I’m going to stop apologizing for the weeks when I don’t post. It’s inevitable. I wish I could write every week, but it’s just not realistic. So anyways, some random bits about what I’ve been up to in the past week…
First off, thank you all for the prayers and emails about my Grandma. She is not being treated but is a little better and is comfortable at home with someone to care for her. Please continue for her to be at peace.
I have a new sister: Irma Maria Adela. I call her “Irma” for short. Irma Miriam left for her new mission in Peru 2 weeks ago and Irma moved into the room with me. She is from Argentina and is the most adorable little nun you ever saw. Small, fair, soft spoken with a beautiful voice—like if Snow White were a nun. She cooks, cleans, decorates, does everything with so much tenderness! The other night as I was getting into bed there was a cockroach on the inside of my mosquito net. Yes, a cockroach, flying around in my bed. (pause for effect) I was really doing my best to remain calm and try to flick it out of the net. She sensed my tension and asked what I was doing. When I told her she watched me for a while, apparently amused at my difficulty, and laughed. Then in her quiet voice she said “excuse me” and she reached in and grabbed the cockroach WITH HER BARE HAND and threw it out the window!!! I have never been in such awe. I’m so happy that she lives with me. Sweet, a good cook, and she kills bugs. Wow.
Last week I finally started driving regularly. I drive te kids to school on Mondays, for the next month at least, until summer break. 7 kids, 5 different schools, in a 1982 VW van. This car…oh this car! I don’t even have words to describe how impossible it is to drive! The clutch is stiffer than a double scotch on the rocks and the gear stick is the shiftiest thing I ever saw. 1st gear is in a different place every time and it is still a mystery to me where exactly reverse is located. The middle seat doesn’t have seatbelts and is in a constant reclining position. There is no power steering, no AC, no heater, no radio, and no vanity mirror! ;) Only by the grace of God was I even capable of driving it. Once we got home I had the kids check me for gray hair. I was thinking to myself as I was stuck in the middle of a once-paved road trying to find reverse, “If I can do this I can do anything!” And then I thought about how many times I’ve said that since I’ve been here. Nearly every day I’m presented with a new challenge and I have to pray for the strength to face it. Often I have to ask for help, (which is whole other challenge for me!), often I have to trust the voice inside me that is filled with the Spirit, but mostly I just have to pray and then try, believing that God has not, will not abandon me. I really can’t do any of this, and yet I do by His grace. Maybe one day He’ll even grant me the strength to kill bugs with my bare hands…
Last week I also got to spend a few days in Salvador setting up a photo exhibit. Just to be in the city was thrilling, but to be in the city and surrounded by art was sheer bliss! One way we in Heart’s Home spread compassion is through art, and many of the HHs around the world have cultural events to help bring awareness to the suffering and illuminate the joy that exists in all human life. The show in Salvador has 30 photos by Pierre Verger, a French photographer who spent time in Bahia in the 50’s and 60’s. The photos are all of poor children, mostly on the streets in Salvador and the surrounding area. The opening night was a huge success and the show will stay up for 2 months. You can see the photos at http://www.pierreverger.org/fpv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=449&Itemid=559
So it’s Advent, but I’m having a hard time believing Christmas is only a few weeks away. I’m not baking (well, not more than I usually do), we don’t have any decorations, and I’m not going to go shopping. Oh, but I have been caroling J Mostly just around the Fazenda, singing Christmas carols until everyone is sick of them, but one day last week a small group of us went to a school in Salvador to sing. We sang carols in Portuguese, French, Spanish, English, and Latin with Daniel (7 years old, Brazilian, has lived in the Fazenda since he was a baby) accompanying us on the conga drum. That helped me get into the spirit a bit. Also I’m talking about making a gingerbread house with the kids and putting on a little Christmas play and I’ll probably put some lights in my coconut tree. Still it doesn’t feel like Christmas. I guess because it’s so different than usual. Maybe without all the baking, decorating, shopping, etc it will actually be more like Christmas should be. I won’t be so distracted with all I have to do and can focus on rejoicing in the birth of Jesus. I can focus on the mystery that is Christmas—that God sent His only Son to redeem the world. That Jesus left Heaven to live in poverty and to be killed, all for our Father’s love for us. I can’t even wrap my brain around that it’s so baffling, and yet, it’s true.
I hope the truth of Christmas rings in your hearts! Please send me your prayer requests or other news at sunnywallsings@gmail.com It may take me awhile to respond, but I would love to hear from you!
Love,
Sunny
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