Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2019

Cowboys of the Backlands

Yesterday was the annual procession of cowboys in our little town of Sobradinho, Bahia.  It's a Catholic tradition.  Our town has three Catholic chapels, one in each of our three neighborhoods.  The parade starts at the far end of our linear town at the first church and heads down the main avenue with all the cowboys on horseback following the statute of the Virgin Mary on donkey drawn cart.  They make their way to the main church in the far neighborhood where all the cowboys participate in a special mass to bless their year. Regardless of the religious connotations, the parade is lovely to see.  All types of horses and all types of "cowboys" big and small.  Some years there is even a man riding on a old Zebu bull.  Sadly this year the bull did not make his appearance. We see real, live cowboys in their full leather outfits at least once a week riding down the avenues of our town, in the fields near our house herding cattle and goats ba...

Summer Prayer Letter [by Byron]

The Athas in Brazil Taking the Living Water  to the desert Northeast   R.Araras 12 / Sobradinho, BA / 48925   +55 74 98806 9559  bwaii@yahoo.com Hello all.                                                                         August 2019 When I ended my last letter there was still plenty to tell, and as I start this letter I think I could fill 3 pages.  The good news is I don’t have that much paper on hand.  The bad news is that I don’t need paper to send this electronically.  BUT I’ll have mercy and stop when it’s time whether I’m done or not.  I just hope I’m better at stopping in letters than I am with sermons…   I’m writing this now because I won’t have much time this month.  We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of our oldest son and new...