Well, Call Me Uncle!

I would like to introduce to you my first and only Niece, Eden Marie Storer. She was born on Sunday July 24th daughter of my brother Troy and his wife LaRae. I am an extremely proud Uncle.

Last Softball Game of the Season

Last night the church softball team had its last game of the season. It has been a fun season and we played better than we did the previous year. Of the two games in the double-header last night we lost the first game but won the second game after coming from 2 points behind in the last inning. It was quite exciting.
The picture of Kim and I was taken just as Michael Martin was running home during a hit. Needless to say I was a bit distracted. But we finally got it right. We took two pictures as a team. One was supposed to be serious the other silly. Well, the silly picture came around and only two people were being silly so I had to take matters into my own hands. I gave the two people next to me a nice shove and it created a nice tumbling effect. You must notice however, that Bob (far right) was able to keep his composure throughout.I am kind of glad that the season is over because it has been so busy lately and we need to get work done on the house. But, it was great to end with a great win. It will make it exciting to come back to play next year.

Oops! Badge+Fan=No access to Building!

Just a note to remind you. If you happen to wear a badge hanging from a lanyard, you may want to beware when you are leaning over a computer that is being cooled by an external fan. If the badge happens to get sucked into the back of the fan it could be rendered useless in a matter of seconds. It also may startle you because of the loud noise. Not that I have an exorbitant amount of experience in this realm of activity or anything.

I was reaching over this fan to get some measurements for a power supply that I was supposed to order. Now I have to go to the Badge Office to get a replacement before I leave today so I will be able to get into the building tomorrow. Something interesting I noticed when I fished out the tangled wreckage from the fan was that there were small wires hanging out of the broken spots in the badge. I didn't know my badge had wires in it. That was cool to find out.

Anyway, I advise against doing what I did. Unless you are curious if your badge has wires in it too. Sorry I couldn't get the picture to show the wires. My pocket pc camera leaves many pixels to the imagination.

Who are they?

Thanks to my Mom, I realized that the family picture wasn't very detailed in it's uploaded state. So from Grandma's 80th party picture, listed from left to right is:

Micah, Kim, Robin, Brian, Jared, Christy, Lynette, Mark, Connie, Ron, Jack, Denise, Grant, Tory, Jennifer, Christina, Dan, Laura, Michael, John, and Julie.

Or,

Me, my Wife (Kim), my Dad (Robin), my Dad's brother Mark's son (Brian), my Dad's brother Mark's son (Jared), my Dad's brother Mark's son Brian's Fiance (Christy), my Dad's brother Mark's wife (Lynette), my Dad's brother (Mark), my Dad's Mom (Connie), my Dad's brother (Ron), my Dad's father (Jack), my Dad's brother Ron's wife (Denise), my Dad's brother Ron's son (Grant), my Dad's brother Ron's son (Tory), my Dad's brother John's daughter's best friend (Jennifer), my Dad's brother John's daughter's daughter (Christina), my Dad's brother John's daughter's best friend's Boyfriend (Dan), my Dad's brother John's daughter (Laura), my Dad's brother John's son (Michael), my Dad's brother (John), and my Dad's brother John's wife (Julie).

I you made through that paragraph still sane, I commend you.

Mom - Thanks so much for your comments. I am glad you helped me realize that the picture was a guessing game and that not everyone would know the people pictured. I will try to get a more detailed one to post as well.

Doors, Floors and Cabinets

Today was another day of working at our house. Greg (the Cabinet Guy) brought the cabinet boxes to the house so I have to show a picture of them. Mike and Lyndsay, Al and Caroline, and Kim and I worked for about half of the day. Greg hung doors, Lydsay, Caroline and Kim painted the doors and closets, Al replaced the electrical hardware, Michael installed lighting and I cut holes in the floor for the vent covers. We got quite a bit done and things are starting to look finished.
In the pictures you can see Al in the kitchen with some of the cabinets. The "office" with part of a new door, the new flooring, and a finished vent hole. The green room is the master bedroom with a new light fixture and a floor that is not cleaned up yet. And the last picture is of me starting to cut a vent hole in the dining room.

Grandma's 80th Birthday

Thursday the 14th was Grandma Connie's 80th Birthday. Boy was it fun. We were able to have a good majority of the family together and I got to be "in" on one of the best surprises ever. It all started last week when my Dad called and said, "Micah, you know Grandma will be turning 80 on the 14th? How about I come out there and surprise her and the whole family." "Wow!," I said, "that would be fun." Then he said, "Oh, and while I'm out there I think I will climb Mt. Rainier." Wow! Wow! My dad has wanted to climb Rainier for as long as I can remember (which isn't very impressive because of my not so impressive memory). But, he did live out here when he was a kid and my uncle Ron (his brother) climbed it over 15 years ago. I think I remember him saying that he wanted to climb it then. So I think that is enough proof. But more about that later. Back to surprising the family and Grandma.

My dad flew in from Missouri in the afternoon on the 14th. We immediately started surprising his brothers. Mark was at work at the tow truck company and so we headed over there first. We park across the street and I see Mark driving around the corner. My dad hides in the trunk and I get a phone call. It was my Cousin Jared. He was in the office watching the whole thing. "What is your dad doing here, and what is he doing getting in the trunk of your car?" he asked. I told him to "shush" and wait a second. So I tell Mark I have a present for Grandma in the trunk of my car and I need help with it. So he comes around the car I open up the trunk and there is my dad. Of course, Uncle Mark acts nonchalant and says, "Oh, Man, that makes my present look boring." So we continue to the other brothers houses and enjoy surprising each in a different way. John, that smarty pants, guessed that my Dad was in town before we got there but it was still good to visit with him. Ron, wasn't home so my Cousin Tory helped get my Dad into their basement. Then when he got home we told him that the surprise was in the basement. He was very surprised as well.

However, none of these compared with the surprise for Grandma. After everyone arrived Dad called the house on his cell phone and asked to speak to Grandma. She got on the phone and because there were so many people in the room she plugged her ear. So Dad was in the kitchen and slowly walking into the living room. As he came closer he was saying, "I called to wish you a happy birthday.... Can you hear me? I am on my cell phone. Can you hear me?" So everyone started to hear him as well. Only Grandma was concentrating so hard on trying to hear and plugging her ear that she didn't notice him walk into the room. All of a sudden, she finally saw him, screamed with surprise and straightened up in her chair. It was quite a sight to behold. The evening was filled with good food and lots of visiting. My Uncle Ron took lots of pictures and he sent me a few to post. He is a great photographer. He was the one who took pictures at Kim's and my wedding.

So my Dad is preparing to climb Mt. Rainier right now. He has one day of training, then Sunday he will climb to Camp Muir then Monday early morning he will climb to the peak and back down in the afternoon. A small part of me wishes I could go with him but with everything else going on it is probably good I am not.

A Comment on Comments

An Ode to Those Who Comment

Comments are a wonderful thing
They make me want to laugh and sing
Letting me know that people care
And are enjoying the words that I share

Every time I check my gmail
I clap and cheer when comments avail
Reading every poignant word
Neglecting to reply is quite absurd

So in conclusion, it was easy to see
I needed to tell everyone with much glee
I love your comments every-one
Please continue, never be done

I wanted to thank all of you who have been reading this blog. It has been a pleasure to share my experiences with you. I have been remiss in my expression of appreciation for those of you who choose to comment. So this is my thanks. I hope that my silly poem gets the message acrosss. It is dedicated to you. (especially to the one person who likes invented poetry, you know who you are)

dopad - Thanks for the insight on using the Brush Cutter. I really appreciate it. The funny thing is that as I was working with it and getting frustrated I was thinking that you would be the perfect person to ask the correct method of using this tool. If only I would have had more than 2 hours of rental time calling you would have been an option. Also in response to your suggestion adding links to certain areas. The links that are provided are labeled as to the name of each post. Adding more may be quite a task and I am not sure I am ready for that learning process. Right now I am leaving the site as default and I may play with more settings later.

Luke - In response to your questions - It is a little more difficult to balance three bottles than one. You have to really concentrate on moving as little as possible because you don't want the bottles to separate and move indepenantly. Also, in response to your question as to the start of the Yard? Work? It didn't quite happen like that but I really enjoyed your story about how it could have happened. It actually went something like this:

"Hey Micah," my co-worker said, "My neighbors are starting to revolt. Two ladies came over with a petition from the Homeowners Association asking me to cut down my wildlife reserve. And it needs to happen before the weekend." "Well, I may be able to help," I said. And that is how I got involved. I know it is not nearly as exciting as your story but hey, this is real life, not make-believe.

Christy - I think you should go to both Laos and Brasil. And I think that going to try the food would be a noble quest. And in response to Luke and I being alike. I am honored and humbled to be compared to him. He is a great brother and I think his creativity is something to aspire to. Don't tell him that though because he might get a big head.

In conclusion I wish to share a picture with you. It will disprove all accounts that those people who write or draw on dirty vehicles have no sense of creativity or beauty. I was driving on Hwy 167 southbound and I look over at the back of this semi and see what is pictured. I had just enough time to whip out my pocket pc phone and snap a shot of it. I appologize for the low quality of the picture. But I hope you can still see the details.

Yard?-Work?

One of my co-workers who shall remain nameless really dislikes yardwork. He was informed that he should do something about his lawn. When I asked him how long it had been since he had mowed it he said "Well, at this point mowing will be a bi-annual event." Meaning it hasn't been mowed in over 2 years. As you can see from the picture along the side of the house his yard had issues. The fence you see at the bottom of the picture is 6 feet tall. I couldn't open the gate because the blackberry bushes (that is those green things with leaves on them are) were pushing against it.

Anyway back to the story. I rented what is refered to as a "Brush Hog" from Home Depot. It looks like a push mower on performance enhancing drugs. Two big wheels in the back and the front just has metal skids instead of wheels and a large platform under which is a big beefy blade. I put it in the back of his truck and drove to his house. However, when I went to try to start it, things didn't go optimaly. It would start but then when I went to engage the blade it would quit. Unfortunatly every time I tried this the mower wouldn't even start for 5 minutes. So I tried 4 times before giving up, returning it to Home Depot and quiting myself for the day.

The good part of that experience was that when I saw the yard, I realized that that machine might not be the best with which to start. So the next day after work I went to another rental place and rented what looks like a weed wacker but at the end where the string goes there is a metal blade that looks like it belongs on a table saw. WoooHooo! That was a fun toy. I could cut through blackberry bushes, Big sticker weeds, small trees, and the drain pipe only to get lodged in the side of the house. Ooops! I am glad drain pipes are cheap and made of aluminum. Well, that was hard work but fun. Once I cut down all of the big items I tried the really tall grass but that just got wrapped around the saw just like a python and made it stop working. So I cut some grass, untangled it, cut some more, untangled it, cut some more ... you get the idea, until my rental time was done. I then loaded up just the grass and weeds from the small front yard into the pickup. If there was no fence around the front yard you could park a maximum of 2 cars on the grass (or the area that should be grass but is mostly weeds, ivy and more weeds instead). So we are talking about a really small front yard. And look how much it filled the back of the pickup! In the next few days I still will have one more load to take away the blackberry bushes from the side yard but you can see what a difference it was once the blackberry bushes were chopped down. It was a lot of hard work but very fulfilling. I really appreciated this chance to help him plus he compensated me for the work quite generously.

More Pics Posted

I have been quite busy since getting back from Brasil but I have been able to add some more pictures to my blog. So far I have the first half of the trip updated to the point where we left Caruaru. Be sure to check them out. You will have to scroll way down on the blog or go to the posts via the shortcuts on the left of the page.

Home at last

Well, we are home. The trip was wonderful and Kim and I really enoyed it. However, there is just something about coming home to the familiar after being gone for a while. In that note stay tuned for a "Post Brasil - Top 10 things I am thankful for" to be posted soon. That is after I finish getting up to date on how the trip went. But for now, you can know we got home safely. Tired, jetlaged, grimy feeling, but nothing a shower, sleep and more sleep will fix. I even went to work today. Funny thing, I got really hungry at weird times. Good thing a few simulators broke to keep my mind off of my stomach. By the way, you know a good indicator of when you have had a good vacation? If you forget your password to log your time. It means you were able to get your mind completely off of work. It also means you need to find that piece of paper or program where you keep your passwords and user names.

The Flight Fiasco

We went to the airport to verify our return trip when we got into Natal. At that time we were told that Varig changed the time of their flights to New York and the only way we could get home on time and meet our connections was if we left a day early from Natal. That meant that we would have to travel for 3 days to get home with two 12 hour lay-overs. Yuck! So after much work by the Varig employees they were able to find a flight home that would work. Not only that, but, we would get home in the middle of the day on Wednesday instead of late evening. The new flights would be with Varig and United instead of Varig and Delta. Instead of flying into New York we would fly into Washington D.C. It was overall a good change because we got to be in Rio for 7 hours instead of New York for 12 hours.

Even so, this is how our trip went. It was a little crazy.

5 am - leave hotel
6:30 am leave Natal fly 31 minutes to Recife get off plane, get on different plane,
8 am - leave Recife to fly to Rio De Janeiro
11 am - 6:30 pm - hang out in Rio (see Rio Post)
7 pm - leave from Rio to Sao Paulo. Get off plane, get back on plane
8 pm - leave Sao Paulo for D.C. fly 11 hours
7 am - get off plane, go through customs get bags, check bags back in, run to next plane
8 am - barely catch flight to Seattle, pull into Seattle 11:30 am

Whew! 1 pm - Try to catch breath, we are finally home.

There were more than a few times that we were commenting that this must be what it is like to be on the "Amazing Race."

Natal - Rio

Well, I will try to consentrate on updating my blog however there is this counter that keeps on incrementing in the upper right hand part of my screen. The internet I am using keeps an account of how long I have been on line and keeps on getting to be a larger number. Scary! I am at the airport in Rio De Janeiro. We leave in 40 minutes for Washington D.C. so these are my last few moments in Brasil. So many wonderful things have been happening but I haven´t been able to spend as much time on line in this second half of the trip. I will skip forward to today because it is still fresh in my mind and update the previous later.

We left from Natal this morning and changed planes in Recife. We arrived in Rio a few minutes before noon and we realized we couldn´t get our boarding passes or check in until 3:30pm. Instead of waiting at the airport, we rented a taxi van and we went on a 3 hour tour of Rio. We first went to see the huge statue of Jesus on the hill above the city. Wow! What a sight! It is on this mountain in the middle of the city. The drive is a windy road that is very steep. Add to that the crazy driving here in Brasil and it was quite an experience. From the top you can view the city. I believe the driver said that the mountain is 709 meters tall that is (2326 ft). The statue was beautiful and it was amazing to think of all the work that went into making it. The Statue is 98ft tall and arms stretching 92ft wide and it was completed in 1931.

We then drove down to the Beach. The area of Rio and the Beach we went to was called the Copacabana. The sand was the consistancy of sugar. The softest stuff I have ever walked on. Justin, Caroline and I walked into the surf and I was surprised by how warm the water was. That was quite an experience as well. Then we drove by Ipanema beach. It is just around the corner from Copacabana and is just as well known. We saw the Soccer stadium, the Carnival location and many beautiful churches from the outside. And then we came back to the airport. Today has felt like we were on the amazing race. Well, I can´t stand to watch the money go by any more. I will write more when it isn´t so expensive. We will be back at 11:11am on Wed. If all goes well. We fly into Washington D.C. which is a change in plans of which I will explain later.

Natal - Monday

Monday we were invited to visit the Mission/Bible School started by Harland and Hazel Graham. We were given a tour and had a meeting with the people who head up the mission about how it would be wonderful to train missionaries from Brasil to go to Mozambique because they speak Portuguese there. We spoke about how our church could work together with them to make it a reality. It is very exciting to see a work started by two people from our church, multiply to 200 churches in Brasil and now those churches will be sending missionaries of their own. God truely works in ways that are amazingly difficult if not impossible to understand.

After that visit the pastors from Natal took us to lunch at another place that fed us too much good food. (Come to think of it, all of the places seemed to feed us too much. Oh, wait, maybe the problem lies with me and my inablility to stop eating. Who knows?) Shopping at the Prison followed that. There is an old prison in Natal that has been converted into a market. They sell all kinds of tourist things. On the way home we stopped by the "Natal Shopping." Yes, you read it right. The people use the word shopping as a noun to describe a mall. It is an English word that has infiltrated their society but it was not brought in as we know it to be correct. We found a candy store to pick up some treats to bring back with us. We also finally made it to a McDonalds in Brasil. It was the other one in town and was located in the mall. We were proud to research and determine that the "Big Mac" was very similar in taste to the ones we have in the States. And that was it, our last night in Brasil.

Natal - Sunday

Sunday we went to "AleCrim" in the morning. (This is the central church of the Natal Mission that started in a tent. It is pronounced "Ah Lay Cree") This church was close to the hotel and so when we were picked up at 8am for church at 9am we got there plenty early. So rather than wait we had our faithful van driver take us to the McDonalds. It is one of the only two in Natal. When we arrived we found out that it was closed! So I guess there is only one McDonalds in Natal now. Church went well, Justin, Lynette and I played the song "Yes Lord, Yes Lord" for them. I just played the bass and Justin and Lynette sang. They seemed to enjoy it.

After church we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was buffet style and very good food but there was one different thing about it. After you picked up your food and before you went to sit down they weighed your plate. So you were only charged for the amount of food you actually took. Interesting concept. It was fun to visit with the other people who came from church. There was a guy named Filip (pronounced "Fill Leap"). So now I know two people with that name. He was the pastor's son. He is going to school to become an Electronic Engineer so we had plenty in common.

After eating we quick drove by the beach and took a few pictures. We then walked out to an old military fort at the end of the beach. We didn't have time to go in but it was really cool looking from the outside. The rest of the afternoon was spent resting up for the evening service.

We went to the Rocas District Church in the evening, it used to be a movie theater. Justin, Lynette, and I also were able to play a few songs with them for their worship service as well. Al shared his message on finances as well. Afterwards they had really yummy sandwiches for us. Monday was going to be a day of rest for us but plans change.

Natal - Orphanage - Saturday

The Orphanage was mentioned quickly at the end of my last entry but it deserves more explaination. Our driver was a young man who is married and grew up in this orphanage. He was a living testimony of what a work God is doing in there. Elias was his name and he was a joy to be with he is responsible for the 12-18 year old boys there. He volunteered his time to drive us around Natal in the orphanage van.

We arrived at the Lily of the Valley Orhpanage in the mid morning and spent the time until noon touring the facility. It is run by the Christian Mission in Natal and was more humble in construction than the state run orphanage we went to in Caruaru but the children were much better behaved. Just before lunch I was invited to share my balancing talents and slight of hand tricks with them and I talked about Micah 6:8 in the Bible. The children showed more knowledge about the Bible as well here. It was a lot of fun to help some young people who were also visiting to try to learn to balance and do the slight of hand.

Another fun thing that we learned was how Cashew nuts and fruit work. The Cashew fruit looks similar in shape to a pear. The nut hangs out the bottom of the fruit. After you eat the fruit you take the nut which looks like a kidney bean the size of a half dollar and put it in a fire. The outside burns and the inside cooks. After it has been in the fire a while, you take it out, break off the outside and the nut as we know it is there ready to eat. A fresh cashew is much better than those we get in the can.

Sonya, a pastor's wife from Natal was visiting as well and took the lead in teaching us about cashews. She even built the fire right there on the ground and roasted the cashew nuts for us.

That afternoon we spent some time swimming at the hotel, resting and then were picked up for the evening church service at Wilma Erie Memorial Church. They had a lot of special music done by their young people. It was very up beat and loud. Al thought that it would be best of Kim and I told our relationship testimony again there because of the large percentage of young people. It seemed to be well received. Pastor "Junior" spoke that evening but more important than the words he spoke was the expressions on his face and how animated he was. It was a lot of fun just to watch him even though we couldn't understand the words. In fact we were able to understand much more because of his unique method of sharing. We went to bed tired that evening. It was a long day.

Natal (aka Nativity)

The same driver we had from Recife to Caruaru drove us from Caruaru to Natal. We left about 10am and drove until 6pm. It was a long drive. We did stop for lunch and a few potty brakes. Lunch was interesting. Our driver knew no English and neither did anyone at the restaurant. We eventually ordered 3 meals that claimed should feed 2 people each. There were 8 of us. When the food came out we were so surprised! There was so much food we couldn´t finish it all. We gave the leftover meat to our driver (it probably weighed 2lbs. It was difficult to know how much food we were going to get without speaking the language.

After arriving in Natal at our Hotel we rested for a little while then walked 5 blocks to a Mall. We found a grocery store and bought some bottled water and ate a snack in the food court. The following day (Saturday) another driver came to take us to another orphanage that we support in Natal. We got a tour and met many wonderful kids. I must get going now. My time at the internet cafe is running out. More later.

Caruaru Thursday

In the morning we had our time of devotions and then we sang and prayed over the city. Tonight is a big festival in Caruaru called St. John's Festival. However it's Biblical roots it has become another excuse to party.

We then went over to Luz da Vida, Light of Life, the correspondance ministry where they send out Bible course work. There were some errors made in one of the printings. It was our job today to correct as many of the pamphlets that we could. We had to white out and change some verse references, add an insert and stamp the address. There were five of us working--me, Kim, Lynette, Al and Caroline. We worked for 2 hours and got about 500 done.

After lunch we went to a market to shop. We saw many tourist type items. We were able to get some things for really cheap. Kim got a blanket for 12 Reals(pronounced hey al), or 7 dollars and some wooden spoons for 2 Reals, or 80 cents. We enjoyed seeing all of the culture.

In the evening we had a bar-b-que with the youth. Kim and I were asked to share our testimony of our courtship. It went well but it was hard to tell how much it really sunk in with the youth. They seemed to pay attention the whole time so that was good. We went to bed after midnight that evening and we had breakfast with Lou and Fay in the morning at 8am. Then we said many goodbyes. It was very hard to leave those wonderful people.

Caruaru Wednesday

Wednesday was spent preparing to visit a children's home--Mansao da Vida, and then going to visit the home. A group of us went out and shopped for things the kids need and like. Phil says there are no other groups or people who do anything for this children's home and the kids are starving for love and affection. As a group we purchased 50 towels for the home and a lot of candy for the kids to enjoy. We were surprised at how much we could buy for the money we had. We spent 30 dollars US on candy and there was so much. There was enough for the kids to have for the next month or so.

When we got back to the house we ate lunch and got ready to go see the kids. All of us loved going to the children's home. We had kids hugging us and giving us kisses. They loved having their picture taken and then they liked to see it on the digital cameras. While at the home we sang worship songs and had a little service. Al and Caroline each spoke about how much God loves each of them. Then I got up and did some balancing, silly faces and magic tricks. After performing I spoke to the kids about mercy and how even though we have all done bad things, God loves us and sent His Son to die for our sins. I layed out the plan for salvation. About 29 of the kids accepted Jesus as their Savior. It was so great to be used by God and see him working! Please keep these children in your prayers. After our little service we had the kids line up to get their treats. They loved getting the candy and a balloon. When it was time to go it was hard to leave them.

In the evening we went to the mid-week church service where Justin and I helped with worship. Then Justin and Caroline gave their testimonies. Justin worked hard and learned some Portuguese phrases. Both Justin and Caroline talked about trusting in God. Al spoke on finances and taught about debt and giving. After the service Kim and I talked with the worship leader, Marcius, and his wife. It was interesting talking with them since we did not speak each other's language. Marcius knows a little English so we got along okay, but there were times when we had to do charades.

Caruaru Monday - Tuesday

Monday afternoon and evening a group of us--Phil, Kim, Me, and Lynette went to the hospital and met some doctors and some other people. We prayed for a lady going in for surgery. Later that evening we went shopping at a grocery store--the Hiper Mart. Hiper meaning big. It has been bought by Wal-mart. Some of the unique things we saw were: a whole aisle of pasta, small cereal section, all sorts of different fruits, avacadoes the size of a small canteloupe, dried meats just sitting out, and sides of beef the size of a suitcase just wrapped in plastic.
When we arrived at the house we ate dinner. Kim was starting to feel yucky so she rested while I went to the church with Justin to teach music. Justin taught some of the kids voice lessons. I showed some of the boys how to play bass guitar. After the lesson we played basketball.

Tuesday preparing for the tea took all day. We broke up into two groups one group went grocery shopping, while the other packed up the car. Phil and I then drove the car up to the village church to drop off the tables, linens, decorations and tea cups for the sha (tea). Kim stayed home since she was still feeling yucky. Phil and I stayed at the church and set up all the tables and put the linens on them to get ready for that evening. On our way, Phil took me to a little place for lunch where we had traditional Brazilian food--rice, beans, beef, a root that tasted like potato and salsa. Have I talked about Guarana? It is a Brasilian soft drink made from a root in the Amazon, it has natural caffine. So, naturally I like it a lot! It is very sweet, kind of like Mountain Dew.
Since all of us would not fit in Phil's car to go to the tea we decided to rent a Toyota--which is an extended Jeep type vehicle. There were twelve people riding in the Toyota which can fit fourteen comfortably; however, Phil says they have fit 30 in the past. We all thought it was like the Indiana Jones Ride in Disneyland, but much, much longer. On our drive we saw many animals on and near the road: pigs, horses, cows, chickens, goats, peacocks, parrots, lightning bugs, lizards, dogs and cats. It was quite an adventure.

The tea went well, there were about 50 ladies from the village Serrote Dos Bois (Hill of the Cows, Sounds like "Say Hoe tay those Boys") and surrounding area. It was a very special time for them because they live simple lives and this was a time just for them. Our team sang "Jesus, Name Above All Names" to open, followed by testimonies from each of the ladies on the team. Justin played interlude music while the ladies drank their tea. And I even got to play my three and a half songs I know on the piano. At the end there was clean-up, fellowship and driving home.

Tea at the Village Church