Accelerate ! Slow Mo! Stop! Play! Pause! Rewind!

So as if to signal that I needed to be a bit more active my Wednesday was filled with activity. I woke up at my usual 0900, gathered some food from my room, and went to make some breakfast. Some delicious peanut-butter toast with bananas on top! At this point I still had not taken a shower and had simply rolled out of bed and headed to the kitchen. Around 1000 after I had cleaned up my breakfast stuff we were just sitting and chilling in the kitchen/ living room area when Juan ( the owner) came in and asked if we would want to go down to a different beach as he was headed there to surf. I thought it would be a nice opportunity so I went and threw on some clothes (which for those who know me will atest, I NEVER leave the house without first taking a shower but hey, why miss an opportunity!), packed my packback, and headed out to the van. We then began our 15 minute drive to a beach further up the coast near a city called Lagoa. Whilst the guys donned their wet-suites I headed to find a good place to get some sun. As I approached the water I expected it to be as chilly as the water by the hostel but it was in fact quite warm and even clearer then the water further down.I then found a nice place by the dunes, laid down my towel then laid down myself! As the time passed I stretched out getting taking in so much beautiful sun and the beautiful view. As before there was hardly anyone on the beach which is so surprising but I am not complaining!

Around 1300 I headed back up, bought a nice cold coconut in which they had punctured a hole to drink its juices and waited for the rest of the guys! When everyone had reassembled we headed back to the hostel where I planned to remain the rest of the night. But around 1630 Juan came and said that they were planning on going on a “little” hike. (Now I wish there had been some quotations when he had said little but alas there were none) I agreed as he said it was not going to be that difficult. So off we went Juan, his wife, his sone and myself. We pulled up to a wooded/ jungled trail and began to walk. Let me rephrase that we began to walk UP! It was sooooo in the direction of UP! Early on I was lagging behind and so I just told them keep walking I will be fine and soon I found myself alone. Slowly, oh so very slowly I made my way up the trail. Soon the small trail turned into a clay road. As I walked up the curvy path I would see the bend and say “this looks like it is the last one, surely this is the last one, the mountain could not go any further, I don’t see how it could be!” But sure enough I would get to the top of that bend and there would be a whole other bend to walk up. I swear this happened like 5 times! When I finally reached the “top” I saw no one! I began to think I had taken a wrong turn somewhere and was now lost! I then saw a very steep rock and I heard people so with much hard work and a couple tries I made it up the rock, only to realize that is where it ended there was no more. So I resigned myself to my fate and set down for the first time for a bit of a rest. About this time Juan and his family emerged from the woods and told me it was time to head down! I just wanted to REST but there was no rest for the weary. So we headed down which to be honest was no better! It was steep and I fell many times! But I do have to say that I did get a very beautiful picture of the sun setting after all of it!

Thursday was another semi-lazy day. It began to rain and so it kinda halted all activity. I made a little trip to the local shop for some food but other then that stayed inside. Around 1500 we had all gathered ourselves (myself and the three other guys that were staying at the hostel, from Australia, Columbia, and France) We had the TV turned to Football (Soccer) and were generally just talking and such. Then Alex pulled out the guitar and John went and got his harmonica and I went and got my Ukulele and then we just started messing around. Playing random songs, singing and laughing at and with each other! It was amazing we were just having a genuinely good time! They then started to make the meal they had been planing of whole fish (it was actually pretty gross!) we then talked some more as they ate and then dispersed to bed around 2100.
Friday I woke up pretty late, around 1100 the guys were all packed up ready to move out (they were all going to lagoa, some for the weekend and some as their next stop, because it is closer to the clubs and party scene) So I just made a quick sandwich and headed back to bed where I Netflixed for the rest of the day as it was once again raining! Friday night my new and creepy roommate returned for the night and I was very thankful that it would be his last night.
Sabbath morning I awoke early to get ready for church. As I had yet to hear form Mary I had no idea if I needed to catch the bus to church or if she had arranged for someone to pick me up. Juan was nice enough to let me use his phone to call and I found out that she had indeed arranged for me to be picked up for which I was very greatful!
We made our way to church where this time I did not in fact get sick! (Yay, for me!) I set in the young adult Sabbath School trying to keep up with what they were talking about. Set through the sermon where I am pretty sure even if I had understood Portuguese I would have been relatively lost as the preacher kept jumping through many texts and reading them in reverse order (Ex. Revelation 21 starting at verse 5 then read verse 3 then 1 then 4! It was quite interesting! ) After church things where explained to me that I didn’t really get all the way and I ended up at another church members house that I didn’t know for lunch! But we had a great afternoon of interesting conversation about the differences between the states and here, about religion, about God and general topics, all in portuguese of course because no one spoke english making the conversation 10 times more interesting!
At about 1630 they dropped me back at the hostel and said that at 1800 someone else would be there to pick me up! So I got changed and refreshed, repacked my backpack and headed to wait outside as to not miss them (FYI it was still raining and in fact still is!) So at around 1825 in typical Brazilian fashion I was picked up by a group of people and we headed to someones house for what I figured out was a youth gathering. It was very interesting to meet new people, a lot of new people! They were having a lot of conversations, we did sundown worship, we played a game with number tiles (it was very interesting and I had never seen it before and it required ALOT of thinking!) and then they began serving Pizza. Now pizza here is very different then the states like last night some of the toppings included corn and peas, but it is equally delicious just different! We then played a game of guys against girls and a sort of charade game, which was very entertaining! At about 2300 people began to head out and I was taken back to my hostel where we made a quick detour to the pharmacy so I could pick up some allergy medications. When I got back to my hostel at about 0000 I found the power to be out but thankfully I had a very bright flashlight on hand (Dad I told you there was a reason I needed it!). I opened the door to find that I had a new roommate from Australia. I changed and crawled into bed where I did not emerge from until 1100 on Sunday .
I got up at some Farofa with eggs, saw that I had a million text messages, facebook messages and emails informing me that my iPad and iPhone had been found. (My parents were a bit worried about my lack of contact!) I informed them I was safe and sound and that the power had simply gone out and I couldn’t message them the night before. As it wast still raining I decided to crawl back into bed where I fell asleep till 1700, I then woke up, took a shower, and went to make some grilled cheese for linner. After joining the now 5 new people at the hostel in the main room and watching some basketball I headed back to the room at about 2100 to start writing which is where I find myself now!
Being here has so much reduced my stress levels! It is amazing, I am on Island time. When I a tired I sleep, when I wake up, I wake up, when I am hungry I eat! They only time I ever look at the clock because time is important is Sabbath! Other then that time is nothing, I just follow the time of the day by it being dark or light. I am so glad that I am having this amazing opportunity. I meet new people every day from all corners of the world and from right here. I get to learn a new language and culture. I get to live day to day not worrying about what tomorrow will bring. I finally am able to do what the Bible has always said with worry, DON’T HAVE IT! I have to say if you every have the chance to travel, DO IT! And I don’t mean stay in fancy hotels with a strict itinerary, no! Go and see what it is like to live, stay and do things that are outside of your comfort zone. Throw yourself into it, get to know people, people that are nothing like you because trust me, It is so worth it!

Slow and Easy…

I know that I have yet to post what happened to me over the weekend and how I ended up in the hospital, I promise it will but is taking quite a while to write down so for now I am just gonna write about what I have done since yesterday! To sum it up… pretty much nothing! I have been taking it easy the last couple of days and not for any other reason then I can! I have no where in particular to be, nothing in particular to do, and no one to meet! Yesterday I got up at about noon, took a nice shower, ate some peanut butter and crackers, and went to walk down the beach to find some Açai which I did! It was wonderful I got a huge bowl with a sorbe type Açai covered in granola, bannanas, and powdered milk. I enjoyed about ¼ of it at the restaurant and could eat no more so I got a lid and headed back to my hostel. Which is where I spent the rest of the day, reading, writing, sitting in the sun, playing with the dogs, playing with the Baby, and getting to know the other people at the hostel!
Today, well it was kinda the same I got up around 0900 due to some severe allergies I was having so I took a hot shower ( BTW our water heater thing in our shower had been broken for the past couple of days soooo, for the past couple of days my showers had been liquid ice! So it was nice to have a warm shower today!) Got ready and for the first time made an actual meal of substantive food. I sautéed some squash, onions and green pepper added in some tomato sauce and TVP and poured it of some toast.It was delicious! After that I asked about a place to get waxed and my nails done and I was referred to a place close by. It was about a 10 minute walk and when I got there for the life of me I could not figure out how to get in! But I eventually found the entrance and after a bit of laughter trying to communicate I eventually explained what I wanted and found out that for a manicure, pedicutre, lip wax, and eye brow wax it would all cost 55 reals (be jealous my state side friends that comes about to about $27.00). About to hours later my treatments were done I headed back home, changed into a comfy dress and headed to the beach. I found a nice place to sit and just did some thinking. It was amazing! The beach here is beautiful and never has more the 2 people on it. I also did some reading and writing while I was down there. As always it is nice to be in God’s nature talking to God and feeling his tranquility all around you! At about 5 I headed back put on some warmer clothes as the temperature began to drop and began to write for y’all. So that catches you up (for the most part!) This is an amazing place with amazing people and my stay here has just begun. I look forward to the amazing little things that are yet to come!

Lets explore!

It has been a few days since my original post and although I had started this same post on Friday the following events prevented it being competed and posted…

Friday May 30,2014
So it is my first full day in Brazil that involved no security, safety talks, or tiny seats! I woke up at about 0900 feeling much refreshed after my good night sleep. After getting ready for the day I set out to find food as my last meal had been lunch the day before. With an empty stomach I knew I needed to find… The church I would be going to tomorrow (I know I am so like my father!) So I proceeded to get directions where the owners wife kindly drew me a little map and informed me that this journey would not be a short one, but with nothing else to do but to explore I was ok with that! So I set out, my stomach would just have to wait (and wait it did!) Before I left I wanted to see if the beach I had seen pictures of was really as beautiful as the pictures of it were. I hiked up the dunes and looked over one of the most pristine beaches I had ever seen, there were few people, the water was clear and the sand soft. I walked down to the water and felt the coolness of it wash over my sandy feet. But my stomach soon reminded me I was on a mission so I turned around hiked back up and headed down the road. Let me tell you, she was not lying when she said it was not going to be a short journey! I walked till one road ended then I turned anddddd… walked till it ended I then made another turn and walked down that road tillllllllllll it ENDED, then I turned right and realized the house numbers were only growing and then I had to do it… What I had come here to do…. USE MY PORTUGUESE with a stranger no less so I mustered the courage, turned to a woman in her yard and said ” Licença! Minha portuguese è não bom, mas eu preciso ir a isso endereço! (translated that is “Excuse me! My Portuguese is not good but I need to go to this address!) whilst showing her where I was supposed to be. She then pointed me in the right direction and when I arrived at the church there was a group of men unloading some pews into the church. So I once again introed with the basics then I asked if this was the correct church, after some rough communication I learned it was, that they were in fact members of the church and were happy that I had found the church. After our conversation my stomach then returned to its original thought of food so I walked a little further and bought some groceries (that I forgot I would have to carry all the way back the Hostel!). When I realized that it would be an extremely long walk with these groceries I decided I would try the bus system, so I asked if the certain bus came this direction and I set down to wait and wait I did, for probably over an hour. After about 5 buses had passed by and none of them were mine I gave up, thinking I could have already been back by then! So I re-strapped my backpack and began the trek back. Sooooo…. I GOT LOST!!!!! Not only was I my mind tired from trying to navigate but my body was exhausted and I was fading fast because they last time I had eaten seemed like ages ago and it was now approaching 1400!
I spotted A woman pulling into her driveway and as she exited her car I asked once again for help. She looked at the address and her faced showed no recognition and then she informed me that she didn’t know where it was either, at that point I felt very lost! When she saw the utter disappointment in my eyes she kindly said that she could look it up on the computer for me and I thanked her. Around this time her husband came out, she explained and he said he would go and look. So we stayed and talked through her gate about myself and her. I learned that about 15 years ago she had lived in LA for a while to learn English but now most of what she new was gone and I told her about what I was studying and how I planned to move to Brazil when I was done with school. Her husband came back out and said that the address was actually fairly close and then she said she could drive me! I was ecstatic, I told her thank you and she drove me the 3 minutes to my hostel. I was finally back where unloaded my groceries, at some fruites, crackers and cheese relaxed in my bed for a bit and fell asleep at about 1800!
Sabbath May 31, 2014
During my sleep the night before I had awoken a few times with an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach but soon fell back asleep. I woke up at about 0700 to get ready and hopefully meet a bus that would take me close to the church. As I walked down the road I didn’t feel quite right but hoped the feeling would go away and I waited for the bus. I waited for a good 40 minutes and after such a long time I begin to doubt I was in the right place so I walked across the street and to inquire if the bus I needed came to that particular location and as the person began to respond the bus drove past! So I knew the next bus would not come for another hour so I hiked back to the hostel to see if the owner would be willing to take me, and he was. So I was off to church on the back of a motor bike in my dress! When I got to church I was warmly greeted by everyone and ushered to sit for Sabbath School, but it all started to go down hill from there. I began to feel overwhelmingly tired and my stomach began to revolt against me. I tried drinking some water, going to the bathroom and evening downing some horribly tasting nausea pills but to no avail! So at the end of Sabbath School I had made the decision that I would go outside to get some air and if that did not help I would have to find a bus back or walk back to the hostel. I went to the corridor and I nice woman asked if I was ok and I told her that I did not feel so well and I told her that I was probably going to have to go back to my hostel and then she did the nicest thing, she offered for me to come back to her house, she said she would take care of me and had some medicine that could probably help me. So we headed off to her house, which was rather interesting considering she nor the person driving understood or spoke english but when we arrived at her house I found out that her daughter actually spoke english quite well. They gave me some tea, some lemon medicine and offered for me to lie down, they also said that I really needed to eat something so they cut up an apple and I ate about 1 piece in 10 minutes. As time passed on I began to feel worse and worse, I felt light headed, like I had a fever, my head hurt worse, and the liquid that should be in my stomach was lingering in my throat eagerly wanting to exit. After about three hours I went to the bathroom and after I came out I began to shake and tremble uncontrollably and it was then they insisted that I go to the hospital as things were only getting worse. So off we went, me trembling barley able to hold my own weight with bowl in my hand for any incidents that might occur.
When we got to emergency room one person went in before to see how many people were in front and after finding out there were only 4 they brought me in where they described what was happening, got my information, took my tempature, and sent me to wait to see the doctor. It only took a few minutes before I was called back and when the doctor saw what I was experiencing she concluded that I was very dehydrated and that I had some sort of bacterial infection in my stomach. So I was sent upstairs to get an IV that included hydrants and pain medication for my stomach and then on top of that some pills for my stomcah. When the nurse came in to put the needle in my arm ( let it be know that even when I was a baby no needle made cry when stuck in me!) I screamed and thrashed, it was one of the most painful experiences I have had in my life! after the initial pain was over and the slow drip of medicine was going into my arm I just laid there. I talked some with Mary but after a while she decided that she was going to run home to pick me up something to eat and I fell asleep. When I woke up it was about an hour and a half later and she had returned, the nurses said I wasn’t allowed to eat anything until my blood test came back. At about 2000 my test finally came back and they let me leave. Mary said that she didn’t want me staying by myself for the night so she said that I would sleep at her house for the night.
Sunday June 1, 2014
Sunday I woke up at around 0900 and at some fruit for breakfast because I was feeling much better. Mary then made my appointment for the doctor as a check up. I got ready and we headed out. After the doctor gave me the all clear and list of things I could and couldn’t eat for the next couple of days and some medicine I would have to take twice a day for the next week we headed to the grocery store for me to pick up some food and then I was dropped back at my hostel where I spent the rest of the day relaxing and chilling out.

The journey is always the first adventure!

So here I am, once again in the sunny country of Brazil! I am here to work on my Portuguese skills, explore, and meet the people God puts into my life. After leaving on Wednesday from my Mamaw’s house at approximately 0930 I finally arrived at my semi-final destination, the Floripa Surf Hostel in Florianopolis Brasil at about 1900 on Thursday! Although It was a long journey filled with much airport waiting it was a good journey. My flight to Brazil was pretty empty allowing me to have the three seats in my row to sleep on (which would have been nicer had I not been in the back by the bathroom and stewardesses making it nearly impossible to sleep with the nearly constant traffic of people, lights going on and off, the door slamming, and the beep of the stewardess signal going off the whole flight.) But once I arrived in São Paulo I was surprised by a friend who texted and invited to pick me up while I waited for my next flight. Another friends father picked me up from the airport and we surprised my friend Jhoseyr at his driving class. His family was so nice they helped me convert my money and then they took me out to eat and I was able to have Açai for the first time in FOREVER!!! I then was returned to the airport where I boarded my final plane. I was very tired and ready to take a shower and hope into bed! Something I had been concerned about starting on my trip was actually how to get to the hostel from the Airport but there was a nice official desk where a lady was able to help me get a legit taxi that took me right to the place I needed to go! When I went to check in the owner was nice and helpful, explaining everything, giving me tips, maps, and generally welcoming! I was shown to my room that for at least that night I had to myself where I promptly umpacked, orgnaized, took a nice shower, and headed to bed where I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow at 2030! And thus was my first day in Brazil!

The Calling

 As I set silently listening to the choir practice their songs on my last Friday in Brazil I picked up a magazine to glance through. Now my first language is not Portuguese and as for it being my second language, my grasp of it is far from this category. But there were pictures, and thus I was interested. It was the May 2013 issue of Adventist World it contained a summarized history of the Seventh day Adventist church. Near the end of the issue there were some bubbles that contained what looked like statistics so I began to decipher what I could of these numbers and I came to a shocking realization. This short and condensed page had listed the number of church members on the books as of 2011. Now that’s not the surprising part, the part that took me aback was the number of persons who are baptized members,  a whopping 17,214,683 Adventist church members. Now you may be saying “Wow! What a number that’s amazing! The word is spreading!” But this people, is in fact, as far as I can tell a horrible number! First of all let us realize that roughly calculating from the 7 billion people the reside on planet earth this leaves approximately   6,982,785,317 persons who we either unknown to one of our church members,have accepted another belief system or have simply been disregarded. Broken down for you this means that for every church member there is approximately 407 lost or wandering souls to reach! Now I want you to think about that number, 407 now that is a huge number for one person! You!  Yeah, you need to start a mega-church… Your outreach, your witness, and your testimony is needed to reach a small town or large village! Often we sit comfortably in our pews  on sabbath morning saying Amen when we are supposed to, comforting our struggling brothers and sisters with the empty promise of prayers and reciting our Weekly rehearsed Good mornings and Happy Sabbaths!  Now you may be thinking, “But there are people for that, people God has called like pastors who go off to school to learn this stuff, elders and deacons who have been voted by the church, missionaries who go to foreign countries  and people who were born leaders.”So Here is a news flash just for you, GOD HAS CALLED YOU!! Yeah you, you the person who complains as they drive to work every morning because the traffic is rough forgetting that the homeless person waiting at the stop light holding his poorly written sign begging for money longs to sit in your place. You can try to downgrade yourself so you feel less responsible but the truth God has called you! When he placed you in the environment you are in he said “I have equipped you to be a witness to these particular people!” The missionary who is in Thailand is not coming by your work tomorrow to witness to your coworkers with whom you converse every day.  When you took your baptismal vows and died to your earthly self as your body was plunged into your watery grave you made a promise, maybe it was a broken moment at three in the Morning when you felt the pull of God upon your hearts deepest corners and you fell to your knees alone in the dark and turned your life over to him either way He has called you! There are at least 407 people out there who are waiting on you! You are needed, you are wanted, and you are called! I am not saying you all need to go out and preach a sermon or creep people out by simply walking up to them and asking if they know Jesus.  Accept YOUR call not someone else’s! Be a witness in ALL you are. Make Christianity more then a religious title enable the world to see the reflection of Christ through you. We are all called to be disciples! Follow, reflect and testify of the God you claim to follow, of the God you call upon when times are tough and the God whose love is explained in the well known verse in John 3:16! This is your wake up call, for God does not call the qualified but rather he has and will continue to qualify the called! ” And he said to them,’Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole of creation.” Mark 16:15