Update

Hello once again from sunny Rio!
We have had a busy couple of months, and I am glad to be at the end of the year, so that I might rest just a little bit before we start back up again next year. I am still trying to process the last few weeks, and so this update is going to be short.
Since I wrote my last update, we have had 4 medical teams with one week of rest in the middle. The two clinics we had in new areas were amazing. The pastors were overwhelmed with our work and excited about the work to be done when we were finished. The week of rest was much needed, and the past two weeks have been kind of a blur. One of the weeks we had 3 pharmacists, so I got to translate in triage for a nurse. I really enjoyed it and got to challenge a woman who was constantly anxious and really didn’t see the point in dumping all her problems on God. I shared with her about Adam and Eve and how they disobeyed God, causing separation from Him and death. Fast forward to Jesus, and I told her how God solved that problem of separation by sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and disobedience to God. I also challenged her with the Bible’s words in 1 Peter 5:7, to cast our cares upon God, for He cares for us. She just couldn’t understand why her problems would be important to God. Please pray for her (her name is Norma) and people like her, that they would understand that God created each one of us and wants us to have a restored relationship with Him.
The final team was from Brookwood Baptist in Birmingham, which is my home church. I was so thankful to have my spiritual family here for the last week, that we could encourage one another. The area that we have been in over the past few years has been plagued by competing drug factions, and members of the team had been praying since they were here last year. This year when we went to the church on Sunday, there was a peace resting on the community. It turns out that two of the factions had united and the other one was gone. The peace was evident in the faces and attitudes of the patients and church members, and they very quickly acknowledged the fact that prayer was a very important catalyst in the coming of that peace, both on the part of the Americans and Brazilians.
One of the verses that God has used to encourage me over the last month is Romans 8:29 – “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” Even with all of my shortcomings and failures (and triumphs and strengths), my life will be spent with God conforming me to the image of Jesus Christ, for I am one of the adopted children in His family. Though I am not perfect, there will be a day when I am perfect (though it may not happen in this life), for God’s purpose is to conform me to the image of His Son. I praise Him that He has purpose for us, that we are not just swept up in the current of Christianity and drift willy-nilly to the end of our lives. I praise Him that He has plans for us, and that He uses all things for our growth and His glory.
Please continue to pray for:
S, who will be having surgery at 7:00 am Central Time on Wednesday, October 31.
Our team, that we may take advantage of this time to rest and renew our minds and bodies.
Our team, as we prepare for this next year, that we may be focused on the Lord and what He would have us do.
My visa, as I still have not heard anything about its renewal.
Thank you as always for your support and prayers.
For He alone is worthy.

Vacation -- the end

After our ride was over, we went into São João del Rei and shopped. Great, huh? S and I bought some pewter and furniture -- both were really inexpensive!
We stayed the night at a wonderful pousada and trucked on back to Rio the following day. All in all, our vacation was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

More vacation (or vacation, day 3)

The following day we rode some more (surprise) and stopped for lunch at a place where we were provided with hammocks to rest afterwards. All I can say is wow. We moved on and during the ride into town that evening, we passed through the farm where the Brazilian Manga-larga (the breed of horse we were riding -- pretty similar to a quarter horse) is bred. When we got into town, 3 of our party were way ahead of me, and 2 were way behind. I had no idea where I was going; I just knew that the pousada was in town somewhere. Thank goodness we were in the middle of nowhere, right? There can't be that many pousadas around. When I got to the town square, I stopped to ask directions (without the help of knowing the name of the place where we were going). Here is the exchange:

Me: "Excuse me, have you seen some horses passing by here?"

Them (people sitting on the bench in the square): "Yes."

Me: "Can you tell me which way they went?"

Them: "Sure, they went on straight." (not really helpful, since I still didn't know where the pousada was, but I went on and just kept looking for horses)

Let me tell you, that is one of the greatest and most frustrating things about Brazilian culture. The exchange was much more than I can even describe, but I love the fact that I can stop a random person on the street and ask a question to kill my curiosity (or even ask directions) and I hate the fact that Brazilians will only tell you exactly what you ask for. Unless they are in a mood to tell their own entire life story.

The first picture is of me in the hammock after lunch, the second is of the kitchen of the pousada, and the third is of the family still. Minas Gerais grows a lot of sugarcane and makes a lot of cachaça (a distilled liquor made from sugarcane) -- the family that owns the pousada we stayed in also owns this still and manufactures and sells cahcaça.

Vacation, day 2

Upon awakening at the pousada (quiet except for the birds chattering and the owner talking incessantly), we had a wonderful breakfast spread, complete with homemade cheese, fresh fruit, fresh juice, fresh bread, and coffee -- the staple of any Brazilian breakfast. Alex and Mariana brought the horses to us, and we got going about 9:30. We rode for about 3 hours, during which time Amy's horse sat down in the middle of the trail (with her on top of it), we stopped to drink out of a freshwater spring, and a jet flew right over our heads. Being from Rio, the sudden loudness was a bit frightening. We stopped to eat and rode into Prados, where all 4 of us bought boots (like it was going to make us better riders). Then we rode for 3 or so more hours until we got to the farmhouse where we would be staying.
The farmhouse belongs to a family who still raises cows and does farm-y things. Upon our arrival, the woman of the house showed us all to our rooms (Amy and I were in a room with Santo Expedito, the patron saint of urgent causes). She proceeded to tell us that the bathroom was kind of far away, so if we'd like to use the chamber pot under the bed in the middle of the night, we could. It was like stepping back in time. Here are a few photos of the horses and the farmhouse.

Seriously, vacation

I know that vacation posts need to be written and posted, so here goes my first attempt at just a little taste of Minas Gerais.
We left Rio Sunday morning about 10, and darned if I didn't almost get carsick on the way there. Great start, huh? It's just that our driver was driving fast (by Brazilian standards) and the road was really curvy. Thanks to all the engineers or whatever who designed those roads.
We stopped for lunch at Tiradentes, a quaint little town that was home to a strong abolitionist movement in Brasil. Then we headed on to São João del Rei, about 10 minutes down the road, where we parked the car and the jeep picked us up. Mariana took us to our pousada (bed-and-breakfast) and we settled in for the night. Here are a few pics of the pousada -- beautiful!

The water wheel and our cabin
Me on the bed in our room

Our vacation was a hit. I am sad to be back to reality. I'm going to try and post a few pics and stories over the next few days -- I am still exhausted and am having trouble putting words to all of it. So, you'll just have to wait.

Fall fun

I wish I were in the US, just to go to one of these.

Overwhelmed

and in need of a vacation.
And that's what I'm doing next week. We are going to Minas Gerais (a neighboring state) to travel along the Estrada Real, the road that the Portuguese used to transport the gold that they mined (in Minas) to the coastal city of Paraty (in Rio). We will be traveling on horseback, for 3 days, and staying in old farmhouses along the way. I am so ready for some time of rest, relaxation, and a clear head.