I have. Please, if you are reading this and are a part of the Christian faith, pray for my bowel health. (Maybe even if you are not a part of the Christian faith.) This has taught me to be more careful when I joke around about people's bowel movements and lack thereof. It sucks. Nuff said.

I thank you all in advance because I know the power of prayer. God is bigger than this little problem I have.

dengue.

So my first time getting sick overseas, far far away from home. And it had to be that, God? This is what went through my mind for a while during the sickness I contracted. Dengue. High fevers, shivering uncontrollably in the night, unable to sleep at night, achy bones and joints, disinterested in things that usually interests me, headaches and sore eyes, and a rash that itches. It was not a fun experience, but like all of my experiences, happened for a reason.

I think it happened because it is all part of living in God's kingdom down here in Brasil. When I was still contemplating on coming here for either 3 months or 6, my friend basically made my decision for me. We hung out at school together a lot and talked about almost everything. She asked me why I am thinking 3 months instead of 6. I told her because that would get me back home in time for Christmas. I wanted to spend Christmas home with my family, just like every other year. She then rebutted by suggesting, why not stay there for Christmas? You would be able to experience something different, so why not? That statement right there is why I am still here, pushing for 5 months now. Why would I cheat myself out of an awesome, new experience by going back to something I have done for years? Christmas in Brasil was awesome by the way. If I know you personally, I will tell you why sometime.

My point? (not sure...) But maybe what I am shooting for is this: 3 months here would not have given me dengue. That could be a good thing, but I beg to differ. Getting dengue was an experience. Plain and simple. Experience is knowledge. There would have been many other experiences I would have missed out on, but dengue would have definitely been out of the picture. The sickness gave me a new perspective on life here. I would have never learned how to spot a dengue mosquito, and people would think I am an invincible white person who never gets sick. But I'm not. I'm living the Brazilian life. And I like it.

This makes sense to me in my own way. I tried my best to explain it for everyone to understand too. Sorry if I failed...

the little things.

Well. I think I love it here.

Everything is going swell here in Altamira, Para, Brazil. Everyday something different happens and it feels like a new adventure awaiting my encounter. I love that. It doesn't really ever get boring. A couple days ago I was feeling pretty homesick. Firstly, I was actually physically sick so that brought my spirits way down. And secondly, its Christmas time. This is the first time in my life I am separated from family during this family gathering season. And third, its hot. No snow, no cold, no wearing sweaters and heavy socks and driving in the snow and ice covered roads. So homesickness hit me pretty hard.

But all is good now. I am concentrating on everything that is good about being here instead of being home. I am enjoying the little things. Let me explain...

Today I wanted to do something kinda adventurous, risky, and a little ambiguous. I took my hammock and rope outside, and climbed a tree. The tree already has some boards that Bud put up for the kids for an easy climb. So I tied the ropes to some branches about 10 feet off the ground and hung my hammock. Then I went and got my book and read it above the ground. It was kinda scary. I had to trust those knots in the ropes... But the knots obviously ended holding because I am writing this right now. But this isn't the thing I really wanted to focus on. As I was reading I heard something on the ground below me. I looked and saw a huge black and yellow lizard. One I have never seen in the yard before. It was cool. I saw it twice while laying vulnerably in my suspended hammock. I started thinking. If I had not done this laborious and somewhat stupid task of putting my hammock in a tree, I would have never seen this cool lizard. I have had my hammock out there before but I was closer to the ground so that made me think I would have missed this incredible sight if I had not hung my hammock in a freaking tree!

Another little moment. I played soccer today with some guys from the church. (It was awesome, by the way. I really like playing soccer with Brazilians because its so intense and serious. They all pretty much know what they're doing. So that makes it fun. Because I don't. But I love learning and adapting and trying to do what they do.) Before we played, Neyilton, the guy I took along was talking to me. What he said gave me a nice feeling. He said, (in Portuguese, but I will translate) "Your'e going back in May right?" I told him no, that I am already leaving in March. He looked at me in a surprised way and sincerely said, "No, don't go." His eyes told me he was being sincere. I told him I would definitely be back someday. So yeah, I gotta come back. These are friends I will be leaving. Just like home. I left friend behind, but I knew I would soon return. Now I will be leaving more friends and I know someday I will be back to see them someday. Hopefully.

So I have written about these things because they are simple happenings. But they have helped me in a big way. Homesickness sucks, but thats when you just gotta enjoy the little things. That is what I am doing. And these little things happen every single day.

anger on the street.

The other day a friend and me were riding on his little Honda moped, with me on the back carrying a shovel. We have been working on painting the front of the church but needed to buy a shovel in order to move some sand. The friend's name is Pedro by the way. He has a layed-back personality and is very calm, but very funny with a great sense of humor. He is also going to be my new Portuguese teacher. He does not speak English- maybe like 10 words tops. But I am excited to start learning with him.

Anyway-- on our way back to the church, Pedro hit a guy riding a bike. It was an awkward little accident. Pedro was crossing an intersection very slowly because there was this guy on his bike. Pedro (and I) did not know where this dude was going to turn because he was in the middle of the road. So he had to make a decision on which way he would take to pass the guy. Right when he chose left, the dude turned left and Pedro's moped hit the back of this guy's wheel. The wheel was totally bent and unable to be used anymore. This dude must not have had any other way of transportation because he was so angry. He began swearing, (I think) yelling loudly, waving his hands obnoxiously, and pointing hopelessly at his broken bike. Basically he was making a scene and trying to trigger Pedro's aggressive nerve in order to get into a fight. He would have loved that. He looked like he was an experienced street fighter. He had lean, cut muscles that looked like they have survived many wounds. At one point he picked up his bike and threw it across the street. Then he went and picked it up and threw it at Pedro's poor moped that had a for sale sign on it. All through this mayhem, Pedro tried calming this dude down and telling him he would help him out in any way. I was impressed with his calm demeanor. I was trying not to laugh out loud. Seriously, I thought it was hilarious. I wasn't laughing to be rude though, I just thought it was a funny reaction from the dude. It was one of those times where you know you shouldn't be laughing, but you cant help it. Like when someone inconspicuously farts during a group prayer. Sometimes a little burst of laughter cannot be contained.

We ended up driving down the road to a bike shop. The fuming dude followed us, carrying his handicapped bike. Pedro asked a man how much it would cost to replace the back tire and rim. $37.50. Pedro offered to pay for it and that was that. The dude was still pretty angry, but Pedro's offer calmed him down tremendously.

Bikers on the road are the ones I watch the closest now. I can't imagine that happening to me and having someone blow into a tantrum with me laughing in their face. That would probably end bad.

mud.

So this morning I learned how to put the truck in four wheel drive... the fun way. :)

--Background info--Almost every morning I drive the truck out to the ranch to retrieve our drinking milk. 100% organic-straight-from-the-utter milk. It is really good. I wish I could have easy access to it in Mansfield. I will definitely look into that when I get back. (I did drink soy milk before coming here, but obviously that is not accessible here.)

Anyway-- I got stuck in the mud today. It has been raining all morning and earlier, it was really pouring down. For a while. So that made the dirt roads into mud roads. I was driving on this road with the truck in rear wheel drive, every thing going well. I was driving slow and trying to keep straight so I wouldn't start to fish-tail. But then this truck coming the opposite way was driving really fast and fish-tailing all over the road. I didn't know if he was doing it on purpose but he didn't get stuck. I was trying to avoid a collision with this guy so I veered to the side of the road a little. When he passed I was in the divot that everyone wants to avoid. I started yelling NO!!!!! But it was too late. I was stuck. And I didn't know how to put it in 4-wheel. So I got out to check the damage. It was not going anywhere without some pushing help. I have been stuck in snow before but being stuck in the mud is... a little different. No matter how hard you press on the gas, those wheels will just keep turning. And there is not grass or pavement underneath the mud like there is when snow is on the ground. Just more mud. So the guy who sped past me before, saw that I was stuck. He started walking down to see the damage. I asked him if he could help me push in broken Portuguese. He was telling me things that I did not have the vocabulary for to understand, so I just nodded. But he ended up getting in the truck while I, and two other guys pushed. Finally we got out. After, he showed me how to put the truck in 4-wheel drive. It helped.

So all in all I got the milk. And on the way back I drove in 4-wheel drive the whole way and did not get stuck. Plus, I saw a little monkey with a funky tail run across the road on the drive way back. So it was a great morning. And a good story to tell in the future. :)

By the way- I love driving in the mud now. Its a challenge and I love it.