Our last day in beautiful Buenos Aires was wonderful. We were able to take a bus tour of downtown and visit several sites. We departed very early on Thursday to go to Foz do Iguaçu (Brasil).

Iguazú (Argentina) is a place where Argentina, Brasil, and Paraguay meet, but it is better known for the massive water falls that fall there. Amazing to see, feel, and hear. Brilliant. See the pictures.

Ah, but Foz do Iguaçu was not all fun. We left the hotel at 5:45A on Saturday. We arrive at the airport and some one realized their bag was left at the hotel and an other could not locate their passport. On top of that, two members going to Santiago again were not allowed to board, because of a mistake of the travel agent. So eleven, out of sixteen, board and depart to Sao Paulo.

At Sao Paulo we wait for ten hours for the three who went back to the hotel to arrive. They come in at the other airport on the other side of the city, a two hour drive through traffic. So finally all are back at the same airport, but the one still can´t find their passport. Four of us leave to Itu with out knowing if the one will be able to leave the country. Luckily, the two not allowed to board got new tickets and the airline found a lost luggage with the passport inside.

God is in control.

It’s so fun in S. America every one you greet, you greet with a kiss. Well not every one, in Chile and Brasil one greets with a kiss to the girls and a shake of the hand with boys. But in Argentina one kisses everyone and it’s nothing. Really it’s a kiss in the air while pressing each other’s right cheeks together. Very unAmerican.

Today we went to an other church building to paint and work on other projects around the building. It was a good day. I went with an intern, Ashley, to get some fruit in the morning for lunch, and honestly I thought I was going to vomit. The smell in the area we were in was horendous, truly - worse than the Bangkok sewers. It smelled like old cheese and car exhaust, just nasty.

Tonight, four of us were invited to go to a small group Bible study at a member’s home. We, the four, shared about our faith - joys, struggles, why we were here, etc - with the group. One of the guy’s birthday was today, so we had cake for him and the father of the household made baloon animals. His name is Jorge, he’s deaf, but with my signing background he is very easy to comprehend. He actually does not use Argentine sign language, but his own he created and taught his wife and children. Amazing and very easy to understand. Great people.

Good night. Too bad for the Spurs.

We caught an Air Canada flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires today. Our group is spread over three church buildings in BA. We didn’t do too much today, but quite a lot for our first day in a new city.

An indoor futbol coomplex butts the church building all the guys are staying at, so two of ours went over and soon came back disappointed. Later we were sitting around and a knock on the door came and we had five minutes until 8 o’clock to get ready and play for an hour. Some guys JB, one our guys, had met wanted us to come play with them. It was a fun game. Total play for the full hour. I was a bit afraid to play with some locals after seeing how good they were, but still a great time was had.

Dinner was on our own, so we headed a couple blocks down to an Italian place. I got some gnochi. Superb. The exchange rate is so good here it ended up being a cheap meal. Oh so good.

Being so indepedent is so fun and a blessing to jump right in to culture. No one translating or guiding an other. Just pure interactions flaws and all. I love it. Buenos Aires, ‘bu/e/nos ai/des,’ not ‘aries,’ is tops.

Buenos noches.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - May 17 - 22

Itu, Brazil - May 22 - 31

Santiago, Chile - June 1 - 17

Buenos Aires, Argentina - June 18 - 23

Iguazu Falls, Brazil - June 23 - 25

AA 905 17MAY Dallas to Rio 536P 834A
JJ 8000 22MAY Rio to Sao Paulo 730A 830A
JJ 8026 01JUN Sao Paulo to Santiago 930A 1230P
AC 92 17JUN Santiago to B.A. 1130A 230P
PZ 713 23JUN B.A. to Iguassu 800A 1135A
JJ 3556 25JUN Iguassu to Sao Paulo 700A 830A
AA 998 25JUN Sao Paulo to Miami 1055P 613A
AA 1711 26JUN Miami to Santo Domingo 1042A 1254P

Some of my pictures from Rio are now available on Flickr.
See them on Flickr

Monday was our “off day,” so Phyllis, the local minister’s, Antenor, wife gave us some choices on how to spend the day. Most of us decided to go hike a hill, Morro do Elefante. It was a great experience. At some points I was having flashbacks to Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia, climbing almost straight up hill.

At the top there was a concrete cross and a fabulous view over four cities below. When we gathered together at the bottom of the trail, we had the opportunity to see two capybaras, the largest rodent in the world – about the size of a medium dog, swimming and feeding in a pond. We also noticed after some time, three from our group were not with us. After some worrying and searching we found they had taken an other trail by accident.

I am now in Santiago and very tired from our 4:30A wake up call and 3 ½ hour flight. I’ll miss Brasil so much, Itu is an amazing place, but I look forward to what God has for us in Chile and Argentina.

On Thursday, Corpus Christi (Brazilian holiday), about fifty people went to Porto Feliz, 35km from Itu. There Bob Carpenter, a past missionary in Brasilia, now Oklahoma Christian professor, spoke on diversity in the body of Christ and the need to over come past and present prejudices to unite the church.

On Thursday I sat down for two hours with Bob to discuss diversity. He told me about two churches, predominantly black and prdominantly white, in a small Oklahoma town that for two years have been in open discussion about the subject. It´s amazing that these two small town churches, on their own will came together to discuss the problem. When it came down to the only thing separating the two was historical prejudices. The two don´t know what the future is. If God wills merger, it´ll happen, if not it won´t, but amazing bridges and relationships have been built between the two.

Antanor´s, the local minister, daughter, Ali, was singing a song while banging her hands on the table and looked down to find her suspended diamond of her wedding ring missing. She stopped every one, turned to her father, and says, “Dad, my diamond is gone.“ He turns, picks up a pebble, and hands it to her. She starts balling. One of the local youth looks at the bottom of his drink as a joke and there´s the diamond. Amazing and a good laugh.

The retreat was at a small suger cane farm set in the hills. Gorgeous. We all had a great time.

We came back to Itu on Saturday and rested up. Today was worship this morning and soccer in the afternoon.

Go Spurs. Star Wars was depressing.

Bom dia. Good morning.

Boa tarde. Good afternoon.

Boa noite. Good night.

Fala inglês? Do you speak English?

Goodbye Ciao

How are you? Tudo bem?

Thank you Obrigado (males) Obrigada (females)

Please Por Favor

Yes Sim

No Não

Pardon me Desculpe

Tomorrow we go out with the church and locals to an area 35km from Itu for a three day retreat.

For the past three days we´ve been visiting many English schools to give the children and adults interactions with native speakers. It´s been quite an experience. We´ve been to an upper class high school and today to a public (meaning ´poor´) grade school.

Some common questions are:

§ What do you think of Brazilian women?
§ How long are you here for?
§ Where have you been?
§ What do you think of Bush?
§ Do you know any Brazilian music?
§ Can you samba?
§ What did you know prior to coming to Brasil?

Take care and much love.

We left Rio de Janeiro at 7:30A on Sunday. We awoke to get ready to go to the airport at 4:30A. Our flight took us to Sao Paulo where we got a bus for an hour long trip to Itu. We arrived around 10:30A, in the middle of church services.

I and Hilliard are staying with a guy named Marcio and his family in their beautiful home. Today, we went to a high school to do help the students practice their English and then went on to an other English school this afternoon to do the same. This Thursday is a national holiday in Brasil, Corpus Christi, so the church is having a retreat and inviting locals to come along.

The church here is very young. Many of the members are in their twenties or below. It,s really exciting to meet so many people who are eager to meet you. It´s really hard to put in to words and recollect all my thoughts. Again Internet access is sporadic, so I don´t know when my next post will be. Until then, much love.

Ciao

I´ve been Rio de Janeiro for three days now and finally have access to the Internet. We arrived around 8:30A on Wednesday. It´s benn a great two days. We´ve already been to Pao de Açucar (Sugar Loaf) and Ipanema. Well I don,t have much time on the computer, others are waiting. Were here for another ´day then off to Sao Paulo on Sunday. I don´t know when I´ll post again. Until then.

Boa noite.

Praia do Ipanema (not my photo)