"When it's foggy in the pulpit it's cloudy in the pew." - Cavett Robert

We arrived in Aracaju at 6 p.m. after doing a 6-hour drive in nine hours. Yeah, somebody who shall remain nameless had the time a bit off. I sat in the back seat of a small car so Peter, a rather plump and jovial Brazilian could have the extra space in front. Lucas sat in back with me and a suitcase between us.

This is a pic of Peter:

This is a pic of Uncle Ben from the box of Uncle Ben's Rice:

The roads are bad, the traffic worse, and Brazilian driving sometimes terrifying. Several times I reminded myself of God's sovereignty and goodness. We obviously made it.

We had a delicious dinner at Pastor Carlos' house and then walked over to the church for the first of two leadership sessions. Because of last minute schedule issues I have six hours instead of 12 so I'm doing a lot of cutting out content. Same will happen with the dispensational sessions - 12 hours down to six.

The demographics of this group are noticeably different. Only one of them speaks English and There don't seem to be the professionals I had in Recife. But they were equally attentive, every bit as responsive, and appreciative afterward. (At least I'm assuming they were. They could have been cussint at me for as much Portuguese as I know.)

I'm not sure what to think about a church that has one of these on the lower level.

It was 10:30 by the time Joe and I got to the hotel. (Peter and Lucas are staying at Pastor Carlos' house.) There's no hot water, the internet doesn't work, the pain is hanging from the ceiling, we had to ask for towels....
When I was taking a cold shower this morning I thought, "If Paul can get beaten and then spend a night in jail I can spend three nights in this hotel without hot water."

I'm with Joe, Peter, and Lucas at Pastor Carlos' house now watching the Brazil v. Costa Rica soccer match. It's halftime now with no score but Brazil has had several good chances. The room errupts with each one. These people are crazy for their futball!

I'm writing a blog post while I "watch" the game. That probably tells you about my level of commitment.

I think this is all going very well from the ministry standpoint, but I'm ready to be home. It's only been a little over a week but the fatigue is setting in. I've been able to talk to Pam briefly every day thanks to Joe and Michelle's graciousness and she reports everything is going well on Baker Rd. Stella is due a week from Sunday so I'm interested to see how big she is.
Yeah, I miss home.