My first funeral

We continue to be surprised by new experiences, even after living here for 2 years. The other day I went to a funeral of a man I never met.

I had heard about the death of a friend's dad, but never entertained the thought of going to the funeral. The other morning I showed up at another friend's house and asked what he was up to. "I'm on my way to the funeral, want to come?", he asked. My initial thought was that was the last place I wanted to go, but then I thought why not? I'll learn something new. I thought it odd they were still dressed in their work clothes. We jumped on our motorcycles and off we went.

As we rounded a corner I saw just ahead a procession, people mostly walking behind VW bus that had a casket hanging out the back. We joined them, half walking, half riding our motorcycles. I soon realized we were heading for the cemetery (makes sense, but I was prepared for anything). The procession reminded me of a New Orleans funeral, minus the pageantry. I was surprised that the normally boisterous and expressive Brazilians chose to honor their dead with solemn reverence and awe, much like we do back home.

The freshly hand-dug hole was waiting for the casket. One interesting difference with the casket was the sky light. Really, I'm not kidding. They don't embalm here, so all caskets are closed, the window allows the mourners to see only the face of the deceased. After a few songs and a prayer, the casket was lowered by ropes into the hole. The gravediggers immediately started covering the casket and the crowd slowly dispersed.

My first Brazilian funeral reminded me again of the paradox of experiencing a different culture. In so many ways the people here seem foriegn, in every sense of the word. And yet, the more I get to know them and their customs, I see they are so much like me.

Chicken Foot and Clean Water

This past weekend we traveled with a team from Ohio to a couple communities by road. Pé de Galinha (or "Chicken Foot") is a community where one of our Brazilian pastors has been working for a few years. Agua Limpa (or Clean Water) is a community where Keith, a fellow missionary, has been working for 2 years. I had never been to either of these places, but was eager to give my new truck a workout.

In addition to the team from Ohio, we took about 10 Brazilians who have been working with the church plants in Pé de Galinha and Agua Limpa. Although it looked like rain the whole way, we never felt a drop. I was thankful because our luggage (and some passengers) where uncovered in the back.

A quick photo-op as we stop to look at some monkeys in the trees overhead.

After arriving at Pé de Galinha and having lunch with some locals, we went out in groups and visited some neighbors, inviting them to the evenings program. Like many of the communities in which we work, the houses were spread out and remote.

Much of our time was spent just sitting around chatting. One topic included was the American presidential race. One of the locals was interested to know who each of us were planning to vote. It seems everybody knows Obama's name, but I've been asked several times "who is that other guy? John somebody?"

Two ladies were baptized at Pé de Galinha. Her husband attended the baptism and was visibly moved, but when asked, he said he wanted to wait for another day to be baptized himself.

Our girls were glad to have some other brazilian kids who went along. Pictured is Mia eating breakfast (crackers, chocolate milk, home-made cheese and corn meal) on a wooden cart.

It was nice to get back out into the interior after being away for so long. It was not without it's challenges though. After two nights with no electricity, running water or bathrooms, we were ready to be back home.

Our first couple weeks

The view out our front door. Unfortunate for my neighbor, candidate 15 lost the election (read on for an explanation).

I've been struggling to write a blog for the last several days. Not that we haven't been doing anything, it's just nothing that noteworthy. We've been trying to get back into the swing of things here, and for the most part we've been enjoying it. I'll try and give some highlights (or lowlights, as the case may be)...

• We came back to the hottest month of the year. I don't remember it being this hot before... maybe it's just the contrast, or maybe it really is hotter than normal. We have one room with an A/C that never really got much use during the rainy season. I'm not looking forward to seeing our bill for this month.

• The fans have been working overtime as well. The other day at lunch Brin realized that she had to compensate for the wind from the fan when shaking her pepper. Moving the shaker about 6 inches upwind seemed to do the trick.

• Ava and I (Josh) have really been the only ones unscathed by illness. Brin had an immediate bout with a weird rash (I say weird in the sense that for you and I it would be weird, unfortunately it has become somewhat normal for Brin). Ella and Mia both had a virus, but seem to be over it now.

• Global warming and international political pressure seem to be taking it's toll in Altamira, lumber is nowhere to be found. What used to be abundant and cheap is now quite the opposite. Most of the sawmills in the area have been shut down by the government. Most likely it's just a temporary show of power, but it makes buying furniture difficult. While pricing wardrobes I found prices had more than doubled since when we bought furniture when we first came. In my attempt to save money I went to a cheaper furniture maker and I'm getting nervous that I'm going to live to regret it.

• After 2 weeks of looking for a car we finally found one that I'm in the process of buying. A '95 Toyota pickup will be our upgraded ride. Ella threatened to not let me buy a truck unless she approved of it first. As for me and the other 2 girls, we're still missing the old Bandeirante.

• During our first week back we experienced Brazilian Election Day. Let me just say, for all of you that are sick of political adds right now, maybe you would prefer they advertise on your neighbor's house (see photos above). That's right, for a small compensation, a politician will paint their advertisement all over your house, or your car (which the person did who bought my Bandeirante, much to my horror).

• For the most part, the highlight of our first two weeks back in Brazil has been the realization and acceptance that we're home.
  

The blessing of lost luggage

On one of our flights to Brazil, a flight attendant asked Ava where she was from and she said “I don’t know”. The flight attendant told us about it and was laughing about the preposterousness of it. Brin and I laughed at the time, but in hindsight we could relate more with Ava than the flight attendant.

It was a long journey back to Brazil, we left on a Saturday and got to Altamira on the following Friday. In-between we spent a few days in Manuas and a few in Santarem, applying for our permanent visa (ironic, considering the lack of permanence in our lives). We weren’t sure how we were going to feel when we arrived back “home”, but to our relief it has truly felt like home. We got busy unpacking our boxes, the ones we brought as well as the ones we had packed up before we left. During our time in the States, the Hanson family (whose house we are renting) came for a visit and sold all of their furniture and belongings. We returned to a much emptier house, but what remains is now ours to make our own home. Our first in Brazil.

One small way that God provided on our journey back was with our luggage. We were returning with 10 pieces of luggage (6 of which were actually rubbermaids). Two years worth of homeschool books, clothing and ministry supplies. When we arrived in Brazil, 7 of our pieces were not with us. Six of the pieces were left in Panama City at our previous connection but the 7th was supposed to be there Manaus. Hmmmmmmmmmm? The six rubbermaids would be coming, we were told, and hopefully someone accidentally just took the wrong suitcase out of the airport and would return it as soon as they discovered their mistake. We hoped it was just a mistake but the thought did occur to us that it would be a lucrative move for a thief to steal a huge Rubbermaid from an overseas flight. Bummer for him though because as it turns out that suitcase was filled with used clothing and a bunch of books in English. It did not include the laptop, monitor, ipod, tools or computer that were in other suitcases. So we had to chuckle at that one. Haha, the jokes on you! But actually there was no joke to be had because the suitcase showed up the next day; it was indeed a case of mistaken identity. But we still had the headache of dealing with the other late luggage. The upside of the whole situation was that we didn’t have to take them through customs; the downside was I was hoping to put those 7 pieces on a flight to Altamira the day we arrived in Manuas. We didn’t want to haul them around to our hotels in Manuas and Santarem, and we would have paid an overage fee for them anyway on our flight to Altamira. After many calls back and forth to the airport, our airline agreed to send them as cargo to Altamira. We still weren’t sure if we were going to be charged, or when they were going to arrive, but amazingly, four of the seven were on our flight when we arrived in Altamira. The other 3 are another story. After more calls and even some trips to the airport, they finally showed up yesterday, 8 days after we arrived in Manaus. However, we didn’t have to pay a cent, a savings of around $500.

If you’ve made it this far you deserve a conclusion. In the midst of our luggage debacle, we felt stressed and worried that things weren’t going as we planned, but in the end it worked out much better. Late luggage is typically a bad thing, but God in His provision and sovereignty placed 350 pounds of luggage in Altamira without us having to cart it around and without paying a dime. This was just a little thing, but in bigger things we need to trust God all the more that His way is better than ours, even when we can’t see it at the time.
-JTP

During our time in the States, Ella struggled with knowing that we were returning to Brasil. She wanted to stay close to grandparents and go to public school and be with friends. Ella is about as social as a 10 year old can get if you don’t know her. So I sorta resorted to a bribe to sweeten the deal; she would get her own room. For most of you, it is probably the size of your closet. But she loved it and for the first few days we set it up and helped her decorate it. In penguins. So yes, you can now find penguins in a tropical rainforest.
-BZP

going home...

I'm currently writing this from our hotel room in Miami. We were in this same hotel almost 3 months ago as we arrived back in the U.S. It's been an eventful and often chaotic visit. We have a broad mixture of emotions as we return to Brazil for another two years.

Brin was reading the other day about how Job was able to have hope, in spite of feeling like God had abandoned him. In fact, his faith was essentially the act of him saying that even though he felt like God abandoned him, in reality he hadn't been abandoned at all. So faith for Job was clinging to the idea that God had a purpose and was working in his life, even though it was a mess.

So we're learning to understand what it means for us to have faith in that same God. Faith in the presence of God, even though we don't always have evidence of that.

We will be spending two nights in Manaus, two nights in Santarem (applying for our permanent visa), and then arriving back in Altamira on Friday. We are looking forward to getting moved back into our house, where we will be living for at least a year. We hope to resume our blogging to our pre-furlough pace once we get settled. Thanks for your patience!

Click here to veiw some pictures from our time in NC, as well as thoroughout our time here in the U.S.

-JTP

We're still here...

We've been busy experiencing life here in the States. Our girls are taking everything in, sometimes being overwhelmed by it all. Recently we were able to go skiing with my family at the Lake of the Ozarks, as well as take in a parade at the Marigold Festival in Pekin. The girls loved both experiences. Hope you enjoy the pictures...

Our chaotic life

We're starting to understand why so many missionaries have told us that furlough is generally not a restful time. We have been enjoying ourselves... visiting old friends, going to the zoo, waterpark, hiking, a week of family camp, among other adventures. In the midst of all the activity, maintaining our blog seems to have slid to a lower priority.

In an hour or so, Brin and I leave for the weekend to spend some time with college friends. We'll be returning to Tremont next week and will be around there (for the most part) until we leave Sep. 17th.

Below are some snapshots from the last couple of weeks:

Ella loved the attention she recieved at the camp we attended... now we are trying to figure out how to bring her back down to earth

Our girls with Brian and Janelle's kids at their house in Akron.

Exploring a creek in a state park with Joe and Angela and little Samuel.

Cooling off at the St. Louis Zoo

We saw several Amazon critters, many of which we have seen in the wild.

But I don't FEEL dirty

Mia with her cousins Macy, Ana and Abi

Ava and Mia playing with Macy at the beach

Macy, Mia, Ana and Ava

Ella

Our family has been enjoying Lake Michigan for the past week. Our girls prefer the small waves and salt free water to the beaches we've been to in Brazil. It may help also that their cousins are here.

We continue to experience new things with our girls. Or at least it feels like new things. Brin and I are impressed with how clean everything is here. I found that I didn't automatically feel dirty every night at bedtime, so I've had to force myself to take showers. My inner dialog sounds something like this: "Ok, I know it's bedtime, but I don't feel dirty"... "You know, you really should take a shower anyway"... "But I feel so clean, I didn't even sweat today!"... "Yeah, but it's kind of a courtesy to others"... "Maybe I can just go in the bathroom and turn the shower on so everyone thinks I'm showering"... "Good idea! You're a genius"... "I know".

Brin, the other day, said, "I can't believe how clean it is here!". Now keep in mind, this is after a week of living in a house with 3 families and 10 kids. It was really not all that clean, as you can imagine. She's had similar conversations with herself about whether or not a particular piece of clothing needs to be washed, even though it doesn't look dirty.
Please don't think we have hygiene issues. It's just that we feel really clean here.

Our first few days

Mia and Ava with their cousins Ana and Macy.

waiting for fireworks

It's been a whirlwind the last few days. Our girls meet their cousins for the first time (Sonya and Dave adopted their girls about a month after we left for Brazil). We watched 4th of July fireworks for the first time in 2 years. Ava was so impressed that she felt like she was going to cry and that she was convinced that Jesus was there.

We've not been without our adjustments, Mia, through tears, expressed that everything was different (mainly my parents home). She seemed to have a memory about a small pool that grandma no longer had... very traumatic.

Ride on the backs of Sting Rays through amber waves of grain

I'm writing this in our hotel room in Miami. We got in at about 2:00 am last night. It seems the arrival to America was a bit anti-climatic for Mia and Ava. I think they had envisioned "America" as being were grandpa and grandma and other such known entities were. Needless to say, Miami International Airport didn't seem much different than where we had already been - other than the clean bathrooms with toilets that flush by themselves (as reported by Ella to her sisters).

During our overnight in a hotel in Manaus, we overheard Ella telling he sisters that "in America you can ride Sting Rays like horses". I'm really not sure where she got that tidbit of information, but I think she was talking about Sea Rays (not the pain-inflicting Sting Rays that we are constantly on the look out for at beaches in Brazil). Anyway, the younger girls, with their fading memories and Ella's less than accurate description, are no doubt very confused about this place we keep referring to.

Other observations from our girls:

(Arriving in the big city of Manaus) Ella: "Is there an I-POT here?" After some inquisition we learned that she was referring to IHOP (the restaurant).

(In the hotel in Miami) Ella: "Mom, can we walk barefoot to breakfast so we can feel the carpet on our feet?"

We witnessed Ava and Mia delighting in the discovery of two options in the shower and sinks (cold AND hot).

Back from the boat

We arrived back this morning from our river trip. We were able to visit 3 villages, get a start on a church building in one, endure several bouts of diarrhea and thoroughly enjoy the time we had together.

We are wrapping up our time with the team, as well as getting things in order for when we leave for furlough. Here are a few pictures of our trip, enjoy...

Our group in front the work site

Parker displays a home-made knee board that they made to ski behind the boat

Travis "skiing"; there were dolphins jumping in the waters around us as we took turns trying the contraption.

Tyler enjoys a meal and the sunset on top of the boat

a fence post.
Travis, Isaac and Tyler carry a post weighing several hundred pounds

We enjoy a cool moment in the watering hole at Tijuca.

Diving In

The group from Tremont arrived today. Evidently 2 years will change a freshman boy, as several of the guys on the team were freshmen when I last saw them. I’m now finding myself looking up, instead of down at them and realizing that they have changed in a lot of other ways as well. We had some good laughs, retelling old youth group stories and I’m looking forward to creating some more memories in the weeks ahead.

Before and After

Tomorrow a team of high school students from my (Josh’s) former youth group arrives. They’ll be here for 2 weeks and then our family leaves for the States the day after they do (July 1^st). We’ve been looking forward to this time, both because we want to hang out with the team and show them our world, and also because we know that the next 2 weeks are going to fly by and we will be sitting on that plane heading home before we know it.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re not leaving without mixed feelings. We’re looking forward to coming back and getting more involved in the work here. But as our first term here draws to a close it does cause us to reflect somewhat.

Ella’s looking forward to seeing Prince Caspian, I am too for that matter. I always wondered what the 4 siblings were like after their Narnia experience. Were they different? Did people notice? Did they try to explain as best they could about their experience? Did they get frustrated when people didn’t understand? One thing was for sure, when they got back to England they found it hadn’t changed at all.

I’m not trying to compare Brazil with Narnia, but our reentry may feel similar. In some ways I think we won’t know how much we’ve changed until we get there. Please be patient with us if we seem a bit slow, if our girls dance in the aisles during worship or if we exhibit some other unexplainable behavior.

We are so looking forward to sharing with you all in person about our past 2 years. Many of you played a huge role in making sure we didn’t crack under the pressure. We are grateful for all of your support.Our family just before leaving for Brazil in October, 2006

Our family last week, June 2008

wrestling matches and road hazards

It had been a while since I wrestled anyone, so I was grateful that I had 4 partners when the demon-possessed man started to get violent. Oh yeah, and there was this lady that tried to kill herself by throwing herself in front of our motorcycle. Pretty normal stuff for Porto de Moz, I guess.

Our family visited the town of Porto de Moz, situated at the mouth of the Xingu River, where our mission has another base. Three missionary families live and minister there. We went on a river trip while there and helped deliver some water filters that our mission fabricates and delivers to people living on the river in that area. We had heard a lot about this ministry, but were never able to participate. But the real adventures seemed to be waiting for us back in town...

One night a counseling session turned into a spiritual battle with a demon possessed man. They had worked with this man before and had even cast demons out of him, but they evidently returned. It seems he has never really earnestly accepted Christ and the reality of Christ’s warning that a demon will return with 7 more demons to a “house unoccupied” seemed to be lived out in this young man (Mt. 12:43-45). He had been involved in witchcraft since 12 and is finding it hard to give up that lifestyle. He has made some sort of pact with the devil and eats household items after each meal. Last time the missionaries prayed for deliverance he spit up beads and a sewing needle. He’s even had needles come out of his ears. It literally took 5 of us to hold him down. As we prayed for him he would growl, foam at the mouth and speak in several different voices. After 2 hours he seemed to fall into a deep sleep. So Clyde (the missionary we were staying with) hung up a hammock on his porch and that’s were the demon possessed man slept. It’s one thing to read about the demon possessed in the New Testament, and it’s something else completely to be confronted with it.

The next day, Clyde and I were riding through town on his motorbike. A lady was in the road ahead and so Clyde swerved to the left, but she went to the left. So he swerved to the right, she went to the right. At first it seemed like a case of mixed signals (you know, those awkward moments when you stutter step trying to get around someone). But finally she just lay down in front of us. Clyde had to slam on the brakes, coming to a stop only inches from her. We parked and helped her up. She was obviously drunk and through slurred speech and tears she shared about her difficult life. She was now pregnant by a man who wants nothing to do with her and she just wanted to die. She has no relatives to turn to. She was truly desperate. It was difficult to leave her, knowing how needy she was. We bought her some food and prayed for her, not knowing if she was going to attempt the same thing again. Clyde ran into her a few days later (not literally, that goodness) and she said she didn’t remember him, but that people told her what had happened. Her demeanor had changed and she was truly grateful to him. She said she hadn’t had any alcohol since that day.

Both of these experiences showed me how little I know about how to help people. Maybe we could have prayed longer for the demon possessed man, or maybe we should have done more for the lady we almost hit. The hardest is when you see that someone is desperate for Jesus in their life, but they can’t see that.

Here are some other moments from our trip…

Clyde explains the process of making the concrete filters. Many of the sicknesses seen on the rivers are caused by poor drinking water (usually unfiltered river water).

On a normal filter trip they will take up to 60 filters and install them in only a few days. On our trip we took only a few filters because we went to an area that already had received filters. We gave a few to families who didn’t get them last time and checked up on the others, making sure they were in working order. The filters need very little maintenance because the purification process is biological. We also had a church service for those that were interested.

One thing all villages have, no matter how small, is a soccer field.

Kevin (a missionary from Porto de Moz) demonstrates a device which a team recently brought down. It’s an audio bible, in Portuguese, that is powered by a hand crank or a solar panel. Perfect for people who lack electricity and are illiterate.

It’s no easy job installing the filters, at over 300 lbs. it takes at least 3 people to move them.

The filters have precise amounts of 1” and ½” gravel and fine, clean sand. The filtering is actually done by a layer of naturally forming bacteria. It takes about 30 minutes for about 3 gallons of water to be filtered. The result is water that is free of any contamination.

The kids were more interesting in swimming than installing filters.

We were invited to teach English in one of the schools. Brin asked her class how many could read, only about half raised their hands. The class consisted of ages 12 – 35.

A family poses in front of their new filter.

for a previous post on the water filters click here

or visit our website www.xingu.org

or the website of "Thirst Relief" the partner organization we work with.