Finally Some Pictures

Just to let everyone know, I finally put my pictures online and I´ve posted the links to my albums on the side of this page. Hopefully I will keep adding albums as I take more pictures, so check for new links if you want to see them.

A Breif Respite in the City of Mangos

Belem, we where we spent the last ten days, as seen from the lighthouse by the river

Let me begin this post by following up on some my previous posts. Firstly, I said before that it looks like we would only be staying in Samambaia for one month, but that ended up not being true, only a miscomunication between the pastors of the different churches. We will be spending two months in a row in each of the three locations (Samambaia, Ceilandia, and Gama) like we had originally thought. Secondly, the preaching at the Thursday service went well and was well recieved by the congregation. It wasn´t very long, but it turned out fine.

The Monday after that service, Dani and I had the opportunity to go with Rosalina (the pastor here) north to Belem, to visit her sister and her family. We spent ten days with them, exploring the city and the surrounding area and visiting some beaches. Unlike Brasilia, which was founded only about 50 years ago, Belem is an old city that was built by Portuguese colonizers in Brazil. It´s a beautiful city with lots of old churches and cobblestone streets and parks and open-air markets. We spent several days just exploring the city and surrounding towns with Rosalina and her family.

We also had the opportunity to visit some amazing beaches nearby. One day we visisted Mosqueido, an island in a river near the cost, and over the weekend we went to Salinas, the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. It was even better because it isn´t considered to be beach season in Northern Brazil so there wern´t many people at all. There where also some huge dunes behind beach that we decided to explore...

The view from the top of the first dune

We (Dani and I and Rosalina and her sister and her husband) walked to the top of the first dune, where we looked out across the beach and ocean to one of the most beutiful sights I have ever seen (see photo). Once we had caught our breath (from the climb and the view) we continued down the other side of the dune on a path that cut through the dense tropical undergrowth. After resting at the bottom we continued along the path up towards the top of the second dune. The climb was steep and the sand made walking difficult. After we had climbed three-quarters of theway we stopped for a brief rest and a photo, which I took (and here it is).

While we were resting, a man came up from behind us on the dunes. His head was wrapped in a red t-shirt and in his hand was a large knife. He stood next to Rosalina´s sister and held out the knife. He told us to give him all of our money. He wasn´t interested in cell-phones or cameras, he said, just money. None of the Brazillians had brought their money with them, but Dani had her purse and I had put my wallet in my camera case, instead of leaving it at the hotel. Dani emptied out her purse and handed her wallet to the man. He tooked the money and asked if we had more. Elvis (Rosalina´s brother-in-law) asked me if I had any, and I reluctantly pulled out my wallet and gave it to him. Elvis opened it up and gave the man 100 reais (brazilian money, equivelant to about 45 american dollars) and handed it to the man. He asked for more and Elvis pulled out 10 more and said that that was all, showing the man the inside of my wallet. The man then seemed satisfied that we had no more cash and made his way quickly back down the dune (Elvis managed to save about 60 reais that was hidden behind some papers in in my wallet). Shaken, we continued up to the top of the dune, where we stopped and sat down to try to catch or breath and to try to grasp what had just happened. (While it had happened it seemed so surreal. For some reason I wasn´t scared at all and my only thoughts were, "I really hope he doesn´t take my camera" and "this should make for an interesting blog entry") We all prayed together and thanked God that no-one had been hurt and we prayed for the man that had taken our money. The view from the top of the second dune was almost as beautiful (maybe more, you decide) as the first had been, and after we had rested we made our way down the dune, back toward the beach.

The Top of the Second DuneDespite this incident, the ten day break was very nice. It was a good chance to see a different part of Brazil and make new freinds and form relationships in a new place. We flew back to Brasilia very early Thursay morning and got right back into the old grove. We went to the school that morning at nine, despite having only about three hours of sleep on the airplane. It was strange flying into Brasilia and feeling like I was coming home, but that was how I felt. And it´s good to be back here with people I know, in my home-away-from-home.