"I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right." - Frederick the Great

OK, so the grammar has problems but the basic message is sound.

I think this post will be written in stages throughout what promises to be a long day. It's 7 a.m. now and I'm up, showered, and about to go down for b'fast. We'll leave for the close-by Recife airport so I'm there at noon for a 2:15 flight to Sao Paulo, arriving there at 5:30. Then a three and a half hour layover before an 11 hour flight to Houston. Four hours there before boarding a plane for Portland. I'll arrive there at noon on Tuesday, be picked up by Pam, and do the 2 hour drive home, sweet home.

There's really too much to report in one blog post so this may be either really long or broken into a serial format. The problem with the latter is that they appear here with the most recent at the top. If it's serialized it would be best to have them appear in chronological order.
Oh well.

< the building in which the meetings were to be held. The inside is just as ... straightforward?

Joe and I left the hotel (NOT motel) about 8:30 and drove out to the camp to pick up Peter and Lucas. I didn't realize they'd spent the night there. When we arrived at 8:45 it was clear they were nowhere near starting the morning session scheduled to begin at 9:00. Joe and the local pastors walked over under a tree and had a conversation he later told me was tense. They accused him of walking out on the agreed upon schedule and were upset we weren't going to do the morning sessions. He pointed out all the things they were supposed to do but didn't, the fact that we were already late for this session (it's after 9:00 by this point), and the basic problems from the night before were still in play.

By 9:15 Joe, Peter, Carlos, and I climbed into Joe's small Nissan something-or-other (different models of cars here in Brazil) and started the 7-hour drive back to Recife.
Words cannot describe....
Everyone in his family agrees Joe is a good driver. That is probably true, but to survive on the roads in NE Brazil requires skills most often seen in a demolition derby. Pot holes on highways require last second jerks of the steering wheel. Trucks doing 30 kmh in an 80 kmh zone have to be passed on stretches of road that shouldn't have any vehicle traffic in the first place. They have no concept of a road shoulder here. Turns can be made from any lane you happen to be in at the time.
I told Joe when we got back to Recife that he had single-handedly transformed my prayer life.

This pic was taken at a "restaurant" we stopped at for lunch. The flies outnumbered the customers by about 1,000 to one. (Besides the four of us there was one other guy.) And those pesky critters have NO fear. Be careful lest one go into your mouth with your food.
That's Joe on the left, Peter (aka Uncle Ben) in the middle and Pastor Lucas on the left.
The food was very good!
The bathroom...not so much.

We got back to Recife about 5:00 and left for church 30 minutes later. I preached the sermon and Joe did his normal good work translating. A good time was had by the preacher at least.
After church we went out to dinner that a place that specializes in...guess what?!...meat. Have I mentioned that Brazilians eat a lot of meat? This was a very tender steak served on a skillet over a warming flame with rice and the normal bean dish that's ladled over the rice. There was enough meat to feed four of us (J&M and their daughter Bella) and then Emerson and Marcelli who joined us. The bill: the equivalent of $20 U.S.

I collapsed into bed, slept like a rock (star), and enjoyed b'fast and the morning at J&M's before heading to the airport.

++++++++++++++++++++

I'm sitting in the Sao Paulo airport now waiting for my flight to Houston. I have a 3-hour layover here but burned up about two of those hours getting from Terminal 1 to terminal 3, getting through the United boarding process, through customs, and then finding Gate 311. This airport is bigger than Veneta and you could put all of Elmira in Terminal 1. Yikes!

The flight to Houston leaves at 9:10 p.m. and arrives 11 hours later. I'm really hoping a) I don't have any trouble on this flight either, and b) I can sleep this time. I have a 4-hour layover there but I'll use up some of it collecting my suitcase, going through customs, and then rechecking it for the flight to Portland. But I'm closer to HOME!

I'm having trouble with my internet connection here. I'm going to try to post this and then start a new one in Texas. Tchau!