Cactus Flower

Remember our pal, Nicolas?  Before our furlough the little guy spent a lot of time in our house.  We hadn't gotten to see him since we'd arrived until this weekend.  But when we did it was just as if we'd never been gone!   Seems our little buddy talks a lot about us to his grandmother.  Made me think of the impact adults have on children.  The little time that Mr. Nic spent in our house had a big impression on his life. We had rules and some consequences and there was lots of patience and love.  We spent lots of time playing games together, digging in the dirt together, and reading books.  There was also lots of time to talk about God. I'm praying for my little pal this week as some big changes are taking place in his life over the next few weeks.  I'm praying and planning on how to continue to make an impact in his life even from far away. In much the same way, I'm working to stay involved in our three boys' lives and in those o...

That seems to be the question every one asks us these days since we've arrived back in Sobradinho.  What's next?  What are you going to do now?  Where are you going?   A few people ask about how the boys are or things about my grandbabies or parents.  But not too many.  This week three people asked when I could start teaching English to their children again! First year in Brazil, 1994 So what is next for The Athas in Brazil?  If you were able to attend one of our furlough meetings, hopefully you have some sort of idea.  If not, I'll try to give a brief answer to the big question. Remember that trip we took all over interior Bahia back in the fall of 2017?  We visited over 200 communities over the course of about two weeks all within a few hours of where we live.  You can back to my post about it and review some of the details here... Bahia Road Trip Byron and I plan to begin evangelizing some of the nearest and needie...

We arrived in Brazil on Friday, July 27, with no problems in immigration or customs.  The only problem with our flights was our 11 hour layover in Recife waiting for a one hour flight to Petrolina!  Yes, we could have driven in about 10 hours, but we were dead tired and our flight was free - more or less.  Let's say, already paid for. Our dogs and the cat were happy to see us.  The cat purrs and purrs whenever one of us walk by and gets up in the night every time I do.  One of Wishbone's (the white dog) 5 puppies is still here.  We're hoping to find it a home soon enough. All in all, we can be very grateful for an easy arrival and transition. We've come back to a house full of bugs once.  Another time we had to battle a house full of rats.  Once there was a horse living in the back yard along with the stuff that comes of horses who live places.  This time there was just a clean house and happy pets.   Tomorro...