"Success - Keeping your mind awake and your desire asleep." - Walter Scott

Necessity is the mother of....stupid?

I taught for three hours last night with a mid-session 15 minute break.
It's now 6 a.m. in Recife, which is 2 a.m. on Baker Rd.
Breakfast is in one hour and I start teaching at 8 a.m. We go until 6 p.m. with a one hour break for lunch.
I will, I must slow down the pace today. Last night I talked just as fast as I could to get the max in that three hours. If I go that fast today we'll all be beyond exhausted and it will be ineffective. Their brains will fatigue and effectiveness will go out the window. Hey, that may happen anyway. But in an effort to reduce that risk I'll try to not just slow down, but to insert more levity and interaction.

I wish you could see them and watch them in action. On a Friday night at the end of a work week we had a room of about 34 learners who stayed with me while I went at break-neck speed and Joe translated. Just that speak/translate process stretches the learner's focus and attention. But they were right there! They quickly adjusted to my somewhat warped sense of humor (they didn't seem to actually believe that I was going to hit them on the head) and scribbled hurriedly in their notebooks before I jumped ahead to the next slide.

Joe is an invaluable help as he translates the crazy guy's words which often require finding a Portuguese equivalent to U.S. vernacular and making English to metric conversions on the fly.
Michelle has the room set up, manages refreshments for everyone, and solves any/every glitch that comes up.

And these people! Pastor Manuel, who has a 5th grade education because that's what his father had, "and no son of mine is going to be smarter than his father." So he pulled him out of school at the end that year. Manuel works doubly hard to teach and shepherd his flock (and has their total respect as a result). Zete, whose mean and serially unfaithful husband deserted her and their three girls 10 months ago and now does his best to poison the minds of the older two (the youngest is 3) against their sweet mother. Or Paulo, who speaks a fair amount of English, has a warm and genuine smile on his face 24/7, and sucks up every detail of the information, and is full of appreciation for it.
More of the same in the rest of the room.

I slept well last night. It was 11 p.m. when I crawled into bed, I was up for an hour from 3-4 a.m., and then crawled back in for another hour. I've showered and dressed, and will soon go down for breakfast. Then - back at it!!

Oh, Pam is home holding down the fort. I was too tired last night to call her so I sent her a brief email with a report to reply to her email summarizing her day.
Good woman, that wife of mine.

I'd write more...

• The fresh fruit here is incredibly delicious. 
• They juice a lot of it and add sugar. Why?????
• The traffic is insane and the driving is something out of Mad Max. 
• On roads that could swallow up a vehicle if they didn't swerve to avoid the pot caverns. 

But I haven't time. I need to review my content for the day before heading downstairs. Michelle will serve an awesome breakfast which will, along with God's strength, fuel me for a long day. Then home for another night's sleep so that Sunday I can teach for 4 hours in the morning and then preach at two churches, going from one right to the other (church is Sunday evenings here). 

Yeah, it's crazy. But it is SO good that I wouldn't miss it.