visitor's week

This week we welcomed 4 couples from the States who were down to visit for an assortment of reasons. Two of the couples were here visiting from Augusta, Georgia. They work with Medical Campus Outreach and are considering starting an international version here in Belo Horizonte of the ministry with medical students.

The other 2 couples are from Graystone Church in Atlanta. Our team goes way back with Jonathan and Jennifer Howes. Jonathan was at West Georgia when Amy and I were students there. He is now the head pastor at Graystone. The Moffitts came down with the Howes and Mike (CPA) shared at our graduates groups about personal finance.

Money is our theme this month with our graduate groups. The questions that the group have come up with have been quite challenging. Despite having a CPA brother and father this theme is a difficult one for me. I guess there just weren't any of those genes left after my brother.

overwhirled

On Monday this past week me and 6 friends from Belo traveled down to Campinas to see some of the students we met during the Cross Cultural project at Unicamp. A few things stood out to me from the trip: 14 hours in the car is a long time... 14 hours in the car with 7 people is a really long time... 14 hours in the car with 7 people playing "name that country in alphabetical order" is probably too long. But I couldn't imagine doing it with a better group of people. We had a blast.

Our time in Campinas was complicated by all the approaching final exams, but we had a really good time with a few people. We got to spend some good time with Débora, João, our friend Ricardo who used to live in Belo and Vinícius. We even convinced Vinícius to come home with us and stay until Sunday [that's Vinícius to my right in the picture, and Alan to my left].

Some of the students are deciding whether or not to participate in the project. Please pray for their decisions and that they would be sensitive to what bigger plans might be out their for them.

The title comes from playing in the pool the other day with the kids. It's actually more of a wading pool rather than a real pool. We run around in circles and make a "whirl" pool. Mix that with the feeling of being overwhelmed and there you have it.

noted mine pic

Check out this "noted pic" out in front of the mine. Scroll over the picture for the notes to appear.

black gold

We took Melissa today to Ouro Preto, a city just over an hour from here where so much of Brazil's history began (or at least the part after Portugal got here). I won't bore you with a history lesson but we learned so many interesting things today about the history of the slaves in Brazil and about the group of men who plotted Brazil's separation from Portugal. We even climbed down into a gold mine (tons of gold was mined from Ouro Preto). The mine was worked by an African tribe from the Congo which was captured and enslaved, including their king - nicknamed Chico Rei. He later purchased his freedom and later freed 43 other slaves. We visited the church they built themselves and saw the basins were they brought back the gold powder in their hair and teeth. [the humor in the picture is because Melissa slipped a little as she was taking our picture... Amy, Simon and Lucy had to turn back because the path got too tight... one more interesting fact, back in the day the population of Ouro Preto doubled that of New York and rivaled many other booming towns]

back from the woods

After a lot of rain, a lot of kids, a lot of information, a lot of miles, and a lot of food, we are back home. We got back Saturday night but jumped right back into things here. I had to finalize the series on change on Sunday so I pretty much spent all day Saturday and Sunday editing an interview with Jim Downing I did at the retreat. And then tonight we met with the graduates... just finished and it's after 1 a.m. They insisted on playing dominoes since it was Melissa's last night with the group. Good night.

pearl harbor

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending the day with Jim Downing. Mr. Downing was an essential part in the makings of the Navigator ministry. He is 93 years old but was willing to make the 30 hour trip from his home in Colorado to spend a week with our team. As a career sailor in the Navy he saw the great earthquake of 1933 from his ship off the coast of California. Later his ship was bombed in the raid on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Downing shared a wealth of knowledge and heart with our graduate group last night. We are thankful for his willingness to come and do whatever it takes to see the kingdom advance.

Later today we make a two hour trip out to a retreat facility to spend the next 4 days with Mr. Downing and also Ken Curry from Campus Outreach Minneapolis. Ken is coming down with his wife and kids.