Transitions

I started one of these early last Thursday morning, writing about how I like to be up first and fix the coffee because I love the smell of fresh coffee in the morning. It became kind of mundane subject after the transitions that went on during the day.
It was interesting that last Sunday (the weekend we celebrated our arrival in Brazil) we had lunch and spent the afternoon with the first friends we made after moving to Bauru. They were a couple young enough to be our kids, but God chose them to help us make the transition to new ministry in this city, and they have continued with us throught the ups and downs of getting this church started. Guto (Goo´Too) and Vanice (Vah Nee´See) and their daughters Isadora and Veronica have become among our closest friends.

One of the ideas to put into practice this Family month at church was to take some friends out for pizza. Last Sunday evening after the service we went out with some friends for pizza, and then the group continued to grow. In the end we had more than twenty friends along. What a noisy group we became once we got to the place (our caravan of cars got lost making a wrong turn on the way). This was a pizza place that does a rodizio (that is where waiters come around with different flavors of pizza until you can’t eat anymore, even with offering dessert pizzas like caramel banana and chocolate). This time Sue got the last piece of chocolate pizza and the waiter scraped all the chocolate off the tray onto her piece. It may look awful, but boy, is it tasty! She cherished the moment and the taste!

Yesterday, we had our family road rally for church. First clue was given at the church and folks had to decipher the clues picked up at each point to get from one to the next around the city, and at some spots they had to a project to complete before they could get the next clue. There were seven different points to get to, the last bringing them back to church. I know this is done in the states, but it was a first for everyone involved in this one. The people loved it, and had all kinds of stories of what went on at the different stops. Since I had to be at one of the clue points, I couldn’t take pictures until the winner’s circle. The winners (a couple who went on their motorcycle) got a trophy and prize - a game for their family. (Their kids said that it sounded boring and didn’t do the rally). Once everyone was back at the church, we had a lunch of sloppy joes and salad that Sue had made. There is one more weekend of family activities and services, but we won’t be here for that.

Back to Thursday morning, we got an e-mail to call Lynne, our daughter-in-law, who informed us that Bill’s sister Jewl Ann, who’s been battling cancer the past couple years, was in her last days here on earth, and if we wanted to see her before she headed to heaven, we should come home soon. Suddenly a big transition with a lot of bases to be covered – tickets to buy, classes to cancel, money to change and get in the bank to pay bills, people to fill in at church, plans to change and preparations to make for weeks ahead…the list went on. As people here heard the news, they gathered around us. After tonight’s service, most everything is taken care of, and we leave tomorrow morning for a short visit to the states. Not an easy one to make!

It's hard to believe that a year ago today, our son Aaron and his wife Rachel were getting married on a beach in southern California. We wish them all the best for the years ahead!