"The secrets of success are a good wife and a steady job. My wife told me." - Howard Nemerov

Bom Dia (Boa Djia)

Writing blog posts is difficult here. My life in Brazil is about teaching and people. Accounts of the former aren't scintillating reading and the latter are hard to describe. The people are very friendly and some of them equally interesting, but writing about them seems inappropriate. Like it violates some personal privacy standard.

Never one to shy away from the inappropriate....

Zied (pronounced Zeddy because Portuguese doesn't like to end words in consonants) and Alexander (there's a Portuguese spelling and pronunciation but I can't remember it) attend this church with their older daughter (16?) and an adorable 2-year old, Melissa (Mel-EE-sa). Zied's hair was braided for church last night and I thought it looked very cool.
That's Alexander in the blue shirt. Good guy. He doesn't speak a bit of English and I know a handful of Portuguese words but after each session he came up to me with a big grin and a very hearty handshake. Alexander has an amazing personal story - abandoned by his parents when he was 10, grew up literally living on the streets, got saved in a children's ministry, has very little formal education, and is a great husband and father. I wish I could get to know him better.

I used my cell phone to make a video of some of last night's singing but decided against posting it on Facebook (don't know how to do it in my blog) because the quality doesn't do them justice. The picture is OK but the sound is horrible. Which is a shame because the band is maybe the best I've ever heard in a church. The lead guitarist and the bass player (electric and stand-up) are both professional musicians with a national reputation in Brazil. The electric guitar player is finishing up a university degree in music. And They Rock!! I have never heard "Holy, Holy, Holy" done like that. Sometimes between verses they play a musical interlude and I watched in awe of the riffs those guys laid down. After the service they played a few songs as "background music" while people helped put things away and it was like being at a jam session of first tier musicians ('cause they are). Christian music. Wow.

Phillip (Pheleepee) is 27 and a lawyer. He also grew up on the streets but Doug, one of the missionaries here, took an interest in him when he was very young and saw that he got an education in private schools (much better than the public schools here). The deal: "If you study 4 hours every day and get all A's I'll keep paying for your schooling." When he graduated (with all A's): "What do you want to be?" A: lawyer.
"If you study 6 hours a day and get all A's I'll pay for your university."
That's why Philip is 27, passed the bar exam on his first try, and has a significant legal practice.
He will be attending the leadership training I'm doing for the next three evenings. Ya think?!

Talithia (Tah-LEE-ta) is 20, cute as a button, the sweetest young lady you'll ever meet, and is torn between options for her future. She was raised by a single mom who lives in a city hours away. Talithia lives here in Recife because her brother (the base player) moved here and this city has better opportunities for a future. She has an interest in architecture and gets some pressure to pursue that by extended family members who want her to be "successful." But Talithia's heart is firmly planted in church ministry and Michelle says she couldn't survive without the help Talithia gives her in children's ministry and organizing church events. She spends a lot of time here at Campos' home and was here last night after church. I told her no building ever went unbuilt because of a lack of architects, but God's work too often does because of a shortage of willing and able servants. Talithia is also going to attend the leadership sessions and I hope she gets a growing sense of service to God and his church.

There are more stories, many more. Maybe I'll include some in a future post.

I just finished b'fast (some goooood cooks down here!) and will now spend some time going over my material for tonight. Later I'll get some exercise by climbing the stairs from the garage to the Campos' 6th floor apartment a few times. Brazilians have their big meal at noon so I should do that this morning, never mind the heat and humidity that will climb throughout the day.