Contrast

Sunday's Pictures

Today is Sunday, which means for us a day off from work – Sabbath. And since Nilopolis’ main service is in the evening, we headed into Rio for some tourist action. What a contrast to yesterday’s trip. First up: Christ the Redeemer.

The weather was much better than last week, though it was still very smoggy. We loaded up into the cog train, and headed up the mountain. Mary had the opportunity (and used it) to wow us with her Samba skills. Her heart (and feet) must have been born in Rio!

Once on top, we were able to view the statue and surrounding countryside. What a view! Even with the smog, we could see mountain ranges far off in the distance. After about 30 minutes and 300 pictures later, it was time to head to lunch.

Marcio and Jefferson, our translators had arranged an all-you-can-eat pizzeria for us for lunch. WOW! Brazilian pizza is different, but great! Last night’s pizza had personal care on its side, but today’s pizza had variety! This pizzeria had over 40 kinds of pizza! I never imagined such variety! There was cheese, provolone, onion an cheese, hotdog, chicken and cheese, pepperoni, sausage, shrimp, beef stroganoff, and more. And that’s just the salty pizzas – the sweet ones were still to come. Those included pineapple and ham, banana, chocolate brownie, chocolate, pineapple, strawberry and chocolate, strawberry and white chocolate, and the finale: M&M’s pizza! After eating about 20 pieces of chicken, it was time to go to Sugarloaf Mountain.

Sugarloaf Mountain was also beautiful! By the time we got there, the smog had cleared a lot. We went to the top of Sugarloaf and took another 100 pictures. It wasn’t hard. Some of them are on the web – I did you the favor of not posting the majority of the 400+ that I took total.

Upon arriving back at Pastor Pedro Paulo’s house, we get ready and headed out for church. Tonight I went upstairs with the children, and had a blast worshipping with great Brazilian children. THEY CAN SING! I tried teaching them some old American songs, but they already knew it. So I thought them the motions instead. We also enjoyed a beautiful interpretive dance by four young ladies. Finally, I got up and did a Q&A session with the kids, which ended with me speaking to them about some of the things I had observed the past few days.

One thing that I emphasize with the kids back in Hutchinson is that we are blessed, and have way more than we know. I try to instill this in the kids over and over. And when I see places like Esqueleto, it’s emphasized even more. What blew me away was when the kids leader in Nilopolis told the kids the same exact thing: “You are blessed with much.” I told the children briefly about what I had seen the day before in Esqueleto, and how much their teacher was right. We are blessed. I don’t understand why, but we are. I asked the kids if we could become prayer partners and pray for each other – them in Brazil, and us in the States. They said yes, and we have new friends for life!

Tonight everyone is packing and getting ready to head for the beach for two days of R&R. I do not believe that I will have Internet connectivity where we are headed at 6AM in the morning, so I will post as soon as we get back on Tuesday evening.

God bless (I know he has me!),
Mark