Meetings in the villages:

Although we have eliminated having to transport people from village to village to be able to attend meetings, we still seem to always have some passengers who want to take advantage of a free ride to visit relatives!

Meeting at Masheya:

This day we were fortunate that it hadn’t rained, since this hill is horrible to climb when it’s muddy. The day of our last meeting here we were told that they were going to have a party/dance. This always involves a lot of alcohol, so I was a little leery of what might happened, but we decided to trust it to the Lord and go ahead. When we got there, the party hadn’t started yet, but there were a few young guys hanging around, several of them already pretty far gone. I was amazed that there was no one trying to hinder us as we made our way to the house where we have our meetings, especially since Vino, one of the tribal leadership who is most against our doing meetings in the village, was the one hosting the party. More surprising was that both of his wives and three of his daughters were at the meeting!
We went ahead with the meeting, and about halfway through the teaching, there was suddenly some noise outside the door. One of the young guys started shouting at someone through the door. He kept telling someone to leave the meeting and go with him. Suddenly he lunged into the house, grabbed one of Vino’s daughters, and dragged her off. Apparently she is his 14-year old wife, and he didn’t want her in the meeting. I’m not sure what happened, we missionaries wisely did not get involved, but I know that Vino went after his daughter. By the time we were done with our meeting, the ruckus was over, and we left in peace.

Health Work:

We continue our visits to do health work, although now only once a week, since the clinic opened up in the village. Interestingly enough, the people trust us way more than the gov’t health people, but that is what years of showing God’s love does.

While at one of the villages in the infirmary, Mese decided to pose on my motorbike.

Speaking of health…  I decided to open up a muscle gym at my house. Well, not quite, but several of the young guys enjoy coming by to lift weights, especially Rai.

Local Brazilian church:

The work with the local church continues. The church 12 miles up the road is the mother church of our local congregation, and is always inviting us to show up there. This sunday we did so, but have explained to them that we are working full-time where we are, and are not free to be running over there all the time, even if it is enjoyable!

Miscellaneous Other Things:

The local garage consists of my front porch area. Our lawnmower motor is on the blitz, and try as we might, we were unable to put it right. Lack of parts. Briggs&Stratton parts are not sold in Brazil, even if the motors are! AAAGH!

I’m getting ready to build a new garage for my pickup. I had a local guy saw the lumber with his chainsaw, and then his father and youngest brother (pictured) brought them over by bull.

One of the things I end up doing when I’m in town is helping other missionaries with their computers, which is what Zé Rodrigues and I are doing here.

When our leadership came to visit, I introduced them to the Wii fit. I got it for Christmas and it has been WONDERFUL! Great exercise (and fun, too).