Cactus Flower

When Uncle Byron, Greyson and I went down to the capital of our state, Salvador, to pick up William and Kerri from the airport, we got to eat at a Burger King.  We were really happy to get to go. Few restaurants here have free drink refills.  Burger King does!  And of course, there are Whoppers! Finding American food in a foreign country can be a difficult task for missionary families.  In our house we don't really eat all American food but we don't eat beans and rice everyday either.  We eat some of both and some things are crazy inventions based on what ingredients we can find. So, going to a real "American" restaurant from time to time is fun.  One time when we lived in Fortaleza, I heard about the grand opening of the very first McDonald's there.  There was an article on the evening news about the big event.  My understanding of what was said in Portuguese was that it was a "Grand Opening."  In the States, when someone talks about a "Gran...

This past Monday we drove down to the big capital city to meet up with our oldest and his girlfriend who were flying in from the States early Tuesday morning.  We got to the place where we were going to stay early in the afternoon and had a few hours of daylight to hit the beach.  It was just enough time to enjoy a dip in the ocean, walk down to an historic lighthouse and have supper at a fancy mall. I'm super thankful for my family - near and far.   I miss my two Stateside boys immensely.  This afternoon was a perfect mini-getaway day!  It can be difficult for missionaries to get any "time-off" from their "job."  Cost, time, it all adds up to - difficult to pull off.  We were able to make this trip, visit the consular agency for a needed passport renewal, and pick up our boy in our fateful swoop. Now it's back to work!

tribunadoceara.uol.com.br         Years ago when your Uncle Byron and I first came to Brazil, we started working with a small church whose missionary pastor had gone to the States for furlough.  We didn't have a house of own or even a car.  We rented a small apartment near the MK school where we both taught some classes and rode the bus or walked wherever we needed to go.  That included going to church.   The church wasn't real far away and the bus we had to take went right near our apartment and let us off very close to the church.  Then it continued on its way around the city.  It was called the Grande Circular I.  That means Big Circular.  It was called that because it made a circle around the whole city.  Now Fortaleza is a very big city.  Currently it has a population close to three million people.  I always felt like I had only seen a little part of that big city - the American school, the beach and th...

Have you ever really gone on an adventure?  I can honestly say that we have gone on some wild and crazy adventures.  One of those was with the old missionary - Harold Reiner.  He lived and worked in Brazil for more than 50 years.  During his last years of service he lived about three hours away from us in a town called Remanso.  He would come to as many retreats as he could each year.  He loved the island camp and had been very involved in its beginning. Whenever he was at camp he would often tell long tales - some were old and some were new but most were true.  He talked a lot about taking people to see the cave drawings in a park about three hours from his house.  He asked the boys if they wouldn't like to go one day.  Finally the day arrived and Uncle Byron decided to take Uncle Harold up on the request. Uncle Harold said we would go to the park to see the cave drawings and make a trip through another park that was nearby.  Mostly wha...

Cutting a dog's hair! I've done some crazy things in my missionary days.  Some are probably better left untold.  And some I'm planning on telling you here on this silly little blog. Do you remember the post about the bad little dog named Nicky?  He was a little poodle mix that belonged to another missionary family.  We took care of him for about four months.  One time while I tried to trim his hair.  He usually went to a professional dog groomer and would come back looking like quite the Mr. Poodle.  The time that I trimmed his coat he looked like such a mess that one of the missionary ladies that saw him told me she was going to let the furloughing owners know what we had done to their dog.  Thankfully the owners were very easy going and didn't mind one bit. Well, poor old Blackie got a really bad skin problem one year.  He would scratch and scratch all day long and all night.  I tried shampoos for fleas and ticks, got him some medicine...

Yesterday, June 2 was Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day.  It's a day set aside to pray for sons and daughters who have drifted away from traditional Christian homes.  Some cases are rough with drugs and crime in the mix.  Others are teens who ran away never to be heard from again.  I keep a list of such young people for whom I pray on a regular basis.  Some I personally know, others are from mothers who have asked me about some of our experiences. This year's theme was HOPE .  Hope is a fragile thing for parents of prodigals who are living in the moment of wondering what will happen next, will they ever see their boy or girl again. Parents like this question their own salvation hope, their own convictions about God.  I know because I've been there. Thankfully we made it through a rough time and today we have great HOPE.  Yesterday I was reminded of the poem I wrote four years ago after a chance meeting with a young lady who had left her home....

When our old Blackie was a wee little pup, he was whiny and stubborn, very hard to teach.  But I kept working and working and taught him about ten different voice commands.  He would respond to certain whistles and even a few hand signals.  When we got the new dogs, I tried to start teaching them a few things right away like: sit, shake, out, go to bed, come, sic, down, stay Wishbone, the white and brown dog, learned sit and shake quickly.  She loves to get up on the couch and understands down and up even when she acts like she doesn't.   Here the cat was already in Uncle Byron's lap when Wishbone came along and wanted UP, too.   The cat doesn't look so happy, does she? All the time we have been in Brazil, I never wanted to get a cat.  I wasn't sure how to deal with a cat here.  Our doors and windows are open all the time, so would a cat go anywhere and everywhere?  How would I keep a cat in?   Here she is on top of the tri-bunk bed...