Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Saudades


Oi, Friends! Rich and I arrived in São Paulo Sunday morning in time to wait in some long lines, take a few wild bus rides and make it to sacrament meeting in Rich's first area. We spent some time with the members, who fed us our first Brazilian meal in several years. Just to make us feel at home, Helosie (at right) adopted us as older brothers. Wandering around the streets of Guarulhos at night seemed less inviting, so we went back to the airport for our midnight flight up to the land of a trillion bugs.
In Manaus, we found ourselves comfortably lodged in a twenty-story hotel. From our eighth-floor, air-conditioned pad, we have a beautiful view of the city down to the Rio Negro. The SRE is in the same complex, so we don't need our umbrellas to make it to work despite the regular tropical rainfall.
We spent the first two days watching and participating in classes taught by local volunteers. Irmão Ariel had the air conditioning working so hard even Rich and I walked out with frozen hands. Sure didn't expect that in the Amazon! Today our bishop and specialist pulled us out of class to tell us we would be teaching a class for the missionaries on their way home. The class was to begin in 15 minutes. If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear. The class was absolutely wonderful. We relied on the Spirit, and certainly felt divine help.
After concluding the class, performing an evaluation of our teaching, and cleaning up the room, we went to the kitchen for lunch. As we were getting our food, we were informed that the teacher for the afternoon class had not shown up. Would we teach that group, too?
Gird up your loins! There's work to do! That class went not so smoothly, as we had not been able to attend the second day and were not sure exactly what had been taught. But, we learn something from every contact and from every class, no?

Rich and Brian

1 comment:

Sarah said...

That makes us happy! Way to teach by the Spirit, and get it done! We miss you guys and hope you show off your interpretive dancing skills soon!
Sarah and Allie